{"id":139,"date":"2004-12-02T16:33:41","date_gmt":"2004-12-02T20:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/2004\/12\/02\/139\/"},"modified":"2005-12-24T03:20:54","modified_gmt":"2005-12-24T08:20:54","slug":"grahams-reply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/2004\/12\/02\/139\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham’s Reply"},"content":{"rendered":"

So my Councilmember Jim Graham voted against using public funds for the stadium. Zoe<\/a> was suprised to find out that “Jimmy G” didn’t respond to my letter by 9am the following day, but 48 hours later I am slightly happy about gettting a reply. However, I can tell this is a form e-mail because there is no reply to the issue of the Randall Homeless Shelter, instead a lot of info about his dedication to libraries….<\/p>\n

\nWhy I Voted Against Public Financing of Stadium<\/p>\n

I voted “no” on the stadium financing legislation because, as I’ve said
\nconsistently, I feel – and many people I represent feel – there are more
\npressing needs in our city than a publicly-funded baseball stadium. Also, I
\nam very uncomfortable with a potential stadium cost that gets higher and
\nhigher with every new estimate.<\/p>\n

In order to meet some other pressing needs, I worked to include a $45
\nmillion bond for libraries as part of the baseball package. There is no
\nmore neglected stepchild of the DC government than our crumbling
\nlibraries, and I truly feel this was an opportunity to secure enough
\nmoney to lead to a true rebirth of our libraries. The District’s library
\nsystem has less than a $30 million annual budget, with just $1 million a
\nyear allocated for capital needs. The library fund for which I fought would
\nhave directed $45 million for repairs and reconstruction of our 27 branch
\nlibraries.<\/p>\n

I proposed to put this fund – and it’s debt service – on par with the
\ndebt service for the stadium bonds, but the Administration was not
\nwilling to do so. The only commitment I was able to obtain was that the
\nlibrary bonds would be “subordinate” to the stadium debt. And with
\nmounting stadium cost pressures, I was not convinced the Library Fund
\nwould actually materialize. Then, on top of everything else, an
\namendment passed today which stripped the bill of the sole potential
\nfunding source – the securitized excess of the gross receipts tax – that I
\nhad hoped would go to a library fund.<\/p>\n

In addition, I had to step back from this situation and say: Is the
\noverall burden of this bill too much for our city to bear?<\/p>\n

There is little question the costs have gone through the roof, and this
\nconcerns me. When we started this discussion, we were told the total
\nstadium cost would be less than $400 million. Then it rose to $440
\nmillion. Then to $486 million. Then to $531 million. Then to $584
\nmillion. Then today an amendment was passed allowing $100 million over
\nthe CFO’s most recent estimate of $531 million. Thus, the cost could
\nrise to $631 million.<\/p>\n

With skyrocketing costs and no immediate funding for other pressing
\npriorities, it became clear today that I could not support this.
\nTherefore, I voted “no.” <\/p>\n

I am somewhat satisfied that, in this debate, the needs of our crumbling
\nlibraries have been given new visibility. My Council colleagues are more
\nsympathetic to these pressing needs than before. I know there will be future
\nefforts, which I will both initiate and support, to address these needs
\nwhich mean so much to literacy and education.<\/p>\n

Sincerely, <\/p>\n

Councilmember Jim Graham, Ward One\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So my Councilmember Jim Graham voted against using public funds for the stadium. Zoe was suprised to find out that “Jimmy G” didn’t respond to my letter by 9am the following day, but 48 hours later I am slightly happy about gettting a reply. However, I can tell this is a form e-mail because there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":35,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nikolasschiller.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}