th stadium

[MAILBOX2306]

A Part of how I Feel

Deep down inside of all of us, we all know and recognize as much as we will
not admit it in public that this country's' and city's' governments are
corrupt. They border on the characteristics of if not to emulate
racketeering. How much plainer can the public be that their wish is not to
have MLB bought to this city in exchange for their (public) money. Why is
it so imperative Washington, D.C. have a baseball team? Is there anyone out
there who is going to die if baseball dose not come to D.C.? Several people
have died already and it's a certainty a whole lot more people are going to
die because this city does not have a public hospital. Are apartments
included in this stadium deal for the homeless? How many classrooms will be
made available for students? Do any of the scumbag owners of MLB pay taxes
here? Do they pay taxes at all? You would be surprised. DCPD already
leaves a lot to be desired. They sure don't need a stadium to be built in
southeast.

When elected to public office one is expected to perform in the best
interest of their constituents. Right now in D.C. we have a handful of lame
duck elected representatives bargaining in the open with public revenue
their personal insignificant legacies in exchange for nothing. They are
accomplices in what amounts to unarmed robbery. This arrogant Mayor we have
knows the majority of the citizens don't want him here and that he will not
be re-elected. So is he trying to arrange as much kick back money as
possible for himself before the end? Or is he trying to position himself
for another office somewhere else? Damn you and your crony puppets are
seeing the world on us as it is, aint that enough? Unfortunate Wards 7 and
8 have made an attempt to change direction but we'll have to wait and see.
Ward six is expected too and probably will follow suite. Which leaves you
Jack Evans in the cross hairs. There is still enough time to recall you.
And good riddance. We are sick of your BULL. You act as though you are
married to MLB. Mr. Graham the "citizens" know this is a bad deal, and
"YOU" know this is a bad deal why are you bargaining? The damage done by
this stadium deal if it goes through far exceeds the cost of the funding
needed in The Libraries Fund.

There really isn't that much interest in baseball in D.C. anyway. I'll bet
that most of the ten thousand tickets sold to date were most likely sold in
blocks to companies and organizations that will give them away as rewards
and incentives and to charities. Sure give me a free ticket and I'll go. A
lot of individual ticket buyers we don't have. "THIS BASEBALL STADIUM DEAL
MUST BE STOPPED." It is time to put an end to the illegal, you kiss my ass
and I'll kiss yours bargaining and practices going on by flunky city
officials to get legislation passed and elect people who will conduct our
city business according to our needs. Not so we can look back on their
records and say, "ooh! he did this for us and she got us that."

These officials have forgotten whom they work for. And now think they are
our dictators. They are probably thinking, "If we pass this stadium deal
they'll get over it and go along."

A Ward 8 Resident

[The Robinsons]

You make alot of good points. My personal solution is simple. Give Banneker
Park to MLB and allow them to build a stadium there with their own money...or
take their ball and go home if they prefer. They'd have to name the stadium
after Banneker to preserve the memorial aspect (the "park" is a worthless knoll
surrounded by highway onramps.) and screw the millionaire NIMBY's (constituents
of Sharon Ambrose) who live across from the HUD building on a former piece of
the park -- buy them out too and build a replacement for the Ramsey art school/
shelter.

--BER in Takoma DC

Post by MAILBOX2306
A Part of how I Feel
Deep down inside of all of us, we all know and recognize as much as we will
not admit it in public that this country's' and city's' governments are
corrupt. They border on the characteristics of if not to emulate
racketeering. How much plainer can the public be that their wish is not to
have MLB bought to this city in exchange for their (public) money. Why is
it so imperative Washington, D.C. have a baseball team? Is there anyone out
there who is going to die if baseball dose not come to D.C.? Several people
have died already and it's a certainty a whole lot more people are going to
die because this city does not have a public hospital. Are apartments
included in this stadium deal for the homeless? How many classrooms will be
made available for students? Do any of the scumbag owners of MLB pay taxes
here? Do they pay taxes at all? You would be surprised. DCPD already
leaves a lot to be desired. They sure don't need a stadium to be built in
southeast.
When elected to public office one is expected to perform in the best
interest of their constituents. Right now in D.C. we have a handful of lame
duck elected representatives bargaining in the open with public revenue
their personal insignificant legacies in exchange for nothing. They are
accomplices in what amounts to unarmed robbery. This arrogant Mayor we have
knows the majority of the citizens don't want him here and that he will not
be re-elected. So is he trying to arrange as much kick back money as
possible for himself before the end? Or is he trying to position himself
for another office somewhere else? Damn you and your crony puppets are
seeing the world on us as it is, aint that enough? Unfortunate Wards 7 and
8 have made an attempt to change direction but we'll have to wait and see.
Ward six is expected too and probably will follow suite. Which leaves you
Jack Evans in the cross hairs. There is still enough time to recall you.
And good riddance. We are sick of your BULL. You act as though you are
married to MLB. Mr. Graham the "citizens" know this is a bad deal, and
"YOU" know this is a bad deal why are you bargaining? The damage done by
this stadium deal if it goes through far exceeds the cost of the funding
needed in The Libraries Fund.
There really isn't that much interest in baseball in D.C. anyway. I'll bet
that most of the ten thousand tickets sold to date were most likely sold in
blocks to companies and organizations that will give them away as rewards
and incentives and to charities. Sure give me a free ticket and I'll go. A
lot of individual ticket buyers we don't have. "THIS BASEBALL STADIUM DEAL
MUST BE STOPPED." It is time to put an end to the illegal, you kiss my ass
and I'll kiss yours bargaining and practices going on by flunky city
officials to get legislation passed and elect people who will conduct our
city business according to our needs. Not so we can look back on their
records and say, "ooh! he did this for us and she got us that."
These officials have forgotten whom they work for. And now think they are
our dictators. They are probably thinking, "If we pass this stadium deal
they'll get over it and go along."
A Ward 8 Resident

[The Robinsons]

Brian: You know perfectly well that MLB will dictate the terms of the
agreement to the DC City Council, not the other way around. MLB already
vetoed RFK Statium as a site for the new team and will veto any other
proposal that costs them $$, The way around this, of course, is Fiscal
Responsibility, something that is in very short supply in these parts at
present. Southwest DC doesn't have a hospital, doesn't have a grocery
store, doesn't even have a movie theater. But it will have a taxpayer
funded baseball statium.
Robert

And the only reason it's even going to get THAT is because, as Marc Fisher
keeps saying in the Post, DC is uniquely suited to draw in (presumably white)
suburban baseball fans (of whom I am one, technically) to the exclusion of
DC residents.

Proponents of the corporate-named stadium site in Southeast have even
ASSERTED this in columns and letter to the editor, namely that the
ticket prices at the new stadium will not be affordable to the majority
of DC residents, hence the Stadium WILL generate new tax $$$ for the
district because all its fans will, perforce, come from outside the city.

This is hardly a positive endorsement when the same people are killing
their political carreers (e.g. Linda Cropp) asserting that the money is
not there to rebuild/reopen DC General if the stadium doesn't go thru.

And Williams and officials at the Fed level in the Clinton/Bush admins
have repeatedly said, over and over, that poor DC residents are better
served by privately funded programs/housing in the suburbs. What we
have here is a double standard. Out of sight, out of mind. Marc Fisher
even quoted one of the "real people who run DC" in glowing terms, saying
this businessman had sacrificed much political clout to bring ball to
DC and "his" councilmembers were now "betraying" the private deal they
made with the business community. And Marc Fisher endorsed this sentiment!

As you know, I'm all for redevelopment, but what's going on in that
section of DC (Navy Yard) is wholesale displacement of an entire
NEIGHBORHOOD owned by the federal government. The fact that it is
public housing is of little consequence; it is essentially a neighborhood
of townhouses and apartments with a wide income mix that is being
displaced to make way for Mayor Williams' luxury waterfront development,
including the ballclub.

Like I said, though, MLB would kill for a stadium at Banneker Park
overlooking the memorials. Cut a private deal with one of the
ownership groups, have them pay for it or walk, and MLB will fall in line.

They did so in San Francisco after years of argument at a similar DOWNTOWN
waterfront site. The Southeast site is not downtown, it is a freeway onramp.

Let them stew in RFK meanwhile -- and for god's sake do a good job
renovating RFK! I would add Jack Kent Cooke's deck to it like
Mayor Barry proposed and bring the Redskins back to the city, frankly.
JKC would have done it at his own expense were it not for the NIMBY's
that also closed DC General!

--Brian Ronbisnson

Post by The Robinsons
You make alot of good points. My personal solution is simple. Give
Banneker Park to MLB and allow them to build a stadium there with
their own money...or take their ball and go home if they prefer.
They'd have to name the stadium after Banneker to preserve the
memorial aspect (the "park" is a worthless knoll surrounded by
highway onramps.) and screw the millionaire NIMBY's (constituents
of Sharon Ambrose) who live across from the HUD building on a former
piece of the park -- buy them out too and build a replacement for
the Ramsey art school/shelter.
--BER in Takoma DC

Post by MAILBOX2306
A Part of how I Feel
Deep down inside of all of us, we all know and recognize as much as
we will not admit it in public that this country's' and city's'
governments are
corrupt. They border on the characteristics of if not to emulate
racketeering. How much plainer can the public be that their wish is not to
have MLB bought to this city in exchange for their (public) money.
Why is it so imperative Washington, D.C. have a baseball team?
Is there anyone out
there who is going to die if baseball dose not come to D.C.?
Several people have died already and it's a certainty a whole lot
more people are going to die because this city does not have a
public hospital. Are apartments
included in this stadium deal for the homeless? How many classrooms will be
made available for students? Do any of the scumbag owners of MLB pay taxes
here? Do they pay taxes at all? You would be surprised. DCPD already
leaves a lot to be desired. They sure don't need a stadium to be built in
southeast.
When elected to public office one is expected to perform in the best
interest of their constituents. Right now in D.C. we have a handful of lame
duck elected representatives bargaining in the open with public revenue
their personal insignificant legacies in exchange for nothing. They are
accomplices in what amounts to unarmed robbery. This arrogant Mayor we have
knows the majority of the citizens don't want him here and that he will not
be re-elected. So is he trying to arrange as much kick back money as
possible for himself before the end? Or is he trying to position himself
for another office somewhere else? Damn you and your crony puppets are
seeing the world on us as it is, aint that enough? Unfortunate Wards 7 and
8 have made an attempt to change direction but we'll have to wait and see.
Ward six is expected too and probably will follow suite. Which leaves you
Jack Evans in the cross hairs. There is still enough time to recall you.
And good riddance. We are sick of your BULL. You act as though you are
married to MLB. Mr. Graham the "citizens" know this is a bad deal, and
"YOU" know this is a bad deal why are you bargaining? The damage done by
this stadium deal if it goes through far exceeds the cost of the funding
needed in The Libraries Fund.
There really isn't that much interest in baseball in D.C. anyway. I'll bet
that most of the ten thousand tickets sold to date were most likely sold in
blocks to companies and organizations that will give them away as rewards
and incentives and to charities. Sure give me a free ticket and I'll
go. A lot of individual ticket buyers we don't have. "THIS BASEBALL
STADIUM DEAL
MUST BE STOPPED." It is time to put an end to the illegal, you kiss
my ass and I'll kiss yours bargaining and practices going on by
flunky city officials to get legislation passed and elect people who
will conduct our city business according to our needs.

Unfortunately, the people DID elect new leaders who oppose the stadium
giveaway, it's the lame duck city council members who are rushing
(at MLB's insistence) to pass a deal before the new council comes into office.

MLB openly said they will not negotiate with the new council once it
comes into office, because they oppose public financing for the new
stadium. Jack Kent Cooke offered to put skyboxes on RFK in six months
at his own expense for the Redskins, and the current, pro-downtown
business council members turned him down.

Post by The Robinsons

Post by MAILBOX2306
Not so we can look back on their
records and say, "ooh! he did this for us and she got us that."
These officials have forgotten whom they work for. And now think
they are our dictators. They are probably thinking, "If we pass
this stadium deal they'll get over it and go along."
A Ward 8 Resident

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