Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Consistent cost overruns on big projects like the new arena in Anacostia, the D.C. Streetcar, and the Duke Ellington School for the Arts are drawing the ire of some D.C. Councilmembers.
At a hearing on Monday, Councilmembers grilled Events D.C. on plans for its new arena, slated to become the Wizards’ new practice facility and the new home for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. The agency recently revealed the project is going to cost at least $10 million more than originally anticipated, owing to what it called “enhancements,” including broadcast equipment, a catwalk, and glass railings.
That news left Councilmember Elissa Silverman frustrated.
“Either you really didn’t plan this facility well, or there’s a game being played here,” Silverman told Events D.C.’s Greg O’Dell. “We get so excited about doing things, and we don’t do the necessary dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, and actually saying, ‘Okay, this is what we’re going to do. We’re not going to change it.”
Silverman cited similar overruns for other major capital projects, including the Streetcar and the Ellington School in Georgetown.
“We have capital projects that go over budget all the time, and nobody here ever says no. I’m the only one,” she said.
Councilmember Jack Evans, chair of the Council’s Finance Committee and the longest-tenured lawmaker on the council, saw a larger problem.
“When I was here and we had no money, when we had to cut the budget and we had to have less police officers and less this and less that…when times were tough people paid more attention,” he said. “Now we have so much money, nobody pays attention. That’s the problem with District government today. We got too much money.”
Silverman anticipated a time in the future where the District’s finances may not be so positive.
“I don’t want to be here when maybe we don’t have such rosy times and everybody’s like ‘where did all the money go?’” she said. “There’s…a turning point we need to take in District government, which is that we need to expect more, we need to get jobs out of the dollars that we spend, and we can’t go over budget.”
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