Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Stadium Construction Update

I haven’t followed news surrounding the construction of Busch II all that closely, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch just ran a couple of pieces that are equal parts amusing and depressing. Some highlights:

The Fire Department denied the Birdnals a permit necessary to continue with a certain phase of the new stadium’s construction due to safety issues. (The stadium and Highway 40 were too close – who knew?) The specific nature of the denied permit? “Construct baseball stadium per plans.” I’m hoping we don’t have the same lawyers working on free agent contracts: “Hey, Odalis, 3 years at $19 million. How ‘bout it? Love, Walt.”

The front office wasn’t entirely oblivious to how close the highway was, because they’ve included a 100 foot wall in case a driver tries to pull a Jerry Bruckheimer and ramp off 40 into Upper Terrace Reserved.

Meanwhile, St. Louis County has its own fiscal/political hijinks to address. The bonds with which the county hopes to foot its share of the stadium bill were just downgraded in rating and assigned a negative outlook to boot. Whatever that means.

The downgrade apparently stems from the recently-passed measure requiring the county to submit the funding proposal to voters in early April for approval. Politics aside, I’m just amused by the sides. On one hand we have the Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums, who, if things get heated, I fully expect to run a TV spot complete with wolves, swift boats, and Craig Paquette. On the other hand, we’ve got the stadium backers, who have filed suit to simply declare the whole measure null and void. I never really paid attention in Government class, but that’s a legal argument I’d like to hear. (“Objection...It’s damaging to my case!”)

Feel free to correct me on any of this if I’m wrong. First time for everything…

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