Debate is still ongoing (and with this bunch, it could go on a long time, especially with the demagoguery and fibbing coming from the dais), but it looks like there aren't nine votes to pass the declaration of an emergency to (I think) allow for making changes to the stadium financing cap that would then allow any of the various parking solutions to go forward. Jack Evans gave a pretty impassioned speech that, as some folks have been saying for a while now, just because development doesn't get fired up right away at the north end of the stadium site, all is not lost in the Ballpark District, and in fact he used the MCI Center/Gallery Place example, that the north end of the MCI Center block stayed empty for years, and no one can say that Chinatown and the MCI/Verizon Center area has suffered. (Tom Knott of the WashTimes said the same thing recently, hat tip to Gallery Place Living). Evans said that if there are surface lots on those blocks for a few years, it won't be the end of the world, and also said that at this point fixing the parking issue is no longer a council/legislative issue, that no one has come up with a way to break the $611 million cost cap, and that other DC government entities should come up with a solution. Marion Barry is still pushing his buddy Herb Miller's plan, Catania is still calling CFO Gandhi a liar, and so really nothing new is happening. UPDATE: The vote to declare an emergency was 7-6, it needed nine votes, so it failed. Now they're moving to Marion Barry's bill to move forward the Herb Miller garages plan. But because Barry's bill would impact the cap, it's being ruled "Out of Order." He wants to change the bill so that it would do nothing more than transfer control of the garages land from the SEC to the AWC, but Chairman Cropp still wants a fiscal impact statement on that change from the CFO's office. So they've moved on for now. UPDATE II: The council has voted down Barry's blll 11-1, with council members saying that they're not prepared to move on an emergency basis to transfer the land to the AWC from DCSEC, that there are still way too many issues to be figured out. So, where do we stand? With it all being punted back to the Mayor and the DCSEC and the Lerners. UPDATE III: Here's the Post story on the day's events. Mayor Baseball sums it up: "Take any major project from the pyramids to Stonehenge. The stupid parking lot has taken more hours and meetings per parking space. It's incredible." UPDATE IV: And here's the WashTimes piece.

Faison Enterprises and Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds are holding a ceremonial groundbreaking (with Most-Likely-To-Be Mayor Fenty in attendance) for the Onyx on First residential project, on Nov. 1 at 10:00 am. This is the 260-unit residential building at 1100 First Street SE; the project will also "include a rooftop pool, underground parking, a fitness center, an outdoor courtyard, a game room, and great views of the city from the upper floors. Condos will range from studios to 2-bedrooms, and prices are anticipated to start in the upper $200s." UPDATE: Here's a GlobeSt.com blurb on the project.