Persisting deadlock in the Council of the District of Columbia over the construction of the new baseball stadium could result in significant financial setbacks for the city and jeopardize much needed improvements to local schools.
In an Oct. 24 letter to the Council, the District’s Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi said that the Council is running out of time to make a decision on the construction of the 1,225 parking spaces required by the District’s contract with Major League Baseball.
photo by Simone Popperl
“If the Council does not move forward to provide for parking immediately, the District will increase its exposure to substantial losses in revenue and higher costs on the stadium project,” Gandhi wrote.
If the parking is not completed by the target of March 2008, the District will be financially obligated to provide the services of Robert F. Kennedy Stadium to MLB for use by the Washington Nationals. The loss of expected tax revenues from the new stadium and the increased cost of construction could push the District’s liability well past expectations.
Gandhi also pointed out that failing to complete the parking could threaten the District’s credibility in the bond market and weaken its capacity to acquire finances in the future.
“This is especially critical as we will need credibility when we go to the markets to fund the badly needed school improvements, as well as other high priority District projects,” Gandhi wrote in the letter.
Councilmember David Catania (I-At-Large) rejected Gandhi’s conclusions, said a member of Catania’s staff in a phone interview Monday. The staff member said that Catania feels Gandhi’s figures are exaggerated and that the completion of the parking spaces and the stadium are two different issues. The ramifications of not completing the parking by March 2008 would not be equal to those of failing to complete the stadium, the spokesperson said.
The Council has not reached consensus on the issue. A spokesperson in the office of Councilmember Adrian Fenty (Ward 4) said in a phone interview Monday that a recent bill sponsored by Fenty and Councilmembers Vincent Gray (Ward 7), and Jack Evans (Ward 2), would have moved the process forward by establishing a plan for stadium parking at a cost of $56 million, but the two-thirds majority necessary for emergency legislation could not be achieved.
The District’s Sports and Entertainment Commission still plans to have the stadium completed by the deadline. On site, construction is progressing normally. The foundation is being laid, and the framing of seating and facilities is going up among the cranes and the mounds of displaced dirt.
