April 25, 2007
Morning Roundup: City Center's Over Edition
Good morning, Washington. How's spring treating you? We're pretty pleased with how things have been shaping up this week. Not everyone's as sanguine about it, though: we were surprised to hear last night's FOX5 newscast include some newscaster banter whining about the heat. Well, relax Mr. Bolter. Today will be cooler, although it'll end with rain.
City Agencies Flee Downtown: Traffic and parking are concerns, but it's skyrocketing property values that are spurring many city agencies to leave downtown, according to NBC4. MPD HQ and the transportation, employment and consumer affairs departments are among those leaving the heart of the city for cheaper digs in Anacostia, Northeast and Southwest. We're assured that core city services like the courts will be staying put, however.
Kaine Intends To Close Gun Loophole: That's what he said in a radio interview with WTOP yesterday, according to the Post. VT gunman Seung-Hui Cho was able to purchase firearms even after being declared a danger to himself by a court — the fact that he wasn't involuntarily committed to an institution prevented the legal system's determination that he was a danger to himself from coming up when he bought his guns. Governor Kaine intends to issue an executive order that would make this information available and relevant during firearm background checks. His staff is currently working to determine whether such a measure would require legislative approval.
Briefly Noted: Police still looking for hit & run driver... Hains' Point sculpture sold, to be moved to Maryland... Duck bus collides with minivan... School janitor charged with sexual battery of a minor... Maryland passes environmental legislation...
This Day In DCist: One year ago we debuted Inside the House and fretting about gas prices. Two years ago we drafted some unofficial rules for Metro riders and wondered what the new stadium would be named.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user gbmcinephoto
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Maybe I'm just being ignorant but it seems crazy to me that the city rents space for these agencies.
City center used to be the center of our scene.
now no one really goes there. then some nights we used to drink beneath this railroad bridge.
Now city center's over, no one really goes there.
what the . . .? that wasn't me! great minds think alike?
Good god. White leggings with a red skirt? Is this atrocious trend ever going to die?
Politburo - The District used to own most of their agency space, but sold most of it between 1975-1995 to pay off their Barry-era defecits. And wasn't there some big court case with Conrad Motts over the redevelopment of the District Building a few years back? The bureaucracy remains, but now they have to pay exorbitant rents.
Politiburo says "it seems crazy to me that the city rents space"
See who the landlords are and then look at lists of political donors.
The government leases offices instead of owning them to give the illusion of balanced budgets, and because DC needs to preserve its ability to borrow money for more worthwhile projects -- building facilities for billionaire sports team owners and their millionaire professional athletes, for example.
Worse yet is a scam - er, stratagem - of government at all levels, often under the euphemism "Public-Private-Partnership." Instead of making an honest capital expense, the government allows developers to use public land, often with tax breaks, to build office space which the government leases back until the building is paid for ten times over. The developer then gives the tottering, useless slum back to the government.
The rents charged to the city agencies have jumped big time. So have energy costs. I still don't understand why the city doesn't actually build/buy office space and consolidate agencies/departments in a few locations. Plus, as much as I am for development of the Anacostia, does it really make sense to locate city agencies way out there? It's not particularly convenient for the rest of the city to get to those locations. It would be like moving a city agency to Chevy Chase and not caring that it's located far from the center of the city. Of course, the folks in Chevy Chase would have a collective stroke if a city agency were to ever re-locate to their neighborhoods, but it would be fun to watch their hissy fits nonetheless.
monkeyrotica:
I believe that land sales in that period were organized by federal redevelopment agencies, in dealings notorious for their opacity.
I think the District is using the Reeves Center model of neighborhood economic development: put a gummint agency in an economically disadvantaged area and the retail/residential development will follow. It's sort of a faulty syllogism though: U Street was already on the rise with the opening of the Metro Station and the fact that the area was undervalued in the 1980s. And look at the great retail in the ground floor of the Reeves Building: empty gogo club, Ben's Icecream, and a shoe repair joint. I predict more of the same for Anacostia. The area will be developed in spite of DC Government plans, not because of them.
"We're assured that core city services like the courts will be staying put, however."
Well, not that the word service should be ever closely associated with the DMV, but the downtown DMV is closing and moving to M st. SW.
"Good god. White leggings with a red skirt? Is this atrocious trend ever going to die?"
To be fair, that woman's legs are roughly the same shade of white as her leggings, so I don't think she'd look that different without them.
Don't expect any part of Anacostia to resemble U Street anytime soon, though.
The Reeves Center did next to nothing for U Street. The reason those businesses are there is they provided the basic services for city workers that the area itself lacked. Now that private development, spurred North from the CBD by increasing costs and safety, has reached U Street, those formerly-needed businesses are relics preserved by long leases and patronage.
Good to see DC's fashion sense AND literacy going the way of shoefitting fluoroscopes, affordable housing, and human dignity.
White leggings- ew. Standing barefoot in a public fountain? Double ew.
then we used to drink beneath this railroad bridge. some nights the bus wouldn't even stop. there were just way too many kids.
"The Reeves Center did next to nothing for U Street. The reason those businesses are there is they provided the basic services for city workers that the area itself lacked."
This does not compute. What you are saying is that building a building there for city employees encouraged businesses to open to support them. So then, yes, the Reeves Center did do something for the area.
That being said, I remember back in the mid-1990s when friends started moving to 14th Street and Shaw that U Street was just sort of okay. Mostly businesses that were chased out of Dupont, actually.
And friends that grew up here have said that U Street was supposed to be the "next big thing" in the 1980s and that all these bars opened up there and then immediately died because the patrons didn't come.
Metro probably did most for the area. Although by the time the metro opened the businesses and the residents had started to gentrify -- as I said, chased out of other parts of the city (Dupont, Adams Morgan, Georgetown), or at least unable to find space there.
Still, I remember seeing the Reeves Center in mid-1990s and thinking: that's a cool building. Still one of my favorites in DC. I'm fully willing to believe that I'm alone in that assessment.
I'm actually glad the city doesn't own so many buildings. Yeah - the rents are high, but at least the buildings are properly maintained. The city owns all of these schools and look how poorly they are maintained!