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

News this month

Slugging it out

The drawn-out effort to give the Washington Nationals baseball team a permanent home got a boost in March, when officials agreed to a lease for the team's new stadium. District leaders and executives at Major League Baseball (MLB), which owns the Nationals, had been squabbling over the stadium for more than a year. At issue is the cost of the park and how it will be financed. The District's city council finally approved a lease agreement in February. MLB first bristled at a new provision capping the city's construction costs at $611m, but eventually signed the lease on March 5th. The city council is now reviewing a few stipulations from MLB about the financing of cost over-runs. When the lease is finalised, MLB will be able to select a new owner for the team.

While the team may have finally found a home, they may soon be without a name. In February the US Patent and Trademark Office granted Bygone Sports the right to trademark the name “Washington Nationals”, despite stiff protest from MLB. Bygone wants to use the “Washington Nationals” name to market a line of nostalgic sportswear. MLB and Bygone had reportedly reached a tentative agreement before the team moved to Washington, but the deal fell apart before it could be signed. The two sides will continue to squabble in court, but without rights to the name, MLB may have to re-christen the team.

Welcome to the neighbourhood

The National Mall, already home to countless museums, memorials and government buildings, will soon break ground for yet another tourist destination. The Smithsonian Institution announced in late January its plans to build the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the Mall less than 1,000 feet from the Washington Monument. Museum supporters hope that the project will be completed by 2016.

Proposals for the museum first surfaced in the 1930s, but were stymied as recently as the 1990s in a crusade headed by Jesse Helms, a former Republican senator known for his racial prejudice. It was not until 2003 that Congress finally approved plans for it. January's selection of a site is a milestone in the museum's progress, but there is much to be done. The scheme must still be approved by city commissions, and Lonnie Bunch, the museum’s director, has to choose an architect, raise money for construction and assemble the museum’s collection. The museum is estimated to cost between $300m and $500m, split between the federal government and private donors.

The site on the Mall was one of four possible locations. Critics complain that the museum will clutter the area, but supporters argued that placing it elsewhere would be an affront to African Americans.

On track

The District of Columbia and surrounding governments may establish dedicated sources of revenue for the Metro system—and not a moment too soon. The Metro is funded by rider fares and a combination of state, District and federal funds, which are vulnerable to annual budget debates. Unreliable funding has led to the system’s disrepair. Last year Thomas Davis, a Republican congressman from Virginia, proposed a bill that would grant the transport system $1.5 billion in federal aid if local governments establish permanent revenue sources for the Metro. The region’s politicians took notice: now state legislatures in Virginia and Maryland are trying to determine permanent funding sources for the system, and the District’s city council passed a bill in December that would dedicate a portion of the city’s sales tax to the transit agency, funding it up to $50m by 2009.

Though the Metro often impresses visitors with its sleek stations and clean trains, the system is in dire need of a fix-up. Not only are trains perpetually overcrowded, but they often fail to stop at station platforms. Trains overran stations 688 times in 2005, a record high and more than twice the 1996 figure.

Smoked out

At the end of January Anthony Williams, Washington’s mayor, declined to veto the District’s smoking ban, thus moving it a step closer to final enactment. The two-stage ban, passed by the city council in early January, would forbid smoking in restaurants immediately and then in bars, nightclubs and restaurant bars in 2007. Now the legislation moves to Congress, which has 30 legislative days to review the bill. If these pass without action, the ban will automatically become law.

District smokers who feel unwelcome in their hometown can feed their habit outside city limits. On February 23rd a Maryland House committee killed a proposed ban, and on the same day a parallel bill was quashed in a Virginia House subcommittee—hardly surprising given that Virginia is the third-largest tobacco producer in America.

Slow going

Commuters' grumblings were confirmed in February, when a new study found that Washington-area traffic has become even more gnarled. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) analysed more than 80,000 aerial photographs for the report, which is released every three years. The first hour of the evening rush, from 4.30pm to 5.30pm, saw the greatest increase in lane-miles of congestion from 2002 to 2005, up 64%. Two stretches of road tied for the dubious title of worst traffic choke-point: the inner loop of the beltway that stretches from I-270 to Connecticut Ave, from 4pm to 4.30pm each afternoon, and I-395 just as it approaches the District, from 5pm to 6pm, when commuters inch forward at an average of 5mph.

To alleviate congestion, local governments should continue to promote carpooling and invest in transport projects, said Ron Kirby, the transport director of COG. Streamlined highway ramps, express toll lines and new lanes for high-occupancy vehicles would help unclog the area’s bottlenecks.

Catch if you can

March 2006

Artists of Edo 1800-1850

Until May 29th 2006

In early-17th-century Japan, the Tokugawa shoguns made Edo (modern-day Tokyo) their administrative capital. While the emperor and nobles remained in Kyoto, the shogun sponsored artists in Edo, helping the city develop its own artistic style.

This exhibition displays some 30 paintings, prints and other works that reflect the Edo aesthetic of the 19th century. The works include a number of hanging scrolls and other objects, such as a large sashimi dish that doubles as a game board, and tea sets. The paintings concentrate on familiar images: towering landscapes, fish, scenes from stories and, of course, fragile courtesan beauties. While the subjects and styles vary, the work is uniformly impressive, with exquisite detailing.

Freer Gallery of Art, Jefferson Drive at 12th St, SW. Tel: +1 (202) 633-4880. Open: 10am-5.30pm. Entry: free. For more information, visit the museum’s website.

More from the Washington, DC cultural calendar