jonetta rose barras: DC is facing an uncertain future while stuck in its present fiscal crisis

It seemed a Dickensian moment in DC — not the famous Tale of Two Cities, but rather a variation with one city simultaneously experiencing two seemingly opposing financial challenges. Or maybe it’s more aptly described as “déjà vu all over again.”

After all, talk this week about whether DC should or shouldn’t use public funds to help build a new sports stadium at the Robert F. Kennedy site in Northeast seemed reminiscent of the fight in 2004 when then-Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced an agreement to return Major League Baseball to the nation’s capital. That deal, eventually approved by the DC Council after much back-and-forth, triggered significant economic development on the surrounding blocks that, combined with massive projects at the Navy Yard and The Wharf, dramatically transformed large sections of Ward 6. 

This time around, Mayor Muriel Bowser has forged a tentative agreement with Josh Harris and his Washington Commanders ownership group to bring back the football team. It has played its home games in Maryland for decades, after then-Mayor Sharon Pratt fumbled negotiations with Jack Kent Cooke for a new stadium at RFK, prompting his frustrated and angry departure. 

She committed many political sins but, for some folks, that may have been the most unforgivable. Pratt lost her reelection bid. 

Displaying perseverance and greater skillsmanship, Bowser and her administration have produced a $3.7 billion preliminary deal, $2.7 billion of which would come out of the Washington Commanders’ and NFL’s wallets. The agreement goes well beyond the mere construction of a football stadium to include recreation, entertainment, retail and housing on the nearly 180-acre site. 

“As we focus on the growth of our economy, we’re not only bringing our team home, but we’re also bringing new jobs and new revenue to our city and to Ward 7,” Bowser said during her announcement earlier this week.

Ward 7 Councilmember Wendell Felder, who joined the legislature only this past January, said the stadium deal “signals it’s a new day in Ward 7!”

Actually, with the stadium project and the eventual completion of the adjacent Reservation 13, residents of that section of the city could see a vibrant counterpoint to development in other parts of the city. 

“It’s a phenomenal proposal,” said one longtime business executive who was in the city for the fight over Nationals Park. “The city will benefit significantly over a period of years.”

Terry Lynch, a civic leader who helped change some zoning regulations in a push to create a livable and lively downtown beginning in the 1990s, offered strong support for the mixed-use RFK stadium deal. In a letter sent earlier this week to Council Chair Phil Mendelson and his colleagues, Lynch noted that “locating the arena at Gallery Place … was a tremendous boon for all.”

He said the city has also “seen what has transpired in Southwest by bringing the baseball stadium to the area,” a transformational project that attracted myriad residential, retail and entertainment offerings to the adjacent blocks.

“The key to success is having mixed uses — where people live, shop, dine, work, and play. That is exactly what is being proposed for the RFK site,” Lynch continued. “The upside for DC residents will be many — jobs, housing, and dynamic recreational options.”

Chuck Thies, who previously served as communications director for former Ward 7 DC Councilmember Vincent Gray and is a longtime political operator with deep knowledge of city affairs, told me during a recent interview that “Josh Harris is either a visionary or he has a sentimental connection to the District.” Perhaps both are true.

Thies said passage of the deal will signal to other investors that DC is open for business. After a pandemic that wreaked havoc on what had been a thriving economy, there’s no question that the city needs a few breaks.

Under the current framework, the District will pay about $1 billion of the overall price tag. That includes $500 million to cover “horizontal and non-vertical” stadium costs that could be paid for through an extension of the ballpark fund, which would be known as the Sports Facilities Fee. Another $175 million would be raised through a revenue bond to help build a parking garage; Events DC would provide $181 million from its reserves for parking facilities as well. And similar to other major development projects, the city would be on the hook for infrastructure costs estimated to come in at around $202 million.

That all seems reasonable. However, that pesky $1 billion number has haunted the city for much of the year. When Congressional Republicans approved a continuing resolution to fund the federal government, they snagged the city, reducing its spending to its fiscal year 2024 budget level. 

That meant District officials were required to cut spending by $1.1 billion. A Senate-approved bill sought to relieve the city of that obligation; however, House Speaker Mike Johnson has still not brought it to the floor more than a month later. Don’t hold your breath.

Using a little-known 2009 law that permits DC to exceed its congressional appropriations by up to 6% under certain circumstances, District officials have been able to reduce that $1 billion in mandated cuts to about $400 million. 

Meanwhile, based on revenue estimates released in February by DC Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee, the city faces a revenue shortfall of $1.3 billion over the next four years, in large part because of the economic impact of reductions in the federal workforce.

Yes, the city is facing a fiscal crisis. It is solvable, however.

The Commanders deal is “a good opportunity for the DC to reset the table at a time it is economically unstable,” said Thies.

He’s right. Nationals Park and Capital One Arena have favorably affected the city’s economy. According to District officials, sports facilities generated $5 billion in economic activity in 2022 and 7.4 million visitors in 2023. 

Nevertheless, DC’s financial circumstances have instigated much hand-wringing, especially among the far-left political class and their supporters. Truth be told, their fears are as perennial as their calls to raise revenues through tax increases. 

Many of the people in that group have severe myopia. They also suffer amotivational syndrome. 

Consider that they are advocating that one of the most valuable pieces of property in the city’s real estate portfolio be used primarily for low-cost housing, financed principally by the District. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, a longtime member of the legislature’s far-left caucus, called the Commanders agreement a “bad deal for DC” in a statement released by his office earlier this week. 

“If passed as is, taxpayers will be on the hook for over $1 billion for a stadium, surrounded by parking garages, that would sit unused 335 days a year,” continued Allen. “Unlike other DC sports investments, a new NFL stadium won’t pay for itself. It cannot be an economic engine with only eight home games and a handful of concerts. It won’t be active most of the year like Capital One Arena or Nats Park.”

Has Allen really considered the proposal?

The 65,000-seat stadium would have a roof, allowing it to be used year-round; the city has estimated at least 40 large-scale events could be held there annually, with other private events that would utilize parts of the facility. And according to the publicly released site outline, the stadium would consume only 11% of the 180 acres, leaving more than enough space for other amenities including recreation, restaurants, hotels and housing — all of which Ward 7 residents have sought for decades.

Still, John Capozzi, a Ward 7 resident and member of the “Homes Not Stadiums” group, which is pushing to get an initiative on the ballot that would prohibit the construction of a stadium on the site, said, “The city deserves better than the NFL coming in and taking control of the RFK site. The dreams and desires would be [more] fairly reflected by District citizens.” 

Beware.

Some of Capozzi’s anti-stadium comrades, namely the initiative campaign’s chair Kristin Furnish and its treasurer Adam Eidinger, were recently fined for violating DC election laws. They deliberately and systematically engaged in massive fraud that involved using correction tape or Wite-Out to tamper with voters’ information on qualifying petitions for Initiative 83, the ballot measure on ranked choice voting, according to a DC Board of Elections report.

In my view, their actions should have resulted in ballot disqualification. However, instead of seeking a criminal penalty as permitted by law, the Elections Board fined four members of the I-83 team a total of just $37,500 based on a miniscule fraction of their violations. The DC Democratic State Committee and I have both called for the DC Council to conduct an investigation.

Despite my obvious disdain for this gang of election violators, their new initiative — if it’s deemed eligible for the ballot — is likely to come too late, since Bowser and Harris have made clear the council must provide some funding in the city’s FY 2026 budget for the deal to go forward. Work will begin on the stadium next year and is expected to be completed in 2030.

Council support seems divided, although four members attended the Bowser-Harris press conference. That’s a short walk from the minimum seven votes needed to win approval. 

In 2024, a Washington Post-Schar Poll found that the majority of District residents (76% of the 1,683 surveyed) said they wanted the Washington Commanders back within the city’s borders; more specifically, 75% of those who lived in Ward 7 and 8 and 77% of residents in Wards 5 and 6 wanted the team’s return.

Local elections are coming up in 2026. There is every reason to believe the stadium deal will be approved by the council, perhaps with a few necessary tweaks.

Folks should understand that the public spending on the stadium and related infrastructure would come from the District’s capital budget — not the operating budget. Regardless, the stadium deal coupled with the revenue shortfall does provide an opportunity for DC elected officials to get serious about ensuring the city’s long-term financial stability. 

“Candidly, the challenge will be to explain to the public how the city intends to address the current needs while funding the Commanders project,” said the business executive. “It’s hard to sell the community on the long-term gain when faced with immediate financial problems.”

Hard — not impossible.

Actually, it’s time to reduce the cost of government in DC, sharpening policies and agency efficiencies and spending money where it best serves residents while yielding maximum bang for the buck. Doing so means controlling operating expenses — not rejecting capital expenditures out of hand.

Reflecting on this moment, I recalled a working-class middle-aged mother and her 20-something son I met years ago at a meeting of the Far Northeast-Southeast Council. The two had decided they wanted to buy a house but needed more money for their down payment. So, a couple of years earlier, the son had moved back in with his mother, living in her one-bedroom apartment. The money he had been paying for rent went into a savings account. They reduced spending on things they concluded were nice but not necessary. 

It wasn’t easy. When I met them, they were a few months from reaching their financial goal and moving into a place they could call their own. 

Their story was offered to illustrate how difficult it was for African Americans to purchase homes in the city. I was greatly impressed by their determination. That short-term pain was now leading to their potential long-term economic opportunities.

DC’s current fiscal crisis is not insurmountable. If elected officials, including Mayor Bowser and Council Chair Phil Mendelson, are serious, they can simultaneously close the revenue gap and secure a more prosperous economic future for the city by sealing the Commanders deal. 

Enduring hard times and maintaining great expectations don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

jonetta rose barras is an author and DC-based freelance journalist, covering national and local issues. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.