I have not been shy in discussing my opposition to the $611,000,000.00 money pit located off of South Capitol Street by the Anacostia. The money could be put to much better use. The city has its share of problems and "not having an awesome baseball stadium" is pretty far down on the list.
Proponents of The Money Pit say that the $611,000,000.00 is an investment into a revitalized Anacostia waterfront. It will do for Southeast what Camden Yards did for the Inner Harbor! As much as I enjoy living in FantasyLand, it turns out that this revitalization just won't happen.
The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission yesterday abandoned a plan to build condominiums, shops and parking garages next to the new Nationals baseball stadium in Southeast Washington, dealing a major setback to Mayor Anthony A. Williams's hope that the project would spark renewal of the Anacostia River waterfront.
So, now it looks like we'll have a stadium out in the middle-of-nowhere. Sounds kind of like RFK!
Certainly the most hilarious consequence of this deal falling through is that we won't be able to build parking lots or garages for the stadium. It's a good thing a lot of people don't commute into the city!
When will people admit that this stadium deal was a horrible mistake? Seriously.
The Money Pit rocks!
ReplyDeleteLook Randy, a new stadium is good for DC. Shut up now.
Yes, it will spur development there. It just happens that THE REAL ESTATE MARKET IS IN A SLOW DECLINE RIGHT NOW. That might have something to do with it. The Anacostia waterfront is actually pretty nice.
Sheesh. How much have they already thrown into the Money Pit?
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, where do you think a stadium should be built (if at all)?
Don't buy a new stadium! Get some RIMS!
ReplyDeleteA new stadium should be in Northern Virginia so they can pay for it.
ReplyDeleteThat photo of handsome white people totally makes up for the Willy Horton bit you did below.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, do you have a sister? You take a very fetching photograph.
You bitch and moan about how DC sucks, and then a brand new stadium is in the works and you bitch and moan more. Why?
ReplyDeleteWould you prefer they open another Cosi/CVS/Potbelly there?
With all of the money spent on that stadium, the city could have just sent out rebates with enough cash to allow everyone in the city to put some 27s on his truck.
ReplyDelete'Cause that's how we do it.
When will people admit that this stadium deal was a horrible mistake? Seriously. NEVER! Every frickin city in America with a new ballpark has issues like housing, schools in disrepair, etc. That is the way it is. Should I have to forgo a baseball team and stadium because people smoked crack? Rioted in the 60's? DC Government is corrupt (thank god Cropp lost!) Rusty stop being a wuss. Perhaps your free time should be used to help the disadvantaged.
ReplyDeletePETA would like to remind you that the abuse of gerbils is horrible crime we will not tolerate.
ReplyDeleteThe gerbils do not enjoy being used for your sexual purposes.
No, thanks. NoVa has enough on our hands economically carrying the rest of Virginia (car tax, anyone?) while providing a skilled workforce for DC, we don't need to provide y'all with a ballpark too.
ReplyDeletedamn right krystal. they spinnin!!!
ReplyDeleteFor $611+ Million, why not just build a stadium that can float down the Patomic and save space for BADLY needed residential property? Then, in a few years when DC decides it wants to build yet another stadium, we can just let the old one drift into the Atlantic!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rusty. With this news, the people who support a new stadium have no leg to stand on. If any of you like blowing money on things, how bout you buy me a new car?
In the name of fiscal sanity, they should stop the stadium project.
Man, are you ignorant of this, or what?
ReplyDeleteThe development in the area hasn't gone away. All that fell through was a probably corrupt agreement between the city (which the nats' owners didn't want) and some yahoo developer for a tiny parcel outside the stadium.
This isn't going to lead to miles of abandoned and empty lots.
Take a look at the jdland website, and you'll see that there's plenty of development under way, and plenty planned, regardless of this little wrinkle.
There are reasons to hate the stadium without making crap up or sensationalizing it.
I still think Rusty's a very handsome man. But why on Earth do they call you that?
ReplyDeletei'm from an Ohio town (Columbus) that voted against a soccer stadium and then against a hockey arena. the major fall out? private investors paid for both and private investors developed the surrounding areas. tax dollars for stadiums are just plain stupid, when obviously they get built regardless!
ReplyDeleteThe difference is that no one really wants a soccer stadium, but baseball comes at more of a premium because it is America's pastime--what the hell kind of economic development would a soccer stadium bring?
ReplyDeleteA fish and chips shop? An Italian shoe store?
Oh, look at me. I'm all bold guy!
Anonymous from Columbus,
ReplyDeleteExactly. As I mentioned in a post from way back in the day, the Patriots threatened to move to Hartford and the MA Legislature still wouldn't budge from their offer of $70M. End result, we get a state-of-the-art stadium at a very low cost to the taxpayer.
I'd also like to point out that The Money Pit picture was a big mistake. There's no worse feeling than checking your blog to see if someone left a comment only to be greeted by Shelley Long's horrifying smile.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone thinks the stadium will actually be built for $611M you're out of your fucking mind. Last I heard, it was already up to something like $700M.
ReplyDeleteI don't give a flying fuck if it does spur economic development. With DC's schools in the state they are in, and crime what it, it is disgraceful that we'd rather spend our money on a playground for overpaid crackheads then on our kids. Besides, all it will do is add traffic to our already overburdened congested roads. The only solace I can take in all of this was that DC was stupid enough to take the Nats and build them a stadium, so Nothern VA wouldn't have to. I hope the stadium turns into the biggest mismanaged moneypit the US has ever seen, and it bankrupts the city.
This place sucks more today than it did yesterday; more this week than last, and more this year than last year. And tomorrow will suck more than today.
You're absolutely right. Screw economic development. That's not going to help the children, who are the future.
ReplyDelete(I guess you just like to touch the children.)
Mike,
ReplyDeleteIf I thought for a minute that the stadium would actually spur economic development, I MIGHT (uh....okay, no) be in favor of the stadium. But This fucking shithole is so mismanaged, they will fuck it all up.
The feds kicked in $20M for Metro upgrades FOR THE STADIUM. Hey NOVA commuters -- FUCK YOU!!! We don't give a rat's ass about you. We'd rather give money for the stadium.
Dude, you are out of your fucking mind if you think $611M is better spent on a professional sports stadium than our schools.
Salaries for 2006:
ReplyDeleteAlex Rodriquez: $21.6 Million
Derek Jeter: $20.6 Million
Jason Giambi: $20.4 Million
Jeff Bagwell: $19.3 Million
Barry Bonds: $19.3 Million
But the TAXPAYERS have to pay to have the stadium built.
Un-fucking-believable.......
No, you're probably right, I guess. You know more than I. Where's the data that was presented on how the $611 million would eventually bring a good ROI for the city and outlying community?
ReplyDeleteThey knew they had the advantage in the bargaining b/c a city w/o a baseball team is a hell of a lot less prestigious. Now this town is a four major sport city (including ice hockey).
But doesn't D.C. already spend the most per capita on public schools? Isn't the economic milieu in which they're brought up more of a factor in continuing poverty? I dunno, you tell me.
Actually, MLB had no bargaining advantage. The deal was completed AFTER the Expos relocated. So, MLB would have had to pull them from Washington if a deal didn't come through. That would have been a huge PR black eye.
ReplyDeleteyeah, they would have looked like complete assholes.
ReplyDeleteLet us look into the future when the stadiumm is finally completed while being 200 million over budget and two years behind schedule.
ReplyDelete1. Getting to the games will be virtually impossible due to the crowds on the green line, the limited street acces, untimed lights, and lazy Metropolice.
2. A hot bog will probably be ten dollars because the city will force all of the contracts to worthless minority contractors. All of the vendors will be surly blacks who like sticking it to white patrons more than actually making money.
3. The seats will be too small and probably angled the wrong way.
4. If you are not in a luxury box, the sight lines will be mess up and the view obstructed. The diamond vision is play commercials non-stop.
5. The waiting queuers for everything will be incredible because DC cannot run anything efficiently.
6. After a couple of weeks, the restroms will be unusable.
7. The team will still suck.
#2 isn't quite fair or a ccurate, but yeah, this will be a disaster.
ReplyDeleteI would guess that a stadium would provide some economic development, but for $600-$700 million, you could probably do a lot more if you spent the money on something else. Stadiums are invariably a waste. There is plenty of other kinds of infrastructure that cities need. If baseball is so important, then the baseball teams can build a stadium themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe "world class cities" like New York and Boston have two of the oldest baseball stadiums in the country. It's always the third-tier cities that are building a new baseball stadium every 25-30 years in the hopes that "this one" will turn their economies around. What does that tell you?
Look you unbelievable morons, although DC does sucketh bad, it is not a "two tier city" whose hopes are relying on this baseball stadium. People just spout out shitty cliches thinking they have 2 fucking clues, but they don't. In case you haven't noticed, there has really been A WHOLE FUCKING LOT OF DEVELOPMENT in DC in the last 7 years. You want to see a second tier city, go to Detroit or B-More. DCs suckethness stems from other reasons, mostly its inhabitants as pretentious shitbags, but not for its lack of development. Put your stupid cliches about "books over baseball tickets" in fucking Cleveland where they belong.
ReplyDeleteRusty,
ReplyDeleteI had a real "Washington Moment" last week and posted on your site how much I hate "old people" after sitting next to one on the Orange Line one morning.
I just did a double-take while reading the Washington Post when I recognized columnist Charles Krauthammer as that asshole-faggot knocking me with his elbow as he did the Post crossword puzzle.
Politics, as they say, is show business for ugly people.
Was the guy in a wheelchair? That's the only way it could have been Krauthammer (who I happen to love reading).
ReplyDeletekrauthhamer is alright, though he is so far up the israel lobby's ass that you can see haifa through his nostrils.
ReplyDeleteKILL EM' ALL
ReplyDeleteLET GOD SORT EM' OUT
Wow! A latino guy with a heavy accent who can barely speak english makes more in one year than all of you will make in your entire pathetic lives.
ReplyDeleteGotta love this country.
200 B/O Florida Ave NE
ReplyDeleteMon, Sep 18th, 2006 4:25 pm
Robbery
"c1 reports that s1&2 approached him and stated ""what up"". s1 then grabbed c1 by the neck and s2 then began punching c1 about the face. at which time one of the suspects took c1's cell phone and fled the scene."
3500 B/O 18th St SE
Mon, Sep 18th, 2006 3:50 pm
Assault With Deadly Weapon
"c1 reports while involved in a ""craps"" game, s1 became upset and stabbed c1 in the upper right arm."
1200 B/O G St NW
Mon, Sep 18th, 2006 3:08 pm
Theft
r1 reports that he observed s1 place various property inside his pants. s1 walked pass all cash registers and was told to stop.
Taken from CrimeInDC.org.
DC. What a wonderful place to call my home.
Liver,
ReplyDeleteYour comments make perfect sense considering you have been marinating in martinis for the past 50 some odd years.
Sure, let's pay these fuckhead baseball players millions, and then make the taxpayers pay for their playground. Makes sense to me.
Well, I don't read him but I do enjoy his appearances on television. I think he's on McLaughlin Group a lot and they have good discussions w/ out all of the bickering.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he's alright.
I was sure it was him. The guy looked more like him than he does but now that you mention it I remember the wheelchair from t.v.
ReplyDeleteWhoops. I just made personal comments about a guy in a wheelchair who has a doppleganger out there who's just an anonymous asshole.
it's going to be cheaper than the lawsuits would be if the nats continued to play in rfk. i've been to 40 baseball games in the past two years at that stadium. three times crap fell from the roof over the outfield seats near me. once it was a bolt. the other two times it was chunks of concrete.
ReplyDeletecamden yards is not the only success story. san francisco, cleveland, denver, and san diego all turned urban wastelands into prime real estate. others, like cincy and st. louis, have the potential to do the same, if they could ever sign the deals.
that being said, i'm glad i came across this blog. i am so sick of DC that i'm considering jobs in the wretched midwest just to get away. but i also love DC, too. if we could just get rid of the crackheads, slow-moving idiots, suited clones, the lobbyists, girls who wear those stupid sunglasses that look like cataract sunglasses for old people, it'd be a great city.
glad i found you, will link to you and come back often as a sort of way to blow off steam about DC.
(i saw a guy die on the bus a couple of weeks ago. i'm sooo ready to leave.)
San Francisco's stadium was privately financed. No tax dollars spent. And Jacobs Field in Cleveland has been good for the team, but is generally considered a disaster for the local economy. It's still too early to tell with San Diego.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found me too! I would love details of the bus death.
ha ha. i take the 14th street bus from north NW DC downtown to work. well, one morning, i was getting closer to my stop when we picked up a guy at the 14th and R stop. now, there is a homeless shelter on the opposite corner from this stop, so we get a lot of interesting characters on there. (i once saw another dead guy laying on the bench at that stop. i knew he was dead because rigamortis had set in and his arm was sticking staight up.) well, on this day, a guy takes like ten years to get on the bus, and everyone knew something was going to happen. he manages to pay his dollar (the bus costs $1.35) and took a seat in the front (the ones reserved for seniors and disabled). well, we hadn't even crossed the intersection when the guy starts hacking, and suddenly, the whole bus smells like rot, not just like b.o., but like urine and dead animals. suddenly, he vomits all over the place, and everyone on the bus was gagging. seriously. i threw up in my mouth, and i'm sure i wasn't the only one. all of the sudden, the guy just falls over. bus driver pulls over, checks the guy's pulse, shakes his head, and calls for an ambulance on the radio. i got off and walked the rest of the way to work before i puked.
ReplyDeleteso i've seen two dead guys on one bus route. isn't dc grand?
All of these comments ignoring the fact we ALREADY have a damned stadium that they can't manage to fill for Nats games. And at least they share this one with DC United. Why build a new stadium that will never get filled with spectators? What the hell is wrong with RFK? Until the Nats prove they have a following, I wouldn't build a damned stadium for them.
ReplyDeleteAs for the jackass who said they provide a skilled workforce for DC business - you all work for the freaking government as it is, not DC. Get over yourself. We pay taxes in the city so you can commute and tear up our streets to go to work all the while avoiding paying any taxes in DC on your own. We give you employment while you give nothing in return to the District but criticism and pollute our environment because you're all too good to take the metro into the city. I say burn the bridges into VA and let them keep their asses over there.
daedelus - buses are for poor people. that's what you get for using them. stop bitching and move if you dont' like it. you live in a city. get over it. i hear fairfax has nicer bus routes if you'd prefer to live there.
ReplyDeletealso, that "homeless shelter" has been in DC for decades and it's a mission, not a shelter which is also slated for conversion into loft apartments.
yes, DC is grand.
anonymous asslick,
ReplyDeleteI live in VA and commute to DC because DC is too fucking expensive to raise a family of four in. Unless I want to live in Southeast, it's not an option.
Go fuck yourself.
Ahhhh, 'scuse me, Lucy. What are all of these older folks who have four kids in the suburbs and Latino maids and divorced neighbors doing commenting on this blog and telling people to go fuck themselves?!
ReplyDeleteIf you're that old, shut the hell up.
Look at what Verizon Center did for "Chinatown" and shut the fuck up, all of you.
ReplyDeleteThat story about the dude dying on the bus is ridiculous. I refuse to believe it.
It's true. I blew chunks and died on the bus because Rusty wouldn't have sex with me.
ReplyDeleteKILL EM' ALL
ReplyDeleteLET GOD SORT EM' OUT
I prefer young and tasty exotic latina maids over old and wrinkled pasty white women who spend too much time watching sex and the city reruns on dvd. The young latinas give me their undivided attention and they should. I am 36 years old, work at the World Bank and make over 100k a year.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
The young and pasty white girls are a turnoff as well. Then they go and tan themelves to death on daddy's credit card. Come out looking worse than when they were pasty.
ReplyDeleteanonymous jackass - rusty asked about the guy dying on the bus, so i told the story. idiot.
ReplyDeletebuses aren't for poor people, you bigot. they are to move around a city. i have a car. i choose to use public transportation because it is the responsible thing to do. i'm not using up gas or clogging the streets with another car.
fairfax? why in hell would i want to live in suburbia with all the other silver-spoon fed clones?