Georgetown is fighting over its streateries
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You know how Georgetown seems hip again? There are lines outside Kim Kardashian's Skims, a scene-y vibe at the Levantine bakery Yellow, and even a pipeline of new home construction.
- There's just one problem.
What I'm hearing: In one of America's most iconic neighborhoods, there's a fuss over restaurant streateries and their shabby twin, the extended sidewalk.
Driving the debate: Diners and shoppers love them, and some restaurants have multiplied their dining capacity.
- "I like that it's sort of European: People sitting outside and it's so congenial," says the writer Sally Quinn.
But then there are some unkempt streateries gobbling up parking spaces along with all the jersey barriers and plastic decking.
- "It looks like the boardwalk in Ocean City in February," says former council member Jack Evans.
- "We could live with aesthetically pleasing streateries," says Evans, a regular at Martin's Tavern, which has an elaborate outdoor footprint on N Street and Wisconsin Avenue. "But what we cannot live with are extended sidewalks."
State of the pavement: Outside consultants are on their way.
- The Georgetown Business Improvement District is now bringing in engineering and design help to hopefully settle the matter for good.
Zoom in: Georgetown's mishmash of streateries was conceived when Covid hit. But Georgetowners were preoccupied with brick design long before the pandemic.
- Weekends in the neighborhood especially get busy, and M Street had before toyed with weekend sidewalk extensions to accommodate the crowds.
- In the post-pandemic era the problem, as it were, only became more dire: Georgetown had 12.6 million visitors in 2023, according to the BID's Faith Broderick. Visits this year were up 5% as of last month.
- "We are outpacing Tysons Corner," she says.
Friction point: There are grumblings about the lack of a cohesive streetscape design, and how long it has taken to produce one.
- A group called the Georgetown Coalition for Public Spaces created a change.org petition, garnering over 1,300 signatures from people who want to "Restore Georgetown's Historic Charm!"
- Their asks: No more plastic deck-style sidewalks or jersey barriers, and seasonal-only streateries at spots where outdoor seats end up empty for much of the year.
Some merchants, meanwhile, are fed up with streateries hogging all the attention and taking away parking. "You're bending over backwards for the restaurants, but as you do that you're really hurting the people who are retailers," says AnnMaria Baldine, who manages the Amina Rubinacci boutique near the Four Seasons.
The other side: Plastic decks were never the permanent plan, says Broderick from the BID. She promises sophistication of the sort Georgetown is known for.
- "We've taken inspiration from sidewalk extensions and streateries around the world," she says of the forthcoming proposal.
The BID has already tinkered with some designs. About a year ago, it debuted a new approach for Lutèce, allowing its streatery to flip flop from being located next to traffic on the road, to the sidewalk instead.
- "Streateries have saved countless restaurants," says Elizabeth Parker, Lutèce's general manager. "Now is the time to dial in and really make them beautiful."
💭 Town Talker is a weekly column about money and power in Washington. Tell me about the talk of the town: [email protected].