This only would have made news if the legislation had failed, but as part of my goal to bring you every stinking piece of information about Near Southeast, no matter how trivial, I will report that at Tuesday's city council meeting there was a final reading and final vote on B16-0628, "Closing of Public Alleys in Square 702, 703, 704, 705 and 706 Act of 2006", to officially close parts of Half, O, and P streets within the stadium footprint, and it passed by voice vote. So for most of us peons, there will be no more access to the interior of the stadium footprint (the fences have now ringed the entire site). I rejiggered the "Inside the Footprint" section of my stadium page, to make sure that I included photos of all of the buildings and landscapes that will soon be gone.

The Post's Friday story, "Stadium Dig Begins, But Design Still Up in the Air," pulls the curtain back on the stadium planning, showing that despite a groundbreaking and the beginnings of demolition and digging, the stadium design as unveiled a few weeks back is still not 100% written in stone (or concrete, or limestone). It sounds like Stan Kasten, the new team president, had a lot of input into the design of the Braves' stadium in Atlanta, and would probably want to do the same here. So, we shall see!

Here's a slapped-together page of photos I took at the groundbreaking. And washingtonpost.com has posted an extended video report of the ceremony, along with the Post's story in Friday's paper. And here's the Blade's coverage--I'm not sure how many attendees knew that the black building across the street was Ziegfield's.

With the bonds financing the stadium having been sold yesterday, the city wasted no time in submitting its application to the DC Zoning Commission for approval of the ballpark design. (While the Zoning Commission approved the amending of the Capitol Gateway Overlay to allow for a stadium last year, the stadium itself still needs zoning approval.) An interesting sentence within the application that I can't shed any light on at this moment, but which apparently means there are slightly different design options being considered: "The Applicant has requested approval for three different options for construction of the Ballpark, identified as a Base Plan, Option One, and Option Two. The Base Plan, Option One and Option Two differ primarily with regard to the presence and location of preferred uses along the First Street, SE façade of the Ballpark." The hearing has been scheduled for June 26 at 6:30 pm.

The riff-raff-o-meter at the gate of the stadium groundbreaking was apparently malfunctioning, allowing me to get in and witness this morning's festivities. I'll post some photos later today--in the meantime, here's some washingtonpost.com video of the event.

More posts: Nationals Park