Many of you are aware of the public shitstorm that swept through the D.C. Council in the middle of the night a couple of days ago.
In its wake, the D.C. Council left baseball dead and the Washington Nationals searching for a new home. They probably won't play in RFK Stadium at all this year and most likely will start playing games in Puerto Rico again. It is also not impossible for the team to go back to Olympic Stadium, contrary to popular belief.
It was killed by Linda Cropp, the same public official that sat in on every meeting, conversation and negotiation with MLB since July. She happily approved the deal, told the Mayor he had her support and when MLB held a rally to usher back baseball into D.C., she sang and applauded with much jubiliation.
Regardless of your feelings about, some people hate it and some people don't, if you're a D.C. resident, you should be outraged. Cropp and her cronies have played the District residents like a fiddle, feeding off their ignorance to advance their own political careers. And this angers me more than losing baseball itself.
Cropp & Co. are parading this ammendment around as if they just saved District citizens from evil white baseball owners stealing their tax money.
This is bullshit.
You know who is paying the bill for all of this? The eventual owner, the fans and the biggest businesses that operate in D.C. Not Joe Schmoe. The owner and the stadium will repay the city from taxes on revenue, merchandise, etc. The rest of the funds will come from big businesses (all of which have to meet some high revenue per year standard), many of whom endorse the stadium since they're investing in the Anacostia waterfront project and want to see more MD/VA area people spend their money in our nation's capital. That's it. Those are the people being taxed.
But because people are uninformed, Cropp is using this as a platform for her bid for mayor. Instead of saying, "Hey, you guys in Ward 8, you're not being taxed," she'd rather further this belief in residents, who apparently are the only people that don't read The Washington Fuckin' Post.
Then there are people who keep saying this money should be spent on schools and libraries. What the hell. If baseball goes, all that money goes. It's not like the District is just printing free money to give to MLB. This is a loan and it must be paid back. Sure, let's invest $550 million in schools, but all of the District residents have to pay that back, and unlike the big businesses who will be repaying the stadium (and won't really feel the loss), District residents will be hurting afterwards from such high tax hikes.
It's a tragedy, an embarrassment or whatever the hell you want to call it. Linda Cropp has also built a wall around the city, trying to separate her constinuents from the bordering communities in MD and VA. Those same communities that work in the District, spend their income in the District and were warmly welcome to spend their hard-earned dollars on the Washington Nationals when originally announced.
But the biggest embarrassment is how Cropp is playing all those District residents for a fool. She doesn't respect their intelligence and that's just sad.
In its wake, the D.C. Council left baseball dead and the Washington Nationals searching for a new home. They probably won't play in RFK Stadium at all this year and most likely will start playing games in Puerto Rico again. It is also not impossible for the team to go back to Olympic Stadium, contrary to popular belief.
It was killed by Linda Cropp, the same public official that sat in on every meeting, conversation and negotiation with MLB since July. She happily approved the deal, told the Mayor he had her support and when MLB held a rally to usher back baseball into D.C., she sang and applauded with much jubiliation.
Regardless of your feelings about, some people hate it and some people don't, if you're a D.C. resident, you should be outraged. Cropp and her cronies have played the District residents like a fiddle, feeding off their ignorance to advance their own political careers. And this angers me more than losing baseball itself.
Cropp & Co. are parading this ammendment around as if they just saved District citizens from evil white baseball owners stealing their tax money.
This is bullshit.
You know who is paying the bill for all of this? The eventual owner, the fans and the biggest businesses that operate in D.C. Not Joe Schmoe. The owner and the stadium will repay the city from taxes on revenue, merchandise, etc. The rest of the funds will come from big businesses (all of which have to meet some high revenue per year standard), many of whom endorse the stadium since they're investing in the Anacostia waterfront project and want to see more MD/VA area people spend their money in our nation's capital. That's it. Those are the people being taxed.
But because people are uninformed, Cropp is using this as a platform for her bid for mayor. Instead of saying, "Hey, you guys in Ward 8, you're not being taxed," she'd rather further this belief in residents, who apparently are the only people that don't read The Washington Fuckin' Post.
Then there are people who keep saying this money should be spent on schools and libraries. What the hell. If baseball goes, all that money goes. It's not like the District is just printing free money to give to MLB. This is a loan and it must be paid back. Sure, let's invest $550 million in schools, but all of the District residents have to pay that back, and unlike the big businesses who will be repaying the stadium (and won't really feel the loss), District residents will be hurting afterwards from such high tax hikes.
It's a tragedy, an embarrassment or whatever the hell you want to call it. Linda Cropp has also built a wall around the city, trying to separate her constinuents from the bordering communities in MD and VA. Those same communities that work in the District, spend their income in the District and were warmly welcome to spend their hard-earned dollars on the Washington Nationals when originally announced.
But the biggest embarrassment is how Cropp is playing all those District residents for a fool. She doesn't respect their intelligence and that's just sad.
