Do You Think...

Here in Prince George's County, we're watching the opening of the huge new National Harbor development. Prince George's County tends to have a bit of a chip on its shoulder about the lack of high-end development. National Harbor, across the Potomac from Alexandria, is supposed to change all this, with its giant convention center, hotels, restaurants, etc.

Unfortunately, one of the first things that happened after they opened is a bunch of people got sick with norovirus. Not good PR.

The next thing that happened was repeated sightings of mice in the rooms and hallways. Yesterday USA Today posted this gem from a National Harbor spokeswoman:

She says potential guests worried about mice should book a room close to the river (because most complaints involved rooms near the back where mice apparently got in through holes unwittingly left during construction). And she says that on request "a team will go into a room" before a guest's arrival and inspect it, down to the heating and air conditioning ducts, to make sure no pesky mice are there.

Hey, not every hotel offers to check the room for mice before you check in. "Would you like a no mice room?"

It was in this context I read a Washington Post article this morning on "how the deal was done". It mentioned none of the above problems. About ten paragraphs in, however, I got to the part that almost made me spit out my tea:

The history of the site, once an Indian burial ground, made the land even richer.

Seriously? They built it on an Indian burial ground, and they thought that was a good thing? Is anybody going to be surprised if National Harbor is next visited by a plague of frogs?