Economist.com Cities Guide: Washington, DC Briefing - February 2006

News this month

Metro mayhem

January was a turbulent month for the District’s Metro system: a key service for disabled passengers all but collapsed under a new contractor, and Metro’s board booted its long-time chief executive. In mid-January MV Transportation, armed with a four-year, $210m contract, began operating the system’s MetroAccess vans, which serve some 16,000 disabled and elderly passengers. The board decided to replace the former MetroAccess operator, LogistiCare Inc, after a federal lawsuit last year claimed that MetroAccess did not meet requirements for the disabled. But MV’s first weeks were dire, with some riders stranded for hours before the vans arrived, and others neglected altogether. MV executives blamed the chaos on poor existing data about riders’ locations (a backlog of errors from the last contractor) and cost-cutting instructions from Metro. The company is working to fix these problems.

Meanwhile, a larger transition was underway at Metro’s headquarters. On January 11th the system’s board voted to replace Richard White, Metro's chief executive since 1996. He had earned a national reputation for solving the system’s long-term funding difficulties, but struggled with incessant day-to-day service problems. Dan Tangherlini, the District’s director of transportation and a Metro board member, will run the system during the search for a new chief executive.

Dealing with a drug problem

The District's government will temporarily pay for drugs for thousands of senior and disabled residents left vulnerable by continuing glitches with a new Medicare drug programme. The White House trumpeted the drug benefit ahead of its launch on January 1st, but since then more than two dozen states have taken emergency measures to deal with the programme’s problems, mostly among “dual eligible” citizens—those who can receive both Medicare, which targets the elderly, and Medicaid, which targets the poor. Many have been left with insufficient healthcare coverage, or none at all.

In a plan outlined by Anthony Williams, the District’s mayor, on January 18th, the city will spend up to $3m to help its 16,000 affected residents, a subsidy that will enable elderly locals to pay only $1-3 for medicine, effective immediately. The city is footing the bill in the full expectation of being reimbursed by the federal government. In the meantime, Mr Williams said he hoped officials would “move quickly to smooth out the flaws in this new programme”.

Up at bat

A proposed new baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals has been subject to political wrangling for years. But plans inched forward at the end of January, when city leaders and Major League Baseball officials agreed on a revised lease for the ballpark. The District’s city council, led by Linda Cropp, had objected to an earlier version of the lease, citing cost estimates well beyond the $535m approved for the project.

Under the new deal, which is expected to come before the council on February 7th, city spending would be capped in several ways. Construction companies would be required to guarantee that building costs would not exceed $320m; in exchange, the companies could modify the project’s design, to avoid cost over-runs. If the new ballpark is not completed by 2008, the Nationals must pay half rent for RFK stadium, their temporary home; under the prior deal, the team did not have to pay rent beyond 2007. Additional perks for the community include a year-round baseball academy and 10,000 stadium tickets each year for poor local youth.

Not again

Marion Barry, a District city councilman and former mayor, seems headed for prison once again. Mr Barry pled guilty to charges of tax evasion last October; on January 11th the Washington Post reported that he had also tested positive for cocaine in a court-ordered test that was a condition of his release. Mr Barry is scheduled to be sentenced for tax evasion on February 8th. His failed drug test increases the chance that he will serve the maximum 18 months behind bars.

But Mr Barry is no stranger to scandal. While such a stream of bad press might ruin the average politician, he has proved remarkably resilient. He won re-election as mayor in 1994, just four years after being put in jail for smoking crack in a drug bust; then in 2004 he was elected to the city council. Still, news of the drug test came in what was already a bad month for Mr Barry. The Post published its report just nine days after the councilman had been mugged at gun-point in his home. He said that two youths had helped him carry groceries into his house and then returned with a gun and stole $600. Some speculated that the incident was a drug deal gone wrong, but Mr Barry told the Post, “If it is a drug deal gone bad, you don't call the cops.”

Land grab

District of Columbia officials had hoped to reclaim the land of the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre campus when the military leaves in 2011. But the city now has several competitors for the 110-acre site: the State Department has applied for a 60- to 79-acre chunk in the north-west portion of the campus; the General Services Administration wants to build offices on 34 acres; and the Department of Health and Human Services may try to claim a slice of the land.

The District had hoped to build retail space and housing on the campus. If all the federal agencies’ claims are granted, there might still be some land left for the city, but for a less ambitious plan. No final decision has been made on the land’s future use.

Catch if you can

February 2006

“Trying”

Until February 26th 2006

Francis Biddle was perhaps the only attorney general in American history to stand up for civil liberties in a time of war. During the second world war, he argued against the forced internment of 125,000 Japanese-Americans—a fight he lost. In 1946 he was the top American judge to oversee Nazi trials in Nuremberg. As his mind faltered in the last months of his life, Biddle took on a young Canadian woman as a secretary to help him keep his papers straight. The young woman, Joanna McClelland Glass, wrote “Trying” to memorialise their time together.

This two-act play follows the classic “Odd Couple” arc—the crotchety old man and the lively, won’t-be-bullied secretary spar with each other before developing a grudging affection. James Whitmore, an Academy-Award nominee who is no stranger to power roles (he has played Harry Truman and Teddy Roosevelt), is convincing as Biddle, and Karron Graves is excellent as the playwright’s alter ego.

Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St, NW. Tel: +1 (202) 347-4833. Showtimes: Tues-Thurs 7.30pm; Sun 2.30pm. Tickets: $25-$46. For more information, visit the theatre’s website.

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