November 05, 2004

D.C. stadium deal hits the fan

Well, that was certainly a turd in the punchbowl. At 12:30 this afternoon, D.C. council chair Linda Cropp unveiled her alternate Expos stadium plan this afternoon, projecting that moving a new baseball stadium's site to near the present RFK Stadium would save the city $83 million, which could be used to trim the city gross-receipts tax that's been irking local businesses so. "While many want baseball, it is not at any cost," said Cropp (hear her yourself here), later telling reporters that she'd be willing to risk losing the team if MLB balks at the new deal.

Mayor Anthony Williams, who'd reportedly spent the last few days trying to dissuade Cropp from presenting her alternative plan, responded by getting all pissy. (Hear him yourself here.) "This is going to blow the thing up," declared the mayor, adding: "The dream of having baseball back in Washington is at risk. It is in jeopardy. I can't emphasize that enough, so I am trying to raise the volume. We have waited 10, 20, 30 years for this and now it is in jeopardy."

Continued the mayor, who apparently hasn't even read what his own website says about who has final say in the D.C. budget process: "We made a commitment, and we have to live up to our commitment, particularly when the going gets tough. ... This is a horrible message we are sending to the business community and our citizens that if I make a commitment that as soon as things get rough, we're not going to do it."

Three opposition councilmembers - Carol Schwartz, David Catania and Phil Mendelson - have already said they'll back Cropp's alternate bill at Tuesday's council meeting. Williams has scheduled a community cable TV address for Monday night (he's promised time for an opposition rebuttal as well); asked by reporters today if he thought he still had the votes to pass his bill, he replied, "It is an uphill struggle." While it's too soon to tell yet if the wheels are coming off D.C.'s stadium deal, that ominous rattling noise can't be making Bud Selig very happy.

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