sort of stadium news

- See Update Below -

The CityPaper has the scoop, but here is the abstract:

- more than a dozen people were laid off last week from the Washington offices of MacFarlane Partners (developer / owner of DC United)

- [among those laid off] is Linda Mercado Greene, the former top aide to Marion Barry who became MacFarlane’s VP for public affairs and community relations in the summer of 2006

Of course, this does not necessarilly mean that DC won't get the stadium. Does make you wonder why people are losing their jobs, though, as well as what it means for a new stadium anywhere in the region. The company does not have a separate office in Maryland.

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UPDATE, 7:53 P.M.: The positions being cut, 14 of them, were not in the D.C. office only, Chase says, but also included the New York and San Francisco offices. As for Greene, she says, MacFarlane “no longer has a need for the role that Linda Greene was filling in D.C.,” which included responsibility for securing support for the soccer stadium. But Chase says that Greene has been offered a position with D.C. United itself “that would allow her to continue to focus on the team’s stadium in DC and Prince George’s County.”

Also, more from the Washington Business Journal