For all the construction challenges a new riverfront ballpark poses to Hamilton County and the Cincinnati Reds, the biggest hurdle to the so-called ''Wedge'' site could be political.
To build a new $235 million stadium between The Crown and the current Cinergy Field site, county officials likely will need land freed up by the massive overhaul of Fort Washington Way.
Though the right-of-way is now controlled by the state of Ohio, the city of Cincinnati is seeking control of that land. That would set up another series of city-county negotiations. Similar negotiations over city-controlled land threatened to derail the county's stadium deal with the Bengals earlier this year.
''In other words, the city holds the land again. We're holding the land hostage,'' City Councilman Todd Portune said Wednesday, repeating a theme that ran through city-county football stadium talks.
Even if the city doesn't end up controlling that land, the county would need the city's cooperation with roads and other elements of the site. County officials clearly are concerned about the spectre of another series of city-county talks.
''From my standpoint, I don't want to mess with the city,'' County Commissioner John Dowlin said. ''I've had enough of that blackmail.'' In exchange for city land needed for the Bengals stadium, the county eventually agreed to contribute $10 million for Fort Washington Way and $7 million for a new flood wall.
Last week, the county offered the Reds a new, detailed plan that would put a baseball park at the Wedge site. County officials said they made the proposal because it's the only site the team wants to talk about.
The county also asked the team to rethink its opposition to transforming Cinergy into a new stadium and to building at Broadway Commons, at Broadway and Reading Road, which Mr. Dowlin favors.
Mr. Dowlin dismissed the mention of Broadway Commons, saying, ''They're throwing me a bone. From my standpoint, the Reds at this point are in the Wedge.''
County Commission President Tom Neyer Jr. stressed that the Wedge isn't a done deal but said he hopes any negotiations with the city over the final Reds site could be handled ''quickly and more constructively'' than the last series of city-county talks.
City-county negotiations surrounding the Bengals deal lasted months and were completed only after Bengals President Mike Brown threatened to kill the deal if the land issues weren't resolved. ''Any objective analysis would conclude that the Fort Washington Way site shouldn't be used as a bargaining chip by anyone,'' Mr. Neyer said.
City Councilmember Bobbie Sterne, who chairs council's Community Development Committee, said she doesn't know if the city would try to seek additional county money for Fort Washington Way in a new round of negotiations.
A ballpark on the Wedge site could complicate the Fort Washington Way project, she said, and it's unclear whether complications could increase the reconstruction's $146.9 million cost.
John Deatrick, the city engineer overseeing Fort Washington Way, said the city doesn't know how - or if - a ballpark on the Wedge would affect the highway project.
Mr. Portune didn't rule out using the land as leverage. Not to get money, as Mr. Dowlin says the city did last time, but to get the county and team to move the stadium to Broadway Commons, which city council has endorsed.
That's exactly what Jim Tarbell, Broadway's biggest booster, thinks the city should do, he said Wednesday.
Mr. Neyer seemed appalled at that notion, saying, ''If city officials treat people looking to invest millions and millions of dollars with such disdain, the last one out should shut off the lights.''
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