European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 15, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Washington s Village being spoiled revelry resounds in elegant Georgetown by Joan Mower associated press Georgetown he quaint Washington neighbourhood favored Tor decades by the Rich and powerful is being spoiled by thousands of weekend revellers and proliferation of shlock  some residents complain. Traffic noise and commercialization have soured Many people including Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige and his wife Midge who recently put their $208.000 House on the Market. Alas the dirt and drunks who Wake us up every weekend at 2 . Are driving us out mrs. Baldrige wrote in a letter to the citizens association of Georgetown. Still the  As some locals Call it has maintained its status As an in spot to live with its red Brick town houses huge mansions gourmet restaurants Green Parks and smart shops. Rising from the Potomac River in the City s Northwest quadrant. Georgetown is a place where you re As Likely o bump into a congressman As a preppy from nearby Georgetown University where old ladles with Blue tinged hair walk their fashionable Jack Russell terriers where nannies still Wear White uniforms and where the local grocery store keeps charge accounts and makes deliveries it is also a place which attracts 20,000 people every Friday and saturday night where Young suburbanites come to guzzle Beer and dance where cheap shoe stores Are As common As cobblestones and where finding a Legal parking space is seen As divine intervention. The influx of people triggered a weekend crackdown As police added More officers on Friday and saturday nights and imposed additional parking restrictions at More people poured into the Small area vandalism crime and disorderly conduct increased authorities say. Part of Georgetown s attraction stems from Peculiar drinking Laws in the area. Nearby Maryland and Virginia prohibit anyone under 21 from purchasing alcoholic beverages the District of Columbia allows 13-year-Olds to buy Beer and wine but they have to be 21 to buy spirits. This Law is an incentive Tor kids to drive into the District drink and then drive Home says Hunter Wolkoff of mothers against drunk Drivers a citizens group. Police capt. Rod Murray says the crowds Are still coming into Georgetown fast and furious but the police crackdown has helped. The number of robberies and assaults Are also Down he says. In two recent weekends police arrested 58 people on a variety of charges Murray says. In addition 363 cars were issued parking tickets and 125 vehicles were towed. Rick Hinden president of the Georgetown business and professional association says. It is once again a pleasure to walk Down the streets on fridays and  others Are disturbed by the Type of development thai has boomed particularly on the two main thoroughfares Wisconsin Avenue and m Street. David Roffman publisher of the Georg Towner. A weekly newspaper says there Are so Many schlock shops on the once elegant Wisconsin Avenue that parts of the Street resemble a Middle Eastern  Polly Shackleton a District of Columbia Council member who has lived in Georgetown for 46 years adds after All we Don t need eight or nine or 10 shoe stores and we Don t need Palm readers or fast food restaurants for the  Maurice and Elsa  Rel. Owners of the French restaurant Chez Odette an institution on m Street for 32 years sold the Homey establishment Wilh red and White curtains last summer. We Felt that it was just the right time to get out of  said mrs. Paired. I have worked Here for 25 years and Georgetown has changed so  her husband says. My personal opinion is that Georgetown is not what it used to be. Georgetown has become Tor the Young Young people for bars and  like  Rel some longtime Georgetown residents complained that the Charm has vanished from the european style neighbourhood. It s lost its neighbourhood Quality in Many  says Marty Levin whose family has run sugar s Campus store since 1930. But Levin refuses to become Loo sentimental noting the area has always been transient. Margaret Oppenheimer a resident for 30 years echoes that View. Some parts have changed dramatically and some Haven t changed at  just two decades ago. Georgetown and the rest of Washington seemed More like a sleepy Southern town than the capital of the world s greatest Power. President Kennedy who lived in Georgetown before his election in 1960, described the nation s capital with its huge White Marble monuments and Broad boulevards As a City of Southern efficiency and Northern  other parts of Washington besides Georgetown have seen rapid development and growth and the nation s capital in some areas has turned into a cosmopolitan City with luxury hotels outdoor cafes a thriving theater and arts Community and scores of gleaming Glass skyscrapers. Washington s new cosmopolitanism seems to have paralleled the opening and growth of a shiny new subway system which crisscrossed the capital and reaches into Maryland Aid Virginia. Residents of Georgetown bitterly and successfully fought efforts to put a subway Stop in their area whispering that it might allow too Many people to travel to their area. Even without a subway Stop Georgetown Page 14 the stars and stripes has exploded o the Point where it s completely saturated Roffman says. That saturation has helped squeeze the housing Market and push up prices. A two bedroom Brick town House with a postage size Patio rarely Sells for less than $200.000. On the other end of the scale Washington Post editor Benjamin Bradlee and his wife Sally Quinn paid $2.5 million Lor a 40-room mansion that once belonged to Robert Todd Lincoln president Lincoln s son. Georgetown also is Home to one Oltha area s most glittering new shopping malls an underground Complex with plants swirling staircases and some of the world Best known shops like Mark Cross inc. And Abercromble & Fitch. Tha neighbourhood s permanent population of about 30,000 includes some of the nation s most powerful people both democrats and republicans. Sen. Claiborne Pell a Rhode Island Dei Socrat generally considered one of the Senate s wealthiest men has lived Lor years in Georgetown As have Sev other of the richest men in the Senate John Helicz b pa., and Howard Metzenbaum a Ohio. Michael Sullivan owner of a real estate firm think Georgetown is probably More popular with High i Reagan administration officials then it was during the Carter administration when pickup trucks Cowboy sunday