GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

Office of the City Administrator

Response to Washington Post Article Published Monday, January 27, 2014 DC Infrastructure Investment the Right Call for New Soccer Stadium By Allen Y. Lew The January 27th Post article Few are fans of plan for stadium, was based on a question that bears little connection to the facts. Unfortunately, the Post misleads its readers into believing that the Gray Administration is proposing using District government funds to build a soccer stadium for DC United. The article and its headline stating that sixty percent of District residents were opposed to using public funds to finance the new stadium for DC United, were based on one question at the end of a very long survey conducted to gauge public opinion about the candidates in the upcoming April 1 Democratic primary race for Mayor that resulted in the recent story, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray is top Democrat in poll as primary looms. The entire stadium poll story is based on how those surveyed responded to the following question: Generally speaking, do you favor or oppose using city funds to help finance a new soccer stadium for the Districts Major League Soccer team, D.C. United? I am not surprised by the response as the question is devoid of context. When the proposed transaction is explained, I am confident that the majority of the Districts residents will support the proposal and five to ten years down the road will reap the benefits from the Mayors vision. The question asked by the Post suggests that the District will help finance a new soccer stadium. That is simply not true. More to the point, Mayor Gray does not support public financing for construction of the stadium and neither do I. DC United will be building and paying for the construction of the stadium. What the District will do is assemble, clear and clean the required land. The District will own this land and will lease it to DC United. At the end of 35 years, the District will get the land back. From an economic perspective, the District will be paying fair market value for the land that is to say what it is worth today and absent a new soccer stadium. The District will own this land throughout the life of the transaction and beyond. As the Southwest waterfront continues to revive and grow, the District will receive the benefits as the land appreciates in value. More importantly, however, the District will realize other benefits as a whole new neighborhood grows attracting residents and economic activity to grow the Districts economy.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ The John A. Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

Office of the City Administrator

The facts are that the District is in final negotiations with DC United for a project that will not only emulate the success of nearby Nationals Park, but will indeed serve as a linchpin anchor development between the baseball stadium and the new retail and residential developments along the Anacostia Waterfront and Southwest Wharf area. As anyone who has visited or seen the proposed site will attest, it is currently an industrial wasteland, mostly empty and in urgent need of a makeover. For more than a decade now, the District, under three separate Mayoral administrations, has been working to reclaim this area and create a grand, new neighborhood. We are only now under Mayor Gray beginning to see the benefits of this effort and reclaiming and improving the Buzzard Point land will serve as one of the final pieces in the puzzle. Additionally, based on a preliminary economic impact analysis the soccer stadium is expected to generate: approximately $143 million in economic activity within the District; over 400 full-time equivalent jobs; and $26 million in employee earnings during the construction period. Had the survey provided those facts and other relevant data such as the Gray administrations $4 billion in capital spending on infrastructure, facilities and maintenance, including over $1.2 billion for new and modernized schools, I am certain the results would have been different. In context, the $150 million infrastructure investment is prudent and long overdue. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Allen Y. Lew is the City Administrator for the District of Columbia government

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ The John A. Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004