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 Roots to Rap
Rahiel Tesfamariam
Friday, October 8, 2004; Page 21
‘Human Needs Not Baseball Schemes’
The No D.C. Taxes for Baseball Coalition, comprised of District residents and organizations who oppose taxpayer financing for the proposed $440 million baseball stadium, held a rally on Tuesday, October 5th, on the steps of the Wilson Building, stressing that they do not oppose baseball's return to D.C. but believe that Mayor Anthony Williams is placing a heavy burden on the city’s residents.
While one of the primary arguments for the benefit of a new stadium has been increased economic development, speaker after speaker proclaimed that the jobs that the stadium would make available would be temporary and low-paying. A study of the Orioles’ Camden Yards stadium, for example, generated $3 million in annual income benefits but $14 million annual tax-payer costs.
While Williams has had the backing of several Council members on the proposed new baseball stadium, At-Large Republican Councilman David Catania and Councilman Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4) offered speeches at the rally, which was strategically planned for the same day that the legislation was being introduced before the City Council, that echoed the believed economic disadvantages.
Fenty said that the baseball owners that Williams is negotiating with should be forced to “pay for it themselves” and that “there is no good reason that we should not keep the stadium at RFK.” The audience gasped in shock when Fenty stated that the $440 million bond proposed for the new stadium ends up being a $780 million cost to the District when you calculate the financing plan of $36 million dollars times 30 years, adding that “we know that there is no way it is going to stay at $780 million.”
Many have said that the taxes and city funds that will be used to pay for the stadium should be invested in needed things such as affordable housing, health care, an improved educational system and neighborhood revitalization.
Protestors mockingly held up signs with quotes made by Mayor Williams during his term stating, “The cornerstone of a great society is not how it cares for the strong and prosperous but how it cares for those in need” and “I believe we can and should have a thriving economy both downtown and in the neighborhoods. No one should be left out of our economic prosperity.”
Education was the focus of many speeches, as adults and a D.C. Public School student pleaded with the Mayor and City Council to save the future of this city from a weak and unstable school system. Many questioned the priorities of city officials, as they believe that there is no one fighting for the rights of the city’s youth.
“People of this city send their children to schools that need substantial capital improvement, including one that my child goes to where there’s a leak in the roof. Where in Anacostia High School, kids tell us that they are in Culinary Arts and the stoves don’t work; paint hanging down the ceilings,” said Damu Smith of Black Voices for Peace. Calling the financing plan “a piece of crap,” Smith stressed that “in the scheme of things, we can’t have a city that is celebrating a baseball stadium when people are sleeping on the street and forced to live in this city where our schools are crumbling.”
One of the many residents that spoke was a Hispanic man that described the devastation of living in Central America, where one sees “a beautiful stadium surrounded by poverty.” He encouraged the crowd to not allow that to happen to the nation’s capital.
The Mayor and Council members, who support building a new stadium when RFK Stadium sits there, waiting to be used, have a long fight ahead of them. Many District residents, activists and politicians who share in their views will not allow them seem to be unwilling to allow them to continue ignoring the needs of the community in order to push big business forward.
For Rahiel Tesfamariam send email to rahielt@washingtoninformer.com.
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