Mayor Rethinks Support for Southeast Medical Center

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams is reconsidering his plan to join Howard University in building a $400 million hospital on the banks of the Anacostia River, saying he wants to study alternatives before committing taxpayer dollars to the politically charged project.

"Circumstances change. Conditions change," Williams (D) said yesterday at his weekly news conference at the John A. Wilson Building. "We ought to be able to talk about some alternatives, which include but are not limited to the options we have on the table." Williams said he is not abandoning the National Capital Medical Center, as the project is called. "I would say my position is evolving," he said.

The mayor declined to discuss his next move, promising an announcement later this week. Sources said Williams is putting together a task force to reexamine the project and proposals to build a less expensive urgent-care center or other health facility on the site of the shuttered D.C. General Hospital near RFK Stadium.

The mayor's waning enthusiasm for what had been a priority in his final year in office has baffled Howard University officials, as well as residents, who argue that the 2001 closure of D.C. General left residents east of the Anacostia without adequate access to health care. It also appeared to befuddle City Administrator Robert C. Bobb, one of the chief proponents of the project, who said he has suspended his campaign to build community support.

On Friday, Howard President H. Patrick Swygert wrote Williams to express "my consternation" over his shifting positions. Howard released the letter yesterday.

"At no time during this entire two year process have you expressed any doubts about either the need for or the feasibility of the project," Swygert wrote. "I am sure you will understand my deep desire to understand from you what has happened in the past 48 hours that would account for this dramatic shift."

Williams struggled yesterday to offer that explanation. He said he is concerned about "the condition of Greater Southeast" Community Hospital, which studies show would be financially harmed by the new hospital, as well as "the condition of the hospital network in general." The city's other hospitals oppose the National Capital Medical Center and have lobbied strenuously against it.

"I think it's an extremely good thing for the taxpayers that the mayor's taking a hard look at this and a fresh approach to the question," said Robert Malson, president of the D.C. Hospital Association.

Although the D.C. Council backed moving forward on the project in 2004, its support has splintered as costs have swelled and consultants have cautioned that the project might never be financially viable without city subsidies.

The chairs of two key committees rank among the project's outspoken critics. And some supporters, including D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), have insisted that the project be scrutinized by federal regulators, a process Williams and Howard have opposed.

Yesterday, Cropp said finances will determine whether the city builds the hospital. As for Williams, Cropp said she hasn't "heard anything from him."

Hospital advocates were disappointed by the decision to reexamine the project. Two of them attended the mayor's news conference to denounce his decision.

"I think he's trying to delay the process so he can get out of office and not have to deal with it," said Leo Alexander, a former D.C. General employee and a member of the grass-roots group Citizens for the National Capital Medical Center.

On Tuesday, the group called several thousand D.C. residents, urging them to ask council members to support the hospital.