ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The City of Alexandria and Monumental Sports and Entertainment continue to make the case to move the Capitals and Wizards to Potomac Yard.
Thursday night’s meeting is part of the ongoing listening tour to garner support for the move. It happens a day after an opposition group hosted their own virtual town hall.
The charm offensive continues virtually, the city of Alexandria and Monumental Sports and Entertainment will host a second Zoom listening tour for residents.
Each listening focuses on a different benefit the arena deal offers the city. Thursday’s will focus on schools, housing, and community benefits.
It also offers an opportunity for residents to ask about the deal and engage with elected officials and project developers to get their questions answered.
The next two Thursdays they will continue to host virtual events. The next two focus areas are on transportation and traffic — and on small businesses and economic opportunities.
However, on Wednesday, the opposition to the arena deal revved up their own virtual listening tour. The group, called Stop the Arena, hosted a Zoom meeting. Hundreds of residents shared their reasons for opposing the deal.
The chief complaints ranged from traffic issues to business concerns to the burden on taxpayers.
People opposed to the deal say this isn’t political: Both sides of the aisle don’t want the arena.
“You can ask extremely progressive economists and you can ask conservative, libertarian, free market economists,” one attendee said. “They’ll both tell you stadium subsidies are bad deals for taxpayers.”
In response to last night’s meeting, Monumental Sports and Entertainment sent out a statement:
“We want to be good neighbors, which is why the current phase of our work centers on deeper engagement and community input. As the community learns more, we are confident that our fans will join in our excitement as we continue to move through this process.”
RELATED: 'We have every intention' of moving to Potomac Yard, Monumental Sports tells small business owners
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