D.C. mayor offers proposal to end stadium parking controversy

(or it helps to be connected) from the Washington Business Journal story by Sean Madigan:

Mayor Tony Williams has asked the D.C. Council for permission to sell city land at the new baseball stadium site to a developer who would build more than 900 parking spaces -- both above ground and below ground, a possible solution to a controversy that has dogged the project in recent weeks. The proposal, sent by Williams to the council late Friday afternoon, also includes housing and retail.

The resolution does not say exactly how much land would be involved in the deal or what Western would pay. But the agreement would require Western to build at least 925 parking spaces and possibly housing and retail, which would have to be delivered by March 1, 2008.

For more about Herb Miller (and Western Development), see "A superb lesson in DC "growth machine" politics from Loose Lips ..., from that entry:

"Miller Time," an "exposé" of Herb Miller, president of Western Development Corporation, explains what the DC Growth Machine is all about--keeping local politics and politicos subservient to the land use and development agenda of business elites.

If you want an explanation of DC's governing coalition, agenda, resources, and mode of cooperation, it's all there in "Miller Time." From the article:

The big deal of late for Miller is baseball. He firmly believes the stadium deal will kick-start development in the ballpark area of Southeast and yield huge benefits for the city. His company is also one of four firms overseeing the building of an entertainment and retail complex on the stadium site. These four companies will split the proceeds on a multi-billion-dollar venture.

And who knows what council actions may be needed to move the development along? Miller isn’t taking any chances. He seems bent on pulverizing the council’s already diminutive liberal wing, which consists of sometimes-feuding councilmembers Adrian Fenty, Phil Mendelson, and Jim Graham. Mendelson is up for re-election this year, and Miller wants the NIMBY sensibility off the dais.

Last week, D.C. Council at-large candidate A. Scott Bolden, who’s battling Mendelson for his seat, was the guest of honor at a Miller-compound fundraiser. Bolden has all the professional bona fides he needs to woo the pro-business crowd. A partner in the Reed Smith law firm, the Penn Quarter resident was once president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce.

Bolden hopped an easy ride on the money train. All he had to do was convince Miller that he supports the baseball-stadium deal.

It's ugly, but that's the way it is. And if you don't understand the DC Growth Machine, prepare to be schooled in the coming election. The Growth Machine wants every seat on Council, every one...

There are these older entries, which allude to Miller's original proposals to build big box retail stores next to the stadium:

-- DC's Growth Machine is hard at it, well-funded, and odious ...
-- Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Mixed Primary Uses

Index Keywords: baseball; stadiums-arenas; Growth-Machine