The state is offering to make a massive investment in revitalizing the neighborhood surrounding FedEx Field, but offering no direct incentives to the NFL team.

Erin Cox reports on Maryland’s offer to the newly renamed Commanders football team, which proposes a raft of improvements in the area surrounding a potential stadium project and no public money for the stadium itself. “As the football team shops for a new stadium site and leaves public officials in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. competing to host the organization, Maryland developed a pitch that would benefit residents even if the team left and deprived the state of the multibillion dollar investment a stadium project would bring.”
According to the article, “The plan would deeply invest in largely undeveloped acres around the decades-old stadium in Landover and deconstruct the privately owned FedEx Field at public expense. The remaining cash would build an amphitheater, a charter school and library, a public market, a civic plaza and field houses for volleyball and basketball.”
Del. Nick Charles (D-Prince George’s), chair of the county’s House delegation, said “we have to take care of ourselves first before we take care of anybody else,” pointing to past promises of redevelopment that have gone unfulfilled. “County officials hope to make the residential and underdeveloped area feel like an urban extension of the city, and they were careful to make clear the money is not for the Commanders.”
FULL STORY: Maryland’s Commanders offer: $400M for local needs, nothing for team

Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss
The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25,% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.

Placekeeping: Setting a New Precedent for City Planners
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Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

Washington State Plans Ambitious ‘Cycle Highway’ Network
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Homeowners Blame PG&E for Delays in ADU Permits
The utility says it has dramatically reduced its backlog, but applicants say they still face months-long delays for approvals for new electrical work.

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Post-fire analysis of the Eaton Fire reveals that a landscape approach — including fire-resistant vegetation, home hardening, and strategic planning — can help reduce wildfire risk, challenging assumptions that trees and plants are primary fire hazards.
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