Federal City Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes economic development in the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Incorporated on September 13, 1954, it is one of the most powerful private groups in the city, and is highly influential in Congress. It was the primary backer of a wide range of important projects, including the construction of the Washington Metro subway system, the city's first and second convention centers, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, and the Verizon Center. It has also been successful in pushing for changes in the District of Columbia Public Schools, reform of the federal role in the District of Columbia's finances, and reform of the District's tax structure.
The association, whose members are largely drawn from the business community, prefers to work behind the scenes and avoid media attention. It is highly influential, although assessments of its influence in the past decade have varied. The organization has also created a number of independent nonprofits and subsidiary bodies, which have worked on range of issues, from the D.C Policy Center and the Washington Housing Conservancy, to waterway restoration to crime.
History
Founding and early issues The Federal City Council was incorporated on September 13, 1954, "to develop, stimulate and encourage civic leadership in community development in the National Capitol". Phil Graham, co-owner and publisher of The Washington Post, was the major force in creating the council. Graham was deeply concerned about the decline of the District of Columbia in the post-World War II period and the city's rapid loss of population and business to suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. Graham was also worried that the Southwest Washington urban renewal project, authorized in 1946 and funded in 1949, would be cancelled, ending the city's best chance at turning itself around. In 1952, Graham held a meeting of like-minded top businessmen in the boardroom of Riggs Bank to discuss formation of an organization to counteract these trends. These discussions led to formation of the Federal City Council in 1954. Membership was largely limited to businesspeople, because the group felt that only private sector money and a business-like approach to development and management could improve the District. Among the original members of the group in 1954 were Graham and Francis Addison, Jr., president of Security Bank and former president of the Washington Board of Trade. George A. Garrett, a former ambassador, was elected the organization's first president on November 16. A fundamental concept which the group agreed upon early in its history was to work behind the scenes and only on projects that can shape the city for 20 years or more.
The Federal City Council was active in a wide range of issues in the 1950s, including slum clearance,; and is credited with successfully lobbying the Eisenhower administration to expedite the razing of much of Southwest Washington It was also involved in an attempt to locate the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in the District of Columbia,; urban planning,; demolition of the temporary Main Navy and Munitions Buildings on the National Mall, the site of the proposed D.C. Cultural Center, and the size of the federal payment made to the city in lieu of property taxes. It was particularly active on the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge issue. It pushed hard for a bridge rather than a tunnel, and, once a bridge had been chosen, for the bridge's location to be about upstream from the final location.; ;
1960s: Pushing big economic projects
Urban planning and the federal contribution to the city's budget continued to occupy some of the Federal City Council's agenda in the early 1960s.; ; ; But big economic development projects moved to center stage for the organization. It unsuccessfully pushed for a "Federal City Center" (a vast complex of government office buildings akin to Federal Triangle) in 1960. The organization also pushed hard for construction of the D.C. Cultural Center, even though it lost the battle to erect the auditorium at L'Enfant Plaza.;
It was far more successful in opposing cancellation of the Southwest Washington urban renewal project, which called for razing nearly all buildings in that quadrant of the city and constructing a new urban center. Although the Federal City Council's specific plans were not adopted, it was deeply involved in the planning process and its studies often relied on by Congress.; ; ; ; ; ; ; The Federal City Council even raised money to develop its own concepts for redeveloping downtown and Southwest D.C., and lobbied Congress to have its plans adopted. In 1962, it won adoption of its proposal in the House of Representatives. When the bill died in the Senate at the end of the 87th Congress, it went to the Senate and won passage there in 1963. When the 1963 legislation moved to the House, Representatives John Dowdy and John L. McMillan attached a number of riders to the bill that required competitive bidding, forced federal agencies to give displaced businesses priority in receiving federal assistance, required the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop plans for relocating low-income residents, and placed limits on the number of redevelopment projects that could be approved or constructed at any given time. But many liberals in Congress as well as HUD Secretary Robert C. Weaver opposed these riders. The riders were enacted into law. Unwilling to see redevelopment of Southwest D.C. collapse, the Federal City Council agreed to sponsor legislation that would authorize the Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA, the federal bureau overseeing the reconstruction of Southwest D.C.) to conduct redevelopment on the same basis as federal agencies in other cities. Although this meant ignoring the Federal City Council's plans for redevelopment, it allowed the RLA to begin acting quickly and decisively on redevelopment projects.
Two of the major projects the Federal City Council pushed for in the 1960s were Inner Loop highway system and its associated Three Sisters Bridge, and the Washington Metro subway system. The Inner Loop was strongly opposed by local citizens, who felt it was unnecessary, destroyed many neighborhoods, and despoiled the environment. However, Representative William Natcher, chairman of the Subcommittee on Appropriations for the District of Columbia of the House Committee on Appropriations, was not only a strong advocate of bridge and highway construction but also convinced that construction of the Inner Loop was essential to the growth of the District of Columbia. The Federal City Council, too, advocated the Inner Loop as a response to the flight of retail and light industry for the suburbs (a trend which began in the 1950s). The organization believed that quick and easy automobile access to the city (with much inexpensive parking) would draw shoppers and retailers back. A large subway system was equally important, as the Federal City Council concluded that surface transit alone could not meet the needs of the rapidly growing D.C. metropolitan area. The organization pushed hard for construction of Metro even though Representative Natcher threatened to cancel the subway project if the Inner Loop was not constructed.; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; The organization also wished to ensure that wealthier suburbanites would be able to reach the downtown D.C. shopping district, in the hopes this would reverse or at least stop the flight of retail out of the city.
As part of its Inner Loop push, the Federal City Council asked the City Commission to "nationalize" all parking the city. This was a major step, for it meant government ownership of all parking lots, parking garages, and valet parking lots in the city. The Washington Parking Association, a trade association of parking lot owners, strongly opposed the move. Although the City Commission was willing to pass nationalization legislation, there was extensive opposition in Congress (which had the power to overturn any city law), and the measure died.; ; ;
Other, smaller projects with the Federal City Council worked on during the 1960s included another attempt to get rid of the "tempos" on the National Mall, construction of a "national aquarium" in East Potomac Park, and a major boost in police to create a "war on crime".
The agenda of the Federal City Council could also work against democracy in the District of Columbia. During the 1960s, there was an increasingly strong push for District of Columbia home rule. Because it supported the vested interests of the status quo, the Federal City Council strongly opposed home rule. It opposed initiatives supported by home rule activists, and often proposed and pushed for the adoption of plans that home rule advocates opposed. In order to win support for its proposals, the Federal City Council raised money to re-elect members of the powerful House Committee on the District of Columbia—most of whom also opposed home rule, as it significantly reduced their power in Congress.
1970s: Focus on economic development
Although portions of the Inner Loop were constructed, the majority of highways that comprised the system (including the elements most destructive of neighborhoods and the environment) were cancelled by federal court decisions and by changes in national transportation policy during the late 1960s and the early 1970s. The Three Sisters Bridge project was killed in the House of Representatives in early December 1971. With the Inner Loop dead, the Federal City Council continued to push for city-owned parking and for full funding of the Metro system.;
With federal funds for massive infrastructure development dwindling fast in the early 1970s, the Federal City Council turned its focus to smaller projects that would spur economic development. One of its key issues was the construction of a Dwight D. Eisenhower Convention Center to make the city attractive to large trade association conventions. The push for a convention center began in 1973. Although there was extensive opposition in Congress at first, the Federal City Council lobbied hard for federal approval. This was finally given in 1978.; ; The Washington Convention Center finally opened in December 1982. The Federal City Council also backed a "D.C. Building Corporation" to assist developers in obtaining financing for major projects,; ; and pushed the city to create an economic development strategic plan.
As part of its economic redevelopment initiative, the Federal City Council also sought to repeal rent control laws in the District of Columbia. Rent control, the organization argued, discouraged new housing from being built in the city and retarded the city's economic growth. The city's rent control law, enacted in 1975, was seen as vulnerable by the Federal City Council in 1975 and 1976, as few residents had seen its benefits and did not yet support it.; ; Its repeal attempt was unsuccessful, however.
The Federal City Council also began unsuccessfully pushing in the late 1970s for a regional economic planning board similar to the urban planning body it had pressed for in the 1950s.;
1980s: The trade center, crime, and schools In the 1980s, the Federal City Council backed two plans—one to reduce flights at Washington National Airport and another to redevelop Buzzard Point—at the opening and close of the decade.; Neither plan was implemented. It also released a study in 1980 criticizing the District government for allowing significant deterioration in the city's of water pipes. (The city took no action until a series of major pipeline breaks led to emergency action in 1993.)