DC Is Open for Business — and Moving Fast
The Good Government Show sits down with Nina Albert, Washington’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.
Washington, D.C. is not waiting. While most American cities are still trying to figure out what downtown looks like after Covid, the District is already executing — converting office buildings to residences, locking in a new football stadium, keeping the Capitals and Wizards at Capital One Arena, and investing in neighborhoods that once felt forgotten. At the center of that work is Nina Albert, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and a recently named National Academy of Public Administration Public Service Champion. She joined me on The Good Government Show to talk about how D.C. thinks about growth, what it takes to make government investment pay off, and why the employed resident is the most important economic unit a city has.
The numbers tell a compelling story. When D.C. built Nationals Park roughly 20 years ago, the city paid the full $600 million — and bet on what would follow. Today, more than 12 million square feet of mixed-use development surrounds that ballpark, generating real property tax, real income tax, and real business tax. The city had hoped for a $10 return on every dollar invested. It exceeded that, faster than anticipated. Nearby, a waterfront development paid off its 30-year bonds in 15 years. These aren’t lucky outcomes — they’re the result of a disciplined, iterative approach to public investment that Albert describes plainly: go in conservative, and make sure you know exactly what you’re getting back.
The same mindset is being applied to retail, housing, and neighborhood revitalization. D.C. is offering grants as small as $5,000 to help local businesses survive and pivot, and is developing merchandising plans for ten key retail corridors across the city. The Gallery Place-Chinatown area — home to the Reynolds Center, the Capital One Arena, the National Archives, Ford’s Theatre, and 18 cultural institutions within a single mile — is being reimagined as one of the great arts and entertainment districts in the country. And as America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, Albert says D.C. is ready: from an IndyCar race through city streets to neighborhood activations telling the story of the District’s own 250-year history.
What makes all of it work, Albert says, is something simple that government often forgets: you are there to serve everyone. “Government work is important work,” she told me. “There’s no other entity that can substitute for it.” That’s the kind of conviction that makes this show worth doing — and it’s the kind of leadership that makes The Good Government Show proud to spotlight every week. Nina Albert is proof that when government moves with purpose, cities move with it.
PULL QUOTES
- “The most important economic unit for any city is the employed resident.”
- “We were hoping for every dollar in we’d get $10 back. We have exceeded that.”
- “Government work is important work. There’s no other entity that can substitute for it.”
- “Cities in the future are going to have a lot more entertainment and cultural uses — and DC already has a great start.”
BOILERPLATE
The Good Government Show is produced by the Good Government Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to civic engagement and civic education. Every episode — including this one — extends the Institute’s core mission: demonstrating that government works, that public servants are doing meaningful things, and that civic participation matters. All donations support that mission. You can donate at goodgovinstitute.org. Executive producers are Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, and David Snyder. Jason Stershic is editor and producer.