1.22.2008

Inevitability

So, that $611,000,000.00 price cap on the stadium was, as expected, total bullshit. The cap doesn't include cost overruns pertaining to land acquisition. And guess what! Full-time Dead Man Walking (and part-time D.C. CFO) Natwar Gandhi undervalued the cost of land needed to build the stadium. So we're now up to $654,200,000.00 of taxpayer money. The most expensive stadium in American history has now eclipsed second place (Seattle's SafeCo Field) by considerably over 100 million dollars. Holy shit.

DCist makes an excellent point. Remember when Mayor Anthony Williams was saying that a publicly funded stadium in DC wouldn't require over 400 million dollars? I was freaking out then. That was just too much money to spend on a publicly financed stadium. It's nearly unprecedented.

Look where we are a few years and a few hundred million dollars later.

Mayor Williams and Coucilman Jack Evans, the two morons most responsible for this disaster, should be ashamed of themselves. They have been demoted in my mind from "incompetent businessmen" to "despicable human beings." At what point are you so incompetent that it becomes criminal? I'd like to think we're close. I mean, giving away all of this money when there was no reasonable expectation for the District to get anything in return... why couldn't people figure that out sooner?

Nationals Stadium, which will eventually be given a corporate name where the proceeds will go to the Lerners instead of the city, will be one of the greatest monuments in the city. A monument to the idiocracy we live in today.

Does anyone think the Nationals will even be playing ball in the city in 2028?
Posted by Rusty at 12:23 PM

12 comments:

  1. coffeeJanuary 22, 2008

    rusty, your post is incorrect. the city is not responsible for cost overruns beyond $611 million.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/13/AR2006021301624.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. ErieJanuary 22, 2008

    Coffee, your response is incorrect.

    "Under the council's legislation, all costs in excess of $611 million, aside from overruns related to buying stadium land, must be paid by the Washington Nationals' owner, the federal government or private sources."

    The overruns were caused by Gandhi undervaluing the cost of the land.

    Italics mine.

    Ugh.

    ReplyDelete
  3. coffeeJanuary 22, 2008

    yeah my previous response was incorrect, but so was your post. Land acquisition costs were never part of the $611 million cap.

    http://www.examiner.com/a-1171913~Land_costs_push_Nats_stadium__43M_over_budget.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. RussellJanuary 22, 2008

    Coffee, incorrect. The $611M number did include land acquisition. The Examiner's numbers are adding the 43M to the 611M plus an extra $20M for parking that I didn't think was approved yet. So the cap is, if that 20M increase is accurate, $674M.

    Which is insane.

    ReplyDelete
  5. EdTheRedJanuary 22, 2008

    It's actually only the second most expensive stadium in American history, thanks to Jerry Jones. Of course, the new Cowboys stadium is only eating up $350 million in public funds...with the NFL kicking in $150 million more, and Jerry covering the remainder. Current estimate is around $1 billion.

    Of course, it's only a matter of time before the Redskins move into a new, fully-publicly-funded stadium on the site of RFK that will make Nationals Park look like a fiscally prudent public-private partnership.

    ReplyDelete
  6. PeteykinsJanuary 22, 2008

    Right, all the Redskins have to do is say, "We'll leave unless you pay for a new stadium" and then we'll pay for that, too.

    I'm so thrilled to be paying for a stadium that I will avoid like the plague and will certainly never set foot in (unless kidnapped, I guess).

    ReplyDelete
  7. RussellJanuary 22, 2008

    PSP, it might have a Ben's Chili Bowl. Surely a eating a half smoke while watching THE AMERICAN PASTTIME (tm) can warm the cockles of your heart.

    ReplyDelete
  8. HRH King Friday XIII, Ret.January 22, 2008

    The vast majority of people in this city are fucking brainwashed. Why people aren't up in arms over half the bullshit that goes on in this city (the metro, police, and the stadium to say the least) is beyond me. Coffee's response is fits the typical attitude that permeates this city: Dismiss the cynics and trust the government, it can do no wrong. Jeebus Christ.

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownJanuary 23, 2008

    Wow.....The District follows the Feds. Where does the money come from? (sigh)

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownJanuary 24, 2008

    Just FYI, Princess Sparkle Pony, you're not paying for the stadium, as the funds didn't (don't) come out of the general fund collected from citizen taxes. We should at least try to be outraged for the right reasons here.

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownJanuary 25, 2008

    New licence plates necessary...
    "Taxation and a Stadium"

    ReplyDelete
  12. HillmanJanuary 26, 2008

    For the billionth damn time, 'taxpayers' aren't paying for this stadium. Not in the sense that you folks are pretending. NO funds from the general fund were used. This was solely a special tax on very large businesses, like corporate law firms and lobbying offices. So unless you are the owner of a lobbying firm you ain't paying for this stadium.

    Look. I too think we got taken a bit here.

    But at least be honest and stop lying about who's paying for the stadium.

    And how about also admitting that there's an entire new city being built around the stadium, because of the stadium. The tax revenu from 10,000 new residents and craploads of new office space will be a tax bonanza for the city for decades to come. And that money goes straight into the general fund.

    ReplyDelete

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