Washington Business Journal//Michael Neibauer
Mayor Muriel Bowser, now entering her second year in office, says she's got the job down.
"I know exactly what the job is," she said Tuesday during an interview in her John A. Wilson Building office. "I’ve loved it. I’ve learned a lot. There are things that I would do exactly the same, some things I would change. But we have been a nimble administration and been very decisive in what we do."
We covered a lot of ground in 45 minutes. Below are some highlights. Look for the full interview in the Jan. 15 print edition of the Washington Business Journal.
On St. Elizabeths East and D.C.’s $50 million investment in a 5,000-seat sports and entertainment arena for the Washington Mystics and Wizards: "I expect that council members will have questions. I don’t know how you can stand in the way of kick starting the development of St. Elizabeths. When I came into office there were no tenants secured at St. Elizabeths. You cannot develop a parcel like that without a major tenant. Having secured that major tenant means a lot to what we can do for the rest of the parcel."
On Microsoft Corp. opening an Innovation Center at St. E’s:"There are no leases with anybody. The biggest tenant there will be the Washington Mystics. I think Microsoft is interested in St. Elizabeths but I know that there was never a deal between Microsoft and the city."
On the settlement with Exelon Corp. to earn the administration’s support for the proposed merger with Pepco Holdings Inc.: "I negotiated a fantastic deal. Not a fair deal, a tremendous deal for the District. Just go down the list. It’s better than every deal in four out of five jurisdictions."
On the vocal opposition to the merger: "You could have asked that question five years ago when Pepco was the most hated company in the region. Remember that? Why do people hate it so much? That same group of people now hates this. You can’t have it both ways. I think what’s important for the region is that we have an electric company that we can rely on for years to come. That’s what’s good for business and that’s what’s good for residents. And I think it became increasingly clear that Pepco on its own was not going to be that company that could endure, make the capital investments that our city needs. And yet we would see all the other jurisdictions on the East Coast having that type of ability with the larger, more capitalized company."
More on the merger opponents: "They don’t have any arguments. When people oppose something they’ll try to come up with anything to win."
On D.C. United stadium progress: "The legislation was pretty specific on the timeline to getting to the stadium, which included acquiring the land by Sept. 30, [2015], and having the horizontal work done on the land over the course of a year. So by next September, we have to turn it over to the team, and the team is responsible for taking it up ... We’re on course."
On which supermarket should go into Walter Reed: "I think it’s no secret that I’d like to see Wegmans in the District. And I think there are a couple of locations that people have proposed for a Wegmans in the District, and that is the best one. They require space, although I think like all the other grocers they know that they have to have a more-urban format, and I think we will see that if they want to be at Walter Reed. And they do want to be at Walter Reed."
On the D.C. Council proposal to mandate 16 weeks of paid family leave for private sector employees: "I don’t think there’s any example like that in the country. I think the closest I’m told is in California, but it’s not analogous to what’s proposed here. I think the next closest after that may be four weeks. We offer in the District government eight weeks of paid family leave and that is only as of last October. It was rolled out not in a systematic way, so we don’t even know what the impact of eight weeks of paid family leave is on the District government, especially from an operational standpoint. So I think there are a lot of questions that remain to be answered on the impact on D.C. government and certainly on our competitiveness in the region. What I’ve gleaned from the members of the council is that they think 16 weeks is outsized and would put D.C. in a negative competitive position in the region."
On the H Street NE streetcar, in its (perhaps) finals days of testing: "From what I understand it has gone smoothly and so now it goes over to the [State Safety Oversight Office]. As long as there are no major problems, I would expect they’ll let us know when we can get it started. It’s important, and I made it clear that when I took office that we had to right size that streetcar plan. We laugh about it but it’s really not funny how long it’s been going on and how much it’s cost the residents of the District of Columbia. And even when we get it started, it won’t be perfect. I think there are some flaws in the planning, and maybe even in the implementation."
On the definition of “pathways to the middle class,” the Bowser mantra: "It’s basically making sure that we increase incomes for people in Washington so they can afford to live here. That means people who are unemployed, getting them in good sustainable jobs. That means making sure our schools work so that when they come out of school they can get in good sustainable jobs or be ready for college. That also means the government doing everything that it can to invest in affordable housing."