Maybe the idea of financing a new stadium in DC for the relocated Montreal Expos seemed easy last month when the city received the news that Major League Baseball would send the team to the nation's capital.
The celebratory rally was led by Mayor Anthony A. Williams, who wore a red Senators cap; John Fogerty's song, "Centerfield"played on loudspeakers; and children in baseball uniforms shared the stage with politicians eager to congratulate themselves.
Legislation to authorize the US$440-million stadium package is still likely to pass, but the ride is getting bumpy.
The plan has exposed a schism within the District of Columbia's City Council, which must approve it, and among its citizens, over the size and predominance of the public contribution -- taxes on tickets, concessions and parking at the ballpark, plus a citywide business tax. The team will pay rent starting at US$3.5 million annually.
With the attention on the cost of bringing the Expos to Washington, it was not surprising that the joke inside the council's hearing room Thursday was that there were probably more people in attendance for a session about the financing than used to attend a typical Expos game in Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
The 160-seat room was filled with supporters and detractors of the increasingly divisive financing plan and more than 230 people signed up to voice their views -- the most for any City Council hearing and a number that stretched the hearing to Friday.
As in many stadium and arena debates, like the one involving the Nets' move to downtown Brooklyn into a complex being built by the team owner, Bruce C. Ratner, the fight here centers on whether public money being dedicated to sports facilities would be better used on schools, libraries and recreation centers.
"Why has this caused such a convulsion in the city?" said Jim Graham, a council Democrat, during the hearing. "People feel woefully underserved in basic city services."
A similar argument is being waged over the Jets' plan to build a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan.
The Jets have said they will spend US$800 million, the most ever for a stadium. The public financing has become the centerpiece of TV commercials pitting the Jets against Cablevision, which owns Madison Square Garden.
The district's government is on a fast track to approve legislation to pass the financing by the end of the year. The rush is twofold: It has to renovate RFK Stadium as an interim home for the Expos. But second, in a Democratic primary last month, three supporters of the plan on the council were defeated by opponents of the financing. Those three primary winners, including the former mayor, Marion Barry, are expected to win the general election next week. At least seven of the 13 members of the council support the plan.
In the past few days events have accelerated. The Brookings Institution and the Cato Institute issued reports critical of the financing plan, and the city's chief financial officer said that the cost of the project would be US$91 million more than Williams has estimated.
To counter criticism that the city was ignoring social services to chase the allure of baseball, Williams on Wednesday announced a plan to create a $400 million fund for social projects with taxes raised from economic activity in the district surrounding the proposed stadium. He is looking for an interim source of financing until such a district exists.
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