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Taking note . . .

Observations about public affairs in the nation’s capital
by the editor of The Common Denominator

COURTING WAL-MART: City officials are working behind the scenes to persuade retailing giant Wal-Mart to locate its first D.C. store adjacent to the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station on a site originally selected for Kmart’s entry into Washington. A spokesman for Kmart Corp. told The Common Denominator that the struggling Detroit-based retailer has now abandoned its four-year-old plan to build a store there and is actively seeking another retailer to take over the location.

Developer Rick Walker of Detroit-based Graimark/Walker Urban Land Development declined to comment on negotiations to complete the Brentwood Road shopping center’s anchor stores. But Councilman Vincent Orange, whose Ward 5 includes the commercial area, said city officials are working with the developer to put together a package that will locate Wal-Mart next to the District’s largest Giant Food store and its only Home Depot on the city’s former vehicle impoundment lot.

A spokeswoman for Arkansas-based Wal-Mart said the retailer is "always looking for opportunities to expand," but chose her words carefully when she responded to an inquiry about the Northeast Washington site.

"We aren’t actually negotiating a lease in Washington, D.C., at this time," said spokeswoman Mia Masten.

Among obstacles that must be cleared to bring Wal-Mart to the site are the store’s size and product selection. Wal-Mart’s largest stores – among the biggest of the "big box" retailers – are housed in 200,000-square-foot buildings, which is about twice the size of the long-anticipated Kmart. And would Wal-Mart be permitted to include groceries in its product mix, which would directly compete with the adjacent Giant supermarket? Kmart was planning to build a general merchandise store on the site, rather than a "Super Kmart" with groceries.

Minneapolis-based Target, while long rumored as a potential tenant for the site, is not believed to be in the running because of the location’s proximity to its other planned store sites. A Target store is currently under construction at Prince George’s Plaza in Hyattsville, Md., just outside the District, and Target officials say they intend to build a two-story store as part of the languishing DC-USA complex at 14th and Irving streets NW in Columbia Heights.

IS THERE A DEAL? Rumors are rampant about the greased-skids treatment that D.C. businessman Pedro Alfonso and his partners are receiving from government agencies in their last-minute attempt to get an initiative measure on the November ballot that would change D.C. law to allow slot machine gambling – which proponents indignantly refer to as "video lottery terminal gaming."

Under the plan, Alfonso and his partners would be granted an exclusive 10-year license to operate a gambling emporium at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road in Northeast Washington. Project estimates put annual revenue at $765 million.

A mere 25 percent of revenue would go to the D.C. government’s General Fund, but initiative proponents are promoting a "recommendation" included in the ballot language that part of the money be diverted to D.C. Public Schools and a new program to help senior citizens buy prescription drugs. They have hired former at-large councilman John Ray as their attorney and Ann Walker Marchant, the mayor’s former re-election spokeswoman, to promote the project.

Alfonso, who is president and CEO of telecommunications company Dynamic Concepts Inc., recently became chairman of a new board at Greater Southeast Community Hospital, the ailing medical facility that holds a hefty public contract and, in April, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Alfonso also is a member of the politically powerful Federal City Council, a private business group.

With a July 7 deadline looming for Alfonso’s group to submit 17,500 valid signatures of registered D.C. voters on a petition to get the measure on the Nov. 2 ballot, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics last week agreed to expedited publication of the initiative language in the D.C. Register and special meetings. Petitions cannot be issued by the elections board until 10 days after the June 11 publication to allow opponents time to challenge the ballot language.

YEAR SEVEN BEGINS: This issue marks the start of The Common Denominator’s seventh year of publication. We are grateful to our readers and advertisers for their support as we continue to build and improve the District of Columbia’s hometown newspaper.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator