Final Baseball Vote Set for Today: How many final votes on the baseball deal are there? For baseball owners, their final vote on whether to send the Montreal Expos (to become the Washington Nationals) to Washington is today. While the real deal making has happened over many months and this vote is more of a formality, the cloud of unsettled District Council squabbles over the contentious stadium deal have put a cloud over today’s vote, the Post reports.
Although city officials still want to talk with baseball officials about some additional concessions with the deal that would publicly finance a stadium on South Capitol Street (site area near Anacostia River seen here in this D.C. Office of Planning photo), baseball’s commissioner, Bud Selig, says that his agreement with the Mayor Anthony Williams from September should be honored.
From the Post:
“We have made a deal,” Selig said. “Certainly, you have every right to expect that we’ll live up to our end of the deal. So, you know, a deal’s been made, and I’m satisfied that the deal that both sides agreed to will take place.”
This week, the District Council approved the plan to finance the South Capitol Street stadium, but that was only a preliminary vote. Another vote remains to finalize matters, but two abstentions from this week’s vote could come back to meddle the final vote on Dec. 14, the Post reports.
As we’ve said throughout the stadium drama, stay tuned.
WASA Agrees to Improve Sewage Treatment: After so many lawsuits over federal wastewater discharge violations, WASA has agreed to improve its infrastructure to prevent wastewater from flowing into the Anacostia River, as well as the Potomac River and Rock Creek. The Post reports that three new tunnels and underground storage facilities will be built at key points to eliminate sewage overflows except in rare but massive rain events.
Originally planned as a 40-year project, WASA says it can now do it in 20 years. We assume the new baseball stadium near the Anacostia River will be built well before the water can be ever safe for human contact. So don’t expect a San Francisco-like waterfront baseball environment, any time soon, as the Anacostia is one of the nation’s most polluted waterways.
Meanwhile, Downriver at National Harbor: As Washington’s wastewater gets flushed out toward the Chesapeake, a number of politicians gathered on the banks of the Potomac River near Oxon Hill, Md., to break ground on the massive National Harbor project. The development is believed to be the largest commercial venture ever undertaken in the state of Maryland, the Post says. After years of political battles, the convention center, retail, entertainment and residential complex will start to rise on a stretch of shoreline over the next 10 years in set phases.
But with Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos eyeing the nearby Rosecroft raceway for slots, neighbors in this part of Prince George’s County are worrying whether slots will be in their area’s future, the Post reported on Thursday.
City Can’t Figure Out Who Rehired Problem Employee: The W.Times investigates who in the city was responsible for rehiring a director overseeing an adult literacy program after she misspent travel funds as the director of education. The mayor’s office couldn’t immediately figure out how she was rehired, but because the adult literacy program is run out of the University of the District of Columbia, whose hiring practices fall outside direct city oversight, that may play a part in the confusion.
Briefly Noted: A small fire cleared out the Hotel Washington last night … Sad news at the National Zoo: the father of the Zoo’s first litter of cheetah cubs in 115 years will likely be euthanized … Truck overturns and spills lime into Va. creek …
