Fix The Libraries and RFK Stadium

So here’s a great idea! Why not take the $535 million in public funds slated for the new baseball stadium, and instead of throwing it down the tubes, spend it on something useful. I’m sure we could come up with something that needs overhauling in DC…say the library system?

The best part is that fixing the disgrace that is our public libraries will only cost $450 million, and with $85 million left over, we’d have enough to fund a more thorough renovation of RFK Stadium, making it a suitable home for the Nationals.

Except that the representatives for Major League Baseball are acting like stubborn children, who won’t even consider a plan that doesn’t break the bank for the city. They have continually threatened to take their ball and go home, apparantly thinking that they have our city over a barrel. Our leaders need to realize, as was so eloquently stated in a City Paper spot last week, that in reality they can’t just go home. The District is too lucrative a place for baseball precisely because we have pined so long for its return. So let’s stop cowering in fear of the owners, fix up the stadium, and finally overhaul our libraries, too.

After all, I’m a Cubs fan.