Down and Out Near South Capitol Street

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A YEAR AGO, the D.C. Council, Mayor Anthony Williams and Major League Baseball were embroiled in a drawn-out, highly political fight over the Nationals' proposed South Capitol Street ballpark. While some of those battles are still being fought, construction has begun and appears to be moving along steadily. And now, a month from the beginning of the new year, most of the stadium-related skirmishes are taking place in Near Southeast, the neighborhood officials want to turn into a revitalized ballpark entertainment district.

Parking has been one major stumbling block, with the Nats owners and the city wrangling over how to accommodate the throngs of automobiles that will descend on the area on Opening Day and beyond. Now, there's a new proposal, reports WTOP's Mark Segraves: Run shuttle bus service between South Capitol Street and the giant surface parking lots surrounding RFK Stadium, a notion that's likely to make many sports fans grumble.

Meanwhile, a few blocks to the northeast, JDLand has photos of the demolition of the final blocks of the massive Cappers Carrollsburg public housing project. Replacing it will be mixed-income housing and office buildings near the new headquarters for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

All the construction and planned development for Near Southeast has left a number of strip clubs and other entertainment that thrived in the gritty semi-industrial neighborhood essentially homeless. But the owners of Edge and Wet, forced to make way for new development on L Street SE, have applied to move to 2046 West Virginia Ave. in Northeast's Ivy City, The Washington Times' Jim McElhatton reports. Club 55, another Near Southeast refugee, has wanted to move to New York Avenue in Northeast. But community opposition to strip clubs in Ward 5 has been fierce and is unlikely to subside.

» "Nats, City Continue to Look for Alternative Parking" [WTOP]
» "Capper/Carrollsburg Projects Redevelopment" [JDLand]
» "Second Strip Club Looks at NE Site" [WT]