The D.C. Council approved legislation late tonight that dramatically restructured Mayor Anthony A. Williams's deal with Major League Baseball to build a stadium in Washington by requiring that at least 50 percent of the project be funded with private money.
Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) shocked her colleagues after 11 hours of debate on the stadium-financing package by offering the amendment at about 10 p.m. after saying she was disappointed by recent talks with Major League Baseball.
Cropp said she was not satisfied with a letter the city received from baseball officials Monday that was meant to satisfy concerns she had raised about the cost of the stadium to the city. Cropp asked that the letter be amended early today and baseball officials sent a new version around noon.
But the final letter was not enough, Cropp said. She told her colleagues she would vote to kill the entire stadium package if her amendment was not approved. It passed by a vote of 10 to 3. After approving that amendment, the council voted to grant final approval to the heavily altered financing package.
Cropp's amendment gives Williams (D) until next June to find a private financing plan worth at least half of the construction of the stadium that would be certified by Natwar M. Gandhi, the city's chief financial officer. If such a plan is not certified and then approved by the council, the stadium bill would die.
"My basic belief is that there are too many public dollars going into this," Cropp said. "This will make the mayor seek private dollars more than anything else. I don't know how Major League Baseball will react."
It is unclear whether Major League Baseball will accept Cropp's amendment. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said two weeks ago that the city should abide by the original agreement.
Under the pact Williams negotiated with baseball officials in September, a stadium along the Anacostia River in Southeast would be funded largely through a gross receipts tax on large businesses. The stadium has been estimated by mayoral aides at $440 million, but Gandhi put it at $530 million and D.C Auditor Deborah K. Nichols said $584 million.
Baseball officials have given the city until Dec. 31 to pass the financing legislation. The Washington Nationals are set to begin next season at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in April.
Cropp and other council members said that Major League Baseball has no option but to play in Washington next season because the team already has been named, more than 15,000 season tickets have been sold and Nationals merchandise is being sold daily.
"We guaranteed that a baseball stadium would get built," said Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), the council's most ardent stadium supporter. "That guarantee is essential for Major League Baseball because they want to sell the team. . . . Without that guarantee, I don't see baseball staying here."
Cropp's dramatic move sent Williams and his top aides, who had been watching from the chambers, scrambling out the door to discuss the ramifications.
City Administrator Robert C. Bobb said Cropp's move came as a total shock. "I think it is real bad," he said. "The question is whether it violates the stadium agreement. . . . I think we have given them an opportunity to walk."
