Afternoon Flash

NO PLANS, LETS GET STARTED. Work has begun on the beautiful Old Naval Hospital at 921 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE. "From the perspective of the Friends of the Old Naval Hospital, the ongoing work is both a stopgap and the beginning of a full restoration," said Karl K. Kindel.

At present, only about $400K has been alloted to the job of restoring structural integrity to the building. Considering what will be needed to be done, $400K is "drop in the bucket," Kindel said. Interestingly enough when the hospital was built back in the mid-19th century the land and construction costs only amounted to about $120K

Though DC is contemplating dropping, $6M on the grand and historic structure, no one at this point really knows what the structure's ultimate purpose will be. Ideas to transform the building into the national headquarters for the Art of Living Foundation, which is an eastern spiritual group, or into a children-oriented community center, were rejected by DC.

So work has begun without a plan for how the building will be used. Can anything be accomplished in this town without doing it ass backwards? Given the structure's proximity to the Capitol, maybe the building should be turned into a minimum security prison for "government affairs professionals" like Jack Abramoff.

One Liners

THE OTHER HOSPITAL: Marc Fisher reports that many doctors say a medical facility in Southeast devoted to emergency care is what's really needed, not an entirely new hospital in a city full of hospitals.

REDSKINS-SEAHAWKS WAGER. Its Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and his salmon steaks vs. Mayor Williams and his chili dog from Ben's. If we were Nickels, we'd make Williams buy salmon from Whole Foods at 14th & P before the chili from Ben's.