Stadium

Two Laurel City Council members blasted plans for a Redskins stadium near Laurel last night and called for the project to be abandoned, saying local roads would not be able to handle stadium traffic.Council President Bruce M. Dodgson and Council member Faith C. Calhoun stated their opposition at a news conference before last night's regular council meeting. Both are candidates for re-election on the March 21 city ballot.Mr. Dodgson said that if any other developer proposed a project with such inadequate roads, "They'd be told to go pound sand."

The proposal to build a Redskins football stadium in Laurel doesn't make much sense, at least from a planning standpoint. But neither does the latest plan for killing the stadium.Citizens Against the Stadium II is out to drum up support for an amendment to the Anne Arundel charter that would bar the use of public money for the project. If CATSII succeeds, the amendment would appear on the election ballot in November.But the amendment is the wrong weapon for fighting this project.It's too far-reaching.

A group of Laurel residents yesterday announced it is forming a citizens' group to support construction of a privately funded NFL stadium next to the Laurel Race Course."

Is what's good for Jack Kent Cooke good for Laurel? Business owners disagree.Scott Schiller, who owns Schiller's Packaging Plus in Maryland City, says a proposed Redskins football stadium in Laurel would destroy his business and "ruin Laurel."Most businesses won't benefit from the stadium, he said, because football fans won't stop in Laurel on their way to or from games to mail packages or buy groceries.The lifeblood of his business is people with home offices, and they tend to work out of expensive homes, he said.

The first game at the Ravens' stadium at Camden Yards is months away, but the lights are on.The 612 field lights, suspended nearly 200 feet in the air from light towers, are burning 24 hours a day as workers prepare to calibrate them. Each of the 1,500-watt bulbs has to burn for at least 100 hours before workers can aim and calibrate the beams to network television specifications."It's called the burn-in period," said Maryland Stadium Authority project manager Alice Hoffman.This week, workers will begin aiming the bulbs and testing their brightness -- a process that might take a week to complete.

Four of Laurel's five City Council members support a sweeping resolution opposing a proposed $160 million stadium for the Washington Redskins near the Laurel Race Course, apparently assuring its passage during the council's regular meeting Monday night.Craig A. Moe was the only council member who did not agree to co-sponsor the resolution when it was discussed at a late-night work session Thursday, council President Faith C. Calhoun said.Walter Lynch, the Redskins' project manager for the stadium, scoffed yesterday at the resolution.

A proposed Redskins football stadium in Laurel would prevent people from worshiping on game days and degrade the quality of life in the area, a procession of clergymen testified during yesterday's public hearing on the stadium."

A Franco-Californian company is proposing a 3,700-foot-long monorail to whisk visitors to Harborplace and the new Orioles ballpark at Camden Yards from the stadium's parking lot south of Hamburg Street. The whole trip would take less than 4 minutes and would cost a nominal amount (a quarter), which in this world buys little transportation, except a ride on the Staten Island ferry.This $17 million proposal by VSL Corp., an affiliate of the giant Boyugues Group of France, represents a striking opportunity for Baltimore to achieve a number of things that could make areas around the new baseball stadium more desirable for business and pleasure.

The political winds that have swept John G. Gary into the Anne Arundel County executive's office and a Republican majority into the County Council chamber may blow new life into the Redskins' proposal for a stadium in Laurel.The Anne Arundel Trade Council is putting together a proposal for Mr. Gary that will outline why a $160 million stadium would be good for the county, and what the county should do to make the stadium a reality. That proposal should be ready within about 30 days, said Richard J. Morgan, president of the Annapolis National Bank and head of the Trade Council's economic development committee.