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HEARING ON BILL
14-187 TESTIMONY OF LINDA RABBITT WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2001 Good day, Chairman Brazil and members of the Committee. I am Linda Rabbitt, Chair-Elect of The Greater Washington Board of Trade and President of Rand Construction Corporation. The Greater Washington Board of Trade is a regional chamber of commerce that represents the business communities in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today in support of Bill 14-187, the "Chesapeake Regional Olympic Games Authority Act of 2001." For more than two years, D.C. has been working with its neighbors in Maryland, Virginia and in Baltimore, to win for the region the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games. The extraordinary cooperation that this regional team has demonstrated is reflective of the kind of joint effort and team spirit that our nation's athletes will show us at the Games in 2012. Equally impressive is the support the community has shown for this drive to become an Olympic Host City. All of this cooperation and teamwork and enthusiasm will be on exhibit during the upcoming U.S. Olympic Committee Site Evaluation Team visit on June 10th. Bill 14-187 would authorize the District of Columbia's participation in this regional effort to become a U.S. Candidate City for the 2012 Games. More importantly, it will enable the region to continue to pursue this candidacy. The financial guarantees and the regional authority created in this legislation must be in place for the region to be able to continue. As you know, this represents a first step - and only a first step - on the road to becoming Host City. But it is an indispensable first step. Both the Virginia and Maryland assemblies have approved identical legislation. We anticipate that, in a vote tomorrow, the Baltimore City Council will also approve the same language and authorize their city to participate in this regional effort. For the past few years, the District has worked diligently to revitalize the city, and now it reaches for new economic opportunities. Through the hard work of the Council and Mayor Williams' team, as well as the contributions of its residents and businesses, it has instituted discipline in handling its finances, expanded the management capacity of government agencies, improved public safety, and enhanced the delivery of services. While the District has enjoyed benefits from the region's prosperity, the region, too, has benefited from the resulting vitality of the urban core. My colleague and the Chair of the Board of Trade, John Derrick, recently said that the District now operates in the global economy, where the new economic "city-state" is the region; he said that the District's economic future will be defined by how well it can partner with the region in this global competition, and I agree with him. The measure of our success inside the boundaries of the District will be the extent to which we are able to recognize the opportunities we can generate by teaming up with other jurisdictions in the region. The legislation we support today is one such opportunity. Other witnesses today will certainly remind this Committee of the degree of economic opportunity that the entire Washington Region may realize, directly or indirectly, from hosting the Olympic games, so I won't repeat those numbers here. Rather, I would like to emphasize the opportunity presented to the District in the form of this partnership with its neighbors: to take on a leadership role in the region, and to create the kinds of relationships that will bring the District many more economic and leadership opportunities. On behalf of the members of the Board of Trade, I urge the Council to pass Bill 14-187 and the emergency measures that will ensure that the regional authority and the financial guarantees are in place within the time frame dictated by the U.S. Olympic Committee. If I can answer any questions you might have about the Board of Trade's position, I will be happy to. Again, thank you for this opportunity to speak with you, today. |
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