F the DC City Council
Update: Thats what I get for going to sleep before 1am. The Council ended up voting again and voted for the Stadium....they still suck anyway though
-----
Quality editorial about the stupid political posturing bullshit that is screwing up the Nationals and really DC all together:
No Joy in Mudville:
The only folks who want a team here are the 2.7 million fans who paid to attend games last season, the businesses that were prepared to build a whole new city neighborhood in Southeast, and the few city politicians who saw that this was a way to expand the tax base and help lift all boats in the District.
Those who didn't want the Nationals here: A small contingent of protesters who resented the idea that suburbanites might want to come into town and spend big money here and a handful of politicians who couldn't see that even the tough deal that baseball made would have meant a mint to the District. The political calculus was poisoned by political ambitions, the rancid mix of race and class issues that so often spoils progress in Washington, and the failure of all parties to make the effort to sell the deal to the public.
....
This was never about money. That was proven tonight, because the decision to reject the lease means that baseball will take the city to arbitration and eventually to court, and because baseball has a signed contract, baseball will win, and the city will have to pay enormous penalties. Everyone on the council knows that, yet they decided to stuff baseball anyway. They did it for the headlines. They did it for the rabblerousers. They will say they did it to save money, but they won't save money. They will lose more money than this deal was ever worth, both in terms of penalties paid to baseball, higher costs if they are eventually forced to build a stadium and, most important, an incalculable loss of future business. Who in their right mind would now do business with the District of Columbia?
-----
Quality editorial about the stupid political posturing bullshit that is screwing up the Nationals and really DC all together:
No Joy in Mudville:
The only folks who want a team here are the 2.7 million fans who paid to attend games last season, the businesses that were prepared to build a whole new city neighborhood in Southeast, and the few city politicians who saw that this was a way to expand the tax base and help lift all boats in the District.
Those who didn't want the Nationals here: A small contingent of protesters who resented the idea that suburbanites might want to come into town and spend big money here and a handful of politicians who couldn't see that even the tough deal that baseball made would have meant a mint to the District. The political calculus was poisoned by political ambitions, the rancid mix of race and class issues that so often spoils progress in Washington, and the failure of all parties to make the effort to sell the deal to the public.
....
This was never about money. That was proven tonight, because the decision to reject the lease means that baseball will take the city to arbitration and eventually to court, and because baseball has a signed contract, baseball will win, and the city will have to pay enormous penalties. Everyone on the council knows that, yet they decided to stuff baseball anyway. They did it for the headlines. They did it for the rabblerousers. They will say they did it to save money, but they won't save money. They will lose more money than this deal was ever worth, both in terms of penalties paid to baseball, higher costs if they are eventually forced to build a stadium and, most important, an incalculable loss of future business. Who in their right mind would now do business with the District of Columbia?
