DC Politicians Display Smarts in Their Baseball Stadium Deal

Interesting contrast to the Miller Park scheme hatched in Milwaukee & Madison some years ago, DC Common Council Chairman Linda Cropp has added some reality to the District’s deal with Major League Baseball:

At the John A. Wilson Building, anxiety over the future of baseball in Washington was evident all day. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) pronounced during his morning news conference that the deal was “in great, great jeopardy.” Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), the architect of the legislative amendment that required private funding, said she was “looking to reduce the cost and risk for the District.”
“I keep hearing that we had a deal with baseball,” Cropp said. “Well, I have had a 30-year-plus deal with the citizens of this city. That deal trumps any other consideration with Major League Baseball.”

David Nakamura and Thomas Heath