This might have been a football field. Photo by vladeb.

White House stadium? Did you know that in 1910, the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts “approved plans to build a football stadium either on the White House Ellipse or at some other spot in East Potomac Park”? That’s part of Marc Fisher’s fascinating history of the long debate over stadiums in DC.

Morgan Boulevard/PG United, maybe: DC United owner Victor McFarlane’s first choice for a stadium site is a 37-acre property at the Morgan Boulevard station. According to the article, some Maryland officials are also skeptical about the wisdom of dedicating revenue bonds to the project amid severe budget cuts. (Post)

Signs at last: The National Park Service is planning new signs that represent a huge departure from the Mall’s current signage. The major change: unlike the previous signs, these will actually tell visitors how to reach major attractions. (WTOP)

Bike trails, less of a freeway feel, and parking meters, oh my! Signs aren’t the only piece of NPS’s new Mall plan. WashCycle has a summary of the proposal, which includes separated bicycle facilities and bike trails throughout the mall, better pedestrian connections between the Washington Monument and the Tidal Basin (currently a mess of freeway-like ramps for cars), and parking meters on Madison, Jefferson, and Ohio drives. WashCycle even gives us a little shout-out.

Why 7? Why any time? Mount Pleasant’s Jack McKay sensibly asks why the National Park Service reopens Beach Drive, in Rock Creek Park, to traffic at 7 pm on Sundays. It’s still light out, and runners and cyclists are still enjoying the park. There’s no urgency to move traffic Sunday nights. Why not wait until dark, or after? (DCwatch)

Mess with Texas’s bags: A Dallas state representative has introduced a bill to charge 7 cents for, similar to DC’s proposed 5-cent charge. Other Texas lawmakers and Wal-Mart are pushing an alternative which would simply require stores to offer reusable bags, stamp bags with reminders to return them to the store, and recycling bins in the store for the bags. Recycling is a very distant second to reusing, making the latter proposal potentially much less effective.