Since I must enjoy torturing myself, I sat through last night's D.C. Council hearing on parking and transportation at the new Nationals ballpark. We heard a lot of the same things we've been hearing for months: Take Metro, don't drive, there's virtually no available parking, take Metro, don't drive, etc. We'll likely have a broad story looking at all the plans for getting to and from the ballpark early next week. For now, a few new tidbits:
- The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission and the Nationals have reached a deal in principal to allow for free parking and shuttle buses from the RFK parking lots to the new ballpark. The sports commission had been reluctant to offer the spots for free, but instead worked out an arrangement in which the Nationals would pay the commission $215,000 to allow the team to pursue monthly contracts for parking in the garages at the new ballpark on non-gamedays. Under the terms of the stadium lease, the the city gets two-thirds of all the money from non-gameday parking. Sports commission CEO Greg O'Dell said the monthly contracts could net the city as much as $600,000 annually.
The Nationals have not finalized a contract with a bus company, but said they will offer 55 buses, all of them the luxury motor coach variety.
- DDOT plans to have 12 traffic control officers stationed at intersections around the ballpark to keep cars moving. The 12 officers represent about 20 percent of their entire staff.
- Confirming what we've heard anecdotally from some fans, Nationals Vice President Greg McCarthy said that season ticket holders did not claim all of the parking spaces made available to them. There are a few hundred left, but he stopped short of saying those spots would be made available to non-season ticket holders.
- DDOT is predicting about 52 percent of fans will take public transit to games. Metro, however, thinks it will be closer to 60 percent. That could represent about 25,000 fans taking Metro; the expanded Navy Yard Metro station can move about 15,000 in an hour. Officials said they expect some fans to use the Capitol South, Waterfront or Anacostia Stations.
- Council member Jim Graham said he thinks the Navy Yard station should be renamed so that people don't accidentally go to the Stadium/Armory stop. Graham, who serves on Metro's board, said he had proposed changing the name, but that there was a feeling that the team would prefer the station be named after whoever buys the ballpark naming rights.
"I must tell you I had immediate reservations about naming it after Quaker Oats, or whatever," he said. "I don't think Metro would ever name a station after a private company. Traveler's Insurance station or whatever."
Graham's suggestion for the station name: "Ballpark."
