I am trying soooooooooo hard to not get sucked into tracking the goings-on at Poplar Point, but I know that a lot of visitors to this site are very interested in what's going on just across the river from Near Southeast. So once again I'm posting a few items of interest, with the disclaimer that you shouldn't depend on me for up-to-the-minute Poplar Point news, and that maybe some enterprising soul will start an East of the River blog that I can happily point people to. Anyway, yesterday brought the official announcement that Victor MacFarlane, whose MacFarlane Partners company owns a 25% stake in the Southeast Federal Center redevelopment, has partnered with other investors to purchase DC United's operating rights, and to build the team a new stadium at Poplar Point and develop the land around it. The team is hoping to get a new stadium built by the 2009 season (!), but no one's officially announced any proposals for how a stadium will be paid for. In the meantime, the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, which is overseeing the redevelopment of Poplar Point, has announced a January 20 Ward 8 Public Meeting about the plans for the site. And now you're all charged with going out and learning more about it on your own :-).

The Post gives front-page focus to the Anacostia River, the city's hopes and plans for its revitalization, and the realities of how polluted the river actually is in "Polluted Waters Stain DC's Shining Vision": "The Anacostia River, planned as the scenic centerpiece of massive redevelopment in the District, remains heavily polluted by sewage, trash and toxic chemicals, environmentalists say -- and it might be years before the river's health catches up with its new cachet. In the city's plans, the Anacostia will soon be surrounded by a necklace of new stadiums, office buildings, condominiums and parks. A river that has come to symbolize neglect, both of its water and of the neighborhoods near its banks, will become a new hub of urban life. But that bright vision is hard to square with the Anacostia of the present. Its channels are choked with mud and floating debris. Its catfish have tumors on their livers and lips. And, dozens of times a year, it actually stinks, from human waste dumped out by the District's sewer system. Now, activists wonder whether a dirty river will start to hold this development back. Or maybe, they hope, all this building will speed the Anacostia's recovery by making activists out of people who are seeing its plight for the first time."