Williams Continues To Jockey For Ballpark Financing Support

Williams Battling Hard To Get Ballpark Approved

DC Mayor Anthony Williams has “set up a ‘war room’ of officials in the city planning office and his Cabinet to sell” the proposed $400M Anacostia Waterfront ballpark, according to Nakamura & Montgomery of the WASHINGTON POST. The group includes consultant Ira Sockowitz who was “hired last month on a year-long $75,000 contract,” and has “been instrumental in the baseball strategy.” Sockowitz is a former Commerce Department special counsel appointed by President Clinton (WASHINGTON POST, 10/7).

HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW: In DC, Eric Fisher reports DC Sports & Entertainment Commission (DCSEC) Chair Mark Tuohey and other sports commission leaders “held a ‘productive’ two-hour meeting with council members yesterday to review” the ballpark legislation. DC Council member Jack Evans: “It was an excellent session. If everyone knew the details of what’s really on the table, the type of economic development we’re attempting here, we’d have no problems. But not all of my colleagues are fully informed about this yet” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 10/7). MLB.com’s Jeff Seidel notes the legislation needs a simple majority approval of DC Council members and Williams “has repeatedly stressed that he’s confident” about it passing. DC Council member Harold Brazil, who chairs the Economic Development Committee, said, “That’s not to say there won’t be a lot of hard work in between, but at the end of the day, I think we’ll get it through” (MLB.com, 10/7). The POST’s Nakamura & Montgomery report Williams and other DC leaders “are discussing proposals to raise additional money to invest in neighborhoods and schools” to allay critics of plan. Williams said that the proposals include “raising as much as $20[M] a year for neighborhoods” but he “did not elaborate on how the money would be raised” (WASHINGTON POST, 10/7).

TRIPPED UP? In a separate piece, the POST’s Montgomery reports a group consisting of Williams, five DC Council members and eight DC employees next week are scheduled to start an 11-day “cultural and economic mission” to China and Thailand. Williams and Evans said that the trip “would not interfere with the council’s deliberations over the stadium financing package, which is scheduled for a public hearing Oct. 28, four days after they return.” Williams said that his “war room” group will “attend community meetings to explain the stadium proposal and listen to public concerns” (WASHINGTON POST, 10/7).

WHAT ABOUT BOB? With MLB negotiating with Orioles Owner Peter Angelos on a compensation package to offset the Expos’ relocation, Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich is “satisfied the state’s interests will be safe if the Orioles are successful in striking a deal.” Ehrlich: “The protection (for the state) pertains to the revenue flow. That’s what the guarantees are all about. Should there be a diminution in revenue, which guarantee will kick in, and when and how much has been really what this has been about” (Balt. SUN, 10/7).