Mayor Vincent C. Gray and his D.C. Council allies have expressed interest in possibly bringing a training facility for the Washington Redskins to Ward 7. Consider that an expansion of the executive’s keep-them-entertained-and-distracted plan, which includes a proposal to build a movie theater in Ward 8. Neither proposition represents economic development communities in east Washington want: “We didn’t ask for a Walmart. We didn’t ask for a theater,” said Paul Savage, a civic leader who lives in Ward 7’s Hillcrest neighborhood.
“It’s very well documented what residents want,” he continued. “We don’t want any junk.”
Gray, with Councilmen Michael A. Brown and Jack Evans went to Tampa, Fla., last month to see the training facility there, as they strategize bringing the Redskins back to the nation’s capital. (I don’t understand the interest in losers). The trio has suggested Reservation 13 a possible location for the center. A remapping of the city this summer moved the site at 19th and Massachusetts Avenue SE from Ward 6 into Ward 7.
Oddly, Ward 7 Councilwoman Yvette Alexander didn’t make the Florida trip. Could it be Gray and crew believed involving a female politician would be “deja vu all over again.” The Redskins landed in Prince George’s County after Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly fumbled negotiations with owner Jack Kent Cooke. (Alexander didn’t respond to my request for a comment.)
Understandably Savage, other Ward 7 residents and the community near Reservation 13 are frustrated. A decade ago, in the late 1990s, the city promised to convert the former D. C General Hospital campus into a vibrant mixed-use development, replete with restaurants, retail outlets and townhomes. But as I wrote earlier this year (See Squandering and Warehousing), that urban marvel hasn’t materialized. Instead, the 67-acre waterfront property has morphed into a de facto storage tank for vulnerable populations, including homeless individuals and substance abusers.
In May, Victor Hoskins, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, told me the city didn’t have the $40 million to $60 million needed for infrastructure at the site. That meant nothing could move forward.
Has the city suddenly found the money? Will residents be asked to pay more taxes as with the movie theater?
Some may think a football training center at Reservation 13 an improvement over what’s there now. But, as Savage put it, “It’s business as usual.” He means that by pushing for the center the city would continue to squander a valuable asset and politicians would continue to ignore residents’ desires — many of whom invested their time and energy getting those same politicos elected.
Savage and his neighbors helped Gray win office three times: as Ward 7 councilman, council chairman and last year as mayor; they believed he would deliver. But while there are four elected officials currently living east of the river — Gray, Alexander, Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown and Marion Barry — nothing significant has happened.
“They become amnesiacs as soon as they cross over the Anacostia River,” lamented Savage. “They have done absolutely nothing for the folks in Ward 7.”
Jonetta Rose Barras can be reached at [email protected].
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
