Since I know this will back in the news any second now, here is the DC CFO's Oct. 2 Fiscal Impact Statement on how the draft bill being shopped around by Marion Barry to get the Herb Miller/Garages Wrapped With Development Goodness plan back on track to put garages on the north end of the stadium site will result in the busting of the $611 spending cap the council placed on the ballpark project. And there's a bonus surprise! At the end of the FIS is the draft of the bill itself. (Also, just for the heck of it, here's CFO Gandhi's testimony back in July on the Miller garages plan.) Back on Oct. 4, news reports said that Mayor Williams told the council that he supported Barry's bill with several amendments that addressed Gandhi's concerns. There was talk of this bill coming before the Council at it's session this coming Wednesday, but it's not yet on the schedule. UPDATE: The city council schedule for tomorrow (Wednesday) has now been updated to show so many different ballpark-related items on the agenda that I'm not going to even try to figure out what's what. We'll see what transpires on the morrow....

Yet another Near Southeast-related bill has been introduced to the DC Council--this one is B16-0932, the "Square 770, Lot 802 Securitization Act of 2006." My not-so-learned reading of the bill tells me that this bill is authorizing the issuing of bonds not to exceed $140 million (principal), $40 million of which will go toward funding a portion of the costs of the five-acre Anacostia Waterfront Park planned along the river between 2nd and 4th Streets (within the Southeast Federal Center land), as well as the infrastructure improvements needed to allow for public access to the site. An additional $75 million will help fund other (unnamed) Anacostia Waterfront Initiative infrastructure improvements. The bill also sets up the DOT HQ's parcel (Square 770, Lot 802) to now be exempt from property taxes and instead have those payments go into the new Anacostia Waterfront Park Fund, to be used to repay the financing of the bonds and other expenses related to the park. You can read more about this PILOT plan in this June 2 post. UPDATE: There is also now PR16-1004, which appears to be amending the earlier DOT PILOT bills a touch. There is also a DOT PILOT technical amendment being voted on as emergency legislation at the Oct. 18 city council session--might be the same as PR16-1004, but I can't tell for sure. UPDATE, 11/2: Here is the actual resolution that was passed on Oct. 18 on an emergency basis, PR16-1039, The "DOT Pilot Revision Emergency Approval Resolution of 2006."

A beautiful fall day on Saturday meant that I had no choice but to go on a photo-taking expedition: see my photos of the new ballpark, Capper Seniors #2, and 20 M Street.