There is an old ploy in baseball called the hidden-ball trick. You might even remember this move from those classic baseball films “Rookie of the Year” and “Mr. 3000.” Used to fool a base runner into a false sense of security, this cunning little ruse is executed following the end of a play.
One of the basemen will pretend to hand the ball back to the pitcher and then return to his base, ball secretly in hand. As soon as the runner takes his lead, the smirking baseman will tag out the hapless dupe.
There is one problem with the hidden-ball trick though: It’sillegal. The pitcher cannot be standing on the mound, which indicates the next play is about to begin, unless he is holding the ball. If he does, he is charged with a balk, and each runner is awarded a free base.
As we watch the various problems that have plagued development of the new stadium converge into a full-scale debacle, it seems more and more like Mayor Anthony Williams has pulled his own version of the hidden-ball trick.
To counter the widespread skepticism about plans to build a new stadium, the mayor went to work to assuage our fears with cost-caps, contracts and promises galore. “Picture rebirth in Anacostia,” they told us, “that will pay for itself.” “We’ll have condos built by local developers perched atop bustling retail; think Yawkey Way or Wrigleyville!” What started as a way to bring baseball back to the District for fans and lobbyists alike soon became the magic wand that would revitalize an old D.C. neighborhood that had yet to feel the benefits of the city’s redevelopment.
Unfortunately, the mayor’s bold vision for Anacostia now looks a lot less like Main Street, USA, and a lot more like a 5-acre parking lot and towering concrete garages.
First, stadium officials called foul on plans to use environmentally friendly building methods, which would save energy and help protect the fragile Anacostia River from polluted runoff.
“Too expensive,” they said, even though the city will now spend millions more to power the stadium, and already spends millions annually trying to restore the Anacostia.
That was a tough blow for those of us who thought the mayor was as committed to green buildings as he claimed to be. But it was nothing compared to the news that the mayor would not actually be able to bring the very development he had initially promised to the public in order to sell it on the stadium.
The rapidly collapsing development plans leave the city withouta large block of parking spaces it is contractually obligated to provide. As a result, city officials are exploring the option of temporarily paving over a 5-acre swath of land next to the stadium, which might allow for planning negotiations to continue in the future.
The team’s new owners are vigorously lobbying against that, in favor of two massive free-standing parking garages permanently erected on the site, seriously reducing the prospect of any future development.
While either plan might satisfy the District’s legal contracts, neither will justify the contract the mayor broke with District residents, who remain stuck with the bill for the stadium. It is hard to blame the Lerner group for their indifference to the redevelopment efforts; their priority is about getting people to games, not neighborhood reinvestment. The mayor squarely shoulders the blame.
While various council members did craft parts of the stadium financing plan, in the end, it was Mayor Williams’ game plan. Further, it was his grand idea to use revenue from the now-abandoned development effort to offset some of the $611 million public investment and win the public’s approval.
Good as his intentions may have been, he over-promised on a complex set of circumstances that were far outside of his control, hoping to cap a career of revitalization in Washington and preserve a legacy as the mayor who brought baseball back home.
Like a pitcher who desperately wants to force the game-winning out, he called for the hidden ball trick, but was caught in a balk. The only question that remains is: Who will play umpire and award us hoodwinked Washingtonians our free base?
Colin Peppard is a writer for www.DCist.com and a Ward 1 resident.
