The Advisory Neighborhood Commission met on Monday to discuss the usual—license approvals and community noise complaints. As expected, commissioners also mentioned the shenanigans in Harbin Hall, as well as a few local bars and restaurants. Here are the meeting’s highlights:

Neighbors’ complaints stall Third Edition’s liquor license

Commissioners voted to not support renewal of Third Edition’s liquor license on the grounds of neighbors’ complaints and the bar’s multiple ABRA violations. However, Third Edition isn’t going anywhere; Commissioner Bill Starrels assured the audience that the ANC did not want to run the bar out of Georgetown.

“The overarching problem is that they aren’t complying with the previous [voluntary] agreement,” Commission Charles Eason said.

The ANC will revisit the liquor license question after Third Edition’s voluntary agreement is revised to address noise concerns.

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Thursday night’s Burleith Citizens Association meeting featured an appearance by Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, who answered residents’ concerns about Georgetown’s 2010 campus plan.

While standing between two of the BCA’s ubiquitous “Our Homes, Not GU’s Dorm” lawn signs, Evans voiced his support for Burleith residents. However, he also told the crowd that he has little control over the D.C. Zoning Commission, the judicial body that will rule on the plan.

“It’s not something I can make happen for you, or make happen for anybody,” he said. “I wish I could solve your problem with a magic wand, but I can’t.”

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Last Saturday, a fence surrounding a townhouse on the 3200 block of O Street was vandalized, according to a post on the Georgetown listserv.

This is about when we figured that the poster, Robert Laycock, would accuse Georgetown students of the damage. Let’s just say he surprised us.

“[S]everal individuals, probably inebriated, pulled off the wrought iron railing on the steps leading to the front door of the house,” Laycock, who moonlights as the treasurer of the Citizen’s Association of Georgetown, wrote. “The noise woke up almost everyone on our block.”

He added that the townhouse’s elderly residents, who did not respond to our contact attempts, “depend on the rail for support going up and down the steps.”

In summary: Georgetown residents’ property was damaged on a weekend night. The incident disturbed a number of sleeping neighbors. Another resident, who is involved with a group that isn’t on friendly terms with the University, wrote about the incident without immediately blaming students.

Shit, you guys. Is this a trap, somehow?

Photo: Robert Laycock

Last April, the Burleith Citizens Association started soliciting donations for their anti-Campus Plan campaign; five months and $11,000 later, the community group has finally hired zoning and urban planning consultants to help build their case.

“As we move into the fall, activity surrounding the GU campus plan will heat up,” BCA President Lenore Rubino wrote in the Burleith Bell [PDF], a monthly newsletter. “The BCA in conjunction with the Citizens’ Association of Georgetown is working with our consultants to build our case before the zoning commission.”

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Since late August, Dean of Students Todd Olson and Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Jeanne Lord have quietly met with students to talk about the 2010 Campus Plan.

During the first of the two meetings, the group discussed ways to alleviate off-campus tensions, such as mandatory off-campus party registration and University-facilitated meet-and-greets between students and residents.

According to Fitz Lufkin (COL ’11), who attended the meeting, Olson and Lord reached out to students to discuss relationships between students, residents, and the University.

“[They] wanted to know any ideas about how we could deal with the concerns from the neighborhood while still taking the side of the students, while making sure students weren’t thrown under the bus.” Lufkin said. “Dr. Olson and Dr. Lord steered the conversation towards solutions, not complaints.”

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In this week’s edition of “How Burleith Residents Misunderstand the 2010 Campus Plan,” we take a look at Lenore Rubino, President of the Burleith Citizens’ Associations. This gem of a line is from an email Rubino sent out over the Burleith listserv:

“Good for all: More on-campus, affordable housing that accommodates student needs. I would think university students, no matter where they are located, would want and demand safe, affordable, convenient on-campus housing, especially at the tuition rates some universities are charging.”

Sigh. I’m not sure where Rubino thinks the University can build more on-campus housing. Neighbors often cite the fact that an architectural firm identified space for 800 additional beds on campus—if the University built on every plot of open space there exists on campus. (And built only dorm-style housing that no student would ever opt to live in as an upperclassman.)

I’m also not sure why Rubino thinks that new on-campus housing would be less expensive than off-campus housing. It certainly isn’t more affordable now.

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In response to Georgetown University’s “misleading” point-by-point letter, the Citizens’ Association of Georgetown (CAG) published a letter of its own, titled “Setting the Record Straight.”

In the letter, CAG accuses the University of violating D.C. zoning laws by “[tolerating] poor, substandard housing conditions, trash and rats, and disorderly behavior by its students living off campus … [creating] an unjustified burden on the surrounding communities, city services, and on GU’s own students.”

CAG President Jennifer Altemus (COL ’88) believes that the University needs to listen to members of the surrounding community.

“It is wrong for them to think that the community can accommodate this onslaught,” Altemus wrote on a community listserv. “We are saturated. Adding more to this mix is a recipe for disaster.”

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After a week of submissions and another week of voting, we’re ready to name the winner of our 2010 Campus Plan sign contest.

With a whopping 60 percent of the vote, “Raising Property Values Since 1789″ won outright. Congrats to Alison Crowley (COL ’11), who just earned herself a pair of tickets to the E Street Cinema.

Now for the fun part. When students move back to campus in August, we’ll be out in full-force, handing out these lawn signs to anybody who asks for one. If you already know you’ll want to display one of these beauties on your lawn, let us know at blog@georgetownvoice.com.

Thanks again to everybody who submitted ideas or voted for their favorite signs.

7/8 UPDATE: It looks like the University switched out Dimolitsas’s letter for a more-detailed chart [PDF]. At the bottom of this post, we’ve republished a copy of the original letter.

On Tuesday, a Georgetown University official finally responded to mounting opposition to the 2010 Campus Plan.

In an open letter addressed to “Friends and Neighbors,” Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Spiros Dimolitsas addressed concerns about the 2010 Campus Plan—with hopes that the University and the surrounding neighborhoods can “move forward together.”

Without directly addressed specific “mischaracterizations,” Dimolitsas briefly outlined details about the University’s enrollment figures, student housing, off-campus conduct, and air quality.

While the information in the letter is nothing new, it nonetheless comes during a contentious time between the University and local residents. Both the Burleith Citizens’ Association (BCA) and the Citizens’ Association of Georgetown (CAG) are in the midst of months-long fund raising campaigns to fight the University. In recent weeks, the BCA circulated form letters and an online petition to galvanize opposition to the Campus Plan. (And don’t forget about those pesky lawn signs. Or ours!)

The University is expected to file its 2010 Campus Plan with the D.C. Office of Planning sometime this summer.

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You guys impress the hell out of us.

In the past week, you flooded the comments and our inbox with some great submissions for the 2010 Campus Plan sign contest. It took some time—and a little bit of Photoshopping—but we managed to whittle it down to the five best entries.

We’re putting the contest to a vote now, meaning that you all get to decide which sign will be mass-produced and distributed in late August.

Do you like the “Beware of college students” and “Raising property values since 1789″ signs, both submitted by Alison Crowley (COL ’11)? How about Steven‘s “Complain to my landlord, not to my school” sign? Or perhaps one of the other two entries?

Take a look at your choices, ponder over them a bit, and then vote for your favorite after the jump. The contest will end at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, July 15, so vote while you still can.

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