Editorials and Opinions

In a little-known Aesop’s fable, a number of flies are attracted to a jar of honey that is overturned ...

President Barack Obama finally did it.

He maxed out on his evolution on the issue of gay marriage. He’s ...

There’s an old operetta song that basically encourages and celebrates the joy of drinking.

It’s called “Drink, Drink ...

***James Cole: Look at them. They’re just asking for it. Maybe the human race deserves to be wiped out ...

This week, I want to focus on the arts, which is timely both because it is a budget priority of ...

“The present situation is as dangerous as if the United States decided to outsource the design of bridges, electrical grids ...

“The gunman entered … and opened fire on ‘everything that moved... How can they attack something as sacred as a school ...

In the divided, Red State-Blue State, conservative-liberal, right- and left-wing United States of America of today, there are very few ...

Inside, men and women in robes and the best lawyers in the United States were in the midst of a historic debate on the merits and future of President Barack Obama’s historic health care proposal. Outside, the masses had gathered to conduct their own debates, large and small. It was a heck of a day at the Supreme Court.

For more than a decade, the Afghan War has been a costly and difficult campaign for the United States and ...

This letter is in response to the articles covering Rush Limbaugh's comments about Sandra Fluke.

Well, Mr. Limbaugh, you ...

I co-chaired a meeting on the District Council’s Subcommittee on Redistricting on proposed changes to the advisory neighborhood commission ...

Roughly two weeks remain before Washington voters go to the polls for the District’s April 3 Primary Election.

It ...

Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University Law Center student, found herself the target of radio host Rush Limbaugh on March 1 ...

I could have sworn I heard Brenda Lee making a come back, singing “I’m sorry, so sorry, please accept ...

At the latest meeting of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, officials approved revised designs by the Tudor Place Foundation for ...

As a long time resident of Prospect Street and mother of a young teenager, I am continually concerned about pedestrian ...

Forty years ago, I won what became my family’s first "Dodo of the Year" award. Instead of calling me ...

“More and more, we all confront difficult questions about how to prevent the slaughter of civilians by their own government ...

On Feb. 16, the D.C. Council Committee of the Whole will hold a public hearing commencing at 10 a.m. on a bill, the “Early Childhood Education Act of 2011.” I invite you to come and testify.

From now until November, all of us will be bombarded in print and on the airwaves with political campaign ads ...

How rich is Mitt Romney compared to other presidents? His most recent tax return proves that he's worth a cool quarter billion. So, where would that rank? He’d be behind only President George Washington. But unlike Washington, Romney didn’t inherit his wealth. He earned it.

The GOP primary race remains a wacky brew, although one with fewer fixins. This week, four remain, and the man at the top is not Mitt Romney.

Any of you who have heard me speak recently have probably heard me talk about the fact that the District of Columbia is in a better financial position than any other city, county, or state in the country.  Our finances remain strong and the development projects in our city are the envy of our neighbors.

Since Franklin Roosevelt was president, Republicans and Democrats have created diametrically opposite methods for choosing their presidential nominees.

The transformation of Georgetown’s land along the Potomac River was completed four months ago. After years in the making, Georgetown Waterfront Park now stands as a stupendous achievement for this town and the District of Columbia. It had many advocates, but the Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park, never took its eyes off the prize.

By the time anyone reads this, the New Hampshire Primary for the Republican Presidential Nomination will be over, unless its closer than the Iowa Caucus, in which eight votes separated winner Mitt Romney and runner-up Rick Santorum.

Life—or rather death—goes on in the new year of 2012. People we know, have heard of, miss, people of achievement, and just plain old celebrities pass on, as we will too in some year or another. A brief commemoration for those we lost in 2011.

Georgetown University’s 2010-20 campus plan is now in the hands of the D.C. Zoning Commission. After all the ...

Let’s order the fine Christmas wine

For the Obamas while they Georgetown dine

Maybe at Citronelle, or at the ...

By John Fenzel

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, Joseph E. Robert Jr., one of the Washington area’s great philanthropists, passed ...

Ladies, gentleman, and you rascals in the media: In the midst of hard times and earth-shaking crises, there is a ...

Superman! Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ...

“A house divided against itself cannot long endure,” Abraham Lincoln so eloquently said. More than ever, since then, the country ...

November in Washington is winter’s harbinger and the keeper of the bitter flame for one of the nation’s ...

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our online readers! Thank you for helping us to be a greener, more interactive, and more effective news source.

On Nov. 9, the ANC2E Commissioners released a joint motion to reinstate two Circulator bus stops in Georgetown: the M ...

During the holidays, it’s easy to get swept away by the minutia and the stress of the season: entertaining ...

I’m a 70-year-old white feminist liberal who would never vote for Herman Cain but I cannot silently watch him ...

In a political pissing contest with President Obama, who recently mistakenly referred to “E Pluribus Unum” as the slogan for ...

Answer my history question and get a treat. Or miss it and get a treat. But learn a little along ...

In the battle over gay marriage and equality, the question everyone has an answer for but nobody can agree on ...

There’s a class war going on.

It’s not being waged where you might think it is—in presidential ...

Tax reform is like birthdays. They come around every year with the promises of money and gifts. The current flavor ...

I often say this is not only the nation’s capital, but the fundraising capital of the world. With every ...

The weekly scramble that is the Republican Party’s race to the presidential candidate nomination is as muddled as ever ...

When I signed up for a PR/Marketing & Studio Art degree, I knew that I’d either become a master ...

Ami Stewart, who worked as a sales representative for the Washington Star, told the Randolph sisters at Little Caledonia, a ...

Why is age 65 the retirement age?

Legend has it that when Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany in the ...

Four days in New Orleans to work the exhibitor booth, to attend some seminars and speeches, to take in the ...

When the virulent and high-ranking al-Qaeda leader Anwar Al-Awlaki was killed in target drone strike in Yemen last week, most ...

Former Senator Charles Percy died Saturday at the age of 91, succumbing to the effects of Alzheimer’s disease at ...

By Deklan

One of the oldest and most defended characterizations of human nature is our innate desire to be hateful ...

The crisp, blue Tuesday morning of Sept. 11, 2001, was deadline day for the Georgetowner newspaper. As editor-in-chief at the ...

Like witnesses at a traffic accident, everybody remembers that singular, defining day differently yet, at the same time, everyone has ...

Are we in a double dip recession?

Economists hedge their bets using percentage. Most suggest a 30 percent chance we ...

Last week, I saw a headline in one of the few remaining daily newspapers left in the whole wide world ...

Somebody once said that just because you’ve hit bottom doesn’t meant there isn’t a basement down below ...

The Top 10 list of why the debt ceiling debate was a big joke (and this is no joke):

1. The ...

Is it just me, or is this summer even hotter than the last? As I mention every year during the ...

One of the great literary stories is the relationship—sometimes strained, often competitive—between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway ...

For those of you who might have missed it, there was a first in the White House earlier this month ...

Does the government spend too much? Probably.

Are taxes too low? Probably.

Is there an easy or quick fix? Absolutely ...

As local and national governments stall to solve problems, like the debt crisis, a feeling of uncertainty rises.

Mendota stands at the crossroads of its past and a green energy future. Mendota is developing into a leading community in Fresno County, and industries across the globe are keeping an eye on the projects underway there. One of those industries is what has made California a champion in the world, Green Energy Technology.

There’s nothing quite like the permanent dark cloud that seems to have settled over the workings of the government of the District of Columbia and the early months of the administration of newly-elected mayor Vincent Gray.

Redistricting is a difficult job and this year has been no exception. Federal law allows a deviation in Ward population of plus or minus 5 percent, which gave us a range of 71,455 - 78,976 residents within which to work. The District’s population increased by 29,664, or 5.2 percent, between 2000 and 2010.

They argued about it some and they fussed about it some, but in the end the much anticipated city council debate over Mayor Vincent Gray’s controversial proposal to raise the DC income tax on earners over $200,000 didn’t really have much of a chance.

Gary Tischler reflects on Memorial Days past.

Theater-goers may soon be paying more at the box office with Mayor Vincent Gray's ticket tax proposal.

Orange is back as the newly-elected at-large city councilman, winning a special election to fill the seat formerly held by Kwame Brown, who was elected council chairman last year in a race against Orange. Talk about perseverance. Orange won a tight race, considering the low voter turnout citywide, that featured a strong challenge by Republican Patrick Mara, who was endorsed by the Washington Post and won impressive pluralities in Wards 2, 3 and 6.

In a year when bad news was a part of your breakfast cereal, the death of an evil man seems like bloody sunshine. I bask in it, uncomfortably, waiting for warmth and relief, as if something had ended at last.

Our city is the poster child for the notion that all politics is local. People who live here live in distinct neighborhoods, in areas with distinct qualities, atmospheres, residents and histories. However, the elephants in the Washington neighborhoods are the White House and the Capitol Building, and the people who work in them. The government and the President make us the center of the world, and entangle our daily lives and local politics in larger national and international issues.

Here is a rundown of the frontrunner candidates in the campaign—Vincent Orange, Sekou Biddle, Patrick Mara and Bryan Weaver—from their professional history to their accomplishments and goals for the city’s future.

The Georgetowner Newspaper endorses Vincent Orange for the at-large city council seat because he will bring experience, maturity, independence and ...

For the past sixty years, we have debated whether health care is a moral issue, that is, whether we as a nation have a moral obligation to provide health care to everyone or whether each individual is responsible for his or her own health care. Except for the United States, every democracy on earth believes it has a moral obligation to provide health care to its entire citizenry.

Earlier this week, I was talking to a neighbor of mine. And like a lot of people in my neighborhood and across the city, he’s interested in the Mayor’s budget proposals. And everyone thinks there’s going to be trouble over the budget.

Here we are, into the first spring of the Vincent Gray Administration’s rule. And where are we?

At this stage in the campaign to fill the At Large City Council Seat vacated by Kwame Brown’s winning bid for the City Council Chair, the candidate forums are like the political equivalent of speed dating. The election for the seat isn’t until April 26, which leaves plenty of time for voters to get to know the candidates. And there’s a lot to choose from—close to ten candidates are in the field, and one of them is already sitting on the council.

We have nothing but admiration for the Japanese people, especially those who suffered directly from the earthquake and the tsunami. No lootings, stoic bearing, grace under pressure. A nice word, too, for the media reporters who stayed and covered this disaster amid the obvious dangers, as well as those covering the tumultuous and continuing events in the Middle East and North Africa. They too placed themselves at risk and worked in dangerous conditions, and some of them paid the price. Not so for the home front television newsies who keep thinking that all news is about us.

The Griffin Market has unfortunately closed it doors for what we are assuming will only be for be a very ...

Just around three months into his four-year terms, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray is in trouble. Big trouble.

Sulaimon ...

Don’t mess with my health care!! Throw out Obamacare!!!

A majority of the House of Representatives voted to do ...

The Latin phrase (normally not in the form of a question) is Georgetown University's motto—"both are one”—first ...

Just last week, we went to the Kalorama Citizens Association meeting and heard guest speaker Mayor Vincent Gray talk about ...

Mayor Vincent Gray took time to visit with the Kalorama Citizens Association this week. His arrival still seemed curious, even ...

It's been 10 days since the astounding ouster of President Mubarak. Many Egyptians who adopted Tahrir Square as their ...

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault said as he was pocketing ...

When the world teems with upheaval, oddities get overlooked. The revolution in Cairo has been an uprising to unnerve every ...

Wall Street can do it. Wall Street owes us. After all, we’re in a national financial mess because of ...

On Thursday, February 10, District of Columbia officials will make their annual trip to Wall Street. Every February, the Mayor ...

This is the time of year when Americans think about presidents. Usually, it’s about George Washington, the first president, and Abraham Lincoln, the most haunting, memorable president. This year, it’s worthwhile to think a little broader, farther and wider.

Has President Obama, in the hot political jargon of the day, regained his mojo? In other words: is the Barack ...

What a breathtakingly beautiful photograph by Jeff Kouri, which graced the cover of the January 12-25 edition of your newspaper ...

So, how’s that “reload” slogan workin’ out for you, Sarah?

I know, I know, it seems like piling on ...

“Ask not what your city can do for you,” said DC Mayor Vincent Gray at his inauguration two weeks ago ...

When famous people—or infamous, or near-famous, or almost forgotten-people die, they make you remember. You remember headlines, movies, songs ...

The recent crime wave in the Georgetown neighborhood, coupled with a handful of rather bizarre local drug busts, has been ...

If somebody tried to launch a new version of that old quiz show, “Truth or Consequences,” it might be a ...

Right-wing politicians have stepped up their assault on government spending. But the latest salvo on the war on government came ...

Georgetown resident John Hlinko, founder of the Adrian Fenty write-in-campaign for mayor on Facebook, offered an objection to my take ...

Ilir Zherka, Executive Director of DC Vote, calls to rally Washingtonians to work to retain DC's local democracy and advance legislation.

Georgetown Veterinarian, Dr. Lee Morgan, used cutting-edge stem cell treatment to save a canine veteran whose owner was killed in combat.

“Save Your Pennies.” Families save for big purchases or tough times. States similarly create “rainy day funds,” and the federal government spent less in prosperous times and more in difficult ones (per Keynesian theory). The New Deal, with its creation of jobs in the Great Depression to rebuild and restore America’s infrastructure, typified this approach.

This letter is in response to Gary Tischler’s editorial of November 3rd, “Congrats to Gray: Election Day and Beyond.” As a Georgetowner myself, and as the founder of the Facebook page Mr. Tischler referenced, “Run, Fenty, Run”, which helped jumpstart the write-in campaign, I thought it would make sense to address some of the points Mr. Tischler made regarding that effort.

The Georgetowner’s editorial, “The Perpetually Delayed Waterfront Park Turns to the Community for More Money”, (November 3, 2010) could not be more wrong. The funds are in hand to complete the Georgetown Waterfront Park in the Spring of 2011. In the past several months, work on Phase 2 of the park has been moving full-steam ahead. The river steps are in place, the pergolas have been erected, and a construction of the fountain, pathways, and riverside promenade is well underway.

If you had been standing at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and R Street in April 2007, staring at the Georgetown Public Library up in flames, with its roof collapsing as firefighters rushed to connect working hydrants and librarians threw damaged documents onto the sidewalk, you had a right to feel depressed. It’s a damn shame to see a library on fire. How and when would we fix this?

The Key Bridge — Friday, October 19. Walking across the bridge, from the Rosslyn metro into town, five police officers were sitting on the Washington side, immediately pulling over drivers on their cell phones and issuing tickets. All the commotion was exacerbating a traffic jam on the already crowded bottleneck onto M Street, on a typically busy Friday morning. The rows of stopped vehicles and squad cars could have led you to believe there was a drug bust in place. Three blocks into town, I had already passed three other officers ticketing vehicles that had over-extended their parking privileges by the slightest infraction.

After ongoing delays and skyrocketing leaps over the original budget by over $2.2 million, Waterfront Park is still about where it has been for the past six months: over budget and delayed. Delays were largely a result of previously undetected foundation debris associated with the former Capital Traction Company Powerhouse that was located at the spot of the park. The building was demolished in 1968.

The real deal begins Wednesday.

Ever since DC City Council Chairman Vince Gray scored a solid and surprising win over incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty back in September, there was a certain air of calm before the storm throughout the city, as voters waited in place for the validating election that occurred this week.

Readers of The Georgetowner’s October 6 issue were presented with a summary of the ANC meeting including the Tudor Place Resolution in the GT Observer section and a letter by Neighbors of Tudor Place. As President of the Board of the Tudor Place Foundation, I want to address misconceptions presented in the latter.

A new political animal may be coming to a town and statehouse near you: mama grizzlies. They combine a protective maternal instinct with the power of a large angry animal.

The Democratic Primary election has been done and over since mid-September, but somehow, the past week still felt like election mode.

Especially if you were Vincent Gray, the still-Chairman of the City Council who won the primary. Especially if you were District of Columbia School System Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Especially if you were Mayor Adrian Fenty, who lost the primary election.

Walk into the offices of DC City Council Chairman Vincent Gray, and it’s like walking into two different worlds.

Along a small corridor of offices and cubicles, there are people talking on the phone; computers are on. It’s got all the signs of any busy bureaucratic office. Walk into his office, with Gray leading the way, and the busy sounds die down. His office is reminiscent of an expansive drawing room — leather chairs, a large desk, books and pictures on the wall.

Outside, it was a typical American-style Friday night in Dupont Circle, restaurants and watering holes busy, couples and groups of people wandering up and down the streets; a mild fall-like weekend night, outdoor dining, indoor imbibing.

We write in response to a press release and neighborhood mailing by Tudor Place Foundation announcing the public presentation of a Master Plan for Tudor Place, the historic house museum and garden in Georgetown. The Plan includes the construction of a two-story above ground Visitor Center on 31st Street, a large one story Education Center behind 1670 31st Street, a large Greenhouse visible from 32nd Street, and a large Collections Storage addition at the south end of the historic Garage that currently tops out at six stories above 32nd Street. All of these projects are to be located at the perimeter of the property and will transform the Tudor Place from a residential into an institutional property and will diminish its historic character.

Depending on how old you are, 1960 may not seem so long ago, but the world was quite a different place then.

Given the tumult of activity up and down M Street, it’s always nice to take a detour down one ...

Say what you will about his communication skills. Criticize his attitude all you want. But Adrian Fenty is getting things ...

In the increased intensity of interest surrounding the District’s mayoral race, the casualties have been the attention paid to ...

That recent Washington Post poll which showed Mayor Adrian Fenty trailing by double figures in his race against challenger Vincent ...

What people remembered about that morning was how incredibly blue the sky was — the kind of gorgeous day it was ...

Glenn Beck is coming to town. So is Sarah Palin. They’re bringing about 300,000 folks with them for a major conservative rally called “Restoring Honor,” a fevered brain child of Beck’s originally meant to be about honoring American servicemen.

Can’t Mehmet Kocak, owner of Philly Pizza, just give it a rest?

There is a new mental health problem out there. We call it The Real Housewives of Washington D.C. Stress Syndrome.

In the midst of a heated mayoral race, what's next after Michelle Rhee fires 241 DCPS teachers?

Daniel Schorr, one of the last of the great television and radio reporters, passed away at the age of 93 last week.

The Metropolitan AME Church not only been a major center of worship, but also an institution in the forefront of the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of African Americans. It deserves better treatment.

With the rise of the free agency system, the breaking up of team cohesion has become the norm and player loyalties have been tested. Things used to be much better.

For D.C. residents wilting in 90-plus-degree days, stepping out of the heat can be a welcome relief. But chilly stores and restaurants are bringing winter back.

At a July 8 public forum featuring Kwame Brown and Vincent Orange, it was disappointing to hear from both city council chairman candidates what amounted to little more than canned, anemic responses to the issues confronting Georgetown today.

While left turn arrows at Georgetown's intersections sound great in theory, one has to wonder whether or not this will add to an already horrific traffic jam on M Street.

On a June 16 evening, members of Congress of both parties wielded baseball bats, but not at each other. Is Congress finally cooperating?

Senator Robert Byrd died Monday at age 92, leaving behind him a swath of controversy, a throng of admirers and friends and a legacy to be long remembered, a life fully led.

A group of seniors from the Georgetown Senior Center, still game in their own way, and still reeling with memories from the loss of founder Virginia Allen, took a trip to the ballpark to see Nats phenom Stephen Strasburg.

Washington area residents care about the environment, but still drive an average of around 22 miles per day. They must think twice before they fuel up.

States and localities around the nation, of course, are dealing with problems similar to those facing the District: a significant decline in revenues matched up against state and local budgets, which have seen sharp growth through the current decade.

The most important well ever drilled was in a remote section of northwestern Pennsylvania in 1859. It began the international search for oil that eventually changed the way we live.

The Georgetowner remembers Rue McClanahan, Peter Orlovsky and John Wooden.

Gary Tischler remembers Dennis Hopper and 'Little Benny' Harley

Say, you might ask, whatever happened to the teacher’s union contract?

The actress Lena Horne, who passed away last week, brought all of her life experience, her humor and her still-burning bright beauty to center stage.

I recently had a ringside seat to some of the best in political theater. (To be precise, I wasn’t ...

Town and Gown. Where Do the Two Sides Stand?

To the editor:
I generally look forward to useful and interesting information regarding local real estate in your publication, but ...

Throughout a turbulent week, the life-affirming passage of Dr. Dorothy Height steadied this community and shone the light on the best of humankind and the best kind of human being.

Georgetown's new restaurants shouldn't have to bid for a finite resource.

In this atmosphere, and with this late start, what are the odds on Gray's run for mayor?

On Easter weekend in Washington, President Obama became an avatar of spring.

In a recent New York Times op-ed, Paul Krugman, echoing Abraham Lincoln, remarked that the case for universal health care ...

If Vincent Gray should run for mayor, “I can tell you I will run for chairman, no question," says Jack Evans.

It's springtime, and in this city, in our neighborhoods, we could be living almost anywhere, with slight differences of ...

Georgetowner Robert “Bob” Pyle passed away on March 18 at age 83. A World War II veteran, he attended Japanese ...

To the editors:

Regarding the feature “Reviving Dead Space” [March 10 issue], do clients who “loved old buildings” or their ...

Georgetown has always had its ups and downs. Let’s be a little more creative.

It’s official. Let the weddings begin.

So, the great pizza affair finally looks like it’s drawing to a close. On Feb. 19, the city’s ...

So, how do you like the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver so far?

If you’re an American, quite a ...

No other sector of this nation embodies that exceptionalism more than the United States Armed Forces.

The Washington Blade newspaper has announced that it has published its last edition. Needless to say, it came as a ...

America’s National Mall has problems. Look at the lawn.

I freely confess that I regard it as a triumph if I can balance my checkbook. My father was a ...