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By PATRICK GRAHAM
and MICHAEL SCULLY
Tim*s-I)emocrat Special Writers
ALEXANDRIA — It wasn’t long after Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and billionaire Jack Kent Cooke sang a chorus of “Hail to the Redskins” that state lawmakers began throwing penalty flags.
“I don’t have all the details, but I don’t like the way this was done," said Del. Richard Fisher, R-Vienna, who’s angry that Wilder has kept the General Assembly in the dark over the stadium issue.
“This has been jammed down ( Alexandria’s) throats. . . I’m very skeptical about the whole thing,” Fisher said.
A lot of people are skeptical about the Wilder-Cooke deal to build a 78,600-seat stadium at Potomac Yard in Alexandria. In fact, naysayers are seeking to thwart the deal, citing every possible problem: environment, traffic, parking, neighborhood destruction and cost.
Logistics over traffic congestion and financing have yet to be answered, and many of the finance decisions are beyond the scope of the governor’s office. For instance, the General Assembly must approve the bonding on the stadium, while Washington has control over changes to the Metro station planned near the stadium.
“I want this package to be good for the neighborhood, the people and the state, but they’ve a stake to make,” State Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston, said. “I think it’s really poor public policy to deal behind closed doors. . . I’m getting a lot of calls against this.”
Despite the wave of criticism, Wilder and Cooke appear confident that the Jack Kent Cooke Stadium will open for the Redskins’ 1994 season.
“Let’s get rid of the can’t-doers,” Cooke
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