WASHINGTON, DC NEWS

Also in the Mayor's Race, the Final Four
Candidates Share Ambitions, Goals With Front-Runners

By Robert E. Pierre
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page DZ03

The attention in the mayoral race has been focused on the five candidates with the most money and the highest name recognition -- Michael A. Brown, Linda Cropp, Adrian M. Fenty, Marie C. Johns and Vincent Orange.

But four other candidates on Tuesday's ballot also have high hopes of moving into the executive suite at the John A. Wilson Building: Democrats Nestor Djonkam and Artee Milligan, Republican David W. Kranich and Chris Otten of the Statehood Green Party.

Their platforms vary, but their struggle is the same: how to get their message out with little money or paid staff and minimal access to the debates and forums where residents and voters gather. Each candidate is convinced that he will overcome long odds and defeat the others.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090600676.html

Brown Pulls Out, Endorses Cropp

By Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 8, 2006; Page B04

Michael A. Brown withdrew from the mayor's race yesterday and announced that he will support DC Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp because he doesn't want the front-runner to "steal this race."

Standing outside his New York Avenue NW campaign office to more than 60 supporters, Brown did not mention mayoral candidate Adrian M. Fenty by name. But Brown's criticism was clearly directed at Fenty, who is leading in the polls less than a week before Tuesday's Democratic primary.

"I cannot watch a political novice, a man without the courage and strength required to run the city, attempt to steal this race from someone who has seen the city through its worse times," Brown said. "We cannot afford a mayor who merely knocks on doors and asks for support. We need a mayor who can open doors to support people."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090700597.html

Plan in Works For Surface Parking Lots
DC Officials Worried About Garage Project

By David Nakamura and Thomas Heath
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page B04

District officials fear that a proposal to build condominiums, shops and parking garages next to the city's new baseball stadium will fall through and have begun developing an alternative plan that relies heavily on surface-level parking lots.

Developer Herbert S. Miller had hoped to begin work on his $300 million mixed-use development on city-owned land this week. But negotiations between him and city officials have bogged down because of financing complications.

Although talks with Miller are scheduled to resume today, city leaders said yesterday they are uncertain whether the sides will resolve two outstanding issues: whether Miller's plan violates the terms of a $611 million stadium cost cap set by the DC Council and who would pay for any cost overruns.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090601978.html

A Push to Put Government to Work
Fenty's Activist Zeal Draws Supporters; Critics Deride Lack of Experience

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page B01

Zooming along the Capital Beltway in his white Ford Expedition, Adrian M. Fenty seems dangerously close to losing control. The front end is so far out of alignment that the entire passenger cabin is shaking. Empty Vitamin Water bottles skitter on the floor.

Fenty ignores the ominous vibrations, chatting intently about his campaign for DC mayor as he heads toward 16th Street NW. Suddenly, something catches his eye: a torn Fenty yard sign. "What's that address? Write that down," he murmurs to an aide. "Replacement sign needed."

For nearly two years, Fenty has been chasing the city's highest political office, selling himself as a disciplined, hands-on manager with an obsession for detail. But critics see the sophomore DC Council member as an ambitious man with no patience for critical but unglamorous tasks, such as cobbling together legislation -- or taking the car in for a tuneup.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090601882.html

Cropp's Allies in Business Look Wobbly

By Elissa Silverman and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page DZ02

The marathon DC mayoral campaign has finally turned into a sprint, and with less than one week left until the historically decisive Democratic primary on Tuesday, council Chairman Linda W. Cropp might need a little help from her friends.

Trailing in the polls behind council rival Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4), Cropp might have expected to benefit from a few independent expenditures made by her deep-pocketed fans in the business community, who enthusiastically backed her candidacy with a hat trick of endorsements in July.

DC's titans of industry have contributed to Cropp's campaign, but they have been frugal in producing independent ads to promote her candidacy. The relatively small amount spent for ads on Metrobuses and in a smattering of community newspapers has caused some whispers that the business community threw in the towel before the fight was over.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090600651.html

Orange Offers Contract to Voters
Candidate Outlines Plans for Education, Housing and Safety

By Elissa Silverman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 2, 2006; Page B02

DC mayoral candidate Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D) has mailed a "contract" to more than 100,000 registered Democrats in the District in which he outlines sweeping budget priorities in the areas of education, affordable housing, public safety and health care.

The six-page, orange-tinged brochure is reminiscent of the "Contract With America," a plan of legislative actions agreed to by Republicans running for Congress in 1994 that was credited with helping the party take control of the House of Representatives.

In "My Contract With You," Orange, a DC council member who represents Ward 5, promises to put money in the budget for universal pre-kindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds; to facilitate the construction of 36,000 houses and 19,000 apartments and to establish a community policing division of 800 officers. He also pledged to push educational policies that ensure that students read independently by third grade and understand the fundamentals of mathematics by fourth grade.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/01/AR2006090101508.html

Justice Dept. Inks $50M-Plus East End Lease

WASHINGTON, DC-The Department of Justice has signed a 174,670-sf, 10-year lease at 1100 L Street, NW with Blake Real Estate. The lease is valued at more than $50 million.

Steve Lustgarten, Blake Real Estate executive vice president, represented Blake Real Estate in the transaction and the GSA represented itself. The deal pushes the building to 100% occupancy. Other tenants in the building include the US Secret Service and CACI, a government IT provider. The DoJ has leased space in other Blake buildings, according to a statement by Lustgarten. "We are very pleased to provide office space to the DOJ and maintain what has been a very positive affiliation," he says.

http://www.globest.com/news/707_707/washington/148843-1.html

Rollingwood Closes Land Deal in SW

WASHINGTON, DC-Mark Ein of Rollingwood LLC has acquired the option to develop land at 1711 First St. SW, some two blocks southwest of Nationals Stadium that is under construction. The property is currently owned by a salvage yard, Super Salvage Inc., one of the few, if not last, remaining such businesses in Washington, DC.

The deal has been structured to provide maximum flexibility to both buyer and seller. The option amount was--according to industry sources--5.5% to 6% of the purchase price, which will be $16.1 million. The terms include a three-to-nine-year window with five years as the strike date--meaning if the buyer seeks to close on the property before five years or after five years, it must pay associated penalties. The option price--between $900,000 to $1 million--is non refundable, paid annually and not to be included in the purchase price. Bidding for the property had started at $15 million and the option price at $750,000, according to sources.

http://www.globest.com/news/702_702/washington/148748-1.html

West End Multifamily Deal Poised to Close

WASHINGTON, DC-According to industry sources, two local investors are poised to close on a multifamily building on 1121 24th St. NW. The 47-unit property was listed with Ari Firoozabadi, an associate in the Washington, DC office of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage's national multihousing group.

When contacted by GlobeSt.com, Firoozabadi confirmed that the building had been placed under contract on Aug. 23rd, but has not closed yet. The seller, a limited partnership called 1121 24th Street, was said to have received about nine offers for the Class C property. The property had been listed at $3.6 million. Industry sources confirmed that the winning bid was approximately 10% higher than that.

http://www.globest.com/news/701_701/washington/148740-1.html

Opinions Differ on Whether Rents Will Rise

WASHINGTON, DC-In the latest Jones Lang LaSalle's Intelligence eReport for the Mid-Atlantic region, the company found that the vast majority of respondents to a monthly survey believe office rents in the Washington, DC-area will rise over the next six months. More interestingly, the number of respondents who project a rise in rental rates have jumped by 10 percentage points since six months ago, the last time Jones Lang LaSalle asked the question.

Of the respondents, 78% said Metro Washington office rents will be higher in six months, compared to 68%. Fourteen percent believe rents will be flat over the next six months and only five-percent think they will be lower at yearend. "Despite more speculative construction providing new leasing opportunities in some submarkets, the overall view that rents will continue to increase has not changed," Jones Lang LaSalle said.

http://www.globest.com/news/700_700/washington/148721-1.html

Q2 Commercial/Multifamily Originations Up 17%

WASHINGTON, DC-The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that commercial and multifamily loan originations increased 17.3% in Q2, compared to the same quarter last year. Compared to the first quarter in 2006, second quarter loan originations were up 23.3% and year to date originations are 24.3% higher than at the same time last year.

With a 177.4% increase, health care properties, followed by industrial space and hotels saw the biggest increase in originations in Q2, compared to the same quarter in 2005. Loans increased by 33.7% and 32.4% for industrial space and hotel properties, respectively. Office building loans rose by 12.7%; multifamily by 8.8%; and retail by 6.9% during the comparable year-ago period.

http://www.globest.com/news/699_699/washington/148705-1.html

NAHB, NAACP Ally Against Minority Discrimination

WASHINGTON, DC-The NAACP and the National Association of Home Builders are joining forces and resources to work against minority discrimination in the homebuilding area. The two organizations have released a report detailing their policy objectives under this initiative.

"There has historically been a lag in home ownership between minorities and Americans of European descent," Duane Desiderio, staff vice president for legal affairs at NAHB, tells GlobeSt.com, citing a 25% lag that currently exists.

Actions the two organizations plan to take together range from lobbying efforts at all levels of government to litigation against violations of fair housing laws. Already, the two organizations have joined forces to litigate a case in Texas in which local regulations have resulted, they say, in de facto minority housing discrimination.

http://www.globest.com/news/698_698/washington/148680-1.html

REGIONAL NEWS

Growth Slows in Housing Market
Appreciation Rate Lowest Since 1999

By Tomoeh Murakami Tse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 6, 2006; Page D01

In the latest evidence of a cooling housing market, U.S. home prices rose in the second quarter by the slowest rate in more than six years, according to a government report released yesterday.

Home prices were 10 percent higher in the three months ended June 30, compared with the corresponding period last year. The quarterly appreciation rate of 1.17 percent, however, was the slowest since the fourth quarter of 1999, according to the analysis by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

In contrast, in the second quarter of last year -- which many analysts describe as the height of the recent boom -- the quarterly rate was 3.65 percent. The change in the rate between those two quarters was the sharpest decline since the agency began tracking the data in 1975.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090500466.html

Protection Deferred

By Kenneth R. Harney
Saturday, September 2, 2006; Page F01

A congressionally mandated protection of huge potential value to home-mortgage applicants has been paralyzed because two federal agencies have not published the required regulations, 33 months after legislation was signed into law.

The new consumer protection, created by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, covers all loan applications in which lenders employ a "risk-based pricing" system that taps into applicants' credit files.

In the mortgage industry, risk-based pricing is almost universal. Millions of home loan applicants get their rate quotes and terms this way every year. The lender checks your credit files, computer software produces a risk score, and the rates and fees you are quoted flow from that process.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/01/AR2006090100717.html

Candidates Hustle on a Day of Politics and Parades
DC, Md. Races Enter Week Before Primaries

By Robert Barnes

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 5, 2006; Page A01

A battalion of candidates fanned out across the Washington region yesterday in a Labor Day tradition of hand-to-hand politicking, and in one week voters will make their first choices in 2006 elections that will radically alter the area's political leadership.

The District mayoral candidates crisscrossed the city, tracking down voters one at a time and changing a few minds in the process. Maryland candidates marched down voter-lined streets in Greenbelt, Gaithersburg and Kensington. Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) rode a brown and white horse named Bubba while Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and former governor Mark R. Warner (D) stumped for Allen's Democratic opponent in the tiny town of Buena Vista, the annual host of the commonwealth's Labor Day politics.

Allen and opponent James Webb are already on the November ballot, but when voters in Maryland and the District go to the polls next Tuesday, they will be choosing from more than 750 candidates in the Washington suburbs and more than 50 names on the District ballot.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401264.html

Schaefer goes home; Simms goes on attack

Friday, Sept. 8, 2006

BALTIMORE - Less than a week before voters decide his toughest election fight in 50 years, Comptroller William Donald Schaefer retreated Wednesday to his home turf, the city's landmark Lexington Market, where supporters shielded him from the criticism leveled at his latest round of impolitic comments.

Surrounded by chanting well-wishers, Schaefer (D) strolled among the lunchtime crowds, television cameras recording the handshakes and hugs.

Similar scenes are playing out across Maryland as Tuesday's primary election nears with competitors for attorney general and U.S. Senate seeking last-minute endorsements, conducting last-minute meet-and-greets and trying to grab last-minute headlines.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/090806/polia%20s194234_31958.shtml

Voters may rock the House - and Senate - on Tuesday
A few familiar names in the General Assembly are on the spot in tight races

Friday, Sept. 8, 2006

ANNAPOLIS - Two of the General Assembly's most recognizable members - Senate President Pro Tem Ida G. Ruben and Sen. John A. Giannetti Jr. - could be former members after Tuesday's Democratic primary. Or not.

In Montgomery County's liberal District 20, Ruben is locked in a bitter re-election battle with American University professor Jamie Raskin, an attorney from Takoma Park. Just miles away in Prince George's County's District 21, Giannetti is battling former ambassador James C. Rosapepe in another rough-and-tumble primary fight.

"Both of the races are too close to call," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach, who closely monitors and supports his Democratic incumbents.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/090806/polia%20s194245_31959.shtml

PAC Funds Undercut Claims in Senate Race
Md. Candidates Try To Run as Outsiders

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page A01

The latest television commercial in Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin's bid for an open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland says he "always tries to do what's right, what's in the best interest of Maryland families, taking on the drug companies, the oil companies, the insurance companies."

His campaign, however, has accepted checks from committees representing six large pharmaceutical companies, 22 oil and energy outfits, 27 insurance firms and industry associations, and eight HMOs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which compiles such figures on its Web site.

Republican Michael S. Steele's sunny Senate campaign ad tells voters that he will "talk straight about what's wrong in both parties. You know, to get a different kind of government, you're gonna need a different kind of senator."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090602119.html

Candidates Cornered on Growth Strategies
Voters Asking How Quality of Life Will Be Maintained -- and Who Will Pay for It

By Miranda S. Spivack
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 4, 2006; Page B05

It took only a few minutes for the candidates' debate in Columbia to zero in on what has become a defining theme in Howard County politics this year: How should the county grow?

Should it have a height limit on new buildings? Should construction be slowed? Can the community pressure developers to pay more for roads and schools?

Residents at a meet-the-candidates night last week peppered the candidates for county executive and the council for almost two hours about growth and development and their impact on the quality of life in one of the nation's most affluent counties. Howard, which sits between Washington and Baltimore, is ripe for more development because of its location and its highly rated school system, residents say.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/03/AR2006090300841.html

Approach to Schools Splits Pr. George's Candidates

By Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 4, 2006; Page B01

On this much, the two men running for county executive in the Prince George's Democratic primary agree: This is a golden moment of opportunity for the county's public schools.

Rising wealth has filled county coffers with tax revenue that can be focused on fixing decrepit buildings, improving teacher pay and funding ambitious initiatives to increase rigor, proposed by a popular new schools chief. At the same time, the state has stepped up its schools spending.

Jack B. Johnson, who has served as the county's top leader since 2002, said his administration is to thank for the boost, which he argues has resulted in a concrete change in the perception of county schools.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/03/AR2006090300884.html

 
 
Saddling Up for the Start of Fall's Races
Senate Candidate, Officials Face Political Gantlet at Parade

By Michael D. Shear and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 5, 2006; Page B05

BUENA VISTA, Va., Sept. 4 -- Virginia's politicians began a two-month sprint to Election Day with a soggy parade Monday along this town's main street, shaking hands, kissing babies and giving speeches to kick off the state's fall campaign.

U.S. Sen. George Allen (R), who is fighting to keep his seat for six more years, rode down Magnolia Avenue on a horse named Bubba, wearing a cowboy hat and western boots as he waved to thousands of people who lined up for the annual Labor Day festivities.

"Howdy," the senator said as he attempted to keep the novice parade horse headed in the right direction. "How y'all doin'?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401100.html

No Tunnel For Tysons, Kaine Says
Federal Concerns About Cost Prove Insurmountable

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page A01

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced yesterday that a proposal to build a tunnel under Tysons Corner as part of a Metrorail expansion to Dulles International Airport is dead, after federal officials and area congressmen made clear that the costs of an underground link could jeopardize the entire 23-mile, $4 billion project.

Kaine's decision in favor of an elevated track through Tysons represents a stunning shift, coming just a week after contractors, local officials and others involved in the project expected an announcement in favor of a below-ground route.

The decision means that construction on the Metro extension from West Falls Church to Dulles will begin late next year on a schedule to reach Reston by 2012, a year later than planned, partly because of the months spent studying the tunnel option. The line is planned to reach the airport and Loudoun County by 2015.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090601340.html

Loudoun To Restrict Growth
Board Votes 5-4 For Compromise

By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 7, 2006; Page A01

Loudoun County supervisors yesterday approved a far-reaching plan to restrict home building in the county's rural west, taking the first step toward guiding long-term growth in the region's fastest-growing jurisdiction.

The guidelines adopted last night by a 5 to 4 vote replace similar rules struck down last year by the state Supreme Court. But the Republican majority on the board opted for a less-restrictive compromise than they had been considering in recent months. They did so against the advice of County Attorney John R. Roberts, who said the changes could imperil the measure if it is challenged in court.

About 90 minutes after the vote, the board decided to delay implementation of the plan to address the legal questions raised by the compromise.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090602199.html