December 19, 2005
D.C. mayor: Ho-o-o-o-old everything!
On the eve of a scheduled showdown on the Washington Nationals stadium lease, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has pulled the issue from consideration while he makes "small technical changes" to the language. Presumably Williams wouldn't have delayed the vote if he thought he could win it, so the guess is that he doesn't have the seven votes needed for passage; D.C. TV news stations are reportedly saying that the mayor is two votes short, but that Carol Schwartz and Kwame Brown are willing to defect to the "yes" side if the federal government promises to pay the $20 million cost of expanding the Navy Yard Metro stop. With the holiday break fast approaching, the odds are looking slim that the council will pass the lease before MLB's December 31 deadline, though of course deadlines are made to be extended.
LATE NOTE: MLB president Bob DuPuy has responded, bringing out the big threat stick: "We used our best efforts to reach closure with the Council to ensure the future of the Washington Nationals in the District of Columbia. If the Council fails to approve the lease, we would be at a crossroads. ... The Baseball Stadium Agreement (BSA) requires lease approval by the end of this month. Despite today's announcement that you will postpone the vote, we urge the council to approve the lease prior to this deadline. If the lease is not approved by then, the city will be in default on its contractual commitments and we will then have no choice but to prepare for arbitration. ... In arbitration, all prior concessions by MLB would be revisited." In other words: We ain't budging an inch. Is this the week for that or what?
