DC Council votes $50 mil for Phone Booth upgrades

Bullets owner Abe Pollin, the longest-tenured owner in the NBA, has been seeking about $50 million to "upgrade" the Verizon Center. Looks like he's going to get it.

The D.C. Council gave initial approval yesterday to a request from Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin for $50 million to upgrade the Verizon Center.

In a 9 to 2 vote, the council favored borrowing the funds so that Pollin and his company can purchase a $5 million scoreboard and make other improvements to the nearly 10-year-old arena. The city plans to raise the tax on tickets and merchandise at the downtown arena to repay bonds issued for the project. The council must take a second, final vote on the request.

Under legislation that Pollin sought in January, the tax rate on tickets at the 20,674-seat arena would increase from 5.75 percent to 10 percent -- the same percentage for tickets and merchandise at Washington Nationals baseball games.

Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who co-sponsored the legislation, said the levy would be a "user tax" that would mostly burden nonresidents of the District.

About 60 percent of patrons at the Verizon Center are from Maryland and Virginia.

Council members expressed consternation about their affirmative votes but said they were willing to invest in the Verizon Center, which will belong to the city by 2047.

Although I work and often play in DC I don't live there so I suppose the DC Council can do as it likes. I must say, however, that spending $50 million to upgrade an arena that is privately-owned and less than 10 years old strikes me as odd. The District has crippling education, crime, and poverty problems -- isn't it possible there could be a better use for $50 million than spending it on a super-rich developer like Abe Pollin?

And what about the precedent this sets? Now that Pollin has demanded and received $50 million from the DC Council, what is to stop other private business owners from demanding deals of their own? Does the DC government really want to be handing out taxpayer money to private businesses, even -- or especially -- if there is no evidence those businesses are struggling and need the cash?

Since the Council vote was 9-2, I suppose it is fair to say my priorities vary significantly from those of the councilmembers.