Good morning, Washington. With deadlines for signing the stadium lease looming, D.C. officials are considering new options for defraying cost overruns, in their attempt to corral a majority in the D.C. Council. The Post reports today that the latest of such measures is an initiative to sell land adjacent to the planned stadium to the new Nationals owner. That land, which is likely to host a lucrative mix of development, could prove valuable enough to give the city a cushion against rising stadium costs. There are difficulties in assessing the likely efficacy of such a plan, however. It is unclear how much the land might generate, beyond a lot, and D.C. has yet to acquire all the land in the proposed stadium footprint. Additionally, four developers have already been named to build on the land around the stadium, and it is not clear how this plan will affect them.
Manassas Says Relatives No Longer Related: In a “constitutionally questionable” move to fight illegal immigration, Manassas has changed its zoning ordinances to limit the number of family members allowable under one roof. The rules, which state that a house may hold one unrelated person but that all other residents must be within the “second degree of consanguinity” from the head of the household, is ostensibly applied to reduce problems with parking and excess garbage, but the Post reports that the measure is affecting naturalized citizens in nicer neighborhoods.
Homicides Rise Across the Region: A disturbing run of homicides across the D.C. metropolitan area has pushed the number of murders in 2005 beyond 2004 totals for all the immediate jurisdictions of the region. A murder yesterday morning pushed Montgomery County over its total from the previous year, while a series of shootings in Fairfax County on Christmas Day increased its total from 2004. The District is below its homicide count from last year, but it is on pace to pass that number, 198, by year’s end.
Briefly Noted: Repair ahead for Roosevelt Bridge…Airports Authority anxious to get rail…Georgetown beats Colgate, Crest next.
Photo taken by Hudson.
