Comments on: Nationals Park: No Revival Yet. Here Are A Few Reasons Why

By: Shiba-Fussa

Shiba-Fussa — Fri, 14 May 2010 01:20:52 +0000

Jason, wanna write a follow-up article? Think it times to update with all that has changed

By: Skinsfan

Skinsfan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:12:38 +0000

Jason you should read this article

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/capitol_riverfront_25_done/800

By: Downtown rez

Downtown rez — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:22:58 +0000

Jason: That's just foolish. There's plenty of affordable housing in DC (unless, by affordable, you mean affordable by those who earn less than 10K/family member/year and those who can't pass a background check).
Why on earth shouldn't best land use considerations be a factor in where it's placed?

By: kris

kris — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:18:25 +0000

Maybe we can bring back those same Capper residents who asked me if I wanted to buy crack or those who mugged a guy in broad daylight. Why don't we find out where the author, Darrow, lives and pay for the crack dealers to set up shop right outside his home? Keeping out residents with criminal backgrounds is not a bad thing.

Also, it took a few years for the developers of the Verizon Center area to see it become the city destination that it is today (and that was during the boom). Those very same people are negotiating with a number of companies and are trying to convince them to come to the area. However, this takes time, especially with this economy.

By: Jason Cherkis

Jason Cherkis — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:26:51 +0000

Hillman: I think you pretty much sum up the state of the District. Washington, DC: For The Rich.

By: Hillman

Hillman — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:14:16 +0000

"I just wonder if that vibrant place won’t be the exclusive stomping grounds for the rich and well connected."

Um, it's on what should be zillion dollar per square foot property, between riverfront and the seat of the freaking government.

It should be for the rich.

That way their taxes can continue to contribute to giving out free crap to the unworking, which seems to be the real concern here.

We tried having a city without rich people. Didn't work too well, did it?

By: ghost town

ghost town — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:34:33 +0000

What was up with the attendance yesterday? Tickets available at the gates until opening pitch and later announced as a "sell-out"? How bush league is that?

You'd pretty much need to be Travis Bickle himself to lack a connect for free Nats tix. Christ. . . even the Pirates sold out opening day, and they're about to break the Phillies record for most consecutive losing seasons by a pro sports franchise.

By: Dan maceda

Dan maceda — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:28:58 +0000

The Arthur Capper Hope VI project was underway a couple of years before there were any plans for a stadium.Gay nightclubs were what were mainly displaced by the Stadium.
The problem with the Arthur Capper was it was warehousing the poor in a an area walled off by the SW Freeway on two sides , the highwalled Navy yard on the third side and school bus lots and a gas station and waste transfer station on the fourth side.No stores except for a few liquor stores , chinese take out and some small delis.
It is a disgrace that a stadium and the office buildings and condos could be planned and built and there is no end in sight when the Hope VI project will be completed.

By: Jason Cherkis

Jason Cherkis — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:30:45 +0000

I am not going to debate the early '90s welfare and public housing policies here. Needless to say, I think we should all question a housing authority that will allow people to move back into AC based on "good standing" requirements.

We also know that the city has spent more than $1 billion in infrastructure costs (not including the stadium spending) for a fatcat developer who can't even fill his own building near the stadium nor could he sell out opening day.

I have no doubt that many years from now the Stadium District will be a vibrant place. I just wonder if that vibrant place won't be the exclusive stomping grounds for the rich and well connected.

By: SW Resident

SW Resident — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:57:59 +0000

Jason,
You are right about the Southeast development surrounding the ballpark. Former Ward 6 Council woman Sharon Ambrose is responsible for this poor planning scheme and the waste of tax dollars. Whoever wrote that the average taxpayer doesn't pay a dime toward the stadium is economically illiterate. The top grossing businesses in ths city just happen to be the utilites. Who in this city doesn't need Pepco, Washington Gas, Verizon, Comcast, etc? And these companies don't have a license to print paper. If they are taxed, their customers pay. So, we pay, and pay, and pay. For what? More parking lots? David Catania is right. Gandhi has been wrong on every number. No one with his record of failure should be allowed to keep his job. There is ample blame to go around. Don't forget the AWC and NCRC, a major waste of our tax dollars.

By: Downtown rez

Downtown rez — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:39:53 +0000

"...2) Most of the customers that fueled those open-air drug markets were people who lived elsewhere..."
The same can be said of just about any open air drug market anywhere. You know, because it's a market, and a market is a place that people drive to.
The important part (that you are missing) is that the residents of that area ran the market. It would not have exsisted without their allowing it.

By: Sweet William

Sweet William — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:13:18 +0000

MLK urchin: That may be so. Albert's office replaced two entire development agencies as the go-to place for green-lighting development in the District. It's an accretion of developing power a major Northeast city has not seen since Robert Caro was knee-high to Robert Moses. Inarticulate and boring seem to work just fine for Mr. Albert.

By: Shiba-Fussa

Shiba-Fussa — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:42:47 +0000

Why bother to leave a comment when Jason Cherkis is always going to be right no matter what anyone says. I guess Jason Cherkis beleives the area should have just stayed the way it was back before the bad 'ole days of today.

Maybe Jason Cherkis should write an article about what is going on in SE instead of his bitter, negative, one-sided view point.

By: Hillman

Hillman — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:41:29 +0000

I have no problem with public housing tenants having to be 'in good standing' to return.

This is FREE housing for them - paid for by my tax dollars. As such, it's not too much to ask them to not actually commit and be convicted of crimes, to maintain a minimum level of fiscal responsibility, etc.

Many of those in AC had been there basically since the units were built.

Remember that public housing (with the exception of senior housing) is supposed to be temporary. It was never meant to be a freebie for life.

And Jason fails to point out that the stadium was paid for by a tax ONLY on large businesses. They by and large supported this tax. Nothing came out of the average DC taxpayers pocket. And that ballpark tax is now collecting between $10 and $20 million more per year than is needed to service the debt.

So that alone is millions that goes - you guessed it - to the DC tax coffers.

Plus the land around the stadium jumped in value from less than one billion to over five billion. That's tens of millions per year in additional tax revenue.

The city is ahead tens of millions per year. And that's just as it is now.

Is the area what we'd like? No. But it's a damn sight better than it was.

And the fact that there is WAY less crime in that area and spilling over into southern Capitol Hill is a benefit you can't really measure just in dollars.

By: Skinsfan

Skinsfan — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:36:59 +0000

thank you bob