Jack Evans Report

It’s been an exciting season for our hometown baseball team. What had seemed inevitable for the past month finally came to fruition last week, when the Washington Nationals clinched the National League East Division title and a spot in the Major League Baseball playoffs. After a one year absence from the playoffs, the Nats are back and looking better than ever.

First year manager, Matt Williams, has done a fantastic job guiding the team through several injuries without missing a beat. Stephen Strasburg has been excellent as expected, but the breakout performances of third baseman Anthony Rendon and pitcher Jordan Zimmerman helped the team return to the dominant form they were in two years ago.

The excitement of the playoffs brings back the concern about Metro service for those late night games. I recently met with Richard Sarles, the General Manager of WMATA, to discuss the issue and ways we can make sure everyone can stay to enjoy the entire game and still get home easily. I’m confident that between the Washington Nationals, MLB and WMATA, we’ll be able to reach an agreement to keep the trains running late, if needed, for all of the Nats’ home playoff games.

Baseball isn’t the only thing creating exciting news in that area of town. Just last week, news came of new energy and focus for part of the Half Street project right outside the stadium. With a new owner in place, the revitalization that has come to the neighborhood, with the stadium, Yards Park, the Bullpen and other developments, is picking up steam.

The stadium continues to work out better than anticipated. The District borrowed $584 million to build the stadium and identified other sources of revenue to pay off the loan. Revenue from the stadium and these other sources has raised millions of dollars more than necessary to pay the annual debt service obligations. All contingency funds have been fully funded and excess revenue is available to pay off the bonds early.

It looks like it will be a great October in Washington, with continued success for the Capital Riverfront area of our city. I have my fingers crossed for our hometown team. Hopefully, I’ll be able to write to you in a few weeks about even more exciting developments for Washington baseball. Go Nats!

Jack Evans is the Ward 2 Councilmember, representing Georgetown since 1991.