November 25, 2004
And not one penny more!
The idea of a cost cap on the Washington Nationals stadium - first suggested a while back by D.C. councilmember Jim Graham, then dropped when he got some library baksheesh - is back on the table. Sort of. Council chair Linda Cropp has said she'll introduce a bill on Tuesday asking city CFO Natwar Gandhi to conduct a second cost analysis of the proposed stadium; if it exceeds his first one by more than $100 million, the bill would require moving the stadium to a cheaper site.
Which is all well and good, except that Gandhi's first cost estimate back in October already pegged the stadium at $530 million, up from Mayor Anthony Williams' initial $440 million proposal. With Cropp tacking on an additional $100 million buffer, this means that Cropp's "cap" would still allow the stadium to run up as much as $190 million in cost overruns. Even mayoral spokesman Chris Bender seemed embarrassed by this figure, telling the Washington Post: "To go that far over budget is fiscally irresponsible to the public."
