The original plan was for the weekend after now-former D.C. mayor Vince Gray signed into law the series of bills that now pave the way for the District to acquire land at Buzzard Point upon which D.C. United will at long last build itself a soccer stadium. A group of folks involved with District Citizens United for a Soccer Stadium (DCUS) and otherwise active in the grassroots push to get the legislation through the D.C. Council would meet up at the corner of First and S Street SW, smack dab in the middle of the stadium site-to-be. Holidays and the like got in the way so it wasn't until last weekend, well into the New Year, that the group got schedules to work.
So we popped some bottles. And we raised our plastic cups glasses to the hard work done by United's general partner Jason Levien and everyone associated with the club to finally put a home firmly into the Black-and-Red's future. And, of course, we took some pictures, and Doug Barnes (better known around these parts as DBU) took some video, which you can see above.
Now, we just have to wait for the District to acquire the last parcel of land in the stadium site and the team to release new renderings for us to drool over. And then, y'know, actual construction to get underway. But last weekend, we gathered to celebrate the longest, hardest part of the process - more than a decade in the wilderness (or at least the wildlife preserve that is RFK Stadium) - is behind us, and that our best days are yet to come.