Victor Reinoso (SFS ’91), D.C.’s former deputy mayor of education under Mayor Adrian Fenty, will join Georgetown University as an “new project development” advisor to University President John DeGioia and Chief Financial Officer Christopher Augostini.

Reinoso will advise DeGioia and Augostini about “international education, distance learning and long-term strategic development.”

“Victor’s more than 15 years of experience in senior leadership positions in government and the private sector will serve the community well as he helps to implement new strategic opportunities for Georgetown,” Augostini said in a press release.

Reinoso, who served under Fenty from 2007 to 2010, faced his fair share of difficulties as a deputy mayor. Although he had oversight of public school construction and the school system’s social services, D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Office of Public Education Facililties Modernization Executive Director Allen Lew “ran their operations with unquestioned authority,” writes the Washington Post‘s Bill Turque, leaving Reinoso “largely elbowed to the margins.”

Reinoso also faced intense scrutiny from the D.C. City Council in 2007 after admitting that a D.C. schools report published by his office plagiarized whole passages from a North Carolina school system’s strategic plan. From that point forward, his relationship with the Council was strained to say the least. (And to top off his tenure in D.C. politics, one of Reinoso’s assistants was fired in 2007 for hanging nude photos of her boyfriend all over D.C. Public School headquarters.)

Prior to joining Fenty’s administration, Reinoso worked for the Federal City Council and a number of start-up companies in the nonprofit and private sectors.

Photo: DCist

Well, what do you know—Foxhall residents have a few reasons hate the 2010 Campus Plan, too!

At last night’s mayoral candidate debate, an audience member from Foxhall, an affluent neighborhood north of both the University and Burleith, asked the three candidates what they thought of a few elements of the 2010 Campus Plan—specifically, its plans to “build a 30-foot roof over Yates [Editor's note: they mean Kehoe], which already towers above the forest behind Georgetown,” erect an 83-foot smokestack over its power plant, and build a service road on an “already fragile embankment.”

So, what do D.C. mayoral candidates think (and know) about Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan?

We’ll start with former TV news reporter Leo Alexander‘s answer, which was ludicrous. He began by laying out his in-touch-with-the-community creds, telling the audience that he’d actually attended a meeting about Georgetown University, where he “heard all about Georgetown and its students and all the nuisances they’ve caused returning home from bars and parties at night.” Cheap shot, Leo. Then his answer got weird.

“Georgetown University is not going anywhere. They can threaten all they want,” he concluded. “They may say, ‘If you don’t let us do whatever we want, we’re packing up,’ but they’re not going anywhere.” As a final note, he added that he wanted Georgetown to build more on-campus housing and establish a board that enlists the opinions of neighbors.

Umm … what? We’re kind of curious to know what gave Alexander the idea that (1) the oldest university in the city, which has invested its image, millions of dollars, and hundreds of jobs in three major D.C. campuses has ever threatened to leave D.C. (and go where? Rosslyn?) if the city doesn’t allow it to build a minor service road for its food delivery trucks and buses, and (2) that neighbors would be real broken up if Georgetown did leave, and need reassurance that Georgetown is here to stay.

We’re just wondering. Because Alexander’s ridiculous musings about the 2010 Campus Plan have officially made him the awardee of Vox‘s Craziest Theories About Georgetown title—usurping it from Stephen R. Brown, who thinks that a cabal of Georgetown Jesuits are planning to build an entirely new hospital facility in Burleith (and who takes secret photos of students from bushes).

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Having successfully completed a months-long campaign to shutter Philly Pizza, today, neighborhood residents and community leaders received an additional surprise: a visit from Mayor Adrian Fenty, who drove up to the restaurant’s former home in his Smart Car just after 11 a.m.to make brief remarks about the closing of this drunk food hot spot.

“They did a fantastic job, didn’t they?” Fenty said as he shook hands with neighbors gathered to hear him speak, in reference to Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners’ efforts to shut down Philly Pizza after the city had revoked its license to operate.

Flanked by Attorney General Peter Nickles and Department of Consumer Regulatory Affairs Director Linda Argo, his podium positioned near where tipsy Georgetown students used to sit on the curb to enjoy their pizza with ranch dressing, Fenty congratulated ANC Commissioners Bill Starrels and Ed Solomon for their work to “shut down a nuisance business causing havoc in the community.”

He likened Philly Pizza’s closure to other illegal businesses that the City has targeted, like used car lots and nightclubs. Later, in his remarks, Nickles volunteered brothels and used car lots that the City had closed as a comparison.

“We listened to our Georgetown residents and it was clear this business was not being a good neighbor,” Fenty said.

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Last Thursday, the Burleith Citizens’ Association held its annual meeting.  Yes, annual.

“One per year? I love it!” exclaimed guest of honor Mayor Adrian Fenty (D). “That’s unprecedented, at least in D.C.”

With only one meeting per year, the agenda was pretty packed, with Burleithers (Burleithians?) discussing everything from 61-D citations to the University’s ten-year plan, parking changes, D.C. Public Schools and cracking down on neglectful landlords.

MPD and 61-Ds: Lieutenant John Hedgecock, who has been in charge of West Georgetown and Burleith since early August, talked about the neighborhood’s crime stats and how the Metropolitan Police Department has been using 61-D citations.

When Hedgecock announced that issuing 61-Ds has been “very effective in quelling parties,” the crowd broke out in applause.  According to Hedgecock, once MPD receives a call, they assume that there’s been a breach of the peace.  If they observe a party and the noise “is too much for a residential area,” they will issue a 61-D citation to the person on the lease of the house or in charge of the party.

Hedgecock says while last year there were six “problem houses” in the area (four in West Georgetown and two in Burleith), this year there is only one.

“When we see a party starting, we put an end to it or advise them what will happen,” Hedgecock said.

One neighbor voiced concerns about the citations saddling students with a criminal record; Hedgecock replied that those who receive 61-Ds can contest them in court.

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Tuesday night’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting came after a very happy morning for the organization and the neighborhood, in which Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) visited Georgetown to announce that the Circulator’s service on Wisconsin Avenue would not be discontinued. In this spirit of goodwill, the ANC unanimously approved a thank-you letter to Mayor Fenty for his sympathy to residents.

Apparently that goodwill did not translate into holiday spirit, though, as Commissioner Charles Eason criticized the Georgetown Business Improvement District’s plans for its 2nd annual “Merriment in Georgetown” celebration.

Planned for Sunday, December 6 at the corner of M St. & Wisconsin Ave., “Merriment in Georgetown” will feature free photos with Santa, hot chocolate and cider and strolling carolers. Sounds delightful, but Eason was concerned that the celebration is too disruptive to traffic and that not enough residents will attend. Thankfully, that didn’t stop the ANC from approving “merriment”.

The tensions over the new Philly Pizza location on Potomac St. are boiling over. The late-night hot-spot has been a thorn in the side of neighbors since it opened.

At last night’s meeting, Potomac St. residents shared eye-witness accounts of “intoxicated teenagers,” Commissioner Bill Starrels provided photos of the “mob scene” present early Saturday morning and referenced reviews on Yelp.com glorifying the pizza’s particular appeal to drunken folks. According to the ANC, Philly P’s lack of space, liquor license and general chaos separates it from other late-night establishments.

An important meeting regarding the fate of Philly P’s will be held next week, involving the ANC, Metro, Councilman Evans’ office and Georgetown President Jack DiGioia. Although the details seemed a bit hazy at the meeting about what can actually be done, it’s clear that nobody from the ANC is a fan of thin, tasteless slices of pizza doused in ranch sauce.

Adrian Fenty, bus savior

Cheap, reliable transportation fans rejoice: The Wisconsin Avenue portion of the Georgetown—Union Station Circulator route that was slated to be discontinued this Friday has been saved, according to The Washington Post‘s Dr. Gridlock.

According to the Post:

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is scheduled to go to the D.C. Circulator bus stop at Whitehaven Place NW on Tuesday morning to announce that the extension of the route up Wisconsin Avenue will be preserved.

Huzzah!

On Monday at about 5 p.m. two Red Line trains crashed into each other near the Fort Totten station, resulting in the deadliest crash in Metro’s 33 year history.  Nine people died, including Jeanice McMillan, the operator of one of the trains, Ana Fernandez, a mother of six, and Retired Major General David Wherely, Jr. who led the D.C. National Guard and his wife Ann.  Although investigations are ongoing, it’s looking like the accident was probably caused by a malfunction of the computerized control system.

D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi announced that his office is projecting a $340 million budget shortfall over the next two years due to the recession.  In light of the dire news, Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) discretely ordered 40 government agencies—including the police department—to cut more than $35 million from their budgets.  It probably doesn’t help that the city can’t find thousands of dollars it collected in fines from misdemeanor cases..

On Thursday, June 18th, a gunman opened fire outside the Columbia Heights Metro station, shooting and injuring two.  This week it was revealed that the gunman was actually working as an intern for a D.C. Councilmember, Jim Graham (D—Ward 1).  Graham himself took the young man, Devyn Black, to the police station to turn himself in.

After the jump: taxi fare increases, how Twitter can help you get fired from your D.C. government job and more!
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In the interest of keeping you informed about the fine city we live in, Vox is starting a new feature, the District Digest, which will be a quick-and-easy guide to the most interesting and important D.C. stories of the week.

The big, sad, awful story of the week was the shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday.  James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist, opened rifle fire at the museum, killing security guard Stephen Johns.

Plans for the District to get a voting representative in the House were derailed on Tuesday when Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton announced that she had decided to kill the D.C. House Voting Rights Act due to the Ensign Amendment, a provision tacked on to the bill that would have all but eliminated the District’s gun control laws.

The Board of Elections and Ethics will decide whether or not opponents of same-sex marriage will be able to hold a referendum vote on the D.C. Council’s decision last month to legally recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.  D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said he doesn’t believe the same-sex marriage measure should be subject to a referendum, but the final decision lies with DCBOEE.

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Yes we can (recover from this economic shitstorm)!

After more than an hour of sitting patiently, contemplating whether or not the guy sitting next to you was really a secret service officer, a thundering voice came over the speaker, announcing, finally, “Ladies and gentlemen, the President…

…of Georgetown University, John DeGioia!”

The crowd tittered and Jack walked out and apologetically and spent a few minutes on flattering set-up. Then Obama took the stage, smiling and waving and charismatic as ever.

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