D.C United President and CEO Kevin Payne answered questions from those in attendance at the D.C. United Community Meeting at at F.W. Ballou Senior High School on Tuesday. Below is a transcript of the question-and-answer session.
If you have a question about the proposed stadium development at Poplar Point, email stadium@dcunited.com.
Q: What is your commitment to the community in terms of business development, joint ventures, mentoring, employment and training - are you willing to enter into a legally-binding contracts with the community?
Kevin Payne: "We want to work closely with the community to make sure our construction ideas make sense. We are committed to working very closely with the community . . . [O]ur team has been involved in many ways in the community for many years and we are more than happy to sit down and talk about what ideas you have along those lines and figure out what we can do to put your mind at ease. We intend to help, we intend to participate and we intend to be good neighbors."
Q: I'm a small minority business owner in the dump truck industry located in ward 8 - what kind of business opportunity is there for my company in the new development.
Kevin Payne: ". . . [W]e're aware that we need to have as many businesses as possible from this side of the river involved in this project. We want people and business from this community to play an integral role in building this development."
Q: My concern is about the lack of viable employment in this ward - with all of the rapid growth and plant growth why aren't more opportunities for ward residents?
Kevin Payne: "The project is going to create a large number of jobs in the short-term during the construction phase and a very substantial number of jobs for years to come, following completion of the development. We will also be involved in a number of programs aimed at providing opportunities for young children to learn about the sports business and the sports stadium management business. We will create opportunities for the youth to obtain scholarship money to go to college. We will created a career training center for the youth of the community. Additionally, in the conversations we've had with potential hotel partners we've made very clear that we anticipate this hotel will have a very aggressive training program, so people can learn that trade as well. The bottom line is this - this project will create a substantial number of jobs, but will also create a large number of opportunities for people in the community to learn careers, to learn a trade, to learn more about the sports business. That's something we are very committed to."
Q: Will ward 8 residents get first preferences at jobs in the new stadium?
Kevin Payne: "Yes."
Q: Will the DC Public Schools have access to the stadium - will they play football playoffs in it? Will D.C. United make the proposed facilities available to community at large, and if so under what conditions?
Kevin Payne: "We want to make sure this facility becomes a community facility. We want it to be the best soccer facility in the country, but we also intend for it to be a facility that the community can embrace and that the area high schools have an opportunity to use. We want it to be a place the community can be proud of, whether you're going there to see D.C. United play, or Alicia Keys perform or going to see your son or daughter play in an athletic contest. That's how we see this facility coming to life and helping the community to prosper, including local athletic events."
Q: What is your timeline for development and how does the federal government's recent proposal to sell lands at poplar point effect your plans?
Kevin Payne: "It is our desire to be playing in this stadium by the spring of 2008 - that's an aggressive timetable, but we're not messing around. We want to move forward with this project."
Q: Can you ensure that black men who may not be part of a union will be employed in this construction project?
Kevin Payne: ". . .[W]e understand very clearly that we are going to have to work with businesses in this community whether they are union or non-union. We intend to fulfill that. We intend to work very closely with the community to identify those businesses and give them every possible opportunity to be part of this project."
Q: Are you going to include home ownership opportunities for families earning between $20-$25,000 in the development?
Kevin Payne: ". . . [O]ur belief is that because the DC market is an attractive one, we believe there will be ways to work with lenders, the DC government and community organizations to ensure that the value of the property will be such - relative to what we can make it available for for sale in the community. The difference between the market price and what it would be sold for is substantial enough that that will help people get over the hump of the down payment. Our intention is to provide home ownership opportunities for first time home-buyers, for the workforce of this community . . . we're not just building homes for rich folk."
Q: How many families will be displaced? How will this new project bring prosperity and wealth to the youth who are being moved out of their community?
Kevin Payne: "We're not planning to displace anyone with this project. There isn't anyone living on this land today. The poplar point property is all federal land. As far as prosperity - we believe that one of the things that makes this project unique is the stadium. Because the stadium will bring spending from a very wide group - we have season ticket holders in Richmond, Roanoke, Raleigh and Philadelphia - they will all be coming to Ward 8 and spending money. It's our objective to work as closely as possible with the community. We want to be part of the community, we want to be a new neighborhood that is part of this community. We believe the new project will add benefits to the entire business community of Anacostia and the entire community east of the river."
Q: What will be done to preserve the wetlands and ecosystem at Poplar Point and how will traffic generated by the stadium be addressed?
Kevin Payne: " . . . We're working very closely with the DC Department of Transportation and we'll be working with the park service and environment groups to ensure environmental concerns are given strong consideration in everything that happens. We are aware of the fact that there are concerns about this piece of property and we want to be sensitive to that . . . [W]e hear these concerns and will work closely the community, not making unilateral decisions to ensure that those things are taken into consideration."
Q: How will you impact positively across all of Anacostia?
Kevin Payne: "The programs that we've talked about, that we're already doing east of the river, will simply grow. We want to create an internship program for kids from the local high schools - we want them to participate with us, both on the team and stadium side, to learn more about the sports business, to learn more about what it means to work in a sports environment. We will also be creating a substantial scholarship fund - we'll work in concert with the community and school district to ensure that kids who really want to go to college and have what it takes to make that happen, but maybe are a little short on money - We're going to answer that need for them, That's something we are very committed to."
Q: What opportunities and programs will be available for the city's youth? I have a son who would love to learn to play soccer.
Kevin Payne: "We've held clinics here already and will continue to hold more. There are not a lot of facilities for kids to play on. We want to work closely with the Sports & Entertainment Commission, the community, with the US Soccer Federation to get fields built as quickly as possible on this side of the river - even in advance of the rest of the development. We stand ready to provide programming on those fields once they are in place."
Q: In regards to the homes being built - will they be condos, town homes and/or single-family homes? How far will they be from the stadium?
Kevin Payne: " . . . This is an urban neighborhood - there's only 40 acres being used for development. The plan is for condos and town homes. The stadium will be on the east end of the development, while retail office space and some residential buildings will work its way west. Most of the residential will be concentrated toward the west side. In the project there will be a very large grocery store that will be adjacent to the parking garage. As we are able to put more details out you will find that there will be virtually no surface parking - you're not going to be looking at acres of parking lots. All of the parking will be below ground or in structures. And even when it's in structures, those structures will be capped with green space, so you're not going to have to worry about seas of parking lots."
Concluding remarks: "We are very committed to being good neighbors. The critical piece of this project is to ensure that business from this community have an opportunity to participate in the commerce that is generated by this project - whether that's in the construction phase or after. The same holds true for individuals looking to be employed, whether it's young people looking to learn the business or trade, or whether it's adults who are looking for a better job."
