Ballpark workers find noose at construction site

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Workers at the District of Columbia’s baseball stadium have reported finding a noose on the site, potentially worsening already tense racial relations on the project.

The noose was discovered Tuesday afternoon, said Courtland Cox, an official with the D.C. sports commission, the semi-public group that is monitoring construction of the $670 million stadium. The noose was put together by a white electrician from Maryland who was fired Thursday, Cox said.

Commissioners met Thursday with officials from Truland Electric, the company that had hired the electrician, and the conglomerate that won the stadium contract, to discuss the incident, Cox told The Examiner.

Cox declined to elaborate, but this is not the first time workers from Truland have been accused of racism. Late last year, a group of African-American laborers told their union that they had been called “monkeys” by a Truland supervisor.

A Truland official hung up the phone when asked for comment.

Critics of the stadium project seized on the incident as proof of the bad faith involved in the stadium construction project.

“It’s absolutely stunning,” said Ted Trabue, executive director of the District Economic Empowerment Coalition. “It’s a shame that we’re struggling to hire even a few African-Americans down there and then the few District people down there have to deal with this.”

Trabue’s group has complained bitterly that the stadium construction deal locked out local African-American laborers by insisting that the contracts went to unionized companies. An agreement between the city and the unions required that at least half the labor hours spent on the site were worked by District residents; records show that not even one-third of the hours were worked by locals.

Cox, who once was a civil rights activist, bristled at the suggestion that he and his agency have lost control of the work site.

“Excuse me, we have been diligent, we have been active,” he said. “We have taken appropriate actions to make sure we have a productive work environment.”

Got a tip on the Nationals’ stadium? Call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or e-mail bmyers@dcexaminer.com.

Advertisement