This column contains no mea culpa, no “I was wrong.“ Today, the operative phrase is, “I told you so.“ If I was mistaken in thinking Shockoe Bottom was a viable and inevitable location for a new baseball stadium, let me now point out that I began advocating a riverfront site for a new ballpark in October 2000. Now comes Reynolds Packaging Group, which owns almost 18 acres of property on the south bank of the James River between the Manchester and Mayo bridges. It’s pitching this site for a minor-league baseball stadium.

One deal is kaput. Formulating a fresh one is the next step for Richmond Baseball Club LC. RBC has a Sunday deadline to meet the $15.4 million sale price of the Double-A Connecticut Defenders. That transaction will not take place, RBC spokesman Pete Boisseau confirmed yesterday.

It’s time to end this long, drawn-out debate over the best site for a new baseball stadium in Richmond. The Shockoe Bottom location represents the only real momentum we have toward a ballpark. Highwoods Proper ties, which has proposed the Shockoe Center development, appears to be the big-league player in the batter’s box. Mayor Dwight C. Jones is correct in saying there is no consensus on the ballpark. But if we wait to build consensus, we’ll never build a ballpark. People are entrenched in their points of view.

Baseball season is in full swing—but not in Richmond. For the first time in more than four decades, Virginia’s capital city does not have a professional baseball team, and the debate about what to do about it continues. Progress, so far, has been slow. The Diamond is quiet. Some would like to see it revived as home to a minor league team. The city is reviewing a plan to build a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom as part of larger project that would include hotels, offices, restaurants, and living space. Its supporters believe tax revenue from the development can pay for the new stadium. Critics are skeptical.

You mean we couldn’t have done this in Short Pump or Midlothian? That question came to mind when I read Sunday’s story on the Gwinnett Braves’ new stadium in Lawrenceville, Ga. From what I’ve seen of Dean Hoffmeyer’s photos and video on The Times-Dispatch’s Web site, Gwinnett Stadium looks like a pleasant place to watch a a ballgame. The cheap “seats” on an outfield berm and an encircling ballpark concourse are the most distinctive features at a park whose exterior breaks no architectural ground. Times-Dispatch reporter Will Jones—who caught the last game at The Diamond and the first at Gwinnett—says there doesn’t appear to be a bad seat in the house.

What is clear from the bailouts thus far is that corporate criminals and their partners in Congress have no other intention than to line their own pockets Really, what kind of economists are these people? If Congress and the president are intent on spending $1 trillion, send it directly to the taxpayers and let them choose what companies win. So much better, that, than to give money directly to failing corporations that already have demonstrated their incompetence in good times.

For all sane people, there’s only one proper reaction to the passing into history of another Super Bowl: Just a few more weeks until spring training! Yes, baseball fans, the long wait till next year is almost over. Except in Richmond. Virginia’s capital city will be without professional baseball for the first time in 44 years. We’ve parsed endlessly the reasons why. So let’s look to the future.

Legislation designed to get a new baseball stadium or a renovated stadium in Richmond has cleared its first legislative hurdle. House Bill 1803, proposed by Del. G. Manoli Loupassi, R-Richmond, at the city’s request, would designate 2.5 percent of the sales-tax collections derived from the stadium—and the development it spawns—toward paying the bonds used to finance the construction.

Their claim that this ballpark would not be an economic generator is based on analysis of major-league parks. The actual experience is completely different for minor-league parks that are surrounded by offices, housing, and hotels. Louisville, Memphis, and Toledo are prime examples of the amazing benefits to a downtown from minor-league sports.

The extreme makeover of North Boulevard didn’t take. And that’s a good thing. Original plans called for the developer of the $420 million Boulevard Gateway project to relocate Sports Backers Stadium and demolish The Diamond and Arthur Ashe Center while erecting retail, housing, offices and a hotel. But after huddling with two of Richmond’s most powerful players—Virginia Commonwealth University and Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers—developer Highwoods Properties effectively has drawn up a new play in the dirt.

Developers want to build a $60 million ballpark in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom capable of hosting a variety of events. They detailed yesterday how they believe they can pay for the project without tapping tax revenues that currently flow to the city and state.