June 01, 2004
D.C. stadium bill hits opposition
Washington, D.C. councilman Jack "We will build them a stadium" Evans is set to introduce a stadium bill today in anticipation of D.C. landing the Montreal Expos, but other city officials sound less than thrilled.
The bill would direct the city's new waterfront development authority to purchase land for a stadium near L'Enfant Plaza - how to actually pay for stadium construction still to be resolved, though the mayor has some ideas. The mayor's office doesn't like it because it doesn't want the waterfront authority involved (Mayor Williams has also expressed a preference for a cheaper site near RFK Stadium); and Sharon Ambrose, the council rep for Evans' proposed stadium site, says she'll oppose it as well, telling the Washington Post, "I'm not going to just, as a legislator, shove something down people's throats. I think a lot of people on the council, Jack being one of them, know that people in Southwest don't want a baseball stadium there."
While it's a far cry from a death knell for D.C.'s Expos bid, this is no doubt exactly the sort of stadium controversy MLB wanted to avoid with its "build it and we will come" edict. It's looking less likely again that MLB will meet its self-imposed deadline of deciding the Expos' fate this July.
LATE NOTE: No sooner had we posted this than word came that Evans was backing off on the L'Enfant Plaza site, citing the "frenzy" over his proposed bill.
