Dear CAG Community,
Former President and Georgetown resident John F. Kennedy once said that “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
I cannot think of a more important time for our community to look to the future. I am confident that our future will be brighter than our very recent history of pandemic and strife. It is an honor to have been elected as your board president at this time of tremendous challenge and change.
As a residential, commercial, and scholastic urban neighborhood, Georgetown is a complex economic and social ecosystem. For the members of CAG, it is the most profound of all places: It is our community and our home. And for our visitors who conduct business, shop, eat, study and pray here, Georgetown is a historic and treasured place.
As I write this, Georgetown is subdued. We are several months into a quarantined life that is much less economically and socially vibrant than what we are used to. Wisconsin and M Streets are boarded up; the streetscape looks scarred in some places, but like an urban-art gallery in others. We do our best to explain to our children why, and what has happened. We point to the peaceful demonstrations as a better example. These are difficult times, and they can be confusing to people of all ages and races.
But this will not last; Georgetown will reopen, and recover, and change in ways that we cannot yet fully predict, but in ways that I believe we can look forward to.
I can tell you that wonderful opportunities are in store for CAG which will soon give us the infrastructure support we need to upgrade our essential services and processes. I look forward to adding value to your CAG membership with more technologically efficient membership communications, a more streamlined development process, and building robust committees as well as recruitment of individual volunteers. We’ll still ask for your help, and we’ll remember to show our thanks.
Enriching our community through educational programs, public safety, historic preservation, beautification, and active engagement with our key partners in the public, private and nonprofit sectors will continue to be cornerstones of CAG – a vital organization that has been protecting the interests of our ever-changing neighborhood, and maintaining a thoughtful balance between residential and commercial needs, for more than a century (did you know that we were the District of Columbia’s first civic group?).
I have not called Georgetown “home” as long as many of you – but the people and work of CAG are why I felt at home here, right from the start. When Betsy Cooley recruited me to serve as a committee volunteer, I knew I was becoming part of the Georgetown family; I cherish my place in it, and thank you all for your support.
Our best days are ahead of us, as we appreciate and learn from our past and look with great hope toward Georgetown’s future.