FUZZY FUTURE FOR WALTER REED HOSPITAL SITE

This much is certain, DC's Walter Reed on Georgia Ave. will close in 2011. The mayor would like to see a few restaurants, condos, shopping etc. But what ultimately happens depends on how much office space the General Serives Administration needs and how badly the State Department needs room for embassies at 6900 Georgia Ave.

Prepared to fight for development that would generate some always needed tax revenue, Mayor Williams said the site:

"provides an extraordinary opportunity for the federal government to reduce the well-documented structural imbalance that unfairly afflicts District taxpayers. I hope that federal officials will work with us to build a mixed-use destination at the Walter Reed site that keeps federal jobs in the District."

If past is prologue, the feds will draw a few lines on the map and then tell DC what it can do with the unclaimed regions.

To come up with ideas about how the 110-acre site should be developed, or wrestled away from the feds, Williams appointed a 17 member panel made up of DC officials and representatives from the Brightwood and Shepard Park communities.

Time to start lobbying Congress starts ... Now.