Saturday, February 07, 2009

BOYCOTT THE WASHINGTON NATIONALS?

Here's something else I received via e-mail from my man who holds it down six nights a week at the 18th Amendment. Yeah I've been posting a lot of stuff that's coming to through e-mail, but I was never down this stadium deal and having a lot of friends in the service industry this hits close to home. I haven't independently verified any of this, so there's my disclaimer. Read more for the scoop.

From an e-mail

If you follow the goings-on at National's Park, then by now you'll know that the Lerners have terminated its contract with Centerplate, the foodservice provider. As of January 31, dozens of good, hardworking people are now out of jobs, and are receiving no severance pay. The new food company, Levy Restaurants, will be the third concessionaire in three years to be brought in for food service.

What you probably don't know, is that Centerplate executives received a letter of termination on December 24,2008, for reasons that the Lerners "Want something different this season". Merry Fucking Christmas, right? The contract was extended until January 31, as events had been booked with Centerplate up to and on the 31. Per the Nationals, all food, equipment and employees had to be off the property by the end of the day. Employees working that day were expected to alternate between servicing the party, packing all supplies,cleaning up the areas used...and be ready to vacate the premises after the day was over; not exactly a realistic expectation is it?

As an added insult, the Nationals are now refusing to pay for all items on the asset inventory taken by Centerplate, of all items that had been purchased at the start of the season to be used for food service. These items are owned by Centerplate and it was agreed upon in the form of a legal document that the inventory would stay behind for use by the next company, and the Nationals would reimburse Centerplate in the form of a check. The amount owed is currently in the area of $2,000,000.

This is quickly becoming known as typical Lerner behavior. They just recently paid backrent for the entire 2008 year on the South Capitol Street stadium, after the District of Columbia threatened to seize the property for non-payment. Their reasons for not paying? The building "was not complete to their satisfaction". Construction crews and contractors worked around the clock to meet the March 29 deadline demanded by the Lerners (how many sides of their mouths do these people want to try and talk out of?), and in the process,did a rush job and cut more than a few corners.

The result is a blatant example of shoddy, haphazard work in the form of a structurally unsound building. Ask anyone who worked this past off season. Pipes bursting one after another, hood vents and heating units malfunctioning, refrigeration units being cut off, resulting in thousands of dollars in spoiled foods, and other problems too numerous to mention. This stadium was paid for by YOUR tax dollars: is it fair that your money was squandered in an attempt to improve the performance of one of the consistently worst teams in the MLBA? NO! Did the team improve after being given a new home? NO!

Have the Lerners paid rent this year so far? NO! Their attitude and behavior is a slap in the face towards not only the hardworking people responsible for the daily operations of National's Park, but also to the everyday taxpayer, and unfortunately to the baseball fans who supported this team from day one and are truly the ones deserving of the new stadium. Hardworking people who are trying to survive are being punished because a bunch of douchebags feel a sense of undeserved entitlement. WAKE UP D.C- THIS CAN'T CONTINUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11 comments:

IMGoph said...

i thought all along that we should have done a green bay-style thing and have the people of the city own the team, instead of some family of douchebags from the suburbs who only know how to build shopping malls.

Hill Rat said...

That's not a bad idea, but unfortunately that kind of populist shit doesn't really fly anymore or it wouldn't have when the Nats deal was going down. The Lerners have shown themselves to be complete shitbags at every opportunity.

Anonymous said...

IMGorh, can you find a word for a used condom?
Why the woman hating word to describe males? Yet another example of how misogyny is an everyday thing.

Hill Rat said...

@Anonymous

"Douchebag" is a woman hating word now? Please.

This kind of word/thought police silliness does way more to hurt feminism than it does to help your cause. You may want to rethink your tactics if you believe this is winning converts or enlightening anyone.

Trolling my blog and hassling people for their choice of words is a good way to get that ass flamed.

Peace & Chicken Grease,

HR

calibansfolly said...

The Lerners didn't want to pay in full for a building where the pipes were bursting due to shoddy work? Shocking!

It's worth noting here that the Lerners did not broker the deal between the club and the city. They became owners after the contract was in place.

I hope that guy who got me beers for half price when I paid in cash gets hired by the new guys.

Hill Rat said...

The Lerners didn't want to pay in full for a building where the pipes were bursting due to shoddy work? Shocking!

Good point and one I wondered about when I read the e-mail that I posted, it seemed to undercut the contention that the Lerners are total scumbags.

As far as the Lerners coming on board after the deal was negotiated, I think the sweetheart deal the city made was a big part of the reason the Lerners bought the team. You don't get to be as wealthy as they are without taking advantage of good opportunities like a $700M give-a-way by the DC city gov't.

Thanks for commenting!

Anonymous said...

The food service sucked at Nats stadium last year. I'm glad they fired the company. Sorry to hear about the workers,though.

Louise said...

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http://www.nationalsclub.com

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