Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Debate continues over what to do with the land RFK Stadium currently sits on. Its location on the waterfront combined with the Metro station under it makes it a valuable commodity. The District has a study underway to look at different options, but according to one ANC Commissioner, the Mayor already has her mind made up.
“I was surprised to hear that it seemed she had already made up her mind. It’s going to be a football stadium, no matter what,” said ANC 6B09 Commissioner Brian Flahaven. “We had been under the impression in the neighborhood that the city is in the midst of a study, to look at formal, alternatives for the site.”
He said Mayor Bowser termed the study as a fallback plan.
“She said the study was in case we can’t get the football team back, we want to have a plan for the site that we can go to if that doesn’t work out,” Flahaven said he heard from the Mayor during a recent meeting with ANC Commissioners. “She essentially threw all other options out for a football stadium which a lot of us think will only benefit the owner of the football team. From our perspective, it’s very disappointing.”
He said unlike what happened with Nationals Park, the opportunity for new development to sprout up from the stadium is not there.
“Football stadiums have 10-12 events a year, and they don’t generate a lot of other activities,” Flahaven said. “And they take up a huge amount of space. They need huge amounts of parking because the whole culture of a football game is you go there to tailgate, not to a restaurant before the game.”
Owners, he said, would be less willing to cooperate with other mixed-use development because that would mean fewer money being spent in their parking lots and at their concession stands.
“We could improve the quality of life in the neighborhood, with better access to the water, more recreation space, more housing,” Flahaven said. “I thought the study was to look at all the alternatives and to make the best choice for the city.”
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