Crazy Cropp Conunundrum Comes to Close

Linda has seen the light! (Or Here)

D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp said yesterday that she would support Mayor Anthony A. Williams's plan to build a publicly financed baseball stadium along the Anacostia River in Southeast, as long as the contract stipulates the possibility of adding private funding in the future.

"We probably will do that," she said. "I have said from the start that I am in favor of baseball. I'm just looking for a better deal. It's premature to say whether anything will come up that is a better deal."

Cropp's statement came after she and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) met with Fred Cooke, an attorney for BW Realty Advisors LLC. That group has proposed using as much as $350 million in private funds to build the stadium, estimated to cost as much as $530 million.

The Post also reports that a number of businesses are starting to grumble about the gross receipts tax. That's the hidden cost--no one seems to know if, or how many, businesses would move, negating any tax increases from visitors to the park from VA or MD.