Bipartisan Team Introduces Voting Rights Bill
Bill Would Give One Full Vote in Congress to DC, Utah

By Lori Montgomery, Elissa Silverman and Daniela Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 11, 2006; 1:18 PM

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) teamed up with Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) today to introduce a bill that would for the first time give the District a full vote in the House, a sign of bipartisan cooperation that advocates of DC voting rights hailed as a breakthrough.

The legislation, which was unveiled at a news conference this morning on Capitol Hill, would expand the House from 435 to 437 seats, giving a vote to the District as well as a fourth seat to Utah, the state next in line to enlarge its congressional delegation based on the 2000 Census.

Davis first introduced a version of the bill two years ago, but he struggled to persuade Norton and House Democrats to support it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/11/AR2006051100725.html

 

Poll Puts Fenty and Cropp Neck and Neck

By Lori Montgomery and Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 11, 2006; Page DZ02

At last the results are in from the eagerly awaited 2006 pre-pre-primary George Washington University- Bernard Demczuk Supermarket Poll. And the big news is we're in for an exciting summer: The DC mayor's race is a statistical dead heat.

Or it would be a statistical dead heat had Demczuk bothered to calculate the statistical margin of error. Given that his poll is essentially an intensive exercise in that standby of local journalism, the man-on-the-street interview, such calculations are probably beside the point.

But that doesn't mean we can't learn something useful from those 625 interviews of actual Democratic voters scrupulously surveyed by Demczuk, a former chief lobbyist for former mayor Marion Barry, along with a bevy of GWU students. Indeed, in the 20 years since Demczuk started accosting people at CVS and Giant and Safeway and Eastern Market and the big chair and Whole Foods and Ben's Chili Bowl -- at least three spots in every ward -- he has compiled a record of eerie accuracy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051000819.html

Hope for the Waterfront at Last?
After Almost 30 Years, Georgetown Park Advocates Making Progress

By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 11, 2006; Page DZ01

The view can be spectacular: sun peeking through the elegant arches of Key Bridge, shorelines ruffled with leafy trees, a single scull cutting through the glassy river.

This is the breathtaking vista reserved for dozens of cars parked in a cracked, weed-choked lot along the Potomac River in Georgetown, surrounded by a chain-link fence and fiercely fought over for almost 30 years.

Although senators, doctors, lawyers and activists have placed their weight and money behind the effort to create a spectacular waterfront park on this land, the project has been caught in decades of delays, fundraising standstills and bureaucratic snafus.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051000814.html

 

Council Approves Increases for Police, Housing

By Elissa Silverman and Karlyn Barker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Page B04

The DC Council unanimously approved yesterday a budget of $5.06 billion that provides money to hire 100 additional police officers and boosts funds for public schools and affordable housing programs.

Council members vigorously sparred over several changes to the fiscal 2007 funding request submitted by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). Most of the debate focused on an increase in the city's deed recordation and transfer tax and a move to rein in spending at the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration, an agency that serves some of the city's most vulnerable citizens.

The council approved a $104 million increase in school funding and $92 million more for human services programs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050901853.html

 

Contest Winners Bear Witness to a Shifting Washington

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 8, 2006; Page B01

Maria Galarce Crain sees the construction cranes around her school and remembers classmates who have moved away because their families can't afford rising rents in Columbia Heights. About two miles away, Monique Brevard walks past the rehabilitated rowhouses on her block in Brightwood and feels a new sense of safety on a once scary street.

The girls, both 12, are experiencing in different ways the great physical and economic changes taking place across their city. And their questions and opinions, posed in their tender voices, echo the citywide debate that adults are having on front stoops, at construction sites and in municipal offices across the District. The issue has grown so pervasive, it has seeped into the sixth grade.

The girls were among the winners of a citywide essay contest about gentrification sponsored by Higher Achievement, a private after-school program that operates in many DC schools. Before the contest, neither girl had even heard of the term "gentrification." But they were familiar with it. "Gentrification is really happening in my neighborhood," Monique said. "It was right before my eyes; I just didn't know what it's called."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/07/AR2006050701035.html

 

Congress Explores Real Estate Issues

WASHINGTON, DC-Two key issues pending in Congress of key importance to the real estate community--the extension of a 15-year leasehold improvement depreciation and immediate deductibility for brownfields cleanup costs--appear likely to be headed for successful conclusion by the Memorial Day weekend, and perhaps as soon as this week. According to Stephen M. Renna, senior vice president and counsel of the Real Estate Roundtable, these measures, originally part of a $70-billion tax reconciliation package, are likely going to be part of a separate House-Senate conference committee on pension reform legislation.

"There is no controversy about the provisions," Renna says. "The only controversy, and that is being resolved, is the process on how to get them passed. It could be done as early as this week."

These so-called tax extender provisions, which the Real Estate Roundtable has been tracking since last year, were part of the original House and Senate tax reconciliation bills passed in 2005 and carried over this year, the organization reports. They expired at the end of 2005; once passed in conference they will be reinstated retroactively to Jan. 1, 2006.

http://www.globest.com/news/542_542/washington/145613-1.html

 

Vornado Refinances Warner Building

WASHINGTON, DC-Vornado Realty Trust has completed a $292.7-million refinancing of a class A Downtown asset it acquired last year. The Paramus, NJ-based firm realized net proceeds of approximately $133 million after repaying the existing loan on the Warner Building, a 560,000-sf office at 1299 Pennsylvania Ave. The 10-year interest-only loan has a fixed rate of 6.26% and matures in May 2016.

In December, Vornado acquired a 95% interest in the property. The purchase price was $319 million. Approximately $170 million was paid in cash, while the rest an assumption of an existing mortgage of $136 million and other debt of $13 million. Mortgage interest on that loan was 7.8%, due in May 2010.

Vornado has a 15.9-million-sf office portfolio in the area. Its holdings include the H Street Building Corp. and the Bowen Building, a 231,000-sf class A office located at 875 15th St. NW.

http://www.globest.com/news/539_539/washington/145551-1.html

 

Wage Rise Not Affecting Development

WASHINGTON, DC-Construction employment continues to set records. The monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that seasonally adjusted payroll employment in construction reached 7.51 million in April, a gain of 267,000, or 3.7%, from a year ago. That's a record for the 15th straight month.

Ken Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America in Arlington, VA, says that it is safe to extrapolate that the numbers for the Washington, DC area, when they are released on May 19, will reflect similar growth and will likely exceed the national average. He points to March's year-on-year growth statistics for the area, which showed an increase of 4.9% over March 2005.

The big news--at least for the DC development community--is that wages, though growing at a steady moderate pace of 3%, have not pushed up construction and developments costs to any significant degree, Simonson and others say. Labor costs typically make up between 40% to 50% of a commercial project, explains David Dempsey, managing director of Spaulding & Slye Construction here. Right now, Dempsey says, "we don't hear our subcontractors talking that much about wages." The steady pace of employment wages is fortunate, he adds, because "with the cost of materials and rising energy costs, if labor costs took off it would really impact the market."

http://www.globest.com/news/544_544/washington/145644-1.html

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MONTGOMERY COUNTY NEWS

Montgomery's Hometown Draws
A Visitors Bureau Tour Shows Off Some of the Attractions That Put the County on the Region's Must-See Map

By Cameron W. Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 11, 2006; Page GZ18

Let's say you have visitors coming to Montgomery County and you're trying to figure out what to do. Of course, the District is but a short drive away. But take another look around your county.

Is it music you want? Go to Strathmore. The stage? Consider the Olney Theatre Center for the Arts. A gallery of gruesome medical curiosities? Well, that's in Northwest Washington, but really, really close to the District-Maryland line.

Promoting tourism in Montgomery County might seem futile in light of what is available in the nation's capital, but a tough sell doesn't deter Montgomery's Conference and Visitors Bureau, a nonprofit corporation funded in part by hotel-occupancy taxes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051001132.html

 

A Page From Glendening's Book

By Nancy Trejos and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 11, 2006; Page GZ02

Five years ago, Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) ignited a controversy when he proposed spending part of the tobacco litigation settlement money to help private and parochial schools buy textbooks.

It divided state legislators, invoked the wrath of the state teachers union and even got the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union. The state eventually cut funding for the program because of budget constraints.

The debate was reignited Monday night at a forum between the two Democrats running for Montgomery County executive. The Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, which represents 36 schools in the county, sponsored the event.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051000935.html

 

Rally With a Retirement Twist
Curran to Campaign for O'Malley, Stay Out of Other Races

By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; Page B02

More than 200 supporters crowded into a Baltimore hotel yesterday to cheer a politician who was no longer running for office: Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. (D), retiring after 20 years as the state's top lawyer and nearly five decades in state politics.

Surrounded by his children and grandchildren, as well as friends waving signs reading "40 more years," Curran said he concluded that, at age 74, it was time to step down from political office.

"I'd rather it be said, 'Why did you leave too soon?' rather than, 'Why did you stay too long?' " Curran said. Standing at the lectern with his wife, Barbara, Curran flashed a victory sign and, during a long and resounding ovation, saluted and pointed to friends in the crowd at the Tremont Plaza Hotel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050800832.html

 

Duncan Wins Support as Candidates Look to Battle in South

By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 7, 2006; Page SM05

Some past and present Southern Maryland politicians lined up Friday behind Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) in his bid to become Maryland's next governor.

Duncan used the gathering on a 300-acre farm near Waldorf to introduce his running mate, Baltimore lawyer Stuart O. Simms, to a crowd of about two dozen Democrats.

Duncan is trailing his primary opponent, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, in fundraising and polling, and he has sought to present his team as the policy-wonkish alternative to both O'Malley and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/05/AR2006050502016.html

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