Speaking of business done in secret, Washington D.C. officials clearly broke the open meetings law
A few days ago, I wrote a story on several recent examples of teams negotiating with cities (or themselves) in private until the very last minute. This is almost always when the public is required by law to know about the plan. Yet not even a week after writing that story, I see yet another shining example of this type of sports dealing. Last week, the city of Alexandria pulled out of negotiations with the Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals & Wizards, on his plan to move to Alexandria, Virginia. This killed the deal. One of the reasons the deal was scuttled was due to the Governor of Virginia trying to force the state legislature to accept a “take it or leave it, already-done deal that they can’t kick the tires on and look under the hood on before voting”. In didn’t take more than 24 hours for Leonsis to agree to an extension to stay in D.C. until 2050, pending D.C. Council approval.
“Under the terms of the deal, D.C. will spend $515 million over three years to help Leonsis modernize the arena, and Leonsis will sign a new lease keeping the teams in D.C. for 25 more years. The agreement includes other provisions…D.C. would allow Leonsis to take over the Gallery Place retail center, assume management of the Mystics home arena in Southeast D.C., utilize parking at some District-owned buildings for Monumental employees, keep a minimum number of police officers downtown and plan for a new future downtown practice facility for the Wizards” — Washington Post, 03/27/24
That is quite a bit of giving by the city. The city is giving Leonsis:
- $515 million dollars
- Significant retail center in downtown D.C.
- Ownership of the WNBA arena
- A new future downtown practice facility for the Wizards
- Additional parking in a city that is beyond over-crowded already
- Extra police at all events for no charge
Considering how fast this was agreed upon, I would hope that the city council reviews this deal and goes over the exact details. Of course not, this is the D.C. Council that we are talking about. One Councilman noted that the city was “in the middle of a difficult budget year” then still admitted that he “anticipated the $515 million legislation will easily pass the council”. This is the same council who refused to let the Nationals pay for their own ballpark upgrades. Instead, the DC council proposed legislation allowing the team to be given money every year from sales tax revenue made from purchases at the ballpark, reduced the rent paid by the team to DC and allowed the team to use “any remaining funds left over in the Ballpark Revenue Fund”. Ever since the Nationals have been in DC, they have been given countless financial breaks. When the mayor of DC (at the time) and Major League Baseball agreed to an initial ballpark agreement, they needed DC Council approval. It was approved but as one city councilman noted at the time, had “never seen such a giveaway, an unbelievable giveaway, all at public expense”.
Beyond that, are we even sure the Wizards/Capitals bring in anywhere close to the financial amount being given to them for Arena upgrades? Oh, who cares, give it to them! When will the public get to hear about the deal before it is voted on? Never. The D.C. Council is voting on this deal tomorrow without any public hearings or meetings. As the NBC Washington wrote this week, why is it that there is no way for taxpayers to actually weigh in on how their money is being dispersed into the downtown area? Even though the city council is voting on this $500M deal tomorrow, the public still has no right to see any specifics of this deal before it is put into law? Are we even sure that the city council knows the details? Yes, we do. How? Because the D.C. Council “heard about them in a meeting the public had no idea about”.
Since D.C. has an Open Meeting Acts, why did the public not get to see or hear this meeting? Yes. This clearly violates the law. NBC Washington does a great job breaking it down. To briefly summarize, before the mayor announced this deal, a majority of the city council were asked to a meeting and told details about this plan. The D.C. Open Meetings Act clearly says that when this happens, there needs to be a public notice. In this case, there was none. Essentially, before the mayor announced this deal, the council chairman asked other council members to come to his office that day. A majority of the council came to the meeting, including the deputy mayor, which the D.C. Open Meetings Act calls this gathering a “quorum”. When the City Chairman was called out on this, he claimed that the meeting was just to “gather information and discuss it”. Plus, the city chairman said that this gathering was about a “secret” which means that the law “doesn’t work”. What the hell does that even mean? Sadly, nothing will or can happen to punish those who break this law. There is no penalty in D.C. for breaking this law.
On a quick side note, I just have to tell people how much I laughed at the CEO of JBG Smith telling the media that they were angry at how this deal was “derailed largely due to partisan politics”. This comes from the same company who was brought to court last year by the D.C. Attorney General for “colluding to raise rents for tens of thousands above market rate”?
