Page 2 of 3
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 1:51 am
by Slowhand333
I have no problem with the Verizon Center concession prices. Are they high, yes, but all concession prices are at arenas, ballparks, and amusement parks. When I go to the games and take my kids we try to be smart about buying concessions. Usually one large coke, which they share, and some ice cream at halftime and they are happy. I go to see the games not to drink beer and eat and with the games only lasting two hours I can eat after the game if I am hungry and missed dinner.
One thing that they used to do is they used to allow you to exit the Verizon Center and go to Chipotle and then come back in. We would go out at halftime and run to Chipotle and the lines by that time were very short. Interestingly, to do this you had to go out a certain door where they would stamp your hand and re-enter a different door.
One thing that I always try doing is to give the concession workers a tip. I am sure most of these workers are getting minimum wage and they always seem appreciative when I leave a tip for them.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:13 am
by JWizmentality
I snuck a beef patty into a vegan restaurant. I thought it was funny.
Some folks aint got noooo sense of humor.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:09 pm
by dobrojim
the simple answer is to not buy anything you think is overpriced
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 7:43 pm
by balleramil
lol its not hard to sneak in food and drinks i sneak in pop all the time jus put it in your pants and they wont notice
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 12:49 am
by ToneSetter7
Slightly off topic, but probably better to post here than start a new topic:
I'm coming up for the Nov. 7 Phoenix Suns game. First trip up in a lonng time since I live so far away. Any recommendations for cheap hotels near the Verizon Center? Don't want to sacrifice safety for price though. Also, an indoor pool would be nice, but not essential. Possibly going to Adams Morgan Saturday night. Any information or recommendations would be extremely helpful, as I'm not from the area and kind of flying blind.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:08 am
by ToneSetter7
Slightly off topic, but probably better to post here than start a new topic:
I'm coming up for the Nov. 7 Phoenix Suns game. First trip up in a lonng time since I live so far away. Any recommendations for cheap hotels near the Verizon Center? Don't want to sacrifice safety for price though. Also, an indoor pool would be nice, but not essential. Possibly going to Adams Morgan Saturday night. Any information or recommendations would be extremely helpful, as I'm not from the area and kind of flying blind.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 5:17 am
by willbcocks
montestewart wrote:pancakes3 wrote:oh, let's highjack this thread immediately to complain about the ridiculous pay structure of the food service industry. the tip fad came and went in europe. are americans just inherently too stubborn?
Yes. Plus restaurants can pay waiters half of minimum wage.
Restaurants pay more than the minimum wage. They pay for the additional money they could have tacked on to their prices and for the customers who don't east out because adding 15% for tip makes dining too expensive (although perhaps one could argue that since the tip doesn't show on the menu price, people don't fully account for it when they order--i.e., just as people may not fully rationalize spending the money they do when they can pay for things with credit cards).
The tip just makes waitering a relatively high pay profession and raises the cost of eating out. It hurts restaurants and consumers. It also creates a weird dynamic in restaurants, where wait staff have no incentive to help each other and may roll their eyes when everyone orders a water. Waiters become more outwardly attentive but not necessarily better because of the policy.
I always thought eating out in the U.S. was a huge pain. There's no tipping here in Japan either and its very refreshing. Another side effect of not having to tip is that it's affordable to go out for lunch at a sit down restaurant, by yourself, and sit for as long as you want without feeling like you're abusing the wait staff. A lack of tipping also makes alternative seating arrangements possible.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:50 am
by Wiz99
The DC government provided
35% of the money Ole Abe needed to build the arena in 1997.
That's $70 mil in taxpayer money. That comes out to about $2.75 for every person who's ever gone to a Wizards game since the arena opened.
More than enough to subsidize a $2 hotdog for me, Abe you mofo!!![assumes avg. attendance of 15,000 per game]
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:54 am
by LyricalRico
JWizmentality wrote:I snuck a beef patty into a vegan restaurant. I thought it was funny.
Some folks aint got noooo sense of humor.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:21 am
by mhd
I did a paper in college on local sports stadiums. The only one that was truly privately financed was Fedex (local roads construction were forced to be paid by state government per state laws). Every other stadium recently built (M&T, Camden, Verizon) was publicly financed.
When the skins build their next stadium, metro has to be kept in mind. Stupid Mayor Kelly bugged Cook so much that he built in Maryland.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:50 pm
by montestewart
I've heard varying stories over the years about how Pollin and Cooke financed their facilities. For Verizon/MCI, DC kicked in some $70 million for "infrastructure," which apparently included buying the land and razing the buildings in preparation for the arena.
I don't know who currently owns the land. I don't know if that $70 million was part of the $220 million total cost (thus 35%), or over and above it (thus under 25%), and I don't know if any of these stated figures are politically fudged. To me, all that undercuts a claim that Polling financed the arena entirely on his own, but he was putting up much more than other owners of the time.
I've lived near downtown DC for a long time and watched it change, and I think Pollin's contribution to the renaissance of downtown is routinely overstated, ignoring numerous other contributing factors in the process.
FedEx Field's construction forced state funded transportation improvements, thus its construction was also publicly subsidized, in the same way new residential developments in the middle of nowhere force public funding of roads, water, sewer, etc. I don't know the total cost of FedEx Field's "infrastructure" improvements, but in kind, if not in dollar amounts, public funding of Verizon Center and FedEx Field may be greater and more similar than is commonly reported.
Some inside sources attributed the failure of a DC football stadium as much to Jack Kent Cooke's inability to deal with a woman with power as it was to Mayor Kelly's incompetence. Based upon what I saw of Cooke (especially the way he talked to any female reporter), that characterization is quite believable.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:50 pm
by Ruzious
Tiny Too wrote:Once recently, I tried to sneak in a banana. Being somewhat endowed for a white, Jewish boy, I thought to strategically hide it in the front of my underwear (briefs) and that no one would notice the difference. I had no problem fooling the female security guards, but there was one particular male guard near the F Street entrance who kept looking at me funny and insisted on searching me all over behind a partition....
Ok, I'm using hand sanitizers a dozen times a day. Ya never know who ya might have to shake hands with.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:17 pm
by keynote
Wiz99 wrote:The DC government provided
35% of the money Ole Abe needed to build the arena in 1997.
That's $70 mil in taxpayer money. That comes out to about $2.75 for every person who's ever gone to a Wizards game since the arena opened.
Huh. Go figure. Thanks for hunting that down.
I guess La Sooz & Co. gets props for managing/creating a more favorable perception than the facts bear out.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:43 pm
by Ruzious
keynote wrote:Wiz99 wrote:The DC government provided
35% of the money Ole Abe needed to build the arena in 1997.
That's $70 mil in taxpayer money. That comes out to about $2.75 for every person who's ever gone to a Wizards game since the arena opened.
Huh. Go figure. Thanks for hunting that down.
I guess La Sooz & Co. gets props for managing/creating a more favorable perception than the facts bear out.
Not true. It is always the responsibility of the applicable government to control and provide the infrastructure. It's an asset of the government. Abe Pollin can't own a subway station.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:00 pm
by keynote
So, did any of the money allocated go towards the development of the Center itself, or just for the infrastructure that supports the stadium?
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:52 pm
by montestewart
keynote wrote:So, did any of the money allocated go towards the development of the Center itself, or just for the infrastructure that supports the stadium?
DC City Council testimony from Tom Davis, Chairman, Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, June 12, 1996:
Under this agreement, the Pollin organization, called NEWCO, will underwrite all costs associated with the design, construction, financing, equipping, and operation of the arena. This includes all
infrastructure costs within the building's footprint, except for the demolition of buildings at 605 and 613 G Street, NW., and utility relocation.
In addition to providing a long-term lease of the land, the District government agrees to pay for the demolition of the building's tie-in facilities to the Metro system, environmental remediation,
land acquisition for two parcels required to complete the footprint, relocating District of Columbia employees from the present buildings, offsite infrastructure costs, and securing all regulatory approvals necessary for construction.
The price of the District of Columbia participation is estimated at $53 million.
http://www.archive.org/stream/hr1862dis ... t_djvu.txtUnder the original plan, it was envisioned that the city would acquire the land (which Pollin or successors get for 30 years, with two 10-year options), demolish buildings and prepare the property for Pollin-financed construction, and alter subway entrances. Can't locate a reliably detailed after-the-fact accounting, but the above sounds approximately like what happened, but at a higher price.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:03 pm
by Ruzious
keynote wrote:So, did any of the money allocated go towards the development of the Center itself, or just for the infrastructure that supports the stadium?
From the article:
...the city spent $70 million for land acquisition, subway station improvements, building demolition and utility line relocations at the site between Sixth and Seventh streets NW, north of F Street.
Btw, there was an "arena fee" for several years paid by businesses that did business in DC to pay down that $70 million. (I know, because I prepared the annual form for the company I worked for.)
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:18 pm
by fishercob
Guys, this article is completely inaccurate. I paid for the arena myself with my own money. You're welcome.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:47 pm
by montestewart
fishercob wrote:Guys, this article is completely inaccurate. I paid for the arena myself with my own money. You're welcome.
Can you do something about the food? Thanks.
Re: Have you ever tried to sneak food into the VERIZON CENTER?
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:18 pm
by fishercob
montestewart wrote:fishercob wrote:Guys, this article is completely inaccurate. I paid for the arena myself with my own money. You're welcome.
Can you do something about the food? Thanks.
Go to California Tortilla and get a Thai chicken burrito.