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Good morning, Today is our two-week anniversary! Still working out some kinks... not too happy about the prominent typo in yesterday's edition. Staying up late has consequences.
Reminder: The DC Government is closed today in observance of Veteran's Day. But you're wonky enough to know that already. Headed downtown? No meter fees, Sunday traffic regulations.
Best, Karyn-Siobhan Robinson a/k/a DC Government Clips
D.C. Government/Council media clips: Thursday, November 11, 2010.
Missed yesterday? http://bit.ly/dAYKeU
D.C. attorney general sues building owners over $1.2 million in expenses - Washington Post
D.C. sues Peebles over $1.2m in alleged overbilling - Examiner
D.C. Suing Don Peebles - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
District sues Peebles' company - Washington Business Journal
Judging Vince Gray—Before He Takes Office - Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Nearly two decades in the making, D.C.'s convention center hotel breaks ground - Washington Post
Marriott Marquis at D.C. Convention Center is a go - Washington Business Journal
Norton takes aim at National Harbor - Examiner
Getting This Party Started at Convention Center Hotel - Housing Complex (Washington City Paper)
Save Our Safety Net Back Up And Fighting - City Desk (Washington City Paper)
Guy Steuart finally nets his Giant - Washington Business Journal
Giant grocery store coming to Northeast – Examiner
Well-being survey reveals racial divide - Washington Post
Fenty's departure coincides with another drop in homicides - D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
Fenty’s Freudian slip - Examiner
Where are the DCPS contracts? - D.C. Schools Insider (Washington Post)
D.C. attorney general sues building owners over $1.2 million in expenses
By Mike DeBonis
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111007298.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111007298.html
Click for DeMorning DeBonis version:
Wednesday, November 10, 2010; 10:42 PM
D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles on Wednesday sued the owners of a Southeast Washington office building - among them a political nemesis of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's - alleging that they tried to improperly charge $1.2 million in expenses back to the city, including contributions, champagne and bar tips.
The principal owner of the building, at 2100 Martin Luther King Ave. SE, is R. Donahue Peebles, a developer who has emerged in the past year as a Fenty critic and for months considered running for the mayor's office. The suit seeks repayment of more than $600,000, plus damages.
In a statement, Peebles disputed the bulk of the lawsuit and accused Nickles of discarding a settlement negotiated by city officials to "pursue a political vendetta."
The lawsuit is rooted in an effort by the city's real estate department in the past year to scrutinize the government's leases of private office space. Since the work began in September 2009, more than 30 leases have been reviewed by the Schonbraun McCann Group, a New York consulting firm. Many showed evidence of improper expenses and were subsequently settled, said Robin-Eve Jasper, head of the department, bringing more than $1 million into the ailing city coffers.
Only Peebles's company has been sued. "This one rose to the top," Nickles said.
Nickles said he rejected the settlement, calling it "unsatisfactory" and "not . . . in the public interest." Three lawyers from Nickles's office had participated in the settlement talks, Jasper said.
Peebles announced in May that he would not seek the mayor's office, after pondering the race for months. Although he did not publicly endorse Gray, Peebles helped bankroll an independent expenditure campaign aimed at ousting Fenty, spending nearly $100,000 on the "Coalition for a Better District of Columbia."
The suit has been filed weeks before Nickles is expected to leave office ahead of the incoming administration of Vincent C. Gray (D).
"I know that this is a consequence of my criticism," Peebles said. "It is a price I am willing to pay in order to do my part in standing up to an administration that has repeatedly practiced intimidation."
The Anacostia building houses a service center for the city's human services department. The structure was the first that Peebles developed, and it is the foundation of what his company says is a $4 billion national portfolio.
The lease, which dates to 1988, entitles the building's owners not only to a monthly rent payment, but also to reimbursements for "any and all expenses . . . in connection with the operation, management, maintenance and repair" of the building. The suit says that the company owning the building, in which Peebles owns a controlling 50 percent stake, interpreted that provision too loosely.
Among the allegations is that the company billed the city for $3,700 in political contributions - including donations to council members Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2).
Evans said Tuesday that it would be "inappropriate, to say the least" to charge political contributions to the city as an expense of doing business.
The complaint also says that the company sought reimbursement for a $500 contribution to Miami Beach Mayor Matti Herrera Bower. Also billed to the city, according to the suit, was a $500 charge for a fundraiser at the Bath Club in Miami Beach. That fee, the suit alleges, was for a portion of a bill consisting of $1,050 in champagne plus a $1,060 tip. Peebles, a Washington native, moved to South Florida in the 1990s and maintains real estate interests in that area.
In addition, the owners allegedly billed the city for janitorial services and trash removal even though the lease says those are the responsibilities of the landlord, not the renter. The lawsuit also says that the owners improperly billed for management fees, legal and accounting fees and other expenses, including business taxes paid to the city.
Peebles said the allegations are based on a misinterpretation of internal documents handed to the city that "were never represented as an official bill."
"To suggest that we would knowingly attempt to charge the District for $3,700 in political contributions and $500 for a contribution for event expenses and risking a $30 million building is simply ridiculous," he said.
The lease expired Sept. 30, 2009. In January, before the audit was complete, the city renewed the lease for 10 years, with a five-year option. Nickles said Wednesday that he was disappointed the city agreed to a new lease.
He resisted suggestions that the suit is part of any sort of last-minute retribution against Fenty's political enemies. Nickles is also facing questions about his subpoena of documents relating to a nonprofit group run by Ward 5 council member Harry Thomas Jr., also a frequent Fenty critic.
"I assume that almost anything I do that has merit at this point is going to be read as some attempt to deal with folks who were against the mayor," he said. "That's a very easy, glib kind of response."
D.C. sues Peebles over $1.2m in alleged overbilling
By: FREEMAN KLOPOTT
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/D_C_-sues-Peebles-over-_1_2m-in-alleged-overbilling--1521649-107072298.html#ixzz14xqWs64j
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/D_C_-sues-Peebles-over-_1_2m-in-alleged-overbilling--1521649-107072298.html#ixzz14xqWs64j
November 10, 2010
A lawsuit filed by the District against self-described billionaire Don Peebles over $1.2 million in alleged overbilling highlights the District's systemic failure to track its bills.
The lawsuit filed by D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles alleges Peebles' property company, which leases property to the city, charged the District for donations made to the political campaigns and political action committees of three council members. It also says Peebles' company billed the city for champagne and valet parking at a "fundraiser" held at Miami's Bath Club, which Peebles owns. Those and other charges added up to $1.2 million between 2007 and 2009, the years an independent auditor examined after the city received a $3 million bill from Peebles in February, the lawsuit says. The audit found that the city paid $600,000 of the improper bills.
At-large Councilman Phil Mendelson told The Washington Examiner on Wednesday that the entire situation could have been avoided if the city kept better track of its bills.
"Anytime the city has a bill, it should be sent to an auditor to make sure its accurate. ... It's a systemic problem," Mendelson said. "Now, in a high-profile dramatic way, we're trying to get back what's owed," he said, noting that he's not excusing Peebles if he did, in fact, overbill the city.
Peebles, who funded political organizations working to oust Mayor Adrian Fenty, did not return calls for comment. The lawsuit is seeking more than $3.6 million from him.
In September, a report from District auditor Deborah Nichols found that a technology company had overcharged the city by $3.1 million. The city forked over the cash, despite $2.5 million of those charges resulting from unsubstantiated invoices.
On the flip side, the city has also been accused of overcharging. Just last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid informed the District that it owes the federal health care programs $58 million after overcharging them in fiscal years 2004 and 2005. The city says it plans to appeal.
"In a way," Mendelson said, "this is like suing Peebles for our own negligence."
D.C. Suing Don Peebles
Posted by Alan Suderman on Nov. 10, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
Updated, 6 p.m.
Still Mayor Adrian Fenty may be coasting to the finish line, but his attorney general sure isn’t. Today’s big news is that AG Peter Nickles has filed a lawsuit against super-developer and super Fenty-basher Don Peebles. Nickles is alleging that Peebles’ MLK Associates was trying to get the city to pay for $1.25 million worth of “improper charges,” including a fundraiser and political contributions.
According to the complaint, the city and MLK Associates began a 20-year lease in 1989 to rent about 60,000 square feet of office space at 2100 Martin Luther King Ave SE. The lease said the city would pay for a proportionate share of operating costs, and paid about $30k a month from 2000 to 2009.
The lease calls for MLK associates to tally up the actual operating costs at the end of each year and compare it to what they city has paid. If the city had paid too little, MLK Associates was due extra cash. If the city paid too much, then Peebles' firm is supposed to refund the city.
MLK Associates never said either way from 2000 to 2009 if the actual operating costs squared with what the city had paid, the complaint says.
Then in February of this year, MLK Associates presented the District with a balance sheet from 1992 to 2009, saying the city owed an extra $3 million in operating costs on top of what had already been paid. In March, an independent auditing company began pouring over MLK Associates’ books. Looking at 2007 through 2009, the auditors found $1.25 million in expenses that were “not supported.”
Here’s a list of some of those “not supported” expenses billed to the city, according to the complaint:
· $500 for a fundraiser held at the Peebles-owned Bath Club n Miami on March 11, 2007. The complaint says some of the costs for the event included $1,050 for champagne and $1,060 in tips.
· $5,000 donation to the Anacostia Economic Development Corporation.
· $3,700 in political contributions, including $1,500 to CouncilmemberMichael A. Brown, $500 to Marion Barry, and $500 to Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans. (According to campaign finance records, MLK Associates has also given to Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Grahamand Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. outside of the years the auditors looked at.)
· Nearly $500,000 in excessive management fees.
· $146,000 in business taxes that had “no connection" to any operation costs the city had agreed to pay.
· $11,000 in accounting fees to prepare federal and state tax returns.
· $2,700 in legal fees.
· $84,000 in loan modification fees, loan commitment fees, mortgage renewal fees and appraisal fees.
· $493,000 in cleaning and janitorial costs, which the complaint claims the lease says were all on MLK Associates to pay.
· $10,000 in other fees, which include office supplies and mail service.
The complaint says MLK Associates knew damn well it was submitting improper costs to the District, and should be forced to pay back what it owes the city ($600,000), multiplied by three, plus fines and attorney fees.
A spokesman for Peebles promised a rebuttal statement a few hours ago. LL hasn’t gotten it yet, but it’s a safe bet that it’ll accuse Nickles of using his last few weeks in office to settle scores with Fenty's critics.
Peebles, you’ll recall, toyed with challenging Fenty and is clearly not a big fan of the still-mayor. During a speech in January of this year, when talking about Fenty’s attempt to boot Cora Masters Barry out of a city-funded tennis center, Peebles said this of Fenty: “Does he think he's gonna be mayor forever? One day his wife will be the former first lady. Then I realized he probably doesn't have much respect for her."
Yeah, that’s not a very nice thing to say.
Councilmember Thomas, another loud critic of Fenty, has also accused Nickles of playing politics. Nickles is currently investigating a Thomas nonprofit that’s been accused of being a city-funded slush fund.
But Nickles tells LL that Thomas and Peebles better come up with something stronger than the “weak” argument that he's out for political payback. His advice to Peebles: “If you can justify the kind of expenses we outline here, then fine, do it in court.”
Nickles went on to say that whenever he sues powerful interests, like slum lords, pay day lenders or banks, he’s always faces the same accusations.
“It seems that everything I do is political,” Nickles says. “Bullshit—the reason I sued them is they deserved to be sued.”
Plus, he added, Fenty didn't even know about the Peebles lawsuit.
Read the complaint here: (Note from DC Government Clips: Click the article link and scroll down to read: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/looselips/2010/11/10/d-c-suing-don-peebles/)
Update:
The plot thickens. Peebles sent out a response late this afternoon that, as predicted, casts the lawsuit as a “political vendetta” on Nickles’ part.
“The Fenty administration will end on the same note of pettiness and retribution which has defined it throughout,” Peebles says in a statement. Zing!
More interesting is Peebles’ assertion that MLK Associates had reached a settlement with Department of Real Estate Services Director Robin Eve-Jasper on Monday, which Nickles invalidated before filing suit. Peebles also says that Nickles is attempting "to derail the Peebles Corporation's bid for the Stevens School.” The Fenty administration just yanked plans to turn the historic West End school into an apartment building.
Here's Peebles' full statement for your reading pleasure:
Today, I was disappointed to learn that the District of Columbia, directed by Peter Nickles, filed suit against 2100 Avenue Martin Luther King Associates, a partnership of which I am a part. This lawsuit is without merit and the allegations made in it are false. Sadly, this action represents another example of a continued pattern of abuse of power under this Attorney General. It is no secret that I have been highly critical of this administration and for good reason. This retaliation does not surprise me; it has become the modus operandi of the Fenty administration over the past 4 years. I know that this is a consequence of my criticism. It is a price I am willing to pay in order to do my part in standing up to an administration that has repeatedly practiced intimidation.
Under normal circumstances, people sit down to work out this kind of disagreement. For example, the District has owed 2100 Avenue Martin Luther King Associates between $216,000 and $326,000 since 2009 and we never demanded payment or even considered filing suit. Going against the recommendation of the Department of Real Estate Services, Peter Nickles has taken the most confrontational path possible by retroactively invalidating a settled agreement the partnership made with Director Robin Eve-Jasper this past Monday and going straight to court. Furthermore, he has issued an inflammatory press release in an attempt to further damage the reputation of our partnership and it’s owners. This lease is a triple net lease and provides for the District to pay 100% of all operating expenses associated with the building operations, including reimbursement of the Lessor for expenses including attorney's fees for the costs of collection of rent under the lease.
The building ownership has and will continue to make charitable contributions and political contributions to worthwhile candidates as is it sees fit. None of these contributions have ever been charged to or paid by the District. To suggest that we would knowingly attempt to charge the District for $3,700 in political contributions and $500 for a contribution for event expenses and risking a $30 million building is simply ridiculous. The lawsuit is based on our unofficial internal documents that were requested by the city and handed over immediately, they were not reviewed by attorneys and our outside accountants and were never represented as an official bill. Nothing was withheld from the District and there was no intent to deceive. Most importantly, no demand for payment was made by the partnership. At best, this is a dishonest application of a false claims suit. At worst, it is a setup.
As a point of clarity and indication of Peter Nickles motivations; here is a short timeline:
· 1987: the District signs letter of commitment regarding the lease of the building at triple net.
· 1988: the District signs off on lease including Addendum H which indicates that the District will pay for waste removal and char/cleaning services.
· 1997: the District audits the building and gives a clean bill of health.
· May 17, 2010: we get a letter from DRES auditor saying overcharges to the District based on attached audit not done in accordance with GAAP. DRES gives us until June 7 to respond.
· May 28, 2010: we respond and ask for a meeting.
· We do not get a meeting for 5 months until Oct 25 despite repeated attempts. At this meeting our accountant is advised that the District is bringing suit and no need to talk.
· On November 8, 2010, a follow up meeting takes place with the director, staff and city attorneys, we are told that we have only until the close of business to settle. We reach agreement.
· November 8, 2010: Peter Nickles voids the settlement agreement.
· November 9, 2010: Peter Nickles files a lawsuit.
· November 10, 2010: Peter Nickles issues an inflammatory press statement.
This is not only an unjustified escalation, but is also a waste of District resources. Based on these facts, Peter Nickles has demonstrated that he is using his government position to pursue a political vendetta. This lawsuit is an attempt to derail the Peebles Corporation's bid for the Stevens School, projects in the region and to embarrass me personally. It is not an accident that Peter Nickles waited for nearly six months before allowing the Department of Real Estate Services to meet with us and file this frivolous law suit. He waited because he knew when it went to court and it was time to prove these allegations, he would be long gone. Nickles has brought this suit within days of his departure from his job and the end of the Fenty Administration with the false sense of security that he will no longer be in office when it is time to prove these baseless allegations and suffer the consequences of his actions. He will be held accountable.
It is sad that in the twilight of the Fenty administration, Peter Nickles is pursuing such a classic case of abuse of power and wasting tax dollars to settle a political vendetta. The Fenty administration will end on the same note of pettiness and retribution which has defined it throughout. Peter Nickles conduct in this matter will remind us of the legacy of Adrian Fenty when this suit fails in court. His legacy will be abuse of power, retribution, and political vendettas. A sad chapter is ending for the District of Columbia.
District sues Peebles' company
Washington Business Journal - by Ben Fischer
Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 5:46pm EST - Last Modified: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 8:41pm EST
In a civil action rife with political undercurrents, D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles filed suit Wednesday against a company controlled by real estate developer R. Donahue Peebles, accusing the company of making false claims for payments and overbilling the District by more than $600,000.
Nickles asks for triple that amount — $1.8 million — plus civil penalties of up to $10,000 for every false claim made.
The dispute centers on 2100 Martin Luther King Ave. SE, a building owned by Peebles' 2100 Martin Luther King Associates LP and leased by the D.C. government since 1989. D.C. leases more than 90 percent of the building, or about 66,800 square feet.
According to the suit, District-hired auditors found nearly $1.25 million in expenses from 2007 to 2009 billed to the government that were not the District's responsibility.
Among those expenses: A total of $3,700 in political donations to various politicians, including Councilmen Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, and Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, Michael A. Brown, D-At Large, former council candidate Mark Long and Miami Beach, Fla., Mayor Matti Bower.
Also, the suit alleges, the District was billed $500 for a Miami Beach fundraiser, which the company considered an operating expense billable under the lease. As the complaint is careful to note, the fundraiser "included a charge of $1,050 for champagne and a $1,060 gratuity."
The lion's share of the allegedly improper billings were $492,600 in management fees and $493,464 in janitorial services that shouldn't have been billed under the lease, the suit says.
After discounting all of the bogus charges, D.C. only legitimately owed about $425,000, the suit says. That leaves about $600,000 in "unjust enrichment."
Peebles, who earlier this year seriously considered a campaign against Nickles' boss, outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty, did not return calls seeking comment.
Judging Vince Gray—Before He Takes Office
Posted by Alan Suderman on Nov. 10, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Loose Lips (Washington City Paper)
It’s time for Vince Gray’s first report card.
What’s that you say? He’s not even the mayor yet? Pish posh.
He may not be the official mayor yet, but that’s just a technicality. Gray is, after all, making the big decisions these days, while Still Mayor Adrian Fentyrebuilds his national reputation, polishes his résumé, and improves his triathlon performance.
And besides, Gray’s record over the last 60 days gives clues to what kind of job he’ll do as mayor. Will he be the Marion Barry-lite that so many voters in predominantly white parts of the city feared? Or can he really be the “one city” mayor he’s pledged to be?
Let’s take a look-see and find out.
First, the bad news:
Last week was rough for Gray. On Monday, news broke that Marc Barnes, as owner of Love, the nightclub booked for Gray’s victory party, owes the city nearly $900,000 in taxes.
The rollout of Gray’s transition team Wednesday was overshadowed by LL’s disclosure that Reuben Charles, who will manage the day-to-day operations of the transition, owes $236,000 in unpaid taxes in Illinois.
And on Thursday, Gray managed to piss off the city’s police force by having lunch with Almost D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown—instead of going to the funeral of police officer Paul Dittamo, who died in the line of duty. (Even Fenty, who sometimes seemed to go out of his way to irritate people that way during his time in office, managed to make it to the ceremony, albeit late.)
These are minor missteps to be sure—but the common thread was that Gray’s staff hadn’t done the proper vetting or prep work. That’s got to be troubling for Gray; one of the main charges against him in the primary was that he would tolerate mediocrity, or worse, from city employees.
The Gray camp seemed completely caught off guard when LL asked about Charles’ tax problem on Wednesday. LL first wrote about Charles’s financial problems in September, reporting default judgments against him totaling more than $352,000 in Missouri. More records recently obtained by LL show that Charles owes an additional $24,178 from a 2005 default judgment. All told, that’s $588,000 in unpaid debts Charles has been ordered to pay.
Charles has said his unpaid debts are the result of being a risk-taking investor, and not giving enough attention to some lawsuits. Whether that should disqualify him for a prominent role in the Gray administration is up to the next mayor. But Gray has promised, like all politicians, to run an open and transparent government—while being anything but with Charles’ financial problems.
Charles told The Washington Post the Illinois tax lien came from a business he invested in, not personal debt. But he refused to tell the Post the business’ name. When NBC4’s Tom Sherwood tried to get Charles on camera to explain, Charles put Sherwood off for a few days. The result: a blistering story by Sherwood labeling Charles’s financial problems a “scandal.”
Minor scandals like Charles’ financial problems are inevitable in any administration. Pros get ahead of the bad news and control the message. The less professional react much the same way Gray’s team did.
Many in the Wilson Building privately complained to LL last week about Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier not keeping them informed of Ditammo’s funeral. (No D.C. Council members attended, in the end.) Maybe Lanier dropped the ball, but the multiple news accounts of the pending funeral Thursday morning should have given Gray, or his aides, an adequate heads up.
Instead, the Gray camp publicly blamed the funeral snafu on a staff oversight. If that excuse sounds familiar, it’s because Gray did the same thing earlier this year, blaming his staff for last-minute cuts to the city’s streetcar program. He had to quickly reverse the clumsy move, and the whole episode became fodder for Fenty supporters during the primary campaign: Gray, they tried to argue, was an overly deliberative do-nothing. Staffers will sometimes make mistakes; Gray, though, gets to take the blame (and the credit.)
OK, so what has the poor guy done right? Plenty, actually.
Education: The whole circus surrounding the future of Michelle Rhee—and by extension school reform—that surrounded the primary and the month afterwards now seems like a distant memory, which is testament to how adroitly Gray has handled his biggest political test so far.
The fate of the polarizing former schools chancellor was the big issue of the primary, and LL was nearly exhausted watching Gray avoid answering whether he’d keep or fire her as the campaign wore on.
Sure, Gray made it pretty clear he wasn’t going to say either way what he’d do about Rhee, but that was a pretty unsatisfying answer, and it gave Fenty plenty of ammo to wallop him with at debates.
When Gray won, Rhee called the results “devastating” (though she later tried to walk back from that statement). Then the pair met for a one-on-one at Gray’s office, while the whole local press corps sat outside. When they came out to chat, Rhee acted as if the future mayor had some of the world’s worst body odor and refused to stand anywhere near him. She then bolted before Gray was even done answering questions.
In other words, it was not looking good.
Gray and Rhee were engaged in an awkward month-long staring contest that seemed destined to end badly. Gray was either going to have to fire Rhee and incur the wrath of her rabid supporters (some of whom went so far as to redesign Fenty’s campaign yard signs with her name), or enter into a spectacularly dysfunctional marriage with a school chancellor who clearly didn’t like him.
But Rhee blinked and stepped aside, leaving Gray to pick her successor. Whether his pick of Rhee’s top deputy, Kaya Henderson, turns out to be good for D.C. public school students remains to be seen. But the politics look sharp. It’s hard for Rhee’s fans to complain too loudly when Rhee and Fenty are publicly praising the move and predicting that school reform efforts will continue uninterrupted.
“I cannot be more hopeful and optimistic about the future of our city in his hands,” Fenty said of Gray at a Kennedy Center awards ceremony last week for top public school teachers. The two clasped hands and held them aloft together at one point.
The crowd, besides two cabinet secretaries and Jill Biden, had some of the big money philanthropists who have forked over the big bucks that were key to Rhee’s success. On that front, Gray has also played it smart and has launched a charm offensive to win those folks over with a message that he’s down with school reform. Katherine Bradley, whose CityBridge Foundation has been a major contributor to Rhee’s efforts, is serving on his transition team.
“I think he’s been very strong in showing that he’s got a real commitment to real reform, and he’s made that evident in lots of ways,” Bradley says, adding that the local and national donors who are funding D.C. reform efforts are eager to stay onboard and continue to work with Gray and Henderson.
Budget: All signs point to plenty of pain in the council’s upcoming deliberation on how to bridge a $175 million budget gap for this fiscal year and a much bigger one for next. Gray can’t change the numbers, but his job is to manage people’s expectations. On that front, Gray’s been pretty candid at town halls around the city about how bad things might get.
It probably doesn’t hurt that he’s also brought two Brahmins of city finances, former Mayor Anthony Williams and former financial control board chairwoman Alice Rivlin, onto his transition team. Cutting social safety net programs and raising taxes are no way to make oneself popular, but Gray’s done a good job of giving himself as much political cover as possible.
Write-In Campaign: It would have been easy for Gray to be dismissive of the die-hards who were behind the Fenty write-in campaign. And Gray could have easily told the nearly 30,000 people who cast write-in votes to “get over it.” Instead Gray handled the write-in campaign with grace and class, telling those who cast protest votes against him to “work with us.”
Final grade: Incomplete. Hey, like LL said up, the guy’s not even the mayor yet. But in the weeks since he won the primary, Gray has given himself blueprints to follow that seem to predict both good times ahead and bad. Which one he sticks to more often might determine how the next four years go.
GOING OUT SWINGING
Warning: If you said bad things about Adrian Fenty in the last four years, you better make sure you’ve got your act together.
That’s a possible takeaway from the civil fraud lawsuit filed Tuesday by Attorney General Peter Nickles against mega-developer Don Peebles, who once suggested that Fenty didn’t respect his wife. The complaint says Peebles, through a building he owns and leases to the District, has made $1.25 million in improper charges to the city for things like political contributions and office supplies. (The suit could also be a test for Gray, who will have to decide whether to carry on Nickles’ crusade against a politically connected insider or let Peebles walk with the money.)
Then there’s Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., another Fenty antagonist, whom Nickles took to court on election day seeking financial records related to a non-profit called “Team Thomas.”
And who can forget the saga of Almost Mayor Vince Gray’s fence? Gray was the only person the District Department of Transportation ever went after over fence height issues, and Nickles was all over “Fencegate” like a hawk.
But the feisty Nickles, whose quotability is going to be sorely missed among the city’s press corps, says his legal actions speak for themselves. And any suggestion he’s motivated by political payback is “bullshit.”
“It seems that everything I do is political,” says Nickles. Not for long.
Nearly two decades in the making, D.C.'s convention center hotel breaks ground
By Derek Kravitz
Washington Post
Washington Post
Thursday, November 11, 2010; 12:42 AM
But after two dozen D.C. Council votes, 19 years and several lawsuits, city officials and developers broke ground Wednesday on a 14-story Marriott Marquis, designed as a complement to the city's convention center.
"This day has been a long time coming," said Gregory O'Dell, president and chief executive of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority. "People have stuck with us, through thick and thin."
D.C. officials began pushing nearly two decades ago for a companion hotel across from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, which itself was on the drawing board.
The convenience of staying next to the center, which opened on Mount Vernon Place in 2003, along with convention-level room prices, would allow the city to compete other regional convention space, such as National Harbor in Prince George's County, where Gaylord built a 2,000-room hotel, officials said.
But years of squabbling over who would pay for the public-private partnership and legal disputes over Bethesda-based Marriott International's winning bid to operate the hotel scuttled plans. Meanwhile, hotel bookings in the District fell short of expectations, and the credit crunch froze the financing needed to make the hotel a reality.
D.C. officials approved $206 million for the hotel over the summer, and the developer secured financing from private investors.
The four-star boutique-style hotel, a mix of glass and steel, is tentatively set to open in spring 2014, officials said. It will have 1,175 rooms, including 46 suites, more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space, a lobby, and five retail outlets and restaurants on the ground floor, at a cost of $520 million.
The hotel will also incorporate the former headquarters of the American Federation of Labor, a seven-story brick and limestone building built in 1916 that is a national historic landmark.
At a ceremony attended by more than 350 people at the hotel site at Ninth Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW, D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) jokingly said that the hotel would have been built faster if he and a city colleague had gone to the site every day and "put down brick by brick by brick."
Washington developer Jim Abdo likened the hotel project to a recurring nightmare. Another developer, Bob Gladstone of Quadrangle Development, called the groundbreaking a "reunion of the faithful."
The construction also marks the long-awaited beginning of a neighborhood renaissance in the historically impoverished Shaw section of the city, which has waited for a hip hotel, high-end stores and sit-down restaurants.
In September, construction began at the CityMarket at O Street NW project, which will develop 87,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 600 residential units at the site of the 19th-century-era O Street Market. A Giant Food store will anchor that project, which had been in the works for more than eight years.
"The project is not only going to be the key to the revitalization of this area, but it will be a key to one of our burgeoning industries: tourism," said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).
Original plans called for a 1,400-room, $750 million hotel with several stories of underground parking. After developers complained about rising construction costs and asked for more public funding, the size and scope of the hotel were scaled back. But funding issues remained, and a lawsuit filed by developer JBG Cos., which alleged favoritism in the bidding process, complicated matters further.
"We know we've lost about $250 million in revenue over the years of not being able to start, and missed job opportunities," said Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D), particularly "when you look at the unemployment in this city, especially in the eastern end."
Completion of the new Marriott is a long way off. Because of a complex excavation process that includes a tunnel to the convention center and below-ground parking, construction is expected to take a year longer than for other buildings.
City officials said the project will create about 1,600 construction jobs, along with more than 1,000 jobs at the hotel.
Marriott Marquis at D.C. Convention Center is a go
Washington Business Journal - by Michael Neibauer
Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 1:48pm EST
The dirt has been ceremoniously shoveled, the players praised, the lawsuits dismissed and the financing done. Now it's time to actually build the District's convention center hotel.
A couple hundred people packed a tent outside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center Wednesday to hear developers and elected officials tell tales of just how hard this moment was to reach, and to thank the many, many, many people involved in the process -- over and over again.
"A proper level of enthusiasm if I say so myself," said outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty, who will leave office in January having broken ground on the hotel and ensured its financing.
Scheduled to open in 2014, the 1,175-room Marriott Marquis is considered key to the future success of the convention center, which faces increasing competition from large meeting facilities in the D.C. area and across the country. The hotel site is bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, 9th, 10th and L streets NW. It will soon be a giant pit.
Officials say the hotel will anchor the redevelopment of Shaw, in concert with Roadside Development's CityMarket at O project one block north. It will mean 1,600 construction jobs, officials say, 1,000 hotel-related jobs post grand opening, and millions of dollars in tax revenue.
It brings "an opportunity now to begin attacking unemployment," said Mayor-elect Vincent Gray, as long as the District "makes sure our people have the opportunity to get these jobs as we build this magnificent addition."
"If that does not happen, then we are not a great city," D.C. Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown said of the employment opportunities.
The ground breaking was well attended by elected officials, developers, neighbors. This is a project that was dreamed about for two decades and survived two dozen council votes and numerous lawsuits, most recently one involving JBG Cos., Marriott and the District. Developer Jim Abdo, a member of the WCSA, deemed those "frivolous and absurd."
"Emily [Durso, president of the Hotel Association of Washington, D.C.] and I said we could get the hotel built faster if we put a brick down every day, side by side," said Councilman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2.
The event even drew J.W. "Bill" Marriott himself, chairman and CEO of Marriott International.
"It's been wonderful to come back home to a beautiful new convention hotel," Marriott said.
To which Fenty joked: "Local boy makes good."
The $550 million hotel will feature a 30,000-square-foot grand ballroom, two 10,800-square-foot junior ballrooms, more than 53,000 square feet of meeting room space, an 18,000-square-foot indoor event terrace and a 5,200-square-foot rooftop terrace. The District and the Washington Convention and Sports Authority will invest roughly $250 million in the project, some through tax increment financing, some through grants and some through loans.
"Our customers have demanded it," said Beverly Perry, WCSA Board chair. "Our neighborhood is ready for it."
The hotel was designed by Cooper Carry Architects and TVS Architects, both of Atlanta, and will be developed by Quadrangle Development Corp. and Capstone Development LLC.
Norton takes aim at National Harbor
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/norton-takes-aim-at-national-harbor-107051863.html#ixzz14y1YtnTn
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/norton-takes-aim-at-national-harbor-107051863.html#ixzz14y1YtnTn
11/10/10 1:50 PM EST
D.C. congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton took a moment to take a shot at National Harbor as she and other politicos congratulated each other for finally breaking ground on the hotel counterpart to the District’s convention center.
“With National Harbor breathing down our collective backs, we’re telling them we’re not going to let them eat our lunch — they can just eat their hearts out,” Norton told the crowd of several hundred that gathered for the groundbreaking Wednesday morning.
City officials have been working with Marriott to bring a hotel to the convention center for seven years. On Wednesday, the $520 million project got officially underway. The hotel is expected to ope in 2014.
Officials like Norton hope the hotel will make the District more competitive for the many large-scale conventions that come to the Washington-area. Mayor-elect Vince Gray estimated on Wednesday that the District has lost more than $200 million in convention business to the likes of National Harbor by not having a hotel serving the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
Opened in 2008, the Gaylord National Harbor hotel sits just outside the Capital Beltway on the Potomac River in Prince George’s County and combines a massive convention space with hotel rooms and restaurants.
Getting This Party Started at Convention Center Hotel
Posted by Lydia DePillis on Nov. 10, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Housing Complex (Washington City Paper)
In proof positive that long-running development projects make for nearly as long groundbreaking speeches, today's ceremony to mark the official start of construction on the $520 million Marriott Marquis hotel downtown was a doozy, with speakers thanking everyone from former mayor Marion Barry (seated proudly in the front row) to Washington Convention and Sports Authority development committee chairman Jim Abdo's wife ("probably on a run somewhere"). After all this project has been through, the day seemed almost miraculous; Quadrangle Development's Bob Gladstone called it a "reunion of the faithful." One of the oldest people on the dais, Bill Marriott himself, has presided over the construction of 16 hotels in D.C., but none as grand as this.
Beyond those conveying congratulations, the room was packed with people who are counting on something from the massive new development: Downtown tourist-oriented businesses hoping for a new source of customers, Shaw community activists looking to get neighborhood residents employed, and city development people just glad to get the project off their plate.
(And speaking of plates, if the spread afterwards is anything like hotel guests have to look forward to when the building finishes up in 2014, this reporter will be stopping by to crash receptions on a regular basis).
Save Our Safety Net Back Up And Fighting
Posted by Jason Cherkis on Nov. 10, 2010 at 3:24 pm
City Desk (Washington City Paper)
After a short hiatus during the recent campaign season, Save Our Safety Netis back up and fighting. The group's latest issue: taking on Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells' bill that would restrict homeless services to only District residents. The Safety Netters show that there's more to this bill than the residency requirement.
Citing the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, the org writes that the bill:
· "Requires verification of DC residency before one can access emergency shelter or almost any other homeless service, including winter shelter, outreach, Housing First, meal programs and crisis intervention services, and defines residency more narrowly than any other program in DC.
· Attempts to exclude a) those who seek “low barrier” shelter (which does not include any family shelters or “severe weather” shelters), as well as b) applicants to shelter who are victims of “domestic abuse, sexual assault, or human trafficking” (but provides no information on how a person would verify such exemption prior to receiving services), from residency requirements during severe weather only.
· Eliminates the longstanding health and safety protections for families with minor children by removing the requirement in the winter that family shelter be “apartment-style.” Removes any limit on the number of families that can be placed together in one room with communal sleeping, eating, and bathroom facilities.
· Bill 18-1059 would increase the burden on the agencies that provide shelter, increase the cost per client the agencies serve, and would open DC up to lawsuits. But the most troubling, is that DC would leave individuals and families who can not prove residency out in the cold, even at risk of hypothermia."
I assume that Save Our Safety Net is gonna want their capes back from Wells, Barry and others who support this legislation.
Guy Steuart finally nets his Giant
Washington Business Journal - by Michael Neibauer
Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 10:09am EST - Last Modified: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 4:46pm EST
Giant Food LLC and Steuart Investment Co. have finally sealed the deal to bring a supermarket to Steuart's mixed-use project at 3rd and H streets NE.
The Chevy Chase-based Steuart, led by director Guy Steuart, danced with Giant for months before closing the deal with a long-term anchor lease. The developer had long sought a grocery store to anchor his 286,500-square-foot project on the west end of the busy H Street corridor, what he's now calling 360˚ H Street, but previous talks with Harris Teeter Inc., Yes! Organic Market and Trader Joe's had all fallen through.
The Giant, at 41,200 square feet, will consume most of the space set aside for retail on the site. There will also be a 1,500 retail bay on the east end. Silver Spring-based Torti Gallas and Partners Inc. is the architect.
"We could not be more pleased that Giant has committed to anchor this development," Steuart said in a statement. "Our vision for 360˚ H Street is one of convenient urban living, and with Giant we've partnered with a grocer embracing smart development and top-quality customer service too."
We first reported the potential deal with Giant in April, but both sides declined to publicly acknowledge the discussions. Then, in August, Giant President Robin Michel told a tent full of people that Giant was locked in at 3rd and H, but her communications team quickly backtracked and said the deal was not done.
The Steuart parcels, currently vacant save the occasional pop-up art, is expected to feature the supermarket, 215 rental units and 270 underground parking spaces -- 125 reserved for retail customers, and 145 for residents. The project will be steps from a future streetcar stop, a block from Union Station and across the street from Abdo Development's 480-unit condominium complex.
"This is a great next step in the revitalization of the H Street Corridor," said D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6. "I'm excited that Giant has been exploring more urban and transit-oriented store designs and I'm eager to see Steuart and Giant deliver on a vision that embraces the new streetcar and the proximity to Union Station."
Construction is expected to start in the spring. Giant will be open in the first quarter of 2013.
Giant grocery store coming to Northeast
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/giant-grocery-store-coming-to-northeast-107041688.html#ixzz14y21v6T2
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/giant-grocery-store-coming-to-northeast-107041688.html#ixzz14y21v6T2
11/10/10 11:50 AM EST
Giant has signed a lease to bring a 41,000-square-foot grocery store to 3rd and H Street Northeast, Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells announced Wednesday morning.
The grocery store will be a key component to a redevelopment project at the corner that will include street-level retail space and 215 housing units. The Giant is expected to open during the first quarter of 2013.
“This is a great next step in the revitalization of the H Street Corridor,” Wells said in a statement. He added that he’s “excited” that Giant will “deliver on a vision that embraces the new streetcar and the proximity to Union Station.”
Well-being survey reveals racial divide
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111000004.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111000004.html
Wednesday, November 10, 2010; 12:02 AM
The Washington region ranks first among the country's 10 largest metropolitan areas on an index that measures life expectancy, education and income, according to a report to be released Wednesday.
The region's top score is driven in large part by the high education and income levels of whites and Asian Americans living in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, the report says. Although some of the information underscores what is generally known about the area, the report by the American Human Development Project, an initiative of the Brooklyn-based nonprofit Social Science Research Council, reveals some startling gaps in what it calls the building blocks of a good life.
White D.C. residents have the longest life expectancy of whites in any state, 83.1 years, the report says. That is 12 years longer than the life span, on average, for blacks in the city. The average life expectancy for blacks is 71, the lowest for blacks in any state. The average life expectancy for blacks in the District is about the same as what it was for the average American in the 1970s.
The index of well-being does not vary greatly among the top 10 metropolitan areas, said Sarah Burd-Sharps, a co-author of the report. The Washington region ranked first, followed by the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston areas.
In many cases, however, "there are enormous chasms when you pull the data apart," she said.
Those extremes are evident in the D.C. area. The District has the highest infant mortality rate in the nation. And although the District has a high drop-out rate and low school enrollment for ages 3 to 24, "it's also a place that attracts people with high levels of education to high-paying jobs," she said.
"What pulls it way up in scale is the number of people who have a bachelor's degree or a professional degree," she said.
Nearly half of the people in the Washington region - about 47 percent - have at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 41 percent in the No. 2-Boston region, according to the report.
The report tracked health, education and income in each state and the District, each of the 435 congressional districts, and each of the five major ethnic groups in every state, Burd-Sharps said.
"If you want to know whether we're making progress, you need to measure these things . . . which are as critical to stock market gyrations and all the money measures which we measure with great intensity," she said.
The authors ranked the congressional districts because they are linked to elected officials. "Their job is to make sure people are not dying premature deaths at huge rates," she said.
Three of the region's congressional districts - the 11th and 8th in affluent Northern Virginia and the 8th in Maryland, which includes high-income parts of Montgomery County - were among the top 10 districts in the United States, the report says.
With a median household income of $85,000, according to the latest census data, and an unemployment rate well below the national average, the Washington region is considered the most affluent in the country.
The report used an index that is a composite measure of three equally weighted indicators: median personal earnings, life expectancy, and school enrollment of those ages 3 to 24 and highest degree attained by adults 25 and older.
The authors used 2008 census data for education and earnings and calculated life expectancy using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fenty's departure coincides with another drop in homicides
By Tim Craig
D.C. Wire (Washington Post blog)
November 10, 2010; 5:34 PM ET
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) is on track to leave office Jan 2. having just achieved the fewest yearly number of homicides in decades, probably improving on his administration's success last year in bringing the tally down to 143 killings.
According to statistics supplied by D.C. police, the District has logged 115 homicides this year. At this point last year, there had been 123 homicides, which helped pave the way for the lowest annual total since 1966.
Although the decline is part of a national trend, the drop-off in the District has become symbolic in a city once known as the nation's murder capital.
During his unsuccessful campaign for reelection against D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, Fenty (D) often pointed to the declining homicide rate as a sign of the city's progress under his leadership. But to the dismay of some key supporters, Fenty never aggressively pushed the issue through television ads, perhaps denying his campaign a message that had the potential to cross racial and economic lines.
With six weeks remaining until New Years, there's still a chance that this year's total could creep past last year's. But the overall pattern appears set, helping to shape Fenty's legacy.
The District's improving homicide tally could also increase pressure on Gray (D) to reappoint Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
While it can be debated whether Lanier's crime-fighting tactics are responsible for the decline, she remains one of the most popular figures in the city, according to recent opinion polls.
Lanier has had a few stumbles recently, including being criticized for speaking out too soon about the circumstances surrounding a suspicious death outside the DC 9 nightclub on U Street. And some of Lanier's critics, including the Fraternal Order of Police, note other crime categories have risen even as homicides have declined. But Gray has publicly praised her for being effective, heightening expectations that she will be retained.
Fenty’s Freudian slip
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/fentys-freudian-slip-107072013.html#ixzz14xq4qmtJ
Examiner Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/blogs/capital-land/fentys-freudian-slip-107072013.html#ixzz14xq4qmtJ
11/10/10 5:40 PM EST
Lame duck Mayor Adrian Fenty had a bit of a Freudian slip Wednesday morning when introducing Mayor-elect Vince Gray at the groundbreaking for the hotel counterpart to the District’s convention center.
When introducing Gray to the crowd of several hundred, Fenty said, “I couldn’t be happier to turn the government over to…,” then he cut himself short. The crowd laughed and he started over. “I couldn’t be happier to turn the podium over to Mayor-elect Vince Gray.”
The slip was one of several lighter moments for Fenty, who was better known for being stiff at public appearances. Since losing the Democratic Primary in September, however, the outgoing mayor has been more relaxed in his public appearances. Almost as if he “couldn’t be happier to turn the government over.”
Where are the DCPS contracts?
By Bill Turque
D.C. Schools Insider (Washington Post)
Posted at 8:36 AM ET, 11/10/2010
DCPS used to post a monthly listing of the contracts it awarded, offering a window into how the $700 million a year agency spends some of its money. In January, for instance, there was a $3.1 million contract with First Home Care, a firm hired to help manage the city's special education students in private schools that came under fire from parents for its attempts to "reintegrate" some kids back into the public system.
In April and May, two contracts totaling $978,000 went to the New Teacher Project, the non-profit founded by former Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee that operates the D.C. Teaching Fellows. D.C. Central Kitchen, one of the firms selected to help upgrade school meals, received $278,000 over the summer.
But the monthly listings stopped in July. DCPS chief operating officer Anthony Tata said he'd look into it.
"Might just be a backlog issue," he said.
From Wednesday:
Mike DeBonis: http://wapo.st/9gJqx5
Loose Lips (daily column): http://bit.ly/aMvznQ
DMV Daily (P.J. Orvetti): http://bit.ly/c9FaV9
Tom Sherwood's Notebook 11/10/10: http://bit.ly/9Sxn17
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