Minneapolis City Council "barely approved a watered-
down baseball stadium resolution" by a 7-6 vote after "two
hours of contentious debate," but it "could muster no
majority vote to approve any kind of mechanism to build
one," according to Rachel Stassen-Berger of the ST. PAUL
PIONEER PRESS. City Council Member Joan Campbell said that
city council "wants to keep the Twins in ... Minneapolis,
not pay for them in St. Paul." Stassen-Berger wrote that
while the vote "doesn't halt [the city's] efforts to build a
park" for the Twins, it "does show how difficult getting
support will be in Minneapolis" (PIONEER PRESS, 6/26).
TO THE BALLOT? In St. Paul, Laszewski & Rybin wrote
that "about" 10,000 signatures have been gathered on a
petition supporting a new Twins ballpark, making it
"inevitable that city residents will vote in November" on
whether to raise their taxes by a half percent to help fund
the project. If approved, the tax increase would take
effect "only if the Twins and the state Legislature also
contribute" to the ballpark (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 6/26).
Laszewski & Rybin added that the public and private sectors
will have spent "at least $80,000 in private money" by late
July on the ballpark project (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 6/27).
