[Ed. Note: Today marks the first of two DC council hearings this week on handing $4.4 billion of DC taxpayer funds to billionaires for a football stadium at the RFK site on the eastern edge of Capitol Hill. As of this post, more than 500 public witnesses have signed up to testify today, including DC resident and DCPS parent Karen Pence. Her testimony is below, reprinted with her permission. Council chair Phil Mendelson accelerated the vote on the stadium deal to mere hours after this week’s second hearing (in which the billionaire-adjacent will explain why public funding for their private playground is vital). When asked about voting so quickly after the public weighs in, the council chair reportedly said that “I think in terms of the financial structure, I’m not sure we’re going to get a lot of testimony that’s on point.” Happily, the testimony below belies such pathetic belittling of the public voice.]

By Karen Pence

Dear Members of the Council,

I am a Capitol Hill resident, a third-generation Washingtonian, a graduate of DCPS, a parent of a DCPS student, and someone who deeply loves this city. I also serve as co-chair of the Local School Advisory Team (LSAT) for schools in the Capitol Hill Cluster. 

The DC I believe in centers kids, vulnerable residents, and the environment. Finding sufficient money for these priorities in the DC budget is always a struggle. Last year’s budget would have imposed catastrophic budget cuts on Stuart-Hobson Middle School, equivalent to six full-time teachers, that would have severely compromised the school’s ability to educate and support kids. 

Thank you, Chair Mendelson, for restoring some of this funding. This year’s budget is poised to cut environmental programs and result in 27,000 adults losing their access to health care and another 25,000 losing some health services. That’s about 1 in 12 DC residents in total.

The logic, as I understand it, is that the city faces a $1 billion shortfall in its budget over the next few years and these cuts are warranted to fund pro-growth initiatives that will eventually boost the city’s revenues. If the RFK stadium was indeed a boost to the city’s revenues, I would understand this argument. But the Council budget office said that a stadium plus surrounding development would generate less economic activity and less revenue than more traditional mixed used development.  

That makes it very hard to accept the deep subsidies being offered to the Commanders: $856 million in direct subsidies, $1.5 billion in tax breaks, and $6 billion in land deals beyond the stadium. I appreciate the $670 million in savings you have found, but that is a small fraction of what we will lose.

Let me close with a story. A few months ago, I drove some of my kid’s friends home from a playdate–coincidentally, at RFK fields. They live in one of the underinvested east of the river neighborhoods that other witnesses today will have lifted up. One of the kids described watching someone get jumped and beat up in his neighborhood. I was horrified by the story. I asked if the experience scared him. He said no, it was normal to him. That scared me even more. How can we have 10-year-old kids growing up in this city who think this is how the world is supposed to be?

I refuse to believe that this is how the world is supposed to be. As a long-time Washingtonian, I agree it would be wonderful to have the Commanders back in DC. But not at this price. Please hold firm until we find a deal that doesn’t compromise our ability to take care of our city’s kids, vulnerable residents, or environment.