Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Wards 7 & 8: Check In N Heard the WTOP interview on the ride in this morning as well...interesting... http://wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1270422 -rw
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW I think it's important to specify that the District spends money on infrastructure for any new development project, including several that Fenty has just pushed through, not just sports facilities. If the argument is just left to sports facilities, he can shift the responsibility to Williams. On a different topic, do we have a scorecard of which Council members are Pro/Con/Undecided about United and Poplar Point?
As Steve promised yesterday and Suppity posted a few posts earlier, David Nakamura has a piece today with reactions from District officials: Md. Comes Courting in D.C. United's Stadium Search Key points: and, importantly... Click in and read the whole piece. It's got a lot of interesting stuff in it. Nicely balanced article by David, with contributions from Steve. It's nice to see this kind of journalism regarding stadium buildiing, particularly in comparison to the biased, anti-stadium approach (my and many others' opinion) that the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News took to the RSL stadium fight. Be glad that we are blessed with a paper that operates on journalistic excellence and integrity. And, as Suppity guessed, it's on B-1, top of the page (note: this link will only reflect Oct 17th's edition on Oct 17th):
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW Slight adjustments to your post to shift the focus from just United to the community at large.
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW Oh you should remember, Fenty was the lone City Councilman hold out against the Nats stadium. The deal was signed before he took over as Mayor. He has huge issues with public funding of stadiums. I realize our Big Mac Daddy is footing the bill for the stadium, but Fenty would be very concerned about the infrastructure costs. What we need to learn is, given the size of development that Mac was initially seeking, how much should infrastructure cost be in a totally undeveloped plot of land. If he was asking for 3x that typical amount, then I can understand Fenty's position in wanting competing bids. However, even then, he should have mandated that a soccer stadium be part of the bid requirement at PP. The minute he took that off the table, he should have offered up a different spot in the city and made bids mandatory to include a SSS there.
OK - I'll ask Why is the MD State Comptroller starting this discussion? - Why isn't is it the Chairman of the MD Stadium Authority? - Isn't this something he would normally do? I know that the Comptroller is concerned with Revenues and realizes the benefits of any such development (hopefully in the DC Suburbs and very Metro accessible) - But is there any previous connection between Franchot and MacFarlane? In MD is the Comptroller an elected position or a politically appointed position? - I'm assuming that whatever, the Comptroller shouldn't be a real dummy - He may be pro-business and pro-development (and even in their pockets) but its still all with the idea that commercial development results in a larger tax base I'm assuming in MD that the Stadium Authority is an appointed position - Does he have any original thinking, or is he just a toady with a ring in his nose? - Even if the Comptroller says "Go for it", will he just sit around for a while and twiddle his thumbs What part of MD have these guys come from? - Are they quite willing to go for development in PG County (or possibly Montgomery County), and not Annapolis or Howard or Frederick?
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW Nicely put John. I snipped the early part (for those jumping in at this point, JohnL's whole post is here) to emphasize a point that I think might be missed. I'm assuming that MacFarlane's and Chang's own money is involved in DC United. However, I'm pretty sure that it's other people's money that will be going into the overall development. If so, MacFarlane's reputation and his professional and legal obligation are involved in the development. This may be CalPERS money that is to be invested. He has an obligation to deliver an expected return on that investment. It's not going to happen if that return isn't there.
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW That's not all one should look at. One should also look at the value of the remaining land in the Poplar Point/Anacostia Park parcel that MacFarlane's development wouldn't involve. That's land the District wouldn't have if DCU and its owners (current and former) hadn't spent a lot of time, effort and money lobbying Congress and pushing the land swap legislation through Congress at a time when Congress wasn't particularly interested in it.
I am also curious to know Franchot's "catalyst" for entering the discussion. I can tell you that he is an elected official. He also recently stood up and made a speech against slots in MD, when his governor (and party-mate) is all for it. Franchot is becoming an interesting figure.
He started the discussion by writing a letter to the Stadium Authority. I have the sense that he is focusing on PG County for this idea. It's the county with the best revenue growth potential.
He's been pretty interesting in the MD legislature for a number of years. He served in the House of Delegates for about 20 years prior to winning the Comptroller race against Donald Schaeffer. This is a good article from the Post discussing his inaguration back in January, 2007.
Possibly PG, but I wouldn't be surprised if he concentrates on "down county" Montgomery. He was one of the main guys behind unifying Takoma Park into one county back in the early 90s. Our house used to be in PG, and it's been in Montgomery since about '97 or so. We bought on the PG side in '94 with that in mind.
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW Excellent idea. Feel free to suggest changes, but I think this is what we have so far - Vincent C. Gray - Council Chair:: Pro (per latest WaPo article) Jack Evans - Chair Pro Tempore/Ward Two:: Pro Carol Schwartz - At-Large:: Undecided David Catania - At-Large:: Undecided Phil Mendelson - At-Large:: Undecided Kwame R. Brown - At-Large:: Undecided Jim Graham - Ward One:: Leans Pro (per TheColdSea, constituent) Mary M. Cheh - Ward Three:: Undecided Muriel Bowser - Ward Four:: Undecided Harry Thomas Jr. - Ward Five:: Undecided Tommy Wells - Ward Six:: Undecided Yvette Alexander - Ward Seven:: Strong Pro (co-founder of Poplar Point Coalition) Marion Barry - Ward Eight:: Strong Pro Once we get this updated (thanks Mighty!) and comprehensive, I'll add it to the sticky in here for future reference.
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW According to this article (last paragraph) Evans supports MacFarlane.
Guess who checks in with his two cents about the Fenty/MacFarlane/Poplar Point/Maryland stuff......oh yeah, everyone's favorite.....Marc Fisher. Here's the twist: It's not a piece of crap this time. Some highlights: OK, there's still some little holes in this, and I think he's being too lenient with Fenty. But it's obvious that Fisher put a lot more thought into this.
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW Maryland United, it has a nice tune to it (only kidding, well, sort of). Franchot has local ties, so obviously there is the interest. Also, his responsibility includes bringing in revenue to the state, so he sees this as a good opportunity. Competition can only be good for DC United. It can get things moving.
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW Thanks for assembling this. Looks like we've already got some of the bigger names on the council on our side. But the Fisher post indicates that we've got a lot more work to do with those other folks.
Wonder why Fisher doesn't tell us WHICH council members are against the plan - that reeks of Fox News' tried and true "some people think..." journalism style.
I've started a Facebook group for the Online Petition. Hopefully it'll get a few more signatures... http://vcu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5671344961
Re: Stadium News and Speculation IX | DCUnitedPetition.com - DC Residents in Ward 4: CHECK IN NOW As Maryland Comptroller, and being against slots as a way of raising revenue, you have to assume Franchot sees a DC United stadium as a revenue-generating concept, which is refreshing. It seems that the opponents of the Poplar Point site think the stadium just takes up space which could be better utilized as a park (which would bring in zero revenue, BTW.) Assuming DCU owns the stadium (a must) the revenue Franchot envisions would come from increased economic activity in and around the stadium, including housing, retail, restaurants/bars, etc. But the site has to be large enough for McFarlane or any other developer to recoup the cost of the stadium (presumably self-financed) by development of the contiguous area or some other area he is given access to. The 53 acre site at the intersection of 270 and Old Georgetown Road in lower MoCo would be almost ideal (the "almost" is because it is a hike to Metro), but I think it eventually will go to an upscale commercial/residential developer who would see a stadium as an annoyance rather than an asset.
Here is the email and letter I sent out this morning to my council member, the at-large council members, Council Chair Gray and Congresswoman Norton: Enough is enough. I read with great alarm the Washington Post article this morning concerning the State of Maryland trying to lure DC United and their development proposal to the Washington suburbs. Please, have someone from the Fenty administration explain to you and me why the District would actively seek to dismiss a proposal to build 8 million square feet of environmentally sensitive retail, restaurants and housing (including 30% affordable housing) surrounding an anchor attraction in a part of the city that has been historically neglected. Mayor Fenty states that he rejected the United proposal so there could be open competition. However, his staff then inexplicably issued an RFEI that is written to exclude the United proposal and limits the amount of development to 4 million square feet. All of this is in the face of support form the political leadership in Ward 8, as well as Ward 7. News reports also say that the Mayor balked at $200 million in infrastructure investment on the part of the city. This flies in the face of reality that the city will need to provide some infrastructure support to any development at Poplar Point. It is also somewhat inconsistent given the support offered to projects west of the Anacostia – including recent subsidies for the Verizon Center renovations ($50 million) and the convention center hotel ($164 million). The treatment of United and their proposal is even more puzzling given Mayor Fenty’s support of the New Town at Capital City Market development – which was not open for competition, opposed by many in that neighborhood, and may eventually involve the use of eminent domain. I also question the judgment of the Fenty administration in rejecting the United proposal for competitive reasons. Given the shadow that the upcoming National Harbor development is already casting over the Washington Convention Center, do we need to hand Prince Georges County and Maryland another opportunity to siphon off business from the District. More directly, by allowing the United proposal to slip through our fingers and end up at a Metro station in PG County Fenty would be creating direct competition for the low-density development he plans for Poplar Point. Mayor Fenty has said that Poplar Point is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Unfortunately, he seems content to choose the lowest impact option. Finally, let me take the opportunity to remind you that United was asked by the Williams administration to move to Poplar Point. United worked with the city to assist with the transfer of land at Poplar Point and participated in the extensive planning process conducted by the AWC. In addition, United conducted their own outreach to communities in Anacostia – including working with youth and in the schools – and invested in significant design work. United has acted in good faith. Mayor Fenty and the District have not. I urge you to support the United proposal for Poplar Point – not for the good of United, but for the future of Anacostia and the District as a whole. If Poplar Point is not an option, I urge you to work to ensure that the development at Poplar Point is one that truly benefits the neighborhood – and also to push for the District to find an alternative location for United. Thank you.
Wow. Thank you for making this connection -- one I hadn't thought of. The New Town proposal is one that irritates the poo out of me (I'm one of the "many in that neighborhood" opposed), but I hadn't thought of using it as a counterexample of what the Mayor's office and the Council has been friendly towards. Thanks.