Barry to block building pacts

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Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry said he plans to block construction contracts and legislation for building a baseball stadium in Southeast, even if the city seals a deal with Major League Baseball before he likely joins the D.C. Council in January.

"I'm going to do all I can to stop it at the council level and at other levels," Mr. Barry said during an interview with The Washington Times. "We have a lot of opportunities to stop this."

Mr. Barry is expected to win the Ward 8 seat on the council in the Nov. 2 election.

Ballpark supporters say they have enough votes on the current council to pass a $500 million bond issue for the stadium and approve land acquisition before a Dec. 31 deadline to seal Mayor Anthony A. Williams' deal with Major League Baseball to relocate the Montreal Expos to the District.

Mr. Barry told The Washington Times that the next council will have enough anti-ballpark votes to repeal a new business tax to help pay for the stadium, prohibit the use of public lands for the stadium site and reject construction contracts.

"I'm not opposed to fighting it, to saying no," Mr. Barry said. "This is a bread-and-butter issue to me. We are not here chasing some dream or something. This is serious business. This [ballpark] will end up as a billion-dollar boondoggle when it's all over."

Two of the council's 13 members adamantly oppose the stadium plan: David A. Catania, at-large independent, and Adrian M. Fenty, Ward 4 Democrat. Council member Kathleen Patterson, Ward 3 Democrat, also has expressed some opposition to the stadium.

In January, they likely will be joined by Mr. Barry; Kwame Brown, candidate for at-large Democrat; and Vincent C. Gray, Ward 7 Democrat -- all of whom won their Democratic primary races last month and oppose the stadium deal.

"I'm going to stop this baseball stadium and take the money and spend it on housing and schools," Mr. Barry said.

Chris Bender, spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, declined to respond to Mr. Barry's remarks about repealing the business tax and rejecting construction contracts.