D.C. Council finally approves Stadium lease agreement
Are the Nationals finally going to be 'at home' in the District?
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After what seemed to be very bad news last nite, when the story broke saying that the idiots on the city council in D.C. had voted down the stadium lease agreement that had been negotiated between the Mayor and MLB. Thankfully that wasn't the end of the story, as the story was updated at approximately 12:40 a.m. this morning:
Council Forges Deal on Stadium
Late Vote Reverses Initial Rejection, Adds Spending Cap
...
The D.C. Council voted to reject a baseball stadium lease agreement last night, then reconsidered four hours later and approved the deal after a plea from Mayor Anthony A. Williams and a threat from Major League Baseball President Robert A. DuPuy.
The dramatic about-face came at 12:40 this morning after the council added its own price cap to the lease, limiting the District's spending to $611 million for the project along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington. With the cap in place, the council voted 9 to 4 for emergency legislation that approved the lease deal.
It was not clear whether baseball would endorse the spending cap, but Williams's aides said the mayor supported the council's final plan.
"The agreement we approved caps the city's investment . . . and protects the District from potential cost overruns," council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) said. "Major League Baseball did not get an open checkbook. . . . Now we will present this package to baseball and hope they agree it is a better deal for everybody."
...
In the first vote, the members who voted to support the deal were Cropp, Evans, Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) and Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6).
But on the second vote, when the council approved the lease with the spending cap, Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) and Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) also voted to support the deal.
Voting against the lease both times were David A. Catania (I-At Large), Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4).
"I hope everyone who voted for this gets a thank you note from baseball," Fenty said. "We are voting on a very unfair deal that every member of this council would say is a bad deal."
...
When the news first broke that the agreement had been voted down, I made the following comments on another site I frequent. These comments were made in reference to news that the council was going to reconsider it's vote:
Even though Marion Barry (who is soon to be carted off to jail again, where he belongs) has said let Virginia take the team, I gotta expect that the council isn't stupid.
Virginia is back in the running for the team, and it would be downright awful for the District to lose the team to Virginia.
The area that the stadium is supposed to be built in is so badly blighted and in such need for urban renewal, it's exactly why Tony Williams worked so hard to bring baseball to the city. Linda Cropp (more appropriately called Linda Crap) and her friends on the council are all trying to walk the fine-line of being able to tell the citizens of the city that they didn't bankrupt the city by building a stadium for rich baseball owners with tax-payer money.
Unfortunately it all comes back to a very poor sales job by Tony Williams, and a lot of FUD that was allowed to stay out in the community. The deal doesn't spend dime one of citizen tax-payer money. It raises money by taxing medium and large businesses in the district and by doing other things -- including charging rent on the stadium, which is covered in the lease agreement -- and using that money to build the stadium.
There's a ton of FUD about the cost of the stadium, all of which comes from idiots on the council adding up every concievable cost for anything that even remotely might be related to the stadium and calling it part of the stadium cost. The stadium itself will come in at approximately $320 million. The other costs are there regardless, assuming something is done in the area.
Of course this council might just let baseball go and leave the blight to remain in the city. If they do, they should be rounded up and taken out to toss BP without a cage to protect them. They'd deserve to be pummelled with balls, stones, or other throwable materials for blowing the districts best chance to turn what was blight into a crown jewel of tourism and urban renewal.
But that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong....
Hopefully MLB will accept the new agreement and we'll start seeing progress on the building of a new stadium and permanent home for the Washington Nationals.
More comment coming, and please free to add you own comments as well.
Council Forges Deal on Stadium
Late Vote Reverses Initial Rejection, Adds Spending Cap
...
The D.C. Council voted to reject a baseball stadium lease agreement last night, then reconsidered four hours later and approved the deal after a plea from Mayor Anthony A. Williams and a threat from Major League Baseball President Robert A. DuPuy.
The dramatic about-face came at 12:40 this morning after the council added its own price cap to the lease, limiting the District's spending to $611 million for the project along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington. With the cap in place, the council voted 9 to 4 for emergency legislation that approved the lease deal.
It was not clear whether baseball would endorse the spending cap, but Williams's aides said the mayor supported the council's final plan.
"The agreement we approved caps the city's investment . . . and protects the District from potential cost overruns," council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) said. "Major League Baseball did not get an open checkbook. . . . Now we will present this package to baseball and hope they agree it is a better deal for everybody."
...
In the first vote, the members who voted to support the deal were Cropp, Evans, Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) and Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6).
But on the second vote, when the council approved the lease with the spending cap, Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) and Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) also voted to support the deal.
Voting against the lease both times were David A. Catania (I-At Large), Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4).
"I hope everyone who voted for this gets a thank you note from baseball," Fenty said. "We are voting on a very unfair deal that every member of this council would say is a bad deal."
...
When the news first broke that the agreement had been voted down, I made the following comments on another site I frequent. These comments were made in reference to news that the council was going to reconsider it's vote:
Even though Marion Barry (who is soon to be carted off to jail again, where he belongs) has said let Virginia take the team, I gotta expect that the council isn't stupid.
Virginia is back in the running for the team, and it would be downright awful for the District to lose the team to Virginia.
The area that the stadium is supposed to be built in is so badly blighted and in such need for urban renewal, it's exactly why Tony Williams worked so hard to bring baseball to the city. Linda Cropp (more appropriately called Linda Crap) and her friends on the council are all trying to walk the fine-line of being able to tell the citizens of the city that they didn't bankrupt the city by building a stadium for rich baseball owners with tax-payer money.
Unfortunately it all comes back to a very poor sales job by Tony Williams, and a lot of FUD that was allowed to stay out in the community. The deal doesn't spend dime one of citizen tax-payer money. It raises money by taxing medium and large businesses in the district and by doing other things -- including charging rent on the stadium, which is covered in the lease agreement -- and using that money to build the stadium.
There's a ton of FUD about the cost of the stadium, all of which comes from idiots on the council adding up every concievable cost for anything that even remotely might be related to the stadium and calling it part of the stadium cost. The stadium itself will come in at approximately $320 million. The other costs are there regardless, assuming something is done in the area.
Of course this council might just let baseball go and leave the blight to remain in the city. If they do, they should be rounded up and taken out to toss BP without a cage to protect them. They'd deserve to be pummelled with balls, stones, or other throwable materials for blowing the districts best chance to turn what was blight into a crown jewel of tourism and urban renewal.
But that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong....
Hopefully MLB will accept the new agreement and we'll start seeing progress on the building of a new stadium and permanent home for the Washington Nationals.
More comment coming, and please free to add you own comments as well.
