legalmoose (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
legalmoose) wrote2004-12-16 08:23 am
legalmoose) wrote2004-12-16 08:23 am
Refusing to Play Ball
I love this description of the stadium blow up from the latest edition of DC Watch's The Mail:
Dear Deluded:
Here's what really happened with the baseball vote yesterday. The Williams administration had negotiated with Major League Baseball without involving or informing the city council. The usual practice of the administration has been to work only with its small circle of trusted insiders, excluding the council and the community. Again this time, as it has so often in the past, this arrogance and secrecy backfired on the administration. When Williams sent the agreement to the council, he and Jack Evans, who acted as the administration's representative on the council for the bill, said that no matter how onerous the provisions, how bad the contract was for District residents, the council had to approve it without any changes. But the administration negotiated with MLB like a rookie, like a first-time car buyer who walks into the dealership saying, "I have to have that car at any price," and then pays the sticker price plus a premium, opts for the overpriced chrome accessories, takes the unnecessary rust-proofing, and gets taken by the manufacturer's predatory financing deal. As the details of the bill became known, it became increasingly unpalatable to the public and to councilmembers.
Then, having negotiated a lousy deal, the administration took the insupportable position that the mayor could commit the city on his own, without the council's agreement, and that the council was required to honor anything the mayor had agreed to. In the end, there weren't seven votes on the council to write a blank check to MLB. At the first vote, Council Chairman Linda Cropp and Councilmembers Kathy Patterson and Phil Mendelson kept the ballpark financing bill alive by abstaining from voting on it, but Cropp gave the mayor and MLB the clear message that she wanted some flexibility, some changes made, some concessions on the financing of the stadium and the risk the District government would assume when construction of the new stadium inevitably fell behind schedule. Instead of making even minor face-saving concessions, the administration and MLB gambled that they could disrespect and ignore Cropp, refuse to make any concessions to improve the deal for the District, and bully the bill through. Before yesterday, administration officials were predicting that they were going to get ten council votes for the ballpark financing bill; they were that delusional. The boys didn't take the girl seriously; it was that raw, and the emotions were that childish. Cropp was willing to compromise with them, but they weren't willing to deal; they thought they could roll her, and they were wrong.
Since she couldn't trust the administration to evaluate private financing proposals fairly, Cropp was forced to amend the bill to require that at least 50 percent of the construction costs of the stadium, not counting the infrastructure costs, be borne by private financing. That amendment was the price of her vote for the bill, but even with that amendment six councilmembers held firm, and voted against the bill: Catania, Fenty, Graham, Mendelson, Patterson, and Schwartz. That's another clear signal to the administration and MLB that this is the best deal they can get, and that if they want to bring the Expos here they need to agree to it. If they don't, good riddance to this deal.
Dear Deluded:
Here's what really happened with the baseball vote yesterday. The Williams administration had negotiated with Major League Baseball without involving or informing the city council. The usual practice of the administration has been to work only with its small circle of trusted insiders, excluding the council and the community. Again this time, as it has so often in the past, this arrogance and secrecy backfired on the administration. When Williams sent the agreement to the council, he and Jack Evans, who acted as the administration's representative on the council for the bill, said that no matter how onerous the provisions, how bad the contract was for District residents, the council had to approve it without any changes. But the administration negotiated with MLB like a rookie, like a first-time car buyer who walks into the dealership saying, "I have to have that car at any price," and then pays the sticker price plus a premium, opts for the overpriced chrome accessories, takes the unnecessary rust-proofing, and gets taken by the manufacturer's predatory financing deal. As the details of the bill became known, it became increasingly unpalatable to the public and to councilmembers.
Then, having negotiated a lousy deal, the administration took the insupportable position that the mayor could commit the city on his own, without the council's agreement, and that the council was required to honor anything the mayor had agreed to. In the end, there weren't seven votes on the council to write a blank check to MLB. At the first vote, Council Chairman Linda Cropp and Councilmembers Kathy Patterson and Phil Mendelson kept the ballpark financing bill alive by abstaining from voting on it, but Cropp gave the mayor and MLB the clear message that she wanted some flexibility, some changes made, some concessions on the financing of the stadium and the risk the District government would assume when construction of the new stadium inevitably fell behind schedule. Instead of making even minor face-saving concessions, the administration and MLB gambled that they could disrespect and ignore Cropp, refuse to make any concessions to improve the deal for the District, and bully the bill through. Before yesterday, administration officials were predicting that they were going to get ten council votes for the ballpark financing bill; they were that delusional. The boys didn't take the girl seriously; it was that raw, and the emotions were that childish. Cropp was willing to compromise with them, but they weren't willing to deal; they thought they could roll her, and they were wrong.
Since she couldn't trust the administration to evaluate private financing proposals fairly, Cropp was forced to amend the bill to require that at least 50 percent of the construction costs of the stadium, not counting the infrastructure costs, be borne by private financing. That amendment was the price of her vote for the bill, but even with that amendment six councilmembers held firm, and voted against the bill: Catania, Fenty, Graham, Mendelson, Patterson, and Schwartz. That's another clear signal to the administration and MLB that this is the best deal they can get, and that if they want to bring the Expos here they need to agree to it. If they don't, good riddance to this deal.