Wilmington voters spoke definitively last night on the issue of whether the City should fund a 37-million dollar bond to pay for a minor league baseball stadium. WHQR’s Rachel Lewis Hilburn reports that because the measure was roundly defeated, the City’s lead negotiator on the deal says Council now has a clearly defined agenda.
70% of Wilmington voters said “no” in a referendum on a City-funded ballpark that would host an Atlanta Braves minor league team.
City Councilman Kevin O’Grady, the primary dealmaker on behalf of the City, says although he saw a swell of late support for the project, it’s time to move on.
“We’ll go on to the other priorities of the city – finishing infrastructure improvement…finishing 3rd Street, trying to get a riverfront park built. There’s a lot of other priorities and we’ll just work on those.”
O’Grady echoes Mayor Bill Saffo’s earlier public assertion that baseball is now a dead issue for the City – with no plans for reincarnation.