Urban renewal wasn't a solution for rats, and public funding for a soccer stadium isn't probably the best way to support youth sports...

In Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs is derisive of supporters of urban renewal saying it was the best way to get rid of rats. Jacobs said if you want to get rid of rats, focus on the rats. And of course rats come back after contruction....

whenever an economic development project gets "props" for the qualitative, especially "pride" watch out.

From "A Sporting Issue" in the Washington Post:

Talk of subsidizing a soccer stadium at Poplar Point in Ward 8 has been on-again, off-again....

Mr. Fenty has made clear he won't be out in front in pushing the plan without support from the D.C. Council. Indeed, much of the impetus to make a deal with D.C. United comes from the council, including members from east of the Anacostia River, such as influential council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.

[Of course, the Post doesn't mention the full court press of developer [do I mean community?] organizing by the development organization behind the DC United team.]

The costs will have to be carefully analyzed, particularly since there is economic uncertainty. What will be harder to judge are the intangibles. Such as civic pride in retaining a popular and successful sports team. Or the spinoffs that soccer could provide to the boys and girls of the city. And what could perhaps be the most appealing argument for the stadium -- its potential to spark a revitalization of long-neglected communities east of the river. If soccer can help transform Ward 8 and Ward 7 the way basketball helped to change downtown, city dollars would be well spent.

With editorial lines like these:

If soccer can help transform Ward 8 and Ward 7 the way basketball helped to change downtown, city dollars would be well spent.

take it as certain that the fix is in.

To be honest, a project like this one, with " 855,000 square feet of offices, 500 residential units, 165,000 square feet of retail, an eight- to 10-screen movie theater and a grocery store," from "Curtis, Four Points plan to transform Anacostia" in the Washington Business Journal, without spending hundreds of millions of dollars of city funds, might end up having more long range impact.

Even people at the Downtown BID, if you engage in a pointed conversation with them, are likely to admit that MCI Center is only one piece of a much larger set of investments that led to the improvement on the east end of Downtown.