Many of you know I live in Alexandria, Virginia. And, the governor of our state (Glenn Youngkin) and our mayor (Justin Wilson) have just conspired to steal the Washington Bullets and Capitals (both owned by Monumental Sports- a Ted Leonsis entity) from the Capital Arena Washington DC to our Potomac Yards region.
Supposedly the costs for this major development will come from the economic activity generated by the new sporting complex. Of course, the proponents claim this comes to some $ 12 billion, with 30,000 jobs. All at a cost to us poor taxpayers of some $1.35 billion.
The problem- those grandiose returns are rarely- if ever- achieved. Not to mention the traffic problems associated with this new complex. Drs. John Bradbury, (Kennesaw State), Dennis Coates (U of Maryland, Baltimore) and Brad Humphreys (West Virginia) have studied (130) similar situations– and found that the money developed by the projects rarely materialized to the tune of the promised results.
Moreover, the Capital Arena is in downtown DC- at the nexus of a variety of Metro (subway) and bus lines. Potomac Yards is on a spur line, some 30 minutes travel from Downtown DC and further still from Maryland. And, I haven’t even mentioned that sluggish pace of travel on US1 1!, which is the direct road link to Potomac Yards. There is no guarantee that sports fans will make the trek. (This is even more true since both of these teams are not “winners “and attendance this year is considerably lower than previous seasons.)
One of my big questions is parking. The new parking structures (to be built underground) may not be available until year two or three of the project opening.
Then, of course, there is the “financial analysis” that was developed to justify this project. The complete documentation is being withheld; neither the state nor our local government is willing to share with us. (Trust- but you can’t verify- seems to be the order of the day.)
Which brings up the other major fact of studies like that one. They are not peer-reviewed and generally use sophistry and wild assumptions to justify their pre-ordained conclusions. Not to mention that the electorate (local taxpayers) lack the financial background and acumen to discern the findings in the report.
I fear a big tax bill in the future to cover this boondoggle.
I hate when in the name of progress politicians don’t look at the bigger pictures. This is one reason why we stopped supporting our local usl soccer team because they wanted to move it downtown where parking and traffic are a mess. When will they learn?
Reminds me of Governor Rockefeller and his edifice complex.
This does sound like a boondoggle! (I like that word, don’t think I have ever used it!). There are so many things that are not well-though-out in advance, aren’t there? Parking does sound like a definite problem.
Certainly not both sides of the situation, Diana.
Sounds like the city needs you on their planning board! So many times they do things like this and the locals don’t have any say in to except to pay the added taxes.
They certainly need somebody, Martha!