"At this point, I don't think that there's going to be enough to stop it," he said. "The mayor and some council members are so far out on a limb on this one, almost nothing could stop it."
Under the agreement negotiated by the city and Major League Baseball, the stadium would be financed through a gross-receipts tax on large D.C. businesses, rent payments by the team and taxes on tickets and merchandise sold at the ballpark.
Council member Adrian M. Fenty said the mayor has gone out on a limb.
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Opposition to the plan is coming largely from two camps. One is a group of hard-liners in Lazere's coalition, including activists for schools, housing, health care, libraries, the environment and other causes. This group is fundamentally opposed to using public funds for a stadium.
The second group is made up of residents across the city who have told officials at community meetings that they will support the team and stadium as long as the mayor promises additional investment in neighborhoods.
Chris Weiss, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization that is part of the hard-line coalition, acknowledged that the group's effectiveness has been limited. Several dozen coalition members demonstrated outside the Wilson Building two weeks ago. But a follow-up protest in Chinatown last week brought only 12 people, who distributed fliers to bemused passersby.
"This coalition is very broad," Weiss said. "We do advocate specific issues, but we don't have the organizing capacity."
The mayor's office seems to be listening more closely to residents who speak at community meetings.
Chris Bender, a spokesman for the city's Office of Planning and Economic Development, said city leaders decided not to stage large pro-baseball rallies to solicit support, but instead to attend regularly scheduled neighborhood meetings.
At the presentations, city officials have argued that the stadium will not replace any school or library projects but enhance them by increasing retail and other business investment, which will bring additional funds to the city.
"I know it's baseball, but we want to be presenting this in the same way as though a new department store and grocery store were coming to the neighborhood," Bender said.
The mayor attended one community meeting last week in Ward 7, where residents said they would support baseball if he also promised to champion such issues as schools and a new hospital east of the Anacostia River.
The day Williams departed for China, about 15 aides, including City Administrator Robert C. Bobb, huddled with a half-dozen neighborhood leaders in Southwest near the proposed stadium site. The residents questioned the officials about parking, public safety, displacement of businesses and retail development.
"So many people seem to focus on financing," said Andy Litsky, a Ward 6 activist who attended the meeting. "I'm not particularly in favor of the way it's structured, but we need to know: If this passes, how can we make it work?"
