Stadium approval coming today

The D.C. Council will approve a ballpark financing package worth as much as $550million today, ending more than a month of internal political battles, delays and changes to the stadium legislation.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams almost certainly will not get the nine or 10 “yes” votes he originally hoped for from the 13-member council, but he still claims a solid group of seven votes.

“It’s going to be nip and tuck and require constant monitoring, but we’re very confident this is going to pass,” Williams said.

Today’s approval, to be followed by a mandatory second council vote Dec.14, caps a wild series of events that at several points appeared to place the relocation of the Montreal Expos to Washington in significant doubt.

Highlighting that roller-coaster ride was a Nov.9 maneuver by council chairman Linda W. Cropp, who at the last minute removed the stadium bill from its scheduled first reading by the council.

She coupled that move with an announcement that she would seek to move the ballpark location from near the Anacostia River waterfront in Southeast to the RFK Stadium property.

The forced switch would have violated the city’s deal with Major League Baseball and angered Williams and several council members.

But after several days of negotiations within the John A. Wilson Building, Cropp emerged with a planned amendment to create a formal, six-month search for private financing as a means to lower the city’s cost toward the stadium.

The search, timed to when the first payments on the stadium bonds are due, will not stand in the way of the District’s Dec.31 deadline with MLB to approve the stadium financing. And if no suitable private funds are found, the city’s plan to pay off the bonds with ballpark-related sales taxes, team lease payments and a gross-receipts tax on large District business continues as is.

But Cropp said yesterday she believes the pursuit will be successful. More than two dozen offers for private financing already have reached city offices, with many more to come in the next few months. One idea, using revenues from a curbside parking program, could gain formal certification soon from city chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi.

“The delay, I think, was important. It’s really worth it to not just accept anything out of hand,” Cropp said. “What I’ve done has already put in a high potential for cost savings for the city.”

Slated to vote “yes” on the stadium bill are Democrats Jack Evans, Harold Brazil, Kevin Chavous, Sandy Allen, Sharon Ambrose, Vincent Orange and Jim Graham. Known opponents are Democrats Adrian Fenty, Phil Mendelson and Kathy Patterson, Republican Carol Schwartz and independent David Catania.

Some abstentions, however, are possible depending on the numerous amendments likely to surface during today’s legislative debate.

Cropp said yesterday she has not yet taken a formal position on the bill. But she has said for weeks she has no intention of killing the prospects of baseball in Washington, even with her stated concerns about the stadium’s ultimate cost to the city.

The expected vote breakdown, resulting in no clear mandate for either side, is essentially the same as it was three weeks ago. In an effort to change the breakdown, both stadium supporters and opponents held public rallies yesterday.

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