The Washington D.C. Economic Partnership, a non-profit that helps market the city to businesses and investors, has been through the ringer lately. The Mayor's 2012 budget cut its allocation in half, to $500,000, requiring intervention from Councilmember Jack Evans to secure a temporary fix, which prevented the organization from dissolving completely. Now, it seems like [...]

This morning, at the conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trio of economic development bigwigs–at the end of a discussion about large empty malls that need filling–were posed with a surprising question: Does your jurisdiction support food trucks?
Steve Moore, head of the Washington D.C. Economic Partnership, indicated his recognition of the cold [...]

What's wrong with this picture?
It's not the boutonnière-matching magenta, although that is rather eye-smarting. No, it's the puzzling incongruity of trumpeting the tall-building credentials of a guy headlining an economic development showcase in a city that will never be able to build anything like his crowning achievement, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
Sure, Roger Frechette has a few [...]

Being a capital city, as any long-term resident of the District knows, is both a blessing and a curse. You get the grand buildings and hoopla that accompany the seat of government, and sometimes more cheese than usual from the feds. But you also often have little say in your own governance, and herds of [...]