* MLB.com also has a Q&A with Stan Kasten about the ballpark and other items. "You want all of it to work right, but you know there is going to be a hiccup here and there. We are going to be looking at everything. We'll be getting right back at it that Monday morning [March 31] to see what worked and what didn't work -- to see what we could improve on. Hopefully, we'll have that whole week to improve things even further."

* You can't swing a cat today without hitting news of the Metro Peeps.

* Poor Phil Mendelson. He still wants to use 225 Virginia Avenue for some MPD functions, and the mayor and the executive branch appear to be ignoring him.

* Elephants will be on parade just a few feet north of the neighborhood on Monday morning. No, really. I'm serious.

If you want the less-viral version of information about the Navy Yard expansion, NBC 4 and WTOP and WUSA have video from a tour given today to the media of the revamped west entrance, scheduled to open in time for Opening Night. Also, during yesterday's Metro ride-along with Stan Kasten, Nats320 grilled WMATA's COO with a pile of Metro/Nationals-related questions.

If you haven't been following along, Metro has spent $20 million increasing the number of fare gates and vending machines, adding two elevators and relocating the station kiosk, fare gates and fare vendors from the mezzanine to the street entrance. One thing in today's reports that is quite different from anything I've heard in the past two years--Metro is now saying that the upgrade to 15,000 passengers an hour is just for the west entrance, and that the east entrance can handle an additional 5,000 passengers an hour. Seems odd that this has never been emphasized before now, that it's always just been that the upgraded station would handled 15k....

Oh, and the commemorative Nationals SmarTrip cards go on sale Friday (March 21).

You can see my Take Metro! page for more details on links.

Nationals President Stan Kasten took the media this afternoon on the short Green Line jaunt from Gallery Place/Chinatown to the Navy Yard Metro station, to get the word out to stadium-goers that Metro will be the best way to get to the ballpark. He emphasized multiple times the 57,000 parking spaces at Metro stations around the area, which will be free on nights and weekends. [Sorry, that was my boo-boo, not his.] I'm sure there will be "real" coverage of the field trip on tonight's newscasts, so I'll update later with links to those stories.

But in the meantime, here's a few photos I took. I had hoped that the group would get to go up the not-yet-complete west entrance of the station, to see the expansion, but that didn't happen. (Waaah!) But when the group exited at New Jersey and M, there was the N22 shuttle bus to Union Station, waiting as if on cue.

In other news, the Washington Times reports that the ballpark has gotten its certificate of occupancy.

UPDATE: First out of the gate is ABC7, with a skeptical text piece (Kasten is "hoping to convince skeptical fans that the rail option is the best way to reach the team's new stadium" and that the Navy Yard station "was still a mess of construction last week"--because, you know, last week is the same as next week, that just because something wasn't done then means there's no chance it'll be done on time). And now the video's posted.

* Season-ticket holders are apparently starting to receive their parking passes. I'm updating my parking lot map with the lot letters, so you can see where your lot is and whether it's surface or underground. Leave your lot letter and location in the comments if I haven't added it to the map yet. Never mind--found the Nats' interactive trip planner that has the lots marked. But on mine you get to find out what's surface and what's underground! (It's all about the value-add.)

* A few weeks ago the March Washingtonian hit the stands with a big article on the ballpark, along with a second article ("Ballpark Living") about what's coming to Near Southeast in terms of residential offerings. That second article is now online--but don't be put off by its first two words.

And there's Dr. Gridlock's column from Sunday, which along with some good information on disabled access to the ballpark also includes discussions of Scary New Jersey Avenue and the "half-mile" walk from the Navy Yard Station to the ballpark. (Whaa...?)

Also, the Examiner has a summary of Metro's plans for Pope Day, most of which were in the WMATA press release I linked to last week.

And, I guess I need to address this--I've had a number of people ask me in the past few days about rumors apparently circulating that I'm going to shut down JDLand right after Opening Day. Perhaps this is an offshoot from the flippant comment I made in the On Site profile about just making it to Opening Day "and then I'll fall over", or maybe some off-hand crack in the blog about being close to collapsing.

But while it's no secret that right now I'm overwhelmed and teetering on the brink of absolute exhaustion in my quest to keep running the site at the level of detail it's mocked known for, and to respond to all the e-mails and questions I receive every day, I also see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I know that, by May, things around here should settle back down to a more reasonable workload. I'm willing to hang on by my fingernails until then, although I acknowledge that I may miss a link here or there, or might be a bit briefer with some updates than I've been in the past, which I hope everyone can understand. But, beyond that, JDLand will still be around for a good while yet; there's still some developments I have to see arrive at the finish line, after all....

(And yes, there's probably a book in it all someday. After I sleep for a year or so.)

* Today Metro put out an expanded press release (after a similar one a few days ago) with additional details on how they're planning to handle the April 17 Mass at Nationals Park, or as I call it, Pope Day. There's also stories on Metro's plans by WTOP ("Forget about baseball, is Metro ready for the Pope?") and NBC4. In the meantime, Agence France Presse has a piece on how huge the demand for Pope tickets is.

* Via City Paper (which has taken the story to its bosom), a report from Fox 5 on the Positive Nature youth program at 1017 New Jersey, which is struggling to stay afloat after the huge increase in property taxes that has accompanied the redevelopment of Near Southeast. Don't forget that they're having an open house (they're calling it a "radical rally" to keep their doors open) on Saturday March 15 from noon to 3 pm.

* Marc Fisher of the Post takes a deep (and infuriated) look at why Nats fans (even just government employees with security clearances) can't park in the 1,060-space garage at the US Department of Transporation headquarters one block from the ballpark. "So how did a simple request to use empty parking spaces at night, after Transportation workers have gone home, turn into -- excuse the expression -- a federal case? A report by Transportation's inspector general makes it clear that the feds were desperate to find a way to reject the Nationals' proposal." UPDATE: Marc's blog includes a link to the inspector general's report.

* Boswell talks ticket prices.

* The WashTimes describes police plans to step up patrols during Nats games: "[O]fficers with the department's Special Operations Division would be deployed on foot, on bicycles, in cars and on Segways to at least 39 'static posts' around the ballpark to direct traffic and assist in crowd control. Additionally, he said, 10 beats -- staffed by either one or two officers -- will patrol, mostly on foot, the neighborhoods surrounding the stadium, looking out for auto thefts or other property crimes in the hours before and after games."

* The 55 M web cam doesn't show it real clearly, but Metro's signature red tile flooring is being installed in the new west entrance of the Navy Yard station at Half and M.

* There's also new stoplights (not yet activated) installed at Half and M. Which is good news for pedestrians, including neighborhood bloggers who have come perilously close to meeting their maker trying to cross that very intersection.

* A large new sign at Third and I announces that the parking lot now under construction there is Nationals Parking Lot T (in the orange zone). And while the asphalt hasn't been pored at this lot or its sibling to the south, the lightposts erected in the center of each lot are now operational, adding a bit of extra light to Third Street after dark.

* Wednesday night's public meeting on the ballpark traffic management and curbside parking plan heard many of the concerns that have been raised at previous events (visitor passes, stadiumgoers being directed to use the Maine Avenue exit from the SW Freeway, commuters and residents wondering how they'll get *out* of the stadium area on game nights, and more). Representatives of DDOT spoke what is now the official city and team mantra, along the lines of: "We've tried our best to come up with a system, and we'll be watching it closely to see what works and what doesn't, and we'll make changes to it as we need to. We're asking for patience. But there will be congestion, and there will be problems, and there will be *change.*" Which is a message that doesn't always go over very well. After the group Q&A, city and team officials answered one-on-one questions. (The somewhat striking view of the ballpark at dusk from the 10th floor of 20 M was probably not on the minds of most of these meeting-goers.) Oh, and a DPW official made it very clear: cars parked illegally on the new enhanced RPP streets will be towed.

* The west entrance of the Navy Yard station will indeed reopen "the weekend of March 29", after its year-long $20 million renovation to expand its capacity from 5,000 to 15,000 passengers an hour.

* "On game days, the west entrance will be exit-only three hours before games, and entrance-only after games. During games, the Navy Yard east entrance should be used by people traveling in the opposite direction of the crowds."

* "The newly expanded N22 Metrobus route from the Navy Yard Metrorail station to the Eastern Market and Union Station Metrorail stations will operate every 10 minutes from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m." (Note that previous announcements about the N22 had it stopping at 10:30 pm; I don't know if the 11:30 pm end-time is only for Opening Day, or for all games, or what.)

* "To accommodate the crowds, Metrorail will operate up to 18 extra trains, most of them on the Green Line. All trains will be a combination of six and eight-car trains."

* "On weekends and at the conclusion of games, Metro will have extra trains available to get fans to and from the ballpark."

Also, beyond what is in this release, WTOP and the Examiner are reporting that Metro has decided to add one additional six-car train (with a capacity of about 900 passengers) during weekday evening rush hours, for a total of 13 six-car trains and 7 eight-car trains. There will also be four trains waiting on the Green line in case of problems. NBC 4 also has a piece on Metro's plans.

For more information, look at my Take Metro! page, as well as my other Stadium Transportation and Parking pages if you're planning on driving.

* Today it's an Examiner columnist who rails against the traffic and transit catastrophe at the ballpark three weeks before the first regular-season pitch even happens, using his crystal ball to predict that an unfinished Metro station now means an unfinished Metro station then.

* The GW Hatchet explains how to get tickets to the March 22 game at Nationals Park.

* Howard University's paper looks at Southwest residents wary of the development starting to surround them.

* Get in on the Douglass Bridge design discussion in the comments from a few days ago.