WASHINGTON — When local leaders talk about regional cooperation, they often leave out the rivalry as jurisdictions jockey to win major projects or bring big businesses to their communities.
For example, there’s fierce competition between Prince George’s County and Northern Virginia over the relocation of the FBI offices.
But at the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments (COG) meeting on Wednesday, one county executive made another an offer.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett told Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker he’d happily take Baker’s National Harbor development in exchange for the Silver Spring Transit Center. When the laughter died down in the room, Baker’s comment was audible.
“I ain’t going for it,” he laughed.
The Silver Spring Transit Center is four years behind schedule, $50 million over budget and has yet to be handed over to Metro, which will eventually operate the $140 million transit center.
After Wednesday’s COG meeting, Leggett said the transit center could be turned over to Metro in four to six weeks. But even then, Metro may not open it to the public until after final inspections, which could be some time in the late summer or early fall.
After the COG meeting, Baker was asked about Leggett’s facetious offer, and broke out into a guffaw, saying, “That was the best joke of the day!”
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
