The first piece, on the taxes, also talks about the ongoing dispute over whether the stadium was "substanially complete" by Opening Day, and that the Nationals are still withholding their $3.5 million rent payment. On the other hand, the article says that the city has enough money to cover the debt service on the stadium financing because the special ballpark tax on city businesses is bringing in more revenue than expected.

A few readers have written in this morning noting some action on the 1345 South Capitol Street lot, across from the ballpark at South Capitol and O. This is where Camden Development has plans for an apartment building, which originally was supposed to start construction early in 2008 but which has been "on hold." Apparently today's work is some demolition of the few structures still on the site; I checked with Camden earlier this week on the status of the project, and was told that it's still up in the air but that they think they'll start construction before the end of the year. [Insert standard "We shall see...." disclaimer here.] See my project page for renderings and additional details (as well as photos of what was on the lot before the first batch of demolition at the beginning of the year). There's also some additional overhead photos of the lot as seen from the ballpark, if you feel like having an additional vantage point.