To the editor:

Thank you for your thoroughness in news regarding the proposed arena sports/entertainment facility.

I appreciate your attention to the significant negative consequences to a subsidized sporting facility. This is especially risky since the current proposal doesn’t require the owners to stay in Alexandria. And I remain suspicious that the owners merely want Washington, D.C. to alter the agreement, contracts, rent and tax incentives. And not all of the teams will pull year round events given their current ticket sales and customers’ locations. A four-fold increase in traffic and Metro use is significant.

Please keep up the reporting on the arena. Please also focus on what Alexandria must do to prevent developers with improper influence from illegal gifts or non-transparent contributions. The story about the activities, if true, with a former mayor are deeply disturbing. How do we make sure this never happens again? We need sunlight and disclosure laws posting all contributions on the city hall website.

Alexandria needs to find new methods of expanding tax revenue. Using that Potomac land may be a wise way to raise tax revenue and produce private sector income; however, the current proposal is mostly about subsidizing wealthy team owners. Any project must require developers to provide far more than 90 two-bedroom housing units for fire, police, EMT, APS and medical staff for living closer to work. We need to find solutions to keep these essential employees working and living in Alexandria.

-Theresa Pugh, Alexandria