SCALING BACK THE BALLPARK
Some Stadium Features May Be Cut – The Post
With rising construction costs (Hurricane Katrina is apparently a culprit), the council is looking at scaling back some parts of the ballpark (retail and underground parking garage) to stay within the projected cost. D.C. Council Chairwoman Linda Cropp’s description:
“There would be overruns if it were a Cadillac stadium. They may no longer do a Cadillac, but they may do a Buick or Ford.”
To which David Catania (I-At Large) added:
If we want a Buick, we have one — it’s called RFK.
That is a logical argument except for the fact that RFK is not a Buick, it is a ’76 Nova. I guess Catania does not know Buicks like I do.
While I understand that cutting some features may have to happen, I have to wonder if eliminating an underground parking garage is pennywise and pound foolish. Hopefully, the ballpark design will be flexible enough to allow for the removed features to be added later. Also, since the ballpark cannot be built until March at the earliest anyway, are those Katrina construction cost spikes still going to be high?
Also, those technical amendments for financing legislation that came up a few weeks ago were passed 10-2 with usual suspects Catania and Adrian Fenty( D-Ward 4) voting no. Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was absent, again.
More from The Wash. Times: Cropp: No luxury stadium
Malek, Zients Are Big Hitters in an All-Star Ownership Lineup – The Post
A profile of Fred Malek and Jeffrey D. Zients, the braintrust of Washington Baseball Club. He is thought to be one of the top bidders in contention for the Nationals, and the group with the backing of the District. Other bidders are apparently going to be profiled later.
TONY KORNHEISER – Nats’ Next Acquisition Should Be Epstein – The Post
Mr. Tony writes six paragraphs of schtick about why the Nats should hire boy wonder Theo Epstein, who just left his GM job in Boston. Some where, a columnist or beat writer who does not have a television or radio show is writing a real article about the pros and cons (any?) of Epstein.