The Gift of Stadium

Since the debate began, I was a supporter of a D.C. baseball team and partially publicly financed stadium. However, former Mayor Tony Williams and other city officials exhibited a surprising deficiency in their ability to negotiate a good deal. There was supposed to be a cost cap on the stadium at $611 million, and it has far surpassed that. The ultimate cost of Nationals Park will likely approach $800 million. Those are depressing numbers to digest at a time when D.C. residents should be celebrating a brand-spanking-new baseball stadium and the start of a new season. And by the way … I know Adrian Fenty opposed public financing for the stadium when he was on the D.C. Council, but I chose to use him in this cartoon because he’s the face of the city government now as mayor.