Shawington

On Thursday, we had a very strong showing in the debate co-sponsored by the Dupont Circle Citizens Association and Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2B, which was moderated by Davis Kennedy of The Current Newspapers. There was an outpouring of support at the debate, which highlighted key differences between my opponent and me.

Focus. I an running to be a true Ward Councilmember, committed to working on quality of life and public interest issues – from restoring library services, rejuvenating schools and public parks, and improving public safety. My opponent made little mention of such issues during the debates.

Tax relief. I will focus tax relief on small businesses and long-time residents who have experienced a steep rise in property taxes. My opponent supports across-the-board cuts that would favor big businesses over those who need help.

Quality of life. For example, I strongly support placing reasonable limits on daytime noise, while my opponent voted to strip the noise bill of its effectiveness.

Fiscal responsibility. My opponent has saddled District residents with the highest per capita debt in the nation due to his sponsorship of hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate giveaways. His failed oversight has allowed scandals in the DC Office of Tax and Revenue. Yet, he continues to discuss more publicly-financed stadiums and earmarks.

You can read reaction to the debate on the Penn Quarter Living, OffSeventh,
and Washington CityPaper blogs. The Washington Post also wrote about the race today.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve gone door-to-door in every neighborhood in Ward 2. I recently met voters in Georgetown with Tom Pursley, who served for many years as president of the Dent Place Association. We continue to receive a very positive and warm response. That’s why community leaders and activists from across the ward in every neighborhood have endorsed my candidacy.

Onward to September 9!

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

You may have missed them, but there were recently two interesting articles on the retail in and around the Washington Convention Center.

In its July edition, The Intowner featured a story noting some of the challenges nearby small business owners face, such as Azeb Desta, owner of Azi’s Café, who says, “Business is getting better but is not okay,” noting that “maybe twice” have conventioneers come to her business just a block away. Chatman’s D’Vine Bakery & Café owner and baker Debra Chatman, agrees that “it is really hard getting people to come in.”

Wednesday’s Washington Times reports on lawsuits stemming from the Convention Center’s retail space, which, five years after opening, still is not completely filled. This week, the Convention Center was hit with a half million dollar verdict for conspiring to keep local disadvantaged small businesses out of the retail space within the building in order to favor a politically connected businessperson. According to The Times:

The dozen retail spaces that line the outside of the convention center have been a sore spot for the five-year-old complex. At least four tenants have filed lawsuits against the WCCA over problems with construction on their spaces. In addition, eight neighboring retailers have filed a joint suit against the convention center charging that it hasn’t lived up to promises made before construction started.

Once touted as economic development catalyst, the 12 spaces still haven’t all been leased.

My opponent routinely hails the Convention Center as one of his achievements for Ward 2. It cost the taxpayers of this city $850 million in public financing, just short of the baseball stadium, and it’s not delivering. We are paying about $36 million each year alone on debt service associated with its construction. But that’s ok, because it created jobs and brought in more conventioneers to the city who spend money here, right? Wrong. According to a Brookings Institution report, “After building an entirely new
convention center with almost double the exhibit space, the Washington Convention Center Authority has seen effectively no increase in attendance or hotel use.”

The fact of the matter is, the Convention Center has truly become the great white elephant that some feared. It is a convention center designed solely for conventioneers, not as a means for neighborhood revitalization. The first of the retail spaces were not ready for occupancy until three years after opening, and are still not finished today. Conventioneers enter through Massachusetts Avenue or are dropped off and picked up by bus on L Street, giving them no incentive to visit neighborhood businesses. Even the retail spaces inside the convention center don’t actually connect to convention center space. Seventh and Ninth Streets are mostly lined with a long wall, providing no street life. A Convention Center hotel, long planned, is still several years away. It’s an unforgivable case of poor planning and a tremendous missed opportunity.

There still is a chance to reclaim some of the lost potential. Let’s get way finding signs with maps and directories of neighborhood restaurants and shops up along Massachusetts Avenue and L Street. Let’s take action with respect to long vacant commercial properties that line 7th and 9th Street. Let’s finish filling the retail spaces and resolve outstanding lease disputes with small business owners. Let’s get our priorities back on track.

(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

On June 24, I joined the Penn Quarter Neighborhood Association, whose membership includes both area businesses and residents, for their monthly breakfast meeting with MPD Assistant Chief Diane Groomes and Jaleo owner José Andrés.

Issues raised with Chief Grooomes focused on the need to address quality-of-life offenses, such as tour buses idling in front of condos, drummers playing well into the night, and aggressive pan handling. Chief Groomes also noted the challenge of community policing in Police Service Area 101, which runs from 17th Street to Union Station.

I believe in a “broken windows” approach to policing and agrees with residents that rigorous enforcement is key to safer and more liveable, vibrant communities. I supported the original noise bill before it was stripped and passed as an empty shell by the DC Council. As Council Member, I pledge to provide the Penn Quarter community with its own Police Service Area and political representation, recognizing that it has evolved into a distinct neighborhood.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Does it bother you too?

The DC Council is now apparently developing legislation to allocate $150 million of public funds to building a soccer stadium. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see a new soccer stadium in the District. In fact, this year, I got together a group of friends to go to a DC United game on my birthday.

But $150 million in public money for construction costs?

This is on top of the $800 million spent on the baseball stadium and reports that my opponent is now pushing for a new football stadium for the Redskins.

Sure, let’s support owners who will make an investment in DC by locating here by improving the infrastructure to make it happen — expanding metro capacity and upgrading stations, repaving streets and reorganizing traffic flow, installing new sidewalks and street lighting, developing new bus routes — everything that is needed to make it safe, easy, and enjoyable to go to a game. But paying for construction for a private business, that’s where I would draw the line. I’d like to open a nice deli, but I’m not asking the DC government to build me a store.

Just last night, I organized a meeting with government officials and about two dozen downtown residents to develop a plan for improving a long neglected and forgotten neighborhood park, one of many in the District. The circle center of the park was filled with cardboard boxes of those who had made the park a semi-permanent home. The park reminds me of ancient ruins I explored on a recent visit to Israel — stones around the perimeter have crumbled and are in disarray, the sidewalks are grown over with weeds and grass, remnants of light fixtures of a time past line the park. Residents avoid the area, which is between Union Station and the Convention Center, the gateway to downtown, because they do not feel safe. Of course, the question of the night was where will the city find the money for renovating the park when they can’t even seem to maintain it? Well, when it comes to a few hundred million here and there for stadiums, finding money seems to be no problem. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Professional sports teams get money for stadium construction and luxury boxes. Residents scramble to organize clean ups to make the filth of neighborhood parks bareable. Kids are left on the streets.

It’s time to tell the DC Council that we expect a change in priorities. Before the city spends $150 million on construction costs for another stadium, let’s see it adequately maintain and renovate every single one of our neighborhood parks so that they can be used by residents and their children. Before the city provides another multimillion dollar giveaway for a ballpark, let’s see the city provide enough funding to keep its recreation centers open on weekends. Before the city writes that next big check to a wealthy sports team, let’s see it find the money to give significant tax relief to struggling small businesses.

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Photograph of J. Seward Johnson, Jr.’s The Awakening (previously) located at Hains Point, Washington, D.C. Photographer: Ryan Sandridge

The Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center will come to life in Prince George’s County next month, providing a stark comparison to the lost opportunity and promise of DC’s own convention center. To add insult to injury, National Harbor snatched “The Awakening” straight out of District soil in Hains Point to become the centerpiece of the MD gateway, and hosted the Nationals 2008 fundraising gala. And look what else is coming, according to the Washington Business Journal:

This initial phase will house some 330,000 square feet of retail — including 10 to 12 restaurants as well as an entertainment district — all to be completed in a year. The developer has firm commitments on 60 percent of the first phase of retail space, with most retailers signing three- to 15-year leases and receiving tenant improvement allowances.

Some District businesses are opening new locations in National Harbor, such as the U Street favorite Cake Love. In addition to the 2,000 rooms at the Gaylord Hotel, there will also be a Hampton Inn and a Westin.

Compare to our own Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where it took years for the first shops to open, and the small amount of retail space included in the building (and not well thought out) has yet to be filled. A few months ago, a deal was finally announced to bring in a long-expected convention center hotel — in 2011!

Meanwhile, the bold owners of the few small businesses that opened on the 7th and 9th Streets, such as Breakwell’s Coffee and D’Vine Bakery & Cafe, are struggling to survive. Those located within the convention center itself are reportedly engaged in disputes over their lease stemming from the expensive build out expenses that were placed on the owners. Vacant property continues to line the surrounding area.

The District is already losing business to its new Prince George’s competition. According to The Washington Informer:

The District’s hotel, the 1,300-room Marriott Wardman Park on Connecticut Avenue, NW, has lost three events to the Gaylord–two military-related shows and a major computer software company’s meeting, according to its general manager. He reported that losing the three annual shows cost him $6 million a year in room revenue, food and beverages, and banquets.

The loss of tax revenues will also impact District of Columbia coffers. National Harbor will pump nearly $1 billion in tax revenues into Prince George’s County during the next 30 years.

UPDATE 4/11: And the Washington Post, in an article noting that National Harbor has now also taken Cirque du Soleil from the District, says:

The lavish resort has garnered many of the reservations that would have gone to the District’s hotels and Convention Center.

It seems that our conventioneers, our local businesses, even our public art, and, most importantly, our chance to make a lasting improvement in the heart of DC, were stolen right out from under our nose. How did this happen? When Washington Harbor opens will DC have an awakening?

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...