But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

AND

It ain’t over till it’s over.

While you’re pondering the (rather simplistic) riddle - I’ve got work to do.

Now that we’ve sat through a number of meetings down at City Hall, the circle that we have to square is becoming increasingly clear.  How do we get the City to accept the Can Am proposal, agree to the Lynx’s terms and do it all before time runs out?

Apart from time, here’s the other major problem that I perceive is out there - the desire among council to “open things up”:

“City council has a responsibility to make important decisions about important public assets in a clear, competitive, transparent manner during which the public is consulted,” he said. “What we are proposing satisfies this responsibility.”

                                                                         [Ottawa Citizen, October 3]

Now that’s with respect to Lansdowne Park, but similar sentiments have been expressed about Lynx Stadium.  The key difference here is that there is no existing lease with any team, individual or company at Lansdowne Park.  The same cannot be said of Lynx Stadium - and for the sake of accuracy, they will refer to it as an “operating agreement“.  What we’re asking for then, in essence, is for the City to permit the Can Am League to assume the Lynx operating agreement.   The Lynx will drop their lawsuit, turn the keys over to the Grays and give them the notice they’ve been dying for - if the City agrees not to insist on the $2.77M. 

The frustrating issue is the timing - and this is where we need to be clear:  Say what you will about the merit of either side of the claim, it is evident that both Miles Wolff and the Lynx thought they had an agreement months ago - it was the City that dragged their feet on the issue.

I have to say that after today, Miles Wolff has perfected the presentation of his Can Am League proposal - today he spoke with five City councillors, did a radio interview with the Team 1200, radio and television with CBC, television with CTV and print interviews with the Sun and the Citizen.  Before I go any further, I think its important to thank Mr. Wolff for his efforts to keep baseball in Ottawa.  Likewise for Jim Baba of Baseball Canada - this is the second full day he’s taken out of his schedule on our behalf.

Our meetings went well with all parties and some of the issues I had going in have been clarified.  We still don’t know how or why things changed over the summer, and perhaps that’s not important.  We do know that the lawsuit is a major stumbling block; council can’t consider any proposals until there’s a resolution of the legal issue - and it’s important to be clear here: The City has not yet sued the team.  My understanding is that until the team “breaches its contract”, the City has nothing to sue them for.  We do know that it’s likely that they intend to hold out for the $2.77M they say the team owes.

Fortunately, we weren’t just spinning our wheels today and there’s optimism that the issues will be resolved in time for the Can Am League to know - one way or the other whether they will field a team here in 2008.

There should be good coverage in both papers tomorrow and I will keep updating the blog as information becomes public. 

*** UPDATE ***

I missed this earlier - Neate posts up on Miles Wolff’s visit and what it should mean to council and others.  With respect to the media, today was the best response we’ve had so far.  (I forgot to mention that CFRA also had a reporter interview Miles.)  Radio, television and print - just about all we could ask for.

I know the blog is short on detail, but what I’m going to have to ask everyone to understand is that much of what was discussed has been done with the expectation that it would be kept confidential.  Certainly many of the people on the other side of the table would be far less inclined to speak freely if they thought what they said would be reprinted in the papers or here on the blog.  I want to respect that and not jeopardize what we all want to see happen - baseball here in 2008.

We head back to City Hall tomorrow for more face to face meetings with City councillors and top bureaucrats.  Miles Wolff has made the trip back to Ottawa (from North Carolina this time) to continue to make his case.  I’ve said it before - whether the Can Am League (dare I say “we”?) win or lose, anybody who wanted to see baseball here in Ottawa owes a huge debt to Mr. Wolff.  I’ve been impressed with his tenacity - a prerequisite for baseball men here in the nation’s capital.

What the City owes Mr. Wolff is an “up or down” vote on his proposal, and if nothing else, tomorrow we hope to find out how to make that happen.  Is the position that they seem to have adopted, the “until the Lynx breach their contract we can’t do anything about the stadium” posture political?  Is it a recommendation from the legal department that things can’t move forward in the face of the lawsuit? 

Who is calling the shots on this one?  The Mayor? The City Manager? Council? Lawyers?  Bureaucrats?  All of the above?

Please stay tuned.  I hope to have some answers tomorrow.

Expect blogging outages to be increasingly frequent - I’m ramping up for the first long vacation in two years, and I’ve gotta get stuff ready.

People have been inquiring about what’s going on with the Can Am League proposal - for right now, I can say that it’s still being worked on.  I should have more to report on that front shortly.  For today, considering OTTAWA IS STILL THE AAA AFFILIATE OF THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES, I figure we should celebrate along with the big club.

Notable congrats to Fabio Castro, Kane Davis, John Ennis, J.D. Durbin, Geoff Geary, Chris Coste and Chris Roberson - players who each saw a fair bit of their season here in Ottawa.