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The mayor's office and DDOT may have come to an understanding that the city will continue to foot the bill for extended Metro service after late night Nationals games, but at least some D.C. Council members aren't pleased. Here's a statement just sent out by At-large Council member Kwame Brown (D): 
Photo by eclectico63
"The District paid an enormous price to build the Nationals Stadium,” said Councilmember Brown. “It’s absurd for District residents to cover the cost of extended Metro service when the Nationals are enjoying a stadium paid for by the people. At some point you have to ask when enough is enough. It’s time for the Nationals to step up to the plate."That's pretty much what we were thinking yesterday. Any more Council members want to come out against the mayor on this one? Send in yer statements!
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Can't believe it, but I actually agree with Kwame on something.
really? is this hce, or someone else? am i no longer the only one with an evil doppelganger around here?
not to worry. it is me. See post below
I don't go to baseball games. Why do I have to pay? You arrogant bastards. First you make me pay all these taxes for schools. I am childless except for a few knuckle kids. You build a stadium and think that everybody goes to baseball games. You want me to pay for late buses and taxes. Foolish mortals. I fart and hope the wind carries my pungent scent in your direction. Yes, it's GLADE!
Yeah I agree with Kwame Brown. I'm also starting to think our Mayor is corrupt.
Look, just because a mayor disappears for days on end to hang out with his oil-soaked Middle Eastern pervert friends, doesn't mean the guy's corrupt. Irresponsible? Yes. A cannibal necrophile? Maybe. But it doesn't make him a porn star. Yet.
W/r/t Fenty: Do want clean, responsible governance or a guy who looks frisky in a pair of bicycle shorts? Because you can't have both. And you don't currently have either.
As I get older and travel to other places, my appreciation for the DC Metro wanes, especially because of how (relatively) early it closes.
I think it might have been that one time in New York City when I took the train to a late night concert on a thursday and afterwards was able to *GASP* take the train back to where I was staying!
That was like some next level shit to me.
Oh yeah and Kwame is right.
This is what happens when the city council prostitutes themselves. Once word gets out that you're a whore, everyone wants more.
I'm in total agreement with Kwame here as well. Screw the Nats and their sense of entitlement...start winning some f*&%ing games, and maybe...just maybe, you'll be able to ask DC for a few more concessions.
But yeah...Kwame's absolutely right. He never did develop that low post presence MJ wanted to see for the Wiz, and has since turned out to be a bigger draft bust than Darko Milicic, but he's turned out to have enough political chutzpah to...what's that? Different Kwame Brown? Ah...I see. Never mind.
I'm pretty damn frustrated at how being mayor has changed Fenty. Sure, I know it's always to be expected that there will be differences between what a candidate and an actual elected official says, but Fenty has made some rather dramatic flip-flops on transparency and the baseball stadium.
Why the hell should D.C. pay for a service for the Nats that no other team in the area gets? And should concert promoters expect Metro to stay open late on the city's dime every time a show at the Verizon Center runs late? According to Fenty's logic with this, yes.
How does the city benefit from thousands of stranded people?
They don't pay for other events because it's a bit tough to get rain delays for NBA and NHL events.
Like it not the city benefits by having thousands of people come in from VA and MD to spend their money in DC.
Thousands? Try hundreds
Those 16 people must be pretty big spenders. Private Metro rides for all. No need to share when 16 1 car trains will take you whereever you need to go.
Thousands? Try hundreds
Those 16 people must be pretty big spenders. Private Metro rides for all. No need to share when 16 1 car trains will take you whereever you need to go.
You'd think that they'd have a little shame and stop asking for free stuff from the city until they can demonstrate their ability to win a few games.
@Martin: Why the hell did the city pay for the stadium? They certainly aren't doing it for every other team...
Personally, I think the Nats should be sent back to Montreal.
Samer - I don't want to get into the usual flame war about whether or not the stadium was worth it, but this is just one more example about how MLB has screwed us over. The worst part is that the city takes it. When MLB threatened to move the team elsewhere, the city relented and promised them the sky. When the team now expects the city to pay for late-night Metro service, we take it.
Ugh. Plenty of people will surely line up and say how much better the area around the stadium is now. Granted, it is better. But I'm a firm believer that we could have re-developed that entire area more organically and with less cost to the city's political and financial standing.
Ahhh. I feel better now.
I think that since most of the Nats game-goers are MDers and VAers, those states should pay to keep Metro running late...but then if MDers and VAers didn't go to the games, DC would lose out on the tax dollars from all those restaurants and stores surrounding the stadium...oh wait...there aren't any.
Anybody got any real stats on where people who go to the games from (DC/MD/VA) and how they get there (Metro/car/walk).
Just a little perspective.. we're talking about ~$100,000-200,000 a year.
I do agree that the Nats should be paying this.
we're talking about ~$100,000-200,000 a year.
What! You want Ted Lerner to go broke? He's only worth $3.2 billion.
We shouldn't conflate the Nats on-field performance with the organization's sense of entitlement. If the Nats were a dominant team they'd have no stronger case for the concessions they continually expect from DC.
Winning a few games would potentially draw more fans, but that's no given. Like it or not, win or lose, DC is stuck/blessed with MLB baseball. The Lerners have the obvious incentive of profitability, but the DC government also took a piece of that action and are equally dependent on the Nat's financial success. DC just seems more desperate than the Lerners to make this work.
We shouldn't conflate the Nats on-field performance with the organization's sense of entitlement. If the Nats were a dominant team they'd have no stronger case for the concessions they continually expect from DC.
Winning a few games would potentially draw more fans, but that's no given. Like it or not, win or lose, DC is stuck/blessed with MLB baseball. The Lerners have the obvious incentive of profitability, but the DC government also took a piece of that action and are equally dependent on the Nat's financial success. DC just seems more desperate than the Lerners to make this work.
Sorry, but quick Lerner Rant -- The Lerners are god awful owners. At least Snyder's heart is in the right place, he'd sign the starting lineup from the pro bowl if the league allowed him. I know the redskins are a whole different beast with unquestionable fan loyalty and a long history in the city. But, the Redskins have always had owners that would do anything to field a competitive team. Snyder is a bit of a dick, and Cooke was a grumpy old fart, but they both wanted to win... and from their winnings, or at least honest attempts, comes loyalty and profitability. I can't imagine anyone who arguing the Lerner's are doing everything they can to win... The Nats are purely business venture for them, which is why there has been all the friction with the city, metro, etc. You gotta spend money to make money, and the couple hundred thousand dollars the Lerners refuse to shell out here is peanuts compared to the millions they refuse to shell out and invest in the team.
Okay, now the real point -- DC Govt should simply add a 50% tax on all food/merchandise purchased at the stadium after normal metro closing times. Make the Lerners pay for it one way or another...
Only problem is that the concessions typically close well before any such tax would bring any real return. Beer sales in particular, which normally are cut off in the 7th or 8th inning of all games.
The Lerners already have the answer - build massive above ground parking garages and expand highway access to South Cap St. so everyone has no option other than driving to games. Any takers?
The parking garages were not the Lerners answer - they were an MLB requirement.
True, but one thing the city never realized in this whole thing was that there is not a single team owner in all of sports that actually wants to see development around the stadium. In fact, most owners will fight tooth and nail to keep even a food cart from opening outside of the gates. Concession revenue is such a big part of the overall financial equation that there is simply no way an owner can support a true "entertainment district" outside of the stadium. Every beer consumed in the hip pub down the block, is one more not consumed inside.
I think the city truly believed that whoever owned the Nationals would act like a full partner with their plans to develop the neighborhood. Instead we get too much parking and a refusal to pay even a pittance to Metro.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the Nationals (and thus Lerners) benefit from the parking revenue? So why would they want to pay for people to take the metro home after late games, being the profit-driven businessmen they are? I think they should pay, but could see why they might not. At least WMATA, with its funding shortfall, isn't holding the bag.
Only problem is that the concessions typically close well before any such tax would bring any real return. Beer sales in particular, which normally are cut off in the 7th or 8th inning of all games.
The Lerners already have the answer - build massive above ground parking garages and expand highway access to South Cap St. so everyone has no option other than driving to games. Any takers?
Fenty is a terrible communicator and has become far too petty and spiteful to ever be an effective mayor. I certainly hope we see at least one worthy challenger in the next mayoral race. We need to get his dumb ass out of the Wilson Building. Maybe he can get a paper route, with his bicycle skills.
Interesting. I thought I only noticed this because I'm in "da biz." He needs serious comms. help. Check out his statement on the EMS debacle. Sounds like Mayor Barry-blaming "special interests" who are out to get the city.
most of these problems originate from his petty/spiteful firing of the communications director that was a key reason he won in the first place.
Fenty's all washed up. Because of Reason #2:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5hwrzwmqxKBnYcZpEqY3RUVZCNnWQD97ODE080?index=0&ned=us
Nope, it is me. "HCE" was an under-the-wire "guest" account that I only claimed as mine a short time ago. In reviewing old comments, I found a few really offensive ones from others that I didn't want to be associated with, so I killed it.
HCE is dead. Long live NewHCE.
Wow, does this remind anyone else of that movie Beerfest when the one guy dies in a vat of beer, and then his brother who looks exactly like him comes in to take his place, and asks the other guys to call him by the same name and it's like nothing ever happened?
The best threads were the ones that went
HCE: Obama Sucks
HCE: No he doesn't
HCE: Yes he does.
IMGoph: wahhh?????
yep, i'm lost. oh well, the king is dead, long live the king!
Hey Gang! I've got a great idea. Why don't we print our own DC currency. Where's Fenty's number.
Well, no fucking shit, Kwame...
Who should pay for late night Metro? DC. They should pay for it every night, and not just for Nats games, but for everything. For movies, shows, for bar-going. They should just BE OPEN. You want to stimulate an economy? Let people get to and expect to get from a business where they can spend some money. Can we please be vocal in insisting the Metro stay open later?
Oh, and remember when recently WMATA wanted to close EARLIER because they were short on cash? I can't think of anything that would stop me from using the Metro faster than knowing it would be closed before I wanted to take my return trip.