Hooray?

The Post is reporting that the D.C. Council endorsed legislation yesterday that would place electronic signs at the new baseball stadium displaying the amount of federal taxes paid by District residents while not having any voting rights. In theory, the signs would make the point to baseball fans that Distrist residents are not only not formally represented in Congress, they are also taxed to boot.

While we’ve long pushed for the council to take any measure possible to further highlight the city’s longstanding lack of voting representation (the D.C. quarter, anyone?), we’re pretty sure these signs won’t actually be appearing in the stadium any time soon. In March, team owners shot down the idea as too political, also noting that the lease agreement they have with the city grants them total control over signage in the park. Sure, we have 611 million reasons why the signs should go up; but they have a legal document saying why they shouldn’t.

We’d love to see council Chair Vincent Gray and Mayor Adrian Fenty head over to the Lerner family offices to try and talk them into allowing the signs to go up. Of course, Ted Lerner isn’t likely to give the go-ahead on something as, ummmm, controversial as voting rights in a town whose history has long been characterized by not actually having them, so it may be worth considering where else in the area around the stadium such signs could be placed that would be similarly visible. The exit of the Navy Yard Metro station? M Street SE? South Capitol Street?

That failing, we’ll propose that the city and the Lerners settle things the way everything should be settled from now — gun duel at high noon. Heck, the Supreme Court has granted us the right to have handguns, so are we going to sit idly by and not use them for productive purposes?

Picture snapped by johnkgroth