When you look at the actions of FBI chief Christopher Ray, understand that his permanent home is not in the area, and he is a member of the Federalist Society.
This in large part explains his jihad on the relocation location of FBI headquarters to Greenbelt, Maryland.
So he doesn't want the FBI headquarters to move to Maryland because he doesn't want to pay Maryland taxes.
The current HQ is in DC, and he, and the agents tend to live in Virginia, where they save money by not paying DC taxes, and Maryland taxes are higher than Virginia taxes.
Unlike DC, Maryland can tax people out of state workers who work in-state.
Wray is implying that there is something unethical going on because the GSA official who made the decision used to work for the entity who currently owns the land.
If this entity were a real-estate developer, or a manufacturer, or a sports team, this might be concerning, but entity is the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the government agency that runs transit in the area.
There is no issue with a quid pro quo with a government agency. There is no issue of delayed payback, or any profit being generated, so the argument is bullsh%$.
Wray, and one could assume much of the HQ staff, don't want pay Maryland taxes, and he is using spurious implications (they don't rise to the level of allegations) of impropriety as a beard for his actions. (There is also the possibility that he and his agent do not want to work in PG County, which is 64% Black)
After over a decade of searching for the best place in Maryland or Virginia to locate the FBI’s new headquarters, the federal General Services Administration finally decided on Wednesday: It would go to a site in Greenbelt, Maryland.
That Prince George’s County site, one of three on the GSA’s shortlist (and one of two in PG County), is currently owned by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The third site option was in Fairfax County’s Springfield area.
And according to a letter from FBI Director Christopher Wray obtained by VPM News, the GSA senior executive who made the call had come to the agency from working at WMATA. The agencywide letter, which was first excerpted by the Washington Post, was sent after the GSA’s announcement. It includes a list of concerns and a succinct timeline of how site selection was reached, changed and executed since the plan’s revival in spring 2022.
Maryland officials have heralded the decision, which they say will bring overdue federal investment to Prince George’s County, one of the largest majority-Black jurisdictions in the country. Putting the headquarters there, they said, would be a major step toward the FBI’s goal of bringing jobs to a racially diverse community.………
A new headquarters for the law enforcement agency has been a point of discussion since President Barack Obama’s administration. After a pause during Trump’s administration, the headquarters discussion was revived by Biden’s team in March 2022, following advocacy from the Maryland and Virginia congressional delegations.
………The current Hoover Building headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., was built in 1975 and intended to house 2,000 people. With a current capacity of 5,500 workers, it’s bursting at the seams. Budget documents from the Biden administration say the building “can no longer support the long-term mission of the FBI.”
There were 5 criteria used for the evaluation, "Proximity to mission-related locations, transportation access, site development flexibility and schedule risk, promoting sustainable siting and advancing equity and cost," and Greenbelt won 4 of 5. Most notably it is the only site walkable from a Metro stop.
The only one that it did not win, proximity to the Quantico training facility.
F%$# him, and f%$# his attempt to meddle in a decision that should not be his. This is the best decision for the taxpayers, and if staff at this facility wants to remain in Virginia, they are free to do so.
They can take the Metro to work.
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