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“INTRODUCTION OF THE BILL TO PROVIDE FOR AN ANNUAL AUDIT OF THE UNION STATION REDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1431-E1432 on July 28, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF THE BILL TO PROVIDE FOR AN ANNUAL AUDIT OF THE UNION
STATION REDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
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HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce a bill to require greater accountability for a prized federal asset, Union Station in Washington, D.C. My bill would require an annual audit by the Department of Transportation Inspector General of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, USRC, and Union Station, which is owned by the Department of Transportation. For decades, no official audit has been performed and, increasingly, questions have been raised about the management and condition of the facility.
Commissioned by Congress, Union Station first opened in 1907 as a train facility for the nation's capital, with a much heralded design by the famous architect Daniel Burnham. The station once was the largest building in the nation's capital. However, Union Station deteriorated from a bustling transportation hub and commercial center as rail use declined in the 1950s. Following a long series of failed ideas, wasted federal funds, cost overruns, major utility needs and mismanagement, Congress passed the Union Station Redevelopment Act (P.L. 97-125) in 1981, authorizing the Secretary of Transportation to create USRC, a non-profit corporation, to spearhead the redevelopment of Union Station into a modern facility, to maintain and expand it into a great intermodal facility, and to protect the federal government's interest in the station. In 1988, Union Station, which had become a neglected, boarded up wasteland hardly fit for trains, reopened after a multi-
million dollar renovation with federal funds as a beautiful historically restored facility, shopping mall, and major multi-modal transit hub and tourist destination.
When I chaired the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, we held what likely were the first hearings on Union Station since the USRC was formed and the renovations were completed. I was astonished to find that there was no master plan to account for the major renovations and modernizations planned for inside and outside of the station, including reconstruction of Columbus Circle, expanded Metro access for the busiest Metrorail station in the region, development of Burnham Place, a three-million square foot mixed-use development project over the rail tracks, and indispensable expansion of the concourse and waiting areas for Amtrak, the Maryland Rail Commuter Service, MARC, and the Virginia Railway Express, VRE. Today, the various components of Union Station have developed a master plan for the station, including a separate Amtrak master plan that currently is being developed because of the urgent need to improve capacity and service along the Northeast Corridor. Yet both the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management have met significant resistance as we continue to press USRC to create an intercity bus deck in its existing space, in accordance with its mission to develop and maintain a true intermodal facility. It was only after two hearings and letters from the committee and from me that USRC developed a ``pilot'' intercity bus deck. Even so, after failed negotiations with intercity bus companies, it has required many meetings between USRC and me and my staff, a meeting with Chairman Mica and me, and the inclusion of the Department of Transportation, which, by statute, chairs the USRC Board of Directors, to finally jumpstarted meaningful discussions on a permanent intercity bus program.
The audit is particularly essential now because of increasing evidence that USRC may not be able to meet its mandate to be self-
supporting. For example, Union Station contains the kind of popular retail shops and restaurants that pay significant taxes everywhere else in the city, including in other federal buildings. However, USRC has asked the District of Columbia for a reduced Possessory Interest Tax assessment, a tax levied by the District on private businesses located in federal buildings. Yet USRC was given authority under the Union Station Redevelopment Act to negotiate lease agreements in this valuable property in order to ensure that the needs of Union Station would be covered, but USRC has negotiated a master retail lease that obligated USRC to pay half of any Possessory Interest Tax, thereby depriving USRC of significant funds that could be used for station maintenance and improvements. USRC says that its payment of the Possessory Interest Tax would hinder its mission of maintaining and preserving Union Station. The amount of the Possessory Interest Tax is small compared to Union Station's needs and casts further doubt about USRC's ability to meet its congressional mandate to make Union Station self-supporting.
Although USRC was created in 1984 to ensure that Union Station would be self-sustaining, it is impossible for Congress or the public to gauge the health and progress of USRC without a proper audit. Particularly today, when there are no federal funds to rehabilitate Union Station, as Congress provided before, it is essential that we have a definitive and continuing view of the financial viability of Union Station, beginning with a full annual audit that is made available to Congress and to the public.
Major planned development, ongoing negotiations on the intercity bus deck and questions about USRC's maintenance and needed improvements for Union Station make an official annual audit essential. With nearly 90,000 visitors passing through Union Station every day, Congress is obligated to track the financial condition of this great asset in order to protect the significant federal investment and to avoid another cycle of the disrepair that once led to the closure of the facility. The only responsible course is to require a full annual and public audit of this historic federal property.
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