12.15.2004

D.C. Baseball R.I.P.

First of all, let me say I’m not a big baseball fan. I enjoy going out to an occasional game, but I’ve never cared enough to really follow the intricacies of the game (I come a little closer to being interested in football, but not a whole lot — and certainly not given the Redskins’s performance of late).

But I can’t help but be interested in the drama surrounding Major League Baseball’s move to Washington. Again, not something I’ve gotten particularly attached to one way or the other, but it’s a major event regardless.

And now it’s dead.

The worst part about it is the issue wasn’t really decided on its merits — after all, there’s a very strong argument that substantial public funds shouldn’t be used to build a new stadium. But you can’t have it both ways: the publicly funded stadium was a prerequisite for the move. No stadium, no deal.

Now, D.C. Councilwoman Linda Cropp has jumped in at the eleventh hour and killed the stadium deal. And yet she still naively claims that Major League Baseball should renegotiate.

Um, why, exactly? They had a deal worked out. They have absolutely no incentive to return to the bargaining table. If D.C. doesn’t have the stadium, the league can’t sell the team. Any number of alternate locations can come up with a more attractive proposal now.

By sticking in her little last-minute change into an amendment to the funding proposal, rather than rejecting the proposal outright, she’s trying to get away with killing the deal without being labeled as a baseball-killer.

Sorry, but sometimes, you actually have to stand up and answer for your decisions. Same admonition I’ve delivered to a couple of other people I could mention.

(Thanks to Tom for getting me just upset enough about it to write something.)

1 Comments:

At 9:47 AM, Lisa said...

Since I went to grad school in Northeast and roamed the city for a year with a local guide, I have seen all the ways DC needs to invest (tax) money to help people and infrastructure. But I thought that the ballpark would be built from a new tax -- that no one is going to take away money from schools, police, libraries, etc. to build the park.

 

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