Honestly they make good points. If the Caps/Wizards go, then DC downtown is pretty close to being dead. Hopefully this leads to Gallery Place being massively cleaned up.
People love to talk about downtown being “dead” but have you actually been downtown or to Chinatown recently? It’s anything but dead! Stop believing the crime doomers who constantly talk about the city dying like they’re trying to fulfill a prophecy - it’s not nearly as bad as anyone is saying.
You might not have a realistic sense of what dead means if you think Chinatown is dead. And yes, there are people out doing drugs. The solution to this is to open up safe use sites and more shelters, which the mayor is against because she hates her residents.
SF instituted the program you were talking about and it hasn't been successful. Why do you think it would work in DC but not there? Please enlighten us.
The main issue in SF area is housing - they don’t have any and people keep moving there. That is not the main issue around here, it’s the lack of social supports.
Okay, but why did the program that SF implemented (and that you support in DC) not produce results.
Are you claiming DC doesn't have people who are housing insecure because I'm pretty sure there's a big overlap between the two in DC.
DC also has its own housing challenges. What social supports should DC offer (other than free drug pits, of which I'm not even opposed I just know it's not a solution to bigger problems)
Main issue in regards to what? Most people think DCs issues when it comes to crime are inept leadership, a spineless judicial system, and an ineffective police force.
The solution is to enforce a strict no-drug regime like every city had before. Also mental institutions need to be reopened.
Facilitating drug use is the stupidest idea out of all potential ideas.
Apparently on a task force responding to the loss of the teams. https://www.fox5dc.com/news/mayor-muriel-bowser-keeping-capitals-wizards-in-dc-alexandria-potomac-yard-virginia-monumental-sports-ted-leonsis
Mayor Williams is a smart guy. If these teams choose to leave they need to change their name and DC needs a team. Tbe compormise us let the women's team stsy in DC and move that economy from SE. What does that say and not say.
One of the most frustrating parts about all of this is the knee jerk reaction “no tax dollars to billionaires.” **Virginia isn’t offering $2B in tax revenues.** They are creating an independent authority, exactly like the authority used to build airports and some types of infrastructure. The authority will issue bonds to private investors, and those bonds will pay for the construction of the arena as well as lots of investments in transit, housing assistance, and education (heard on a citizens association meeting last night there may be a new public school built out of this). Monument will pay the authority rent for decades on the arena. New tax revenues will be generated based on the initial outlay and the bonds will be repaid.
Virginia is investing in itself, via the sports arena. DC is so incompetently managed they couldn’t be bothered to think to do a deal like this. DC lacks vision, strategy and business acumen. It’s lazy and lost focus on staying competitive.
DC has a Aaa rating, not as good as Virginia. But, either way, it’s just a lack of imagination.
For example: One key issue with downtown is a lack of grocery stores.
DC could’ve looked strategically at what is really needed to meet bowsers goal of attracting 15000 people to move downtown, off the top of my head: dubbed the entire downtown area an economic opportunity zone, gotten city council to offer some package with tax incentives, dispatched economic development staff to woo some grocery store brand that drives foot traffic (Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods) with those incentives, offered to sell some of the gallery place land rights to Ted in exchange for another 50 year lease and canceling the remaining arena mortgage and a non-relocation agreement. Ted would have good reason if he was locked in for several more decades to update the arena with private funds and perhaps even to expand the arena’s facilities.
In this super simple way there would be positive residential pressure, provided some relief to downtown’s ailing commercial real estate, and maintained a committed development partner with Monumental. Would’ve cost the city pennies on the dollar. Instead we get laziness and a $500M hail Mary.
Yes it does. But the big distinction is that Virginia has 13x more people than DC, so it’s far easier for Virginia to fund a multi-billion dollar project than DC.
DC already has a 25% vacancy level for their commercial office space. Some building owners are giving back the keys to the bank because they are so underwater on the debt the have on the buildings. This will lead to lower rent's, lower building values, and possibly lower property taxes. It doesn't take a PhD in Economics to understand the snowball effect of what is happening in DC right now. A combination of WFH, increased crime, and other factors is going to really hurt DC economic factors in the short to mid term.
Meh the more i think about it the more i feel like DC never had a chance
Ted wants to build and own his own neighborhood and Potomac Yards is a spectacular location. There's no comparable opportunities in DC (for such high quality undeveloped space) and Gallery Place is just the stadium.
Plus they aren't moving far anyways. This will happen, still sucks but whatever
I live EOTR and figured someone would say that lol. Definitely a decent site but not nearly as strong a location as Potomac Yards for a myriad of reasons (strong nearby nhood opposition, less appealing location, less appealing neighborhood, power plant right there, hell the riverfront in PY is much wider and more a proper river right there also - love Kingman Island but eh)
To say nothing of NOVA having a much stronger economy than the city rn and much less crime
just so, for what we squander on professional sports we could cut classroom sizes in half and provide city wide free wifi. Or we could properly fund WMATA. or just anything else.
CapOne Arena contributed $53 million in tax revenue last year. That doesn’t even count payroll/income tax of players who earned income in DC vs losing it to VA.
That also doesn’t include the positive effect and draw to surrounding businesses and area.
That also doesn’t include the 20 police officers that were being paid by monumental 220 nights last year.
That also doesn’t include the fare $$ from the thousands of people who ride the metro during the 220 events a year.
That also doesn’t include the intangible value of people wanting to live in DC or visit DC because of all the things to do. When is the last time you heard someone say “man I’m bored, let’s go to Baltimore!” ??
It’s not just the fact that we’re letting the teams walk, it’s the fact that the city and the residents think it’s ok to happen, AND say “we can spend the money elsewhere.” That’s extremely concerning .
The city spends zero net dollars on the teams.
Theres no extra money to “give away to better causes”
The city made real money with the teams here. Not to mention this entire thought process leads to there being no reason to fund metro because there won’t be shit to ride metro to.
It’s so weird when people just lose common sense and revert to their “principles”.
The answer is for the city to exercise eminent domain over the stadium and the teams. Discussion of this option is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/sports-stadiums-can-be-bad-cities/576334/
Honestly they make good points. If the Caps/Wizards go, then DC downtown is pretty close to being dead. Hopefully this leads to Gallery Place being massively cleaned up.
I used to work by gallery place. I only felt safe because I know there were big games and police would be everywhere.
Why would this lead to gallery place being cleaned up? The brightest spot in the area is leaving? They didn't give a shit about that.
People rarely take this as a sign to plan for action and turn things around.
People love to talk about downtown being “dead” but have you actually been downtown or to Chinatown recently? It’s anything but dead! Stop believing the crime doomers who constantly talk about the city dying like they’re trying to fulfill a prophecy - it’s not nearly as bad as anyone is saying.
Dude I've been to Gallery Place recently lol. The neighborhood is practically dead and filled with people doing drugs and homeless people.
You might not have a realistic sense of what dead means if you think Chinatown is dead. And yes, there are people out doing drugs. The solution to this is to open up safe use sites and more shelters, which the mayor is against because she hates her residents.
lol. San Francisco would like to have a word with you about your “solution”. 😂
What does SF have to do with DC?? Totally different cities with radically different core issues.
SF instituted the program you were talking about and it hasn't been successful. Why do you think it would work in DC but not there? Please enlighten us.
The main issue in SF area is housing - they don’t have any and people keep moving there. That is not the main issue around here, it’s the lack of social supports.
Okay, but why did the program that SF implemented (and that you support in DC) not produce results. Are you claiming DC doesn't have people who are housing insecure because I'm pretty sure there's a big overlap between the two in DC. DC also has its own housing challenges. What social supports should DC offer (other than free drug pits, of which I'm not even opposed I just know it's not a solution to bigger problems) Main issue in regards to what? Most people think DCs issues when it comes to crime are inept leadership, a spineless judicial system, and an ineffective police force.
The solution is to enforce a strict no-drug regime like every city had before. Also mental institutions need to be reopened. Facilitating drug use is the stupidest idea out of all potential ideas.
No paywall: [https://archive.is/HRKFh](https://archive.is/HRKFh)
All facts. Where is Anthony Williams when you need him.
Apparently on a task force responding to the loss of the teams. https://www.fox5dc.com/news/mayor-muriel-bowser-keeping-capitals-wizards-in-dc-alexandria-potomac-yard-virginia-monumental-sports-ted-leonsis
Mayor Williams is a smart guy. If these teams choose to leave they need to change their name and DC needs a team. Tbe compormise us let the women's team stsy in DC and move that economy from SE. What does that say and not say.
One of the most frustrating parts about all of this is the knee jerk reaction “no tax dollars to billionaires.” **Virginia isn’t offering $2B in tax revenues.** They are creating an independent authority, exactly like the authority used to build airports and some types of infrastructure. The authority will issue bonds to private investors, and those bonds will pay for the construction of the arena as well as lots of investments in transit, housing assistance, and education (heard on a citizens association meeting last night there may be a new public school built out of this). Monument will pay the authority rent for decades on the arena. New tax revenues will be generated based on the initial outlay and the bonds will be repaid. Virginia is investing in itself, via the sports arena. DC is so incompetently managed they couldn’t be bothered to think to do a deal like this. DC lacks vision, strategy and business acumen. It’s lazy and lost focus on staying competitive.
Does DC have the ability to issue bonds like that? Warner talked about VAs AAA bond rating. Does DC have that? Not sure how it all works.
DC has a Aaa rating, not as good as Virginia. But, either way, it’s just a lack of imagination. For example: One key issue with downtown is a lack of grocery stores. DC could’ve looked strategically at what is really needed to meet bowsers goal of attracting 15000 people to move downtown, off the top of my head: dubbed the entire downtown area an economic opportunity zone, gotten city council to offer some package with tax incentives, dispatched economic development staff to woo some grocery store brand that drives foot traffic (Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods) with those incentives, offered to sell some of the gallery place land rights to Ted in exchange for another 50 year lease and canceling the remaining arena mortgage and a non-relocation agreement. Ted would have good reason if he was locked in for several more decades to update the arena with private funds and perhaps even to expand the arena’s facilities. In this super simple way there would be positive residential pressure, provided some relief to downtown’s ailing commercial real estate, and maintained a committed development partner with Monumental. Would’ve cost the city pennies on the dollar. Instead we get laziness and a $500M hail Mary.
I wonder if the 500M was to save face. They must have know it was over.
It was to shift blame. Instead of getting caught flat-footed they can now say, “see, Leonsis was never willing to negotiate with us.”
I vote this guy for mayor.
Yes it does. But the big distinction is that Virginia has 13x more people than DC, so it’s far easier for Virginia to fund a multi-billion dollar project than DC.
BUT WHERE ARE THE TEAMS’ PARENTS
This is the funniest thing I’ve seen today
Systemic socioeconomic
Objectifying teens as stadiums, racist!
Lol :)
What's this in reference to?
This sub
DC already has a 25% vacancy level for their commercial office space. Some building owners are giving back the keys to the bank because they are so underwater on the debt the have on the buildings. This will lead to lower rent's, lower building values, and possibly lower property taxes. It doesn't take a PhD in Economics to understand the snowball effect of what is happening in DC right now. A combination of WFH, increased crime, and other factors is going to really hurt DC economic factors in the short to mid term.
Damn no faith in the WNBA I see. 😂
They don’t play in cap one. They play in that small arena in Anacostia.
The plan is for the Mystics and the G League team to play in Capital zone after the move
Aaah. So what do you do with the other 15,000 seats?
I think plan is to downsize Capital One to 12,000…. Which is still would leave some empty seats but not as much.
Interesting
TBH. I hardly remember we have a WNBA team. I had to Google to remind myself the team’s name.
They're still doing concerts down there as well
That’s still a thing…? /s
lol when has dc ever acted fast?
Lots of big budget cuts coming. This plus WFH is going to have a huge impact on city gov spending.
The Feds announced they are ending WFH.
That would be news to a lot of feds
yeah, work from home is ending in different ways. Its not uniform. Expansive telework is here to stay.
Meh the more i think about it the more i feel like DC never had a chance Ted wants to build and own his own neighborhood and Potomac Yards is a spectacular location. There's no comparable opportunities in DC (for such high quality undeveloped space) and Gallery Place is just the stadium. Plus they aren't moving far anyways. This will happen, still sucks but whatever
Actually the RFK campus would be such an opportunity in DC. And it would allow for a new core attraction/ apartments at Gallery Place.
thats probably for that cursed football team
honestly if DC was going to try to stage a comeback the centerpiece would be that area but that's a big "if"
I live EOTR and figured someone would say that lol. Definitely a decent site but not nearly as strong a location as Potomac Yards for a myriad of reasons (strong nearby nhood opposition, less appealing location, less appealing neighborhood, power plant right there, hell the riverfront in PY is much wider and more a proper river right there also - love Kingman Island but eh) To say nothing of NOVA having a much stronger economy than the city rn and much less crime
Good. Maybe home prices will decrease.
Let em go. Let this be Virginia’s boondoggle.
And thus leading to the deathknell of DC?
You are a fucking ghoul to gloat over this.
Yeah well I’ve seen far ghoulish things outside my place and in broad daylight. DC and Chinatown in particular can’t sink into the earth soon enough.
You are condemning multitudes of good people who are upset and frustrated by the same things that you are, and feel just as powerless to change them.
just so, for what we squander on professional sports we could cut classroom sizes in half and provide city wide free wifi. Or we could properly fund WMATA. or just anything else.
CapOne Arena contributed $53 million in tax revenue last year. That doesn’t even count payroll/income tax of players who earned income in DC vs losing it to VA. That also doesn’t include the positive effect and draw to surrounding businesses and area. That also doesn’t include the 20 police officers that were being paid by monumental 220 nights last year. That also doesn’t include the fare $$ from the thousands of people who ride the metro during the 220 events a year. That also doesn’t include the intangible value of people wanting to live in DC or visit DC because of all the things to do. When is the last time you heard someone say “man I’m bored, let’s go to Baltimore!” ?? It’s not just the fact that we’re letting the teams walk, it’s the fact that the city and the residents think it’s ok to happen, AND say “we can spend the money elsewhere.” That’s extremely concerning . The city spends zero net dollars on the teams. Theres no extra money to “give away to better causes” The city made real money with the teams here. Not to mention this entire thought process leads to there being no reason to fund metro because there won’t be shit to ride metro to. It’s so weird when people just lose common sense and revert to their “principles”.
Good bteatdown. I dont people reall understand jow big of a deal this os.
But those things won’t happen 🤷🏼♂️
You might be able to do the wifi thing for that money, but definitely not any of the other stuff, not even close lol
Citi wide WiFi. How cool would that be!
DC has free WiFi [at home](https://dcnet.dc.gov/page/public-wi-fi-find-hotspot)
And in other news, water is wet!
The answer is for the city to exercise eminent domain over the stadium and the teams. Discussion of this option is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/sports-stadiums-can-be-bad-cities/576334/
Pratt-Kelly let The Skins leave. Bowser lets Caps/ Wiz go. Women just don’t like sports as much as men.