😲 The Caps and Wiz are staying in DC

What's CITY Talking About?

Monumental Sports Signs Arena Deal With DC

Mayor Muriel Bowser and Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Capitals and Wizards, announced last night that they've agreed on a plan to keep the sports teams at Capital One Arena. D.C. will fork over $515 million over three years to renovate the stadium. The announcement came just hours after Alexandria killed the Potomac Yard arena deal saying it did not protect the city's financial interests or represent its core values. [Washington Post 🔒, City of Alexandria]

• This ends a months-long raging partisan war in Virginia that started with Leonsis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's surprise deal announcement in December. My, how the tables have turned. [City Cast DC 🎧]

Bridge Rebuild Could Take Years

Experts say it will take years to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge after it collapsed Tuesday. The original construction took five years and cost $316 million in the 1970s. The bridge carried over 30,000 drivers a day and its closure will mean big time traffic problems. The good news is the shipping channel in the Port of Baltimore could be clear in just a few months. [Washington Post 🔒]

More Drug-Free Zones

D.C. police have established seven new drug-free zones. The controversial provision allows police to disperse groups of two or more in the zones if they suspect illicit activity, and make arrests after a warning. Three arrests have been made in drug-free zones since their reestablishment through the Secure DC crime bill earlier this month. [WTOP, City Cast DC 🎧]

Scott’s Run Closes For Sewage Repairs

Scott’s Run Nature Preserve in McLean will be closed for six weeks as Fairfax County makes emergency repairs on wastewater pipes in the park. Two of the three sewage pipes in the park are broken and failure of the third would cause mass pollution into the Potomac. [Northern Virginia Magazine]

What To Do

Today on City Cast

DC’s Weirdest and Hugely Influential Unelected Board

Anything built in Georgetown has to go through the Old Georgetown Board. And, most recently, it refused to approve an office-to-residential conversion on Thomas Jefferson Street NW. Topher Matthews, from Georgetown Metropolitan, explains how this unelected board of architects came to be and why it may be out-of-step with the city’s priorities.