D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s transition team is recommending a major overhaul of agencies that guide economic development in the District, including establishing an outside organization to take over the city’s major development projects. Economic development — which includes attracting marquee businesses, building housing and ensuring job growth — has been too muddled by changing political tides and an overly complicated licensing process that has hindered business growth, the transition report said.
| Development report highlights |
| Real estate: Create quasi-governmental entity that focuses on major projects |
| Regional economy: Make it easier to do business in D.C. by streamlining licensing and permit process |
| Housing: Focus on creating mixed-income neighborhoods in D.C.’s “most distressed communities,” make Wards 7 and 8 a priority |
| Labor: Create more jobs in the service industry, which has suffered greater unemployment than higher-skilled labor. |
Recommendations include establishing a “quasi-governmental” agency to oversee major development projects and reorganizing the Deputy Mayor of Planning and Economic Development office to focus on attracting and retaining businesses.
Such an organization could “rise above the politics,” said Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University. In 1991, the quasi-public Baltimore Development Corp. was established to spearhead major city developments, including the publicly financed, $301 million Hilton Hotel that opened in 2008 next to Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
“The mayor’s office can have its challenges and other issues,” Irani said. “But if you have an organization focused exclusively on large-scale projects, I think the outcomes tend to be a bit better.”
A spokesman for the development office said the deputy mayor was incorporating the report’s findings in the agency’s development strategy discussions.
The report, released this week, notes District-owned land like Poplar Point and Hill East — where development has long been promised — are key areas in which the city can take this new approach. It adds Wards 7 and 8 are also areas where mixed-income housing communities should be a priority.
Neil Glick, chairman of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B, which includes the Hill East project planned near RFK Stadium, said residents are tired of empty promises that have spanned three administrations. In eight years, the project’s only groundbreaking has been demolishing a building to make way for a parking lot.
“It’s political because who’s going to be in office for 10 or 20 years to see this get done?” he said.
The report also suggests an “overhaul” of the Office of Contracting and Procurement. That includes standardizing business application and licensing processes throughout the region to “make business opportunities within the District less intimidating.”
The District’s traffic congestion also is deterring businesses, the report said, and the city should study major arteries and intersections to make adjustments for better traffic flow.
