WASHINGTON, DC: A WASHINGTON POST editorial notes that
another deadline arrives Thursday in the timetable for building a
downtown arena. The Redevelopment Land Agency is scheduled to
act on a recommendation to turn over city land to a non-profit
coalition of business and civic leaders, known as the National
Capital Development Corp. (NCDC). This group would build the
arena through the sale of bonds, about half of which would be
publicly issued and backed by the city. A second proposal by BET
President Robert Johnson is tied to his "insistence" that he be
allowed to buy a piece of the Bullets and have first right-of-
refusal to buy the team outright from Abe Pollin. The editorial
notes that Johnson's campaign "has included one disturbing swipe
at home rule" for the District, in that he has said he would not
hesitate to take his proposal to Congress, rather than work with
the DC City Council (WASHINGTON POST, 11/29).
NO MORE STADIUMS? Paul Daugherty, a columnist in
Cincinnati, examines the trend of naming baseball parks, either
parks, fields or yards, but not stadiums: "This is the Camden
Yard-ing of America, the notion that if you make everything feel
old-fashioned, nobody will mind the high-prices. Which are,
shall we say, state of the art." Citing the new Coors Field in
Denver, Daugherty notes that Cincinnati will soon have a similar
facility: "Reds Park at Bus Station Yard, or something. These
are the new cookie-cutter ballyards, just as the concrete voids
were 25 years ago" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 11/29).
