Please note that JDLand is no longer being updated.
peek >>
Near Southeast DC Past News Items: Nationals Park
See JDLand's Nationals Park Project Page
for Photos, History, and Details
In the Pipeline
25 M
Yards/Parcel I
Chiller Site Condos
Yards/Parcel A
1333 M St.
More Capper Apts.
Yards/DC Water site
New Marine Barracks
Nat'l Community Church
Factory 202/Yards
SC1100
Completed
Thompson Hotel ('20)
West Half ('19)
Novel South Capitol ('19)
Yards/Guild Apts. ('19)
Capper/The Harlow ('19)
New DC Water HQ ('19)
Yards/Bower Condos ('19)
Virginia Ave. Tunnel ('19)
99 M ('18)
Agora ('18)
1221 Van ('18)
District Winery ('17)
Insignia on M ('17)
F1rst/Residence Inn ('17)
One Hill South ('17)
Homewood Suites ('16)
ORE 82 ('16)
The Bixby ('16)
Dock 79 ('16)
Community Center ('16)
The Brig ('16)
Park Chelsea ('16)
Yards/Arris ('16)
Hampton Inn ('15)
Southeast Blvd. ('15)
11th St. Bridges ('15)
Parc Riverside ('14)
Twelve12/Yards ('14)
Lumber Shed ('13)
Boilermaker Shops ('13)
Camden South Cap. ('13)
Canal Park ('12)
Capitol Quarter ('12)
225 Virginia/200 I ('12)
Foundry Lofts ('12)
1015 Half Street ('10)
Yards Park ('10)
Velocity Condos ('09)
Teague Park ('09)
909 New Jersey Ave. ('09)
55 M ('09)
100 M ('08)
Onyx ('08)
70/100 I ('08)
Nationals Park ('08)
Seniors Bldg Demo ('07)
400 M ('07)
Douglass Bridge Fix ('07)
US DOT HQ ('07)
20 M ('07)
Capper Seniors 1 ('06)
Capitol Hill Tower ('06)
Courtyard/Marriott ('06)
Marine Barracks ('04)
 
Go to Full Blog Archive


1142 Blog Posts Since 2003
Go to Page: 1 | ... 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 ... 115
Search JDLand Blog Posts by Date or Category

From a press release, word that you American Idol dreamers have two chances at glory at the ballpark on Sunday: "Washington Nationals fans will have the opportunity to audition to sing the 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at a 2008 Washington Nationals game. Fans interested in participating in the auditions must e-mail anthem@nationals.com. The first one hundred fans to sign up are guaranteed a spot in the auditions; walk-ins will not be accepted. Contestants will be asked to sing the National Anthem in under 90 seconds, the length of the anthem during pre-game ceremonies. Fans selected to perform the anthem at a Nationals game will be notified throughout the season."
Following those auditions, "the Nationals will host tryouts for one 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' performer as part of MLB's 100th anniversary celebration of the song. Five finalists will be chosen from these auditions and one winner will be selected to perform 'Baseball's National Anthem' during the Seventh Inning Stretch at the Nationals game on May 19th vs. the Philadelphia Phillies. The final winner will be chosen through a fan vote at a later date. [...] To participate in this competition fans must RSVP at entertainment@nationals.com."
The auditions are Sunday (April 6), with the anthems starting at noon and the 'Ballgame' singers starting at 4:00. Alas, the events are not open to the public. But if you're close by, you might get to hear anyway.
Comments (0)
More posts: Nationals Park
 

* The Post's District Notebook finds out that council member David Catania is "over" the financing deal for the ballpark that he so vociferously opposed: "Catania quickly put a damper on [Kwame] Brown's enthusiasm, saying the stadium still is not worth the more than $611 million of public money. 'I will never think differently,; Catania insisted. 'I'm over it.' "
* WTOP has another stadium-related shocker to add to its Hall of Fame: the car and schedule magnets being given out at the April 10 home game could demagnetize your Metro farecard if they get too close to each other! Don't let this happen to YOU.
* The Post's DC Wire blog posts about the plans for the four-game high school baseball series to be held at Nationals Park on May 31 (first reported by the WashTimes in early February). There will be a fundraiser for the event on May 3, asking for "corporate contributions up to $15,000 and individual contributions up to $3,000."
* My Ballpark and Beyond column in the Post's District Extra this week is about the surprise approval last month of the design for RiverFront on the Anacostia, on the Florida Rock site just south of the ballpark. See my project page for renderings of the plans as well as photos of what the 5.8-acre site currently looks like.
Comments (0)
More posts: Florida Rock, Metro/WMATA, Nationals Park
 

* If you haven't been inside the ballpark yet and want a free visit on either Friday night (April 4) or Saturday afternoon (April 5), WTOP tells you how. (Hint: it involves signing up for the Nats promotional e-mail list.)
* The credit crunch on Wall Street has caused the interest rates on a small portion of the stadium bonds to skyrocket, says the Examiner.
* WTOP says that Metro feels pretty good about its performance on Opening Night (as do most riders, at least evidenced by the comments you folks have been posting), but they've got a few tweaks in store for the homestand next week. They'd like you to stretch out on the Navy Yard platform, please, and will put in more trash cans so that people can toss drinks and food and cigarettes when they get to the station.
* Speaking of the Navy Yard station, if you've done that walk up Half Street and want information on what's planned there beyond the renderings on the east-side fences (or want to see what was there up until about 18 months ago), check out my Monument Half Street page. Plans for the west side of the street, where the Southeastern Bus Garage has now been vacated by Metro, are stalled thanks to a lawsuit brought by Monument against WMATA after the land was sold to Akridge in a way that Monument contends was unfair.
* This is a little old, but I'll toss it in anyway (I *think* I haven't already linked to it; it's all just a blur now)--MLB.com reports that Stan Kasten was very happy with how Opening Night went in terms of the fan experience.
Comments (0)
More posts: West Half St., Metro/WMATA, Monument Valley/Half St., Nationals Park
 

If you're interested in knowing everything about the food at the ballpark, check out all the Washington Post offerings today, starting here. There was also a chat with folks from the Food section staff. UPDATE: For a different point of view on today's Food section offerings, I point you to the Washington City Paper's City Desk blog.
Comments (0)
More posts: Nationals Park
 

From NBC4, word that on Tuesday the city council unanimously passed legislation to allow street vending at Nationals Park: "On Tuesday, [Ward 3 council member Mary] Cheh introduced emergency legislation requiring Mayor Adrian Fenty to come up with 40 vending spots in 21 days, including 23 spots for veteran vendors of RFK. The spaces will be distributed by lottery." The council had passed legislation to overhaul of the city's vending rules last month, but the new regulations weren't getting written quickly enough to get vendors in place by the ballpark. The Post has more.
The council also voted unanimously to "create a body within the D.C. Auditor's office that will perform a one-time audit of completed projects on land that is now controlled by Neil Albert, deputy mayor for economic development, but was once under the control of the defunct public-private National Capital Revitalization Corp. and the Anacostia Waterfront Corp.," according to the Washington Business Journal. This would include Canal Park and Diamond Teague Park, and is being done to "ensure that developers keep promises to build affordable housing, meet environmental standards, hire District workers and involve local and disadvantaged businesses when they receive public land or financing."
Meanwhile, Bruce Johnson reports on his blog (with photo credit in place--thanks!) that there's been some behind-the-scenes battling between the city council and the mayor's office over who would control the complementary tickets to the two suites at the ballpark designated to the city. It sounds like an agreement has been reached where the mayor will control tickets to one suite and council chair Vincent Gray the other. (Geez, even *I* could have come up with that solution.) UPDATE, 4/2: Now Bruce says there's still no agreement. Part of the problem is that the executive branch, city council, and sports commission had 148 tickets to work with at RFK, and only have 48 at Nationals Park.
Comments (0)
More posts: politics, Nationals Park
 

Based on my own observations and some others that have come my way, it seems that the parking lots put together by the Nationals for Opening Night near the ballpark were not anywhere close to filled to capacity, despite months of dire predictions that even these 4,000 or so spaces would not be anywhere near enough to handle just season ticket holders, let alone people who just had tickets for that night and wanted to park near the stadium. For instance, the 110-space lot T at Third and K wasn't even opened on Sunday night, and lot U was nowhere near capacity. On the other hand, some reports say that Lot 8 at RFK was completely full, and there was overflow parking at Lot 7.
So, I'm looking for some information, and I'd love responses from readers. If you went to Opening Night, how did you get there? If you drove, did you have a parking pass for one of the lots? Which lot did you park in? Did you have a pass, but opted to take Metro or go to RFK? If you took Metro, how did you arrive? (Navy Yard, Capitol South, Union Station, N22 bus, other bus, etc.) Did you walk? Did you bike? Leave your information in the comments. Thanks!
Comments (0)
More posts: parking, Nationals Park
 

I have to say that I didn't expect that the day after Opening Night would end up being so quiet around here. But, here's some stories worth mentioning:
* WTOP trumpets the crime wave around the ballpark that everyone feared--16 Arrested Near Nats Park Over the Weekend! Grab the children! Run for the hills! So, just what were the dastardly crimes committed by these ne'er-do-wells? "All the individuals arrested were charged with scalping tickets on the street." The article also says that more than 100 cars were towed from the surrounding neighborhood.
* WJLA recounts the stories of people not going to the ballpark whose cars were ticketed and towed. Here's the parking restrictions map, again. Tell your neighbors and friends.
* City Paper wishes everyone would stop calling it a $611 million stadium.
* Channel 9 recounts the story of a tourist forced by the Secret Service to delete photos taken of the security checkpoints at Opening Night. I wish they had tried that with me. The quote from the Secret Service is classic: "We have the authority to ask them to remove the picture from the camera." And, if standing on public property, we all have the authority to say "no." Don't forget it.
* Monday's Post talks to neighbors across South Capitol Street about how they feel the stadium is doing nothing for them. And the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU covers similar territory, about how the new ballpark may affect the concept of "community" both close by and farther away.
* Tuesday's Post says that the Nationals, DDOT, and Metro are pleased with how the weekend went in their realms, though they plan to spend this week until the next home game tweaking their plans. Hungry fans will be pleased to know that addressing the long lines at concessions is on the list: " 'Lines were a concern for us. They're not necessarily where we want them to be. We expect it to better by Monday,' team President Stan Kasten said. 'Once a problem happens, it doesn't happen again.' " On the other hand: "Combining [Sunday's sellout] with the newness of the ballpark, the lines for virtually everything from food to parking to Metro to the shuttles were probably the longest they will be." The article also says that 716 parking tickets were written over the weekend, though the $100 towing fee was waived "as a courtesy." The WashTimes also covers similar ground.
Comments (0)
More posts: crime, Nationals Park
 

* Metro says that just under 21,500 fans used the Navy Yard Metro station for Sunday night's opener at Nationals Park, following the 15,141 who did so for the Saturday exhibition. (I wonder how many used Capitol South, or got off at Union Station and took the N22.) WJLA and others say that the station was cleared within a half-hour of the game's end, which can be verified by looking at last night's shots from the 55 M construction web cam.
* Moving on to the next huge event, the WashTimes says that 45,000 bar-coded tickets to the April 17 mass by Pope Benedict have arrived, and should be going out to parishes next week. Scalpers will be condemned to eternal hellfire and damnation.
* There's a nice piece in the April Hill Rag (UPDATED: now online) about this here Obsessive Compulsive Time-Sucking Vortex. And there's also a shout-out in this Virginian-Pilot story on the ballpark.
* On the flip side, I can't help but cackle at what was written in an online column by the San Antonio Express-News [emphasis mine]: "If you're craving actual photos of [Nationals Park] -- including work-in-progress updates -- go to the ballpark homepage for the Near Southeast DC Redevelopment agency. Sure, these people have a vested interest, but they also have lots of photos, a construction webcam and a well-done Q-and-A section on the park." I'm an agency now? Usually I'm just a development company. But, a note for readers who don't realize it: I'm none of the above. (I don't work for the Nats, either.) I'm just me.
Comments (0)
More posts: Metro/WMATA, Nationals Park, Stadium Events
 

You may have heard that Washington DC christened a new baseball stadium on Sunday, one that appears to have been met with wide-eyed enthusiasm and appreciation by most of the 40,000 in attendance (although not by the Post architecture critic). And, after listening to months (if not years) of predictions of traffic meltdowns and catastrophes at the new site in "a formerly blighted part of the District," would you believe that car, rail, bus, and foot all seemed to work, so much so that newspaper columnists appear incredulous that fans weren't griping. The next test will be when crowds arrive for the first time at the end of rush hour, at a Monday night game on April 7.
I took some photos around the ballpark as I arrived and worked my way from top to bottom, but once I arrived at my seat far far away (you'll love the small red speck in one photo that is President Bush), I decided to put away my camera and heed a directive issued recently by a Mr. S. Kasten to "watch the damn game." So I fear I don't earn a passing grade for documenting this historic day on South Capitol Street, but after 4 1/2 years of detailing the birthing process in thousands of photographs and probably tens of thousands of words, I needed some time to take it all in and say "Whoa."
And then they won the damn game, on a walk-off homer by Ryan Zimmerman. That's how you christen a ballpark.
Comments (0)
More posts: Nationals Park
 

It's late, I'm only just now finally getting warm again, and it's not particularly hard to find photos from tonight's first major league ballgame at Nationals Park, so I have just tossed together three Quick Galleries of the festivities, a selection of images that are nowhere near complete when it comes to capturing the look and feel of Nationals Park during its first big test. I'll caption them Sunday before heading off to do it all again at the "real" Opening Night.
Page One is photos from when the gates opened and during batting practice; Page Two has close-ups of the pre-game ceremonies with all the representatives of the city (but no Mayor Baseball!); Page Three has photos from during the game showing various vantage points.
The media has full coverage of course, but I'm not going to go on a linking spree (here's the Post homepage to start you on your own hunt). The initial storyline seems to be that it basically went well, with fans and players alike gaga for the ballpark, but with some snafus when it came to long long lines for food (especially at Ben's Chili Bowl) and for the subway and Nats Express shuttle to RFK after the game, though nothing that was catastrophic. We'll see how it goes with a full house on Sunday. But I must say it was a bit of an out-of-body experience to be walking among a huge throng of people along M Street SE between First and New Jersey at 9:30 pm on a Saturday night. This is not your father's Near Southeast anymore.
Check back late Sunday (or early Monday) for photos from Opening NIght.
UPDATE: Captions now added. Oh, and the Nationals won 3-0.
Comments (0)
More posts: Nationals Park
 
1142 Posts:
Go to Page: 1 | ... 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 ... 115
Search JDLand Blog Posts by Date or Category




                  © Copyright 2024 JD.