It's a been a nice respite from stadium news over the past few days, but we're back in the groove now with "Official Promises To Deliver Stadium" from Tuesday's Post, focusing on DC Sports and Entertainment Commission head Mark Tuohey. But, believe it or not, some council members are quoted as criticizing the stadium deal. Tuohey says they'll deliver a deal this week; we shall we....  UPDATE: Backtracking a few days, Jack Evans sounded a whole lot less optimistic on Friday, as quoted in the WashTimes's "Evans: MLB Won't Pay", indicating that they are still two votes short of the seven needed to pass the lease agreement.

Buried in Thursday's Post: "Cropp Proposes 'Compromise' on D.C. Stadium." In a letter to Mayor Bow Tie, "Cropp listed 10 provisions that she said would ensure that at least seven of the council's 13 members would vote to approve a critical stadium lease deal. The key provision would be a guarantee that the city's costs for the project would be capped at the $535 million the council approved last year, plus $54 million in bond financing fees. Any additional costs would have to be covered by the league, the owner of the Washington Nationals or private developers, Cropp wrote. Furthermore, the council expects Major League Baseball to select a local group to own the Nationals and wants more community benefits -- such as free tickets for disadvantaged youth -- added in the lease agreement, she said. Cropp said her letter represents the cumulative wish list of at least seven council members." I'm sure MLB will be thrilled with the idea of the city council dictating who the new owner should be. The rest of the article discusses the Mayor's positive reaction to the letter, and the progress being made on the various fronts. Also, the Post article mentions briefly what Thursday's WashTimes "Council plans to meet lawyer" article focuses on: "Members of the D.C. Council plan to meet today with an attorney specializing in high-level stadium negotiations in the hopes of ending a dispute with Major League Baseball over a lease for the Washington Nationals' new ballpark in Southeast."

The WashTimes provides sunshine and roses in "No more pitchers for D.C. ballpark": "The D.C. government's efforts are nearly dead in closing a deal with Major League Baseball to build a stadium in Southeast for the Washington Nationals. D.C. Council member Jack Evans, a chief proponent of the stadium, has given up trying to persuade fellow members to support the deal. " The article also addresses how the delays are impacting the ability of construction to get finished by March 2008. But Tony is optimistic!

At the end of a WashTimes story describing the city's discussions over what to do with an expected surplus coming out of the new baseball stadium over the years (I know, it didn't make any sense to me, either), there was a brief update about the negotiations over the stadium lease agreement: "Several council sources said they are eyeing a possible vote on the lease at the body's next legislative meeting Feb. 7, but nothing has been scheduled. Council members met yesterday with the mayor's legislative aides to go over possible proposals, and members also are scheduled to meet with council attorneys Thursday." UPDATE: According to the AP: "D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams told reporters Tuesday that he hopes to send a new stadium lease agreement to the council by the end of this week." Note that "sending to the council" and having the council vote on it are two different things.

The National Capital Planning Commission at its January meeting reviewed the plans for street and alley closings within the footprint of the new baseball stadium; their comments were that the street closings should only happen if the ballpark ends up being located at the site, and that the city should agree if a ballpark is no longer on the site, the streets should be reopened. They also addressed the relocation of an asphalt plant that is having to move because of the stadium. The actions can be seen here, through the end of January.

Two stadium-related links, neither of which really contain any news. The Post's Steve Pearlstein comments on it all  and gives a good analysis from the business angle of things with "Baseball Stadium Still Shows Up in the 'Win' Column" , and the AP reports "Tuohey: D.C. Won't be Stuck for Stadium Cost Overruns". UPDATE: And here's the WashTimes's piece expanding on Mark Tuohey's comments about trying to put a cap on the lease.

"Baseball to Seek Arbitration Over D.C. Stadium" is in Wednesday's Post. I'm tired of all of this--you can go read it and tell me what it says ;-). UPDATE, 6 pm: And MLB has done, the deed, filing today for mediation. Here's the MLB.com story. UPDATE, 11:23 pm:  Earlier Post link has gone bad, so I've removed it and added it to the official Thursday story, "Baseball Files for Arbitration on DC Stadium." Since I'm still doing my best to ignore all the back-and-forth and the posturing, I'll just post this quote: "Mayoral aides said the Williams administration may announce changes in the lease agreement by the end of this week and will resubmit it to the council within two weeks."

The Washington Blade's "D.C. law may block O Street clubs from moving" discusses the current state of affairs for the gay nightclubs in Near Southeast, from the ones in the footprint of the new baseball stadium (like Ziegfield's, Secrets, Follies, Heat, and others) to the ones along K Street (Wet, Edge, plus all-orientation Nation). The ones within the stadium footprint say that a law on the books intended to help them may actually prevent them from moving outside of their current area. Meanwhile, Wet and Edge at Half and K have been told they must vacate this year in order to make way for Ron Cohen's mixed-use project on that block. As for the fate of Nation, I've heard nothing about the existing plans moving forward for a 10-story office building on that site--the building permit was filed more than a year ago, although Potomac Investment Properties indicated at the time that they just wanted to be ready for when the time was right to begin building. However, construction materials and fences have been spotted around the Nation building, and their published events calendar is pretty sparse (plus their concert line hasn't been updated since early November) leading folks to wonder if something is indeed afoot. (If someone wants to whisper about any of this to me, I'll listen!)

The Post's Op-Ed page today includes "Why the Stadium Deal Isn't Done," written by Major League Baseball president Bob Dupuy. I'm guessing some people might be unhappy about it, especially when reading paragraphs like "The District, for all its many pluses, is not an easy city with which to do business. City leaders frequently quibble with baseball about its commitments, and they often quarrel with each other. There are so many interested parties in the D.C. government that it seems on some days that no one is in control and on other days that everyone wants to be in control." Oh, and MLB wanted the Banneker Overlook site south of L'Enfant Plaza. Because that would have been so much easier to secure and build on, and wouldn't have had a smidge of citizen opposition.

Mayor Bow Tie was on WTOP's Ask the Mayor this morning--here's a story on his stadium-related comments, with links to audio files of the broadcast. As for Mayor Bow Tie's bow ties, there's even a story about that today, too.