Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond sent a plea to the Atlanta Braves Monday, introducing a bill encouraging Mayor Kasim Reed to continue talks with the jet-setting baseball team.
Bond’s bill comes one week after the team announced its intentions to relocate to Cobb County for a proposed $672 million stadium funded partially with public money. And while Bond’s bill has no binding effect, he says it’s designed to send a message: Please stay.
“We need to present in a public fashion that we are serious about having the Braves remain in Atlanta. We can’t wait for the other team to score,” said Bond.
The announcement that the Braves would leave Turner Field after fielding a team there for 17 years came as a shock to most councilmembers and the public at large. The Braves, who declined comment on the resolution, were enticed by more than $300 million in public money that will help build the Cobb stadium.
The Braves, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, presented the city of Atlanta a similar proposal for development around Turner Field. Atlanta deputy chief operating officer Hans Utz said the city was still weighing that proposal when the Braves announced the team’s departure.
Bond has been among the most vocal on the city council about his desire to keep the team at Turner Field. The Post 1 At-Large councilman said he met with Braves officials, Reed, the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority and downtown business leaders in recent days, after news of the move broke.
He’s also among the councilmembers, including District 1 Councilwoman Carla Smith, whose area includes Turner Field, who said they were not brought into negotiations between the city and the team.
District 9 Councilwoman Felicia Moore voted for the resolution, but said the city was “a day late and hundreds of millions of dollars short” in making the appeal.
The resolution passed by 11 to 2, with District 8 Councilwoman Yolanda Adrean and District 2 Councilman Kwanza Hall voting against it. Both councilmembers said they were uncomfortable with the first iteration of the bill, which authorized up to $200 million in funds from an unnamed source with which Reed could continue talks with the team.
“I don’t know if Cobb County will get the votes through, but I just think it’s wiser for us … to just wait and see what happens with the negotiations with Cobb County,” Adrean said.
The final resolution did not specify a dollar amount.
Bond, who donned a Braves jersey earlier this year during a Falcons stadium press conference, told his colleagues: “It may seem impossible today that the Braves stay in Atlanta… but because of what you’ve done, we’ve at least thrown a log in front of that train.”
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