Sunday's Washington Times had a big piece ("A Tale of Two Southeasts") comparing the two sections of Southeast DC, in Ward 8 to the east of the Anacostia River and in Ward 6, on the river's west bank and closer to the US Capitol (which of course includes Near Southeast). Lots of discussion of whether the stadium and other development in the western part of Southeast will trickle over to eastern Southeast. There's mention of some Near Southeast projects, alas it would have been nice if they had correctly described the "two new apartment complexes with a total of 298 units" as being for low-income senior citizens.

No news yet on the fate of the Herb Miller/Garages Wrapped With Development Goodness plan to solve the issue of parking at the new baseball stadium (despite the Sept. 1 date when the financing was supposed to be in place having now arrived), but the Post editorial page weighs in on the lonely plight of CEO Gandhi trying to make sure that the DC taxpayers' interests don't strike out.

I'm slow in posting this (political campaigning leaves me cold), but here's the WashTimes description from yesterday of a mayoral candidates forum it recently held, "Candidates Revisit Baseball Deal." Michael Brown's "plan" to halt construction on South Capitol Street and move the stadium to RFK (giggle, chortle) was attacked, and Adrian Fenty said that although he voted against the stadium plan, as mayor it would be his job to make it a success.

Yeah, I ranted a few hours ago about how I wouldn't be taking photos of the stadium every five minutes. But that fit of pique ran right up against the fact that it's been two weeks since I ventured up to my South Capitol Street perch, and the construction is really starting to look like, well, a baseball stadium. So I took a couple of new shots and added them to the Stadium Construction Photo Gallery. While I'm never going to be as up-to-date as the stadium webcam, I do have one leg up on it: different angles :-).

Just a small reminder/plea.... Construction at the stadium is proceeding briskly, and people are of course very excited about it. However, my goal at this site is really to document an overall feel of change, not necessarily every single iota of progress. I'm getting e-mails from people along the lines of "you should know they poured another concrete pillar today" (a bit of an exaggeration, but not as much as you might think). If you want minute-by-minute views of the stadium's construction, the Clark/Hunt/Smoot Stadium Construction Webcam is the site for you. I'll continue to take photos every few weeks as I always have and put those on my Stadium Construction Photo Gallery, so that you can see how the blocks are transforming, but bookmark the webcam if you're wanting more.

A short blurb from Friday's Post: "D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi asked the city's attorney general yesterday to rule on the legality of a plan for a private developer to build a mix of parking garages, condominiums and shops adjacent to the new baseball stadium. In a two-page letter, Gandhi expressed concern that the plan would violate the $611 million stadium cost cap adopted by the D.C. Council and a ban on using the money the city would receive from development rights near the stadium to build the garages. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and other city officials are aiming to complete an agreement by Sept. 1 with developer Herbert S. Miller to build the garages and condos." (Boy, I've enjoyed these past few weeks without any news on this. But I'm guessing next week this'll be back with a vengeance. Blech.)

Today's Washington Times reports that DC mayoral candidate Michael Brown has vowed to "stop construction of the Washington Nationals' baseball stadium on South Capitol Street and instead would refurbish RFK Stadium for the team." He will apparently be holding a press conference this week to detail his plans. Additionally: "Mr. Brown acknowledged the apparent difficulties in gaining the approval of all interested parties for a new stadium deal but said he can do it. 'I didn't say it was easy, and there are a lot of different moving pieces.' " In other the-stadium-is-a-boondoggle highlights from the weekend, the WashTimes editorial board compares the financing for the new Yankee stadium to what DC "negotiated" to get the Nats to DC (i.e., stop pointing the gun at us, Bud, we'll give you everything you want, just so you'll finally put a team in one of the biggest markets in the country), but also uses it to once again castigate the Lerners for standing in the way of the city's desire to recoup some money by building the Garages Wrapped With Development Goodness. In addition, local muckraking institution DC Watch has had much discussion from its readers over the past few weeks about the stadium and it's financing, and addresses it specifically in its current issue.

This is a little old at this point, but here's the prepared remarks of CFO Natwar Gandhi when he testified before the council's Committee on Economic Development on July 6 about his concerns with Herb Miller's proposal for the Garages Wrapped With Development Goodness.

There was no way I could pass up the unbelievable weather on Saturday, so I wandered down to the stadium site to take a bunch of new pictures. Initial construction has gotten underway at 1st and O, and is now rounding the corner at 1st and P and heading west. This is just a one-story concrete structure at this point, and you can see from the other pillars driven into the ground that it's the horseshoe outline of the southern side of the park.

From an e-mail distribution: "SWNA and ANC6D cordially invite you to a CANDIDATES FORUM ARENA STAGE In the Kreeger Theater Monday, August 14, 2006 Starting at 7 pm. Candidates for Mayor and Ward 6 City Council will be asked questions dealing with Southwest. The questions will especially concern Waterside Mall, the upcoming AWC Waterfront Project, and the Baseball Stadium. Questions will be asked by a panel and the audience will be able to write their questions for the candidates."

More posts: ANC News, Nationals Park