Public Meeting On Baseball Stadium Proposal Tuesday (3/11)

-- Stuck --

 

Good idea to get in touch with Doug. As the team still has to deal with the stadium authority (the same folks busting their asses to get baseball while Mexico snatches the Gold Cup from their hands!) we don't want to do anything counter productive.

While I know the cause is to save RFK what might be better is to inquire what plans the SA has to accommodate 2 soccer teams AND a baseball team at RFK while a baseball stadium is built. Then, once it is built what will happen to RFK (DCU stays or still gets their own stadium). From all I have heard AEG would love to build their own stadium in lot 8 and are just waiting to get approval from the NPS (who owns the land at RFK) and the Sports Authority. Baseball has totally put this on the backburner.

K

 

Not sure if this is the place to ask, but do you have more info on this? I heard this rumor a long time ago, but thought it was stone dead. I thought the whole plan for the RFK waterfront was tied into the Olympic bid, and once that failed the whole process stopped.

Thanks for any information you can give.

 

Bring up MLS and soccer stuff at the meeting!!

 

I think that it would be very worthwhile for a citizen of the District to ask the stadium authority why they appear intent on ignoring and neglecting their only stable income generator for the past 7 years and are pimping themselves for the hope of a baseball stadium and for incredible lost causes (money pits) such as grand prix races.

I'm no longer a District resident, but if I still were, that's what I'd be interested in a reaction to.

Cheers,
Tim

 

actually the Grand Prix race was a very good idea, and I hope it can be ressurected for next year.... But you are right... soccer should be the priority, not a doomed baseball......

 

If you consider losing $5 million of the $30 million it would take to build a new soccer stadium, I think you are incredibly misinformed.

Tim

 

A $70 million soccer stadium will always seem like small potatoes to the self-conceived movers and shakers who run the Stadium Authority. That the Authority is seriously considering a baseball stadium at the corner of New York and Florida is more a testament to Anthony Williams' dreams of rehabilitating the neighborhood than to anything approximating fiscal good sense. (As much as I'd like the city to help build a stadium for United, it's just not a good use of tax dollars.) It does suggest an approach for Uncle Phil, though: to sell a SSS in Washington as an urban renewal project and not just as an athletic facility.

 

I think any SSS built in areas where Real Estate costs are high will have to have an Economic Development angle that benefits the community beyond that which stems from soccer and stadium related activity. The plan in Harrision is a good example, as was the one floated a while back in Trenton. There are many potential sites across the country that lay square in the middle of existing infrastructure and underused land. Money spent on new roads, utilities, and services where they did not already exist is a severe waste of dollars, and it erodes the quickly diminishing natural assets of the country. I won't go off on too much of a tangent, but I think soccer would do well in this country if it carried the standard of Smart Growth for all athletic businesses.

 

Is anyone going to this tonight? I might stop by

K

 

Here's the latest from the Post. Might be useful to know what the city is thinking if you go tonight.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7774-2003Mar10.html

 

Feedback? Results?

 

Here's an article from the Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13662-2003Mar12.html

It's great to know some suburbanites will drive into DC to see a baseball game at a stadium they won't have to pay for. Given DC's track record, I have little confidence that this won't become a major cost to tax payers.

For example, consider this statement: "Another source of revenue would be a fee on the gross receipts of larger businesses, if the D.C. Council approves the idea. A similar fee helped repay construction bonds for MCI Center."

Would a gross receipts tax apply to Pepco, WGL and Verizon? If so, every resident in the city will take a hit every month with a regressive tax for the privilege of throwing money at wealthy baseball team owners. Even if utilities are exempt, it's naive to think that such a tax would not trickle down to hit the citizens in some fashion.

 

I went. It was interesting and ALL about baseball (no where in the presentation or the handouts does it mention the 2 current tenants at RFK).

There are a couple of concerns for us though and if more folks can come to the next meeting on Thurs (either DC or non DC residents) I think it would be good. We need to make sure people are aware of our cause and keep kicking the Sports Authority's a$$ to get moving.

I did ask the only soccer related question to get it on record: How will DC United be fit into RFK if we share with a baseball team and when are we getting our own stadium? (There were some oohs on that question and 2 people came up to be afterwords in support of soccer). Goldwater recognized me when I came in so he must have known what I was going to ask. If we get a team, they will be at RFK 3-4 years while a stadium is built. Goldwater said that after their mtg with MLB in Phoenix March 20 they would be meeting with DCU and AEG re a stadium and that if baseball comes we'd be sharing RFK for a year. He didn't provide any specifics about stadium reconfiguration during this time or where they were in the process of building us a stadium. He also mentioned that DC has the greatest soccer fans (which was nice but hey, how about showing us the love!) You only get 2 minutes to make a statement or ask a question so again if more people go on Thurs they could press for more details.

Obviously our concerns our how exactly are we going to be effected by sharing, when are we going to see some solid plans for our own stadium, who is paying for our stadium (if there's city taxes needed now is the time to ask). You can probably think of more.

You can read more about the meeting here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13662-2003Mar12.html

and the project here
http://www.publicspace.justicesustainability.com/baseball/index.shtml

There's a forum there for discussion, maybe we should also be posting in there.

K

 

Yeah I agree but if the same were for our soccer stadium would you be complaining? (I'm just asking). We don't know how a soccer stadium would be financed but we need to ask ourselves what are we going to willing to put up with to get one.

The other screwy thing they're looking at to finance a stadium is to create a special income tax on the salaries of the ball players (this would require Fed legislation to change). Why am I seeing the ball players union not going with this? There would also be significant sales tax on the tix, food, merchandise and parking (like how much is it going to cost a family of 4 for a night out?) Well, whatever. I'm not planning on attending any baseball games.

K

 

Is anyone going to tonight's meeting?

K

 

Very interesting Kim. Thanks for going and for putting in a word for soccer.

I think United fans and DC residents more generally should brace themselves for the bane that will be baseball in DC.

MLB will not approve a relocation to the DC areas without a commitment from a local jurisdiction to build a stadium, and the Williams government is desparate enough for a franchise to sell its soul (and our tax money) to build what MLB demands. The sequence of events is so easy to predict that you can do it in your sleep: DC will agree to foot a substantial portion of the bill for the new stadium, with the owner promising a pittance. The stadium will come in behind schedule and way, way, way over budget. DC will become embroiled in a suit with the owner who will allege that certain inadequacies in the stadium justify its refusal to pay its share. The suit will be resolved by DC agreeing to guarantee the revenue of a number of luxury boxes in perpetuity. By the time the suit is resolved, the owner will already be complaining that the stadium doesn't provide enough revenue to field a competitive team at a profit. Then its new stadium or bye-bye baseball for another thirty years.

I see only two good things for United about baseball in DC:
1) The stadium authority may actually put some money into maintaining RFK.
2) It may establish the precedent for public financing of a soccer specific stadium (though public disenchantment with the baseball stadium will undoubtedly limit the value of the precedent).

I was a life-long fan of baseball (till United came along and Peter Angelos decided to run the Orioles into the ground). Even so, I hope baseball relocates to Portland or Charlotte or Las Vegas or Puerto Rico or Guam or anywhere else before it comes to DC. The whole thing is just a disaster in the making, for United as well as DC.

 

Deploy the Lawyers!!!

Can we get together and each pitch in 10 buck for a lawyer? we could get 5,000, I'm sure and that's enough to pay some halfway decent lawyer to throw a serious wrench in the cogs. For instance, we could force a DC wide vote on the referendum, which would slow us down and put us in a less favored position than say Portland.

Also, who do we email at MLB to threaten with protests and bad PR? Can't we make them want to go somewhere else over here?

 

Sounds like the tax that visiting NHL players have to pay for "working" in Alberta, Canada.

 

I think I can speak for more than a few MD residents when I say that traveling to most places (off the metro system) is about as easy as a trip to Mars. I don't care what happens with the baseball situation, but if it has the result of moving United out of the district for Virginia that would be the end of my season ticktets. No doubt NoVa residents would feel the same if they moved to MD.

Having already given up a job in Tyson's solely because of the traffic nightmare, I have no desire to repeat this and madly try to make a 7:30 match on a Friday. Oh the horror...

Whatever happens, I hope they'll realize the value of being in a metro-accessible region of the District.