December 16, 2005
Laying odds in D.C.
D.C. stadium opponents lobbied the city council today to reject the Nationals lease offer in Tuesday's upcoming vote, reporting on Indymedia that councilmembers Marion Barry and Carol Schwartz look like solid "no" votes. That leaves Phil Mendelson - who "sounds like he is a No on the deal but would not go on record as being so," according to the Indymedia report - and Kwame Brown as the two swing votes, both of whom would be needed to pass the stadium deal. As for Brown, activist Eric Gold writes:
That brings us back to the enigma of Kwame Brown. Elected on the campaign platform of schools not stadiums and no public funding for baseball... he spoke with the lobby team in terms of facts or lack thereof. He tried to convince us that he does not have all the facts to make a decision at this point. ... Kwame pressed us on whether opponents of the deal were willing to pay out "say 40 million dollars" to walk away from Major League Baseball. As explained to him, walking away would cost the City 19 million dollars per the legislation passed last December. Compared to the 700+ millions of dollars we would save, this payout seems like a bargain. He was right, he didn't have all the facts.
Meanwhile, Washington Times columnist Adrienne Washington writes that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams told the papers editors this week that paying for a stadium is like buying an expensive painting for more than it's worth, even though "it's not the best circumstances" and "everybody comes out of negotiations unsatisfied." Replies Washington: "I don't know about the Williams family, but in the Terrell family, Grandma Bea would have spoken up before the deal was struck and said, 'Sorry, we can't afford a pretty painting when we have children to feed and educate first.'"
You can cancel the stadium but the kids will not be fed anymore, nor will they be taught anymore than they are now. The school system is corrupt which is one reason that the business community sees a greater value in a stadium than trying to fix the school system. More people downtown is worth more than some pipedream to get better employees. In the end, if the stadium is cancelled, everything will be the same except DC will not have a baseball team. Kids will still be hungry and they will still be illiterate. The only true solution would be a complete downtown renaissance that wipes out all traces of the past 50 years. Baseball is the first step (or second after MCI) in that process.
Posted by tom on December 17, 2005 08:39 PM