This article is from the kgw.com website, 01/29/2003

Katz: Baseball talks 'very upbeat'

By KGW and AP Staff

Portland Mayor Vera Katz described her meeting Tuesday with baseball officials as "very upbeat and positive," but said much work lies ahead as the city vies for a major-league team.

Representatives from Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia also traveled to New York City to bid for the Montreal Expos. Discussions focused on stadium financing and how fast the cities could put a plan in place to host the Expos in 2004.

Baseball officials questioned Portland's school funding, its financing and its potential ballpark sites, Katz said after the morning meeting. The city still needs to conduct an economic-impact analysis and find funding options that won't cost taxpayers, she said.

The meetings "were very warm, very friendly, very upbeat and positive, but again, very preliminary," she said. "They just asked a lot of questions, like what kind of sites do we think we are going to review, what kind of financial options.... They asked about the legislature, what the chances are. They really wanted just to get to know us."

Katz said she believes baseball wants to make a decision by the end of the summer and that the groups will be invited back for more formal presentations in 6 to 8 weeks.

Baseball wanted to hear how quickly Portland could put financing in place for a new ballpark and the timeline for getting PGE Park ready for major league play. PGE Park, the 19,566-seat home of the Triple-A Portland Beavers, would be the Expos' temporary home until a new stadium is built.

"This can't be done if it involves raising income taxes, involves raising property taxes," said David Kahn, the former Indiana Pacers general manager who is a leading figure in Oregon Stadium Campaign.

Kahn said a bill would be introduced in the Oregon Legislature to use income taxes from player salaries to service bonds the state would issue to raise money to construct a ballpark, which would cost $300 million or more. Several potential sites were discussed, but none has been selected.

Baseball also wanted to know if rain would be a problem in Portland, one of the wettest U.S. cities. It's unclear if a new ballpark would have a retractable roof, such as Safeco Field, the home of the Mariners in rainy Seattle.