EDITORIAL/ OPINON
Jack Evans Report
A Question of Leadership You hear a lot today about a political leader’s leadership ability, or lack thereof. You hear about what the American people want and need from their leaders. What THEY really need is for leaders to think about one thing, and one thing only: the greater good for all. Political leaders often confuse working for the greater good for all with winning elections, which is actually all about self-interest. Leaders--be they politicians, elected officials, businessmen or CEOs, presidents of associations or captains of industry--need to find expressions of the greater good. They need to inspire trust. They need to be able to bring people together as a group, in an enterprise or in their community. Too often, the opposite happens. Too often we see leadership through division, setting groups and individuals against each other. Too often, we get leaders
who pursue their own agenda, which clashes with the greater good. Good leaders find common ground, divisive leaders shun it. Good leaders provide opportunity and education. Leaders without empathy deprive people of opportunity and education. These days, we see political paralysis because the people we call our leaders don’t lead, barely speak to each other, and fail in their ability to define the greater good. What we need in leaders is courage, wisdom and imagination. Nelson Mandela showed both vision and courage when, after long years of imprisonment, he reached out to his foes to save his country. Former Mayor Anthony Williams showed imagination and embarked on a journey to transform Washington, D.C., the fruits of which we are seeing today.
Letter to the Editor
Nelson Mandela.
As someone who lives on 29th Street between Olive and M, I cannot disagree strenuously enough with your editorial calling for 28th and 29th to be turned into one-way streets. There is no doubt that traffic flow in the area results in damaged mirrors, but “solving this problem” - which I would argue, having suffered a couple of these incidents myself, is just an unfortunate reality of street parking in an urban area in this manner will only exacerbate a bigger one. My mirrors notwithstanding, I am far more concerned about the threat to life and limb posed by the reckless driving that routinely occurs on both 28th and 29th with cars traveling far in excess of the speed limit and barreling through stop signs without regard to the signs themselves or pedestrians that are in the crosswalks. It is simply a matter of time before we witness a terrible tragedy as things currently stand. Removing oncoming traffic as an obstacle to these wannabe Mario Andretti’s would take away the one thing that actually forces them to slow down. The mirror problem is also a reckless driving problem and the way to address this issue is straightforward: actually enforce existing traffic regulations by issuing tickets to violators. The word would get out.
Dear Georgetowner, Thank you for raising the question of how traffic flows on the streets of Georgetown. I am sure everyone who lives here and those who drive on the streets have opinions, including those who do it for a living. Certainly having more one way streets would make driving here easier and with much less property damage to everyone’s automobiles. Sincerely, Anne Armstrong Thompson
Sonya Bernhardt EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Robert Devaney Please send all submissions of opinions for consideration to: editorial@georgetowner.com
8
July 2, 2014 GMG, INC.
FEATURES EDITORS
Gary Tischler Ari Post
BY JACK EVANS On Thursday, June 26, I co-chaired a hearing on a proposed new soccer stadium in the District of Columbia. The meeting brought together residents of the District and representatives of D.C. United, the D.C. Government and other stakeholder organizations. Part of the hearing was to gather stakeholder sentiment about the proposed stadium development, but the hearing was also an opportunity to put the proposal on the public record. I’d like to take this opportunity to share some of those details with you. Thursday’s hearing was the first such hearing on this proposal, so there will be other opportunities to express your views. The new LEED-certified soccer stadium is proposed to be built in Buzzard Point, an under-resourced neighborhood of the city between the Southwest Waterfront and Nationals Stadium. The rationale for locating the stadium in this neighborhood is to create an anchor to help build up this area for residents and build off of the success we’ve seen in other similar projects, such as the Verizon Center and Nationals Stadium, which have helped spur economic development. The new stadium will generate $50 million per year in new economic activity and $14 million per year in payroll in the District. The District of Columbia will acquire and own the land under the stadium and lease the land to DC United, who will design and construct the actual stadium (as well as bear the risk of any increased costs of building). In order to acquire the land in Buzzard Point, the District will purchase land for $85 million. Part of this amount will come from a swap of two city-owned properties for two privately held properties. These swaps are for two properties where the stadium will be built, in exchange for city-owned properties at 14th & U Streets (the Reeves Center) and a smaller property in the Mt. Vernon Triangle neighborhood. The swaps make the process more complicated than a simpler agreement for the city and DC United to split the cost of a stadium, but they give the District an opportunity to maximize our benefit in this project while limiting our actual out of pocket costs. The Reeves Center was built in 1986 and greatly helped the revitalization of the 14th & U Street corridor. However, three separate appraisals have told us that the Reeves building does not maximize the possible community benefits and tax revenue for such a prime location. A private development would provide a more comprehensive and valuable mixed-use building, including office space, retail, affordable housing and other uses. This will build on the success of the U street area, while allowing us to provide the support of government jobs in Anacostia, where a new Reeves Center would be located. This project allows us to provide smart planning for the future of our city and many of our neighborhoods. This development has a few key parts. It will help us spur economic development in two currently under-served parts of our city, Buzzard Point and Anacostia. It will create a permanent, appropriately-sized home for our local soccer team, DC United, and allow us to attract more events and tourism to the District. It will also create new retail and affordable housing at 14th & U Streets. As I see it, that’s three neighborhoods greatly benefitting from this proposal, in addition to the city as a whole. We subsidize lots of things in this city; it is what makes the fabric of our city unique. That rich fabric is why it’s important that we have a soccer team and stadium in this city. The proposal as currently structured isn’t perfect, and I will continue to work with my colleagues on the Council, stakeholders in the project and the residents of Ward 2 to ensure a fair and beneficial deal for the residents of the District of Columbia. I would also like to take a moment to offer my condolences to the family and friends of Tim Hanan, a Foxhall Village and former longtime Georgetown resident, who passed away a few weeks ago. Tim was a lawyer, advisor to Senator Edward Kennedy and Mayor Abe Beane of New York, and a friend to all.
Matthew Perl PUBLISHER
Soccer Stadium Deal
WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA
Charlene Louis ADVERTISING
Evelyn Keyes Kelly Sullivan Richard Selden GRAPHIC DESIGN
Nathan Hill Design Angie Myers
PUBLISHER’S ASSISTANT
Susan Lund
Corrie Dyke PHOTOGRAPHERS
Philip Bermingham Jeff Malet Neshan Naltchayan COPY EDITORS
Richard Selden
INTERNS
Natalie Koltun Joseph Park CONTRIBUTORS
Mary Bird Pamela Burns Linda Roth Conte
Jack Evans Donna Evers John Fenzel Amos Gelb Lisa Gillespie Wally Greeves Jody Kurash Stacy Notaras Murphy Walter Nicholls David Post
Alison Schafer Richard Selden Shari Sheffield Bill Starrels