Earlier this week, when the Washington Post‘s editorial board got in the University’s corner for the battle royale that is “D.C. vs. Georgetown,” pretty much everybody anticipated that our friendly neighbors would be less than thrilled with this endorsement. Today, as reported by the Georgetown Dish, the Citizens Association of Georgetown published a very angry letter about the newspaper’s assertions that the University’s neighbors are attempting to stunt the intellectual and economic growth of the city.

“We strongly support planned and thoughtful growth,” the letter states. “We strongly oppose, however, the objectionable results an expansion of more than 4,000 students in the past 10 years has had on the communities surrounding Georgetown University.”

CAG goes on to defend its position that an Arlington satellite campus is a valid solution to the student overpopulation problem, and ends by foreseeing the impending doom of the District as a whole if Georgetown goes through with its plan.

“If Georgetown University is allowed to continue to expand irresponsibly, the danger exists that valued residential neighborhoods will become predominantly student housing,. Such a development would be a significant loss not only to the residents but also to the city as a whole.”

But despite CAG’s discontentment about the University’s newfound support, other neighbors are, much to our pleasant surprise, not quite so upset about the University’s expansion. In a letter submitted to the Northwest Current, a handful of residents of Georgetown, Burleith, Foxhall, and other surrounding areas came out in support of GU’s recent efforts to make itself more neighborly. Citing the new trash patrols, police officers, and M Street Shuttle, the signers assert that Georgetown isn’t the all-consuming entity that some of their neighbors think it is. They also mention that Georgetown students might actually have something to contribute to D.C. besides noise pollution and beer bottles:

“GU undergraduates and graduate students provide countless hours of volunteer public service to District residents each year at free health clinics, soup kitchens, and other social service agencies.  Overall, Georgetown University’s positive impact on our city is broad and deep.  When the University prospers, it enhances all of our lives.”

Aw stop, you’re making us blush.

Full text of the letters, as published by Georgetown Dish, after the jump!

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Yesterday, the Editorial Board of the Washington Post came out in support of Georgetown University in the ongoing Campus Plan hearings. Pitching the struggle between the University and its neighbors as a crisis of urban planning, WaPo asks that the zoning commission not place unnecessary constraints on D.C.’s largest employer.

“What’s most troubling about the city’s posture is the notion that an increase in young people, particularly those in search of an education, is somehow undesirable,” writes the WaPo editorial board. “What happened to the idea that these are the very kind of people that should be lured to make the District their home?” Also, the suggestion that Georgetown should build a satellite campus for its undergraduates was called “laughable.”

While the Washington Post is calling the Office of Planning hypocritical for restricting growth, a Washington City Paper blog is putting the blame right at the top, with a couple jabs at D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.

Gray has pushed students to get involved in district affairs, but at the same time wants to restrict the “creeping” presence of the University.

Edit: Spelling