Councilmembers Irked by Reports of Money Spent on Baseball Consultants: WTOP reports that members of the D.C. Council are pressing for an investigation of the alleged use of baseball consultants by the mayor’s office during the stadium-financing controversy. WTOP was the first to report on the matter through a massive Freedom of Information Act request.
WTOP has also learned that the District has been paying the travel expenses of several California-based contractors. Two of them worked on the mayor’s recent trip to China. All of them have ties to City Administrator Robert Bobb, who used to work in Oakland, leading some to call the consultants the “Oakland Mafia”.
Oh Marion: Former Mayor and current Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry still has some campaign debt to settle, so the District must “garnish” part of his $92,500 Council salary, the Post reports.
Our Regional Future, Mapped Out: The Post reports on a gathering of regional leaders and other interested parties to see different proposals on how the region is expected to accommodate 2 million extra people in the next 25 years. The differing groups gathered around maps, armed with Lego blocks.
Most of the groups stacked up blocks at Metro stations instead, arguing that denser populations are best served by trains. And most of the groups favored pushing new development into underused areas of the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County.
Toll Hike on Dulles Toll Road?: So is your reverse commute to Reston really worth it? Tolls on the Dulles Toll Road may see a 25 cent hike to pay for WMATA’s metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport.
D.C. General’s Closing Still Causes Conflict: With the controversial closing of D.C. General Hospital still causing him a protracted political migraine, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams maintains that the 2001 shutting of the Southeast hospital was the right thing to do, the W.Times reports. Williams, who still hasn’t figured out whether he will run for another term in next year’s elections, would face this issue from a number of challengers who are prepared to lob the issue back at him. Williams contends that with the D.C. Healthcare Alliance “statistics show a 38 percent increase last year in visits by alliance members to primary-care clinics, and a 29 percent drop in the number of visits to emergency rooms,” the W.Times reports.
Briefly Noted: Isn’t this the job for the hotel concierge? Hotel guest calls animal control after a diving duck is discovered on a Embassy Row sidewalk (third item) … Fenty pushes a ban on the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors … Is “Frank” dead? Doctors aren’t sure yet.
