Harsh words from a sportswriter!

Tom Knott is a sports columnist for the Washington Times. Within the past 18 months or so, he moved to the District from the suburbs, and he started writing a once/week column on mostly local issues, in addition to his sports duties. He has a libertarian streak (as do I), but nonetheless, I don't always agree with him...

His column today is on fire, as harsh as anything written by Gary Imhoff. For some reason I can't access the column online though, but I'll retype below some key points. The column is entitled "Stadium deal puts council in lose-lose situation" (from a sportswriter!!!!!!):

The developers undoubtedly have deep enough pockets to push the messy deal through, if it comes to that. They are in the business to make money, not answer to the concerns of constituents or the property owners and proprietors whose land and livelihoods, in some cases, are being taken from them through an expanded eminent domain.

Our Founding Fathers never intended eminent domain to be a tool that enriched the private interests of the very rich. Regardless of the Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London, Connecticut, last summer, this fundamental fact has been essentially ignored in the debate.

The self-interests of the principals are varied: a mayor with a legacy to protect, fans blinded by their devotion to the game, council members with political futures to consider, developers looking to receive a hefty return on their investments and baseball's owners looking to squeeze every last panny they can out of the deal.

None of it is about the little people, that is certain. This is about the rich getting richer, and it is happening in the bluest of blue precincts. The deal is destined to be completed in the end, and maybe not so much because of the Williams Administration, the DC Council, the baseball owners or the prospect of arbitration.

It will be completed because of the developers who have a serious interest in the land around the Southeast waterfront site.

Index Keywords: baseball; stadia-arenas