The writer appears to have mixed up the scuttled plans for 1D with the plans for the crime lab; contrary to these statements, there have never been plans to build the lab at 225 Virginia; the plans that were scrapped were the move of the 1D headquarters to 225 from its current home in Southwest, to free the location for the crime lab to be built there. I don't believe (unless things have changed since the ANC6D meeting two weeks ago) that plans to build the lab at the 1D site have been scrapped at all; they just can't build the lab there until they find a new home for 1D.

UPDATE: I'm just now seeing that tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 26) there's a public hearing by Phil Mendelson's Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, "Follow Up on Capital Projects and Space Needs for Public Safety Agencies," which presumably is going to be talking about the combined lab's construction. The last hearing, on Sept. 20, was a pretty tense affair between Mendelson and Lars Etzkorn, director of the Office of Property Management. (I mention tomorrow's hearing because I know Mendelson does still seem to be holding out hope that some MPD functions could still move to 225 Virginia.)

* Council Member Phil Mendelson spoke about his concerns that the new consolidated crime lab construction schedule is continuing to slip. The new lab, which is supposed to be built at Fourth and School streets, SW, can't get underway until a new home (temporary or permanent) is found for the police department's First District station currently located there. Up until recently, of course, 1D was supposed to move to the old Post plant at 225 Virginia Avenue, but with that now scuttled, the Office of Property Management is hunting for a new 1D home somewhere in Southwest, perhaps using either the Amidon or Bowen elementary school buildings, both of which are at only 60 percent capacity and could be consolidated by moving the sixth graders to Jefferson Junior High School. Mendelson, "irritated" at how the city is handling the space shuffling, wants the process of finding a new 1D home speeded up, even if it means taking 1D out of Southwest, which of course was viewed as a nonstarter by this ANC that represents Southwest; Commissioner Sobelsohn commended Mendelson on his "bravery" for coming to Southwest and telling the residents they shouldn't have a police station. (It also sounds like Mendelson is still hoping for a return to using 225 Virginia, given his numerous references to the $500,000 checks the city is writing each month to lease the empty building.)

* The Randall School redevelopment project by Monument Realty and the Corcoran Gallery was approved, thanks mainly to a negotiated community benefits package that includes a $200,000 contribution by Monument to the ANC's Community Investment Fund, preferences for ANC 6D residents when filling the affordable housing component of the project, and agreements with the Corcoran to support various neighborhood art projects and arts education offerings for Southwest residents. The vote was 5-0; vice chair Andy Litsky did not vote, after expressing his displeasure with what he sees as Monument's threat to slow down the Navy Yard Metro station expansion when the company did not win the right to buy WMATA's Southeastern Bus Garage. Monument executive vice president Russell Hines, who attended the meeting, reiterated the points he made last week in an e-mail to Litsky, that the station expansion is not behind schedule as has been reported and that Monument is committed to getting the work completed by Opening Day 2008.

* A local resident informed the commission that three historic police and fire call boxes along First Street have recently gone missing. Those with x-ray vision can see them in my photos (up until yesterday) of First and N and First and O, deep in the heart of ballpark construction territory and along the stretch of First Street being renovated by DDOT; the now-missing First and L box is pretty hard to see behind the Onyx fencing. There's an effort called Art on Call, led by Cultural Tourism DC, to find and restore these boxes, and kids from the Earth Conservation Corps have been painting the boxes in Near Southeast and Southwest. Calls are in to the District Department of Transportation to see if the boxes have perhaps just been temporarily moved, or if they're, um, history. (The box at First and K is still in place, at least.)

So, since I'm already self-promoting, I'll mention my Ballpark and Beyond column in today's Post, which talks about the possible sale of the Southeastern Bus Garage to Akridge (we'll find out today--the WMATA board meeting is at 11), the new funding for the waterfront parks, and the Garfield Park-Canal Park connector project.

Here's what Office of Property Management director Lars Etzkorn said in his opening remarks about 225 Virginia: "While initial plans focused on co-locating several police functions in this leased building, a review of estimates revealed that total improvement costs exceeded the $100 million provided for in the lease. Hard costs alone were estimated to exceed $150 million. In addition, there were issues with compatibility in implementing the full program in the neighborhood. These include MPD's 24-7 operations and parking demands for 658 vehicles. Currently, we are examining potential alternative uses for the space, including the possibility of using it as office space for government agencies."

During questioning by Tommy Wells, Etzkorn said that he anticipates being able to come to council members by the end of October with recommendations on uses for 225; Wells remarked that the city needs to make sure that "we don't stack a bunch of uses" in the building without thinking of their impacts on the surrounding area.

There was a lot of back-and-forth between Etzkorn and Phil Mendelson about whether the police move to 225 is in fact called off--I don't think it's too much of an editorial statement to comment that Etzkorn clearly embraces bureaucracy-speak and well-parsed statements, which frustrated Mendelson to no end during the hearing. When Mendelson asked if everything that was planned to go to 225 is now not going there, Etzkorn's response was "the recommendation is that they not go there." Mendelson pressed repeatedly on 225 remaining an option for various police agencies, given that there are currently no other viable alternatives on new locations coming from OPM (though lots of possible locations are being reviewed). And there were disagreements between Etzkorn and Mendelson about whether the 225 landlord has indeed been told to stop work on the buildout plans, which Mendelson said he'd been told had not been stopped but which Etzkorn said were in fact stopped but that the landlord had been asked to do some pricing of potential other uses for the space.

One other tidbit mentioned in the hearing I had never come across before--there were apparently plans late in the Williams administration to move the headquarters of the Office of Corrections to leased space at Maritime Plaza at 12th and M, SE, but those were called off earlier this year.

And, as I'm finishing up, I see that Voice of the Hill has posted its piece on the hearing (on their newly redesigned web site!), which also covers the issues surrounding the possible move of the MPD 1D headquarters in Southwest, since the hearing did cover more than just the issues surrounding 225 Virginia.

If you're interested in not only the content of the hearing but also in watching the thrust-and-parry between Mendelson and Etzkorn, keep an eye out for any replays of the telecast (look for a Sept. 20 oversight hearing replay).