March 26, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 52 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E353]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INTRODUCTION OF THE RFK MEMORIAL STADIUM CAMPUS CONVEYANCE ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 26, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce a bill, the RFK 
Memorial Stadium Campus Conveyance Act, to direct the federal 
government to sell for fair market value the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial 
Stadium (RFK) to the District of Columbia.
  RFK, once an active sports stadium, for years has been a rusted 
stadium surrounded by deterioration and several parking lots. The 
District leases the RFK site from the Department of the Interior and, 
under the terms of the lease, may only use the land for recreation, 
stadium purposes and open space. The lease expires in 2038. The stadium 
and its many parking lots comprise 88 percent of the 190-acre campus, 
which currently has only 22.3 acres of green space and is largely 
hardscape.
  The District recognizes the vast potential of this sprawling campus 
in the heart of the city to provide significant value to residents 
while also strengthening the local economy and neighborhood. The 
current lease and its accompanying restrictions have limited the 
District's ability to make full use of this land, including collecting 
tax revenue. The limited number of years remaining on the current lease 
have also complicated the District's ability to plan for the long-term 
development of this site and attract private investment.
  The District has worked hard to identify creative utilization options 
for the property despite the uncertainty surrounding long-term control 
of the land. In August of last year, the District began work on its 
efforts to redevelop one of the site's many parking lots into 
multipurpose playing fields as part of a larger recreation complex. The 
conveyance of the site will give the District the ability to consider 
more uses for this site including additional green space for public 
use, housing, commercial development and other enhancements that would 
benefit the surrounding neighborhood and the District as a whole.
  This bill, at no cost to the federal government, would provide the 
District with the certainty that it needs to secure financing and 
proceed with long-term planning for this site. I urge my colleagues to 
support this bill.

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