Another babystep forward: " District officials say Major League Baseball is pleased with the final vote taken by the D.C. Council on the proposed stadium lease. Mayor Tony Williams says some final details remain to be worked out, but he believes MLB officials will sign the lease soon. Williams says groundbreaking at the stadium site is likely to come some time this spring. "

The Washington Blade has posted "Graham withdraws bill to aid O St. clubs", explaining Graham's realization that he was incorrect in believing that "changing the citys liquor law could clear the way for the O Street clubs that offer nude dancing to move to a zone similar to the one in which they are now located. Graham said he has learned since introducing the bill that the city's zoning regulations prevent the clubs from moving anyplace other than the central business district and nearby streets, and they must obtain a special variance from the D.C. Board of Zoning Appeals to move there." In related news, there's been no word as to whether Judge Zeldon has ruled on the city's request to order the eviction of all occupants of the stadium site.

So, what does all of the torrent of words below mean? The short of it is, after initially defeating the stadium lease agreement 8-5 at 8 pm, the DC Council returned to the chambers at 10:00 pm and worked through the emergency cap legislation enough to satisfy council members Schwartz, Gray, Brown, and Barry, who switched their votes to allow the legislation to pass 9-4 at 12:40 am. The gist is that they passed the stadium lease agreement as given to them by the Mayor and MLB, but added an amendment to it capping the city's costs at $611 million. If the Mayor and/or MLB do not indicate their acceptance of the cap amendment by March 6, the council's approval of the lease will be invalidated. So now we wait for that shoe to drop. The stadium saga is not finished yet, but it's also not circling the drain, like it looked to be earlier this evening. And, if MLB does agree, look for a team owner to be announced quickly, and also (I'm guessing) a floodgate of new development plans and deals in Near Southeast, which have been on hold awaiting the stadium resolution. Then there will be the design, and the zoning, and the eminent domain fights, and yadda yadda yadda.... But let's not think about that right now.

Okay, rewind, reset. Let's now bring together the stories about the stadium lease passing, with a $611 million cap. The AP's story is "Council Reverses Course on Stadium Lease Deal," with a good overview of what happened and why. The Post right now has "Council Closer to Deal on Stadium" (no doubt to be updated with the final outcome of the evening), as well as "After Day of Talks, Council Ends Up in Chaos", explain how an 8-5 defeat at 8 pm turned into a 9-4 passage at 12:40 am. Of course, this is all still contingent on the Mayor and MLB saying that the council's legislation is acceptable, which they have until March 6 to do. And even though it was written before the turnaround, you should still read Boswell's "One Horribly Botched Play" to get a feel for the anger from MLB over the initial defeat of the lease. The WashTimes currently still has its pre-approval story, "Council Rejects Stadium Lease," although it was written after the council returned to re-open debate and so includes some details about the eventually successful cap amendment. What a wild day. Now we wait to hear from MLB.

UPDATE, 12:43 pm: And now the stadium lease agreement passes, amended to include the cap, 9-4.

Comments (0) More posts: Nationals Park