Sources tell LL that more than a dozen people were laid off last week from the Washington offices of MacFarlane Partners, the development company owned by San Francisco real-estate magnate Victor MacFarlane. MacFarlane also owns the D.C. United soccer squad and has been pushing a soccer stadium at Poplar Point in Anacostia since buying the team in early 2007.

The most telling casualty is Linda Mercado Greene, the former top aide to Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry who became MacFarlane’s VP for public affairs and community relations in the summer of 2006. Greene was a crucial connection in securing Barry’s support for the Poplar Point soccer stadium and convincing other leaders in Ward 8 to follow.

According to LL’s sources, the only executive remaining in D.C. for MacFarlane will be Dana Bryson, once a top aide to former city administrator Robert Bobb.

The downsizing comes at a crucial time, with three crucial elected officials—Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, and finance committee chair Jack Evans—all reticent to support the $225 million in public financing that MacFarlane has reportedly been seeking. Only Barry has been pushing hard to get a deal done, and with Greene out, it’s likely that will no longer be the case.

Meanwhile, investors and politicos in Maryland have been attempting to lure MacFarlane out of the District to sites in Howard and Prince George’s Counties.

It is unclear whether the layoffs were immediate; Greene’s assistant answered the phone at the company’s regional office on Connecticut Avenue this morning. Greene and other MacFarlane representatives have not returned repeated phone calls for comment.

UPDATE, 4:20 P.M.: MacFarlane spokesperson Julie Chase says Greene hasn’t been laid off, but rather that “her role has been moved.” The move in general, Chase says, isn’t a downsizing, but a “restructuring.” More to come.

UPDATE, 7:53 P.M.: The positions being cut, 14 of them, were not in the D.C. office only, Chase says, but also included the New York and San Francisco offices. As for Greene, she says, MacFarlane “no longer has a need for the role that Linda Greene was filling in D.C.,” which included responsibility for securing support for the soccer stadium. But Chase says that Greene has been offered a position with D.C. United itself “that would allow her to continue to focus on the team’s stadium in DC and Prince George’s County.”

OK, like everyone else in town, LL’s been trying to figure out what the hell’s going on with the soccer stadium proposal. Here’s what LL has been able to determine:

• No deal is in place yet. According to Wilson Building sources, the sticking points include, yes, the amount of the District’s commitment—the Fenty administration is holding to a $150 million cap versus the $225 mil that the team is hoping for—and the issue of whether the District will be held responsible for any delays in turning the land over to the team, which, from the District’s point of view is untenable, seeing as the District doesn’t even have possession of the land yet (the feds do) and likely won’t for years, until the National Park Service figures out a way to get its facilities off the property.
• With Councilmember Marion S. Barry Jr. out of town in Tanzania all week, don’t expect a whole lot to get done. He’s the main force driving the stadium deal. Word is, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, though supporters of the project, are treading very lightly indeed.
• Last night, Gray told LL there was virtually no chance stadium legislation would be ready for the Tuesday legislative meeting. That means introduction and committal won’t happen until July, meaning first reading wouldn’t be until after the summer recess.

So, folks, hold your horses: Don’t expect any fireworks on this until the fall.

Toronto FC supporter “carl” (when will “gordo” step up?) lashes out at poorly composed Canadian jokes. In advance of tomorrow’s D.C. United home opener, during which we can only hope we’re spared the horrors Columbus, Ohio, went through, Toronto FC fans have begun to hit back in droves. Well, two of them have begun to hit back, but that’s, like, 1/20000th of the Canadian population. “carl” says:

You forgot the flannel-shirt joke.

Hope you’re not paid real money to write this.

Sadly, “carl” could be talking about his own currency.

Rare footage of Canadian soccer hooligans preparing for a trip south after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever seen a pack of pissed United fans pounce? No? Check Raw Fisher. It ain’t pretty. —Mike DeBonis

Yesterday, we posted some comments on our website from Ward 8 residents stating their positions on the soccer stadium proposed for Poplar Point. From what I’ve heard, local leaders seem to be lining up behind the stadium, while regular residents are a bit more skeptical. Back in September, local non-profit One DC released results from a survey about the stadium. Some three hundred Anacostia residents participated. NBC News 4 covered the story. At that time, 87 percent of those questioned opposed the stadium construction (no matter how it was funded). Here’s a brochure detailing Clark Realty’s proposed development of Poplar Point. Be sure to check out the Metro Soccer District (p. 20), and then see what some folks are saying about it.

LL wasn’t the only tall, handsome, impeccably dressed gentleman roaming the Wilson Building halls this afternoon.

D.C. United owner and real-estate mogul Victor MacFarlane was making the rounds of D.C. Council offices late today, trying to gauge and drum up support for public funding for a Ward 8 soccer stadium.

LL caught up with MacFarlane on his way out of the building about 20 minutes ago and asked him what his message was to councilmembers today. MacFarlane declined to talk specifics, but spoke in broad terms: “I think we’re focusing on the main principles….We’re going to provide substantial equity that doesn’t require any new taxes.”

Yesterday, a Washington Post article revealed that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty was in talks with MacFarlane about public funding for a stadium at Poplar Point.

MacFarlane has lobbied for a soccer stadium on Poplar Point since the days of Mayor Anthony A. Williams, but the talks came as a surprise, because MacFarlane’s company had declined to submit a bid to serve as master developer of the Poplar Point project after Fenty decided to open the land to other developers.

MacFarlane did say that he’s “very satisfied” with the announcement yesterday of Clark Realty as the master developer and that he and Clark had already begun talks about the stadium.

Asked if he was confident of council approval for any public-private partnership on the stadium, MacFarlane said: “I’m hopeful.”

For years, every D.C. United press release (and that’s a massive sample group) has ended with the following plea from management:

When speaking of the organization, please refer to the team as either “D.C. United” or “United,” but not “the D.C. United” or “the United.”

It always reminds me of the Brian Regan routine about the girl who gets pissy when she’s called care-oh-LIN instead of care-oh-LINE. But I figured the request was aimed at George Michael, who along with being the city’s sportscaster of record during his decades at WRC-TV was also a serial malapropist. And among his many manglings was his constantly calling the local soccer team “the United.” But Michael’s been off the air for months now, yet the team’s media pleading persists. Spokesperson Doug Hicks confirms team officials were very aware of Michael as a serial violator of the “the United” rule, but says that the name-calling issue still exists in the post-George era, though “mostly with out-of-town journalists.”

He’s right.

And so the begging continues.