IN HIS first major address this month as the new president of the National League of Cities, Mayor Anthony Williams of Washington, D.C., called for a national online network where people could access important information about other cities. Williams said he wanted to "harness all of today's technology to solve today's problems."

He lamented, "Right now, there is probably more information online about how to cook the perfect meatloaf than about how to create the perfect schools for our children. There are probably more current statistics about major league football players than about the major league problems our citizens encounter every day. . . . Shouldn't we have the same amount of current information about cities as we do about business, sports, or cooking?"

What one actually cooks up to solve today's problems can differ dramatically, especially when you consider sports instead of schools. This week, Williams proclaimed that the District of Columbia will throw a publicly funded stadium at Major League Baseball to get the former Montreal Expos. A new stadium will cost between $440 million and $600 million. The district will go through the motions of hunting for private funds, but the city is guaranteeing a stadium even if no private funds are found.

"Finally and at last, all of us have risen above the fray and the Washington Nationals are rounding third and heading for home," said Mayor Williams. "Isn't that great?"

No, it is unconscionable. In just the past few weeks alone, baseball teams have thrown $745 million at the feet of 98 free agents, surpassing the equivalent of a stadium. Yet Washington has a school system with the 52d lowest eighth-grade reading and math scores in the country.

New superintendent Clifford Janey said last month that many school buildings in the district are suffering from "criminal neglect." He said school conditions were "awful, just awful. I've seen school buildings in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, everywhere around the country, and this city is among the 10 percent worst -- no make that 5 percent." Speaking of New York, the New York Jets are hoping for a new stadium in Manhattan to which the city and state would kick in $600 million.

The same craziness grips Indianapolis, where Mayor Bart Peterson has just pledged a retractable-roof football stadium to keep the Colts happy. By coincidence Peterson is Williams's new second vice president in the National League of Cities. Peterson hopes to fund the $700 million stadium with revenues from slot machines.

Meanwhile, Indianapolis is currently debating whether to raise $200 million in taxes for a second phase in modernizing its public schools. The city spent $250 million in the first phase of an $832 million project, but there is significant resistance to spending more. The city's chamber of commerce says new taxes will hurt homeowners and small business. But the statewide chamber of commerce says throwing a half billion dollars at the Colts is worth it because of the publicity on Monday Night Football. But every serious study of sports economics says that stadiums are a drag on the taxpayer, not a boost.

Peterson is participating in the door-to-door petition drive to support the school bonds. But he more than negates those efforts with a stadium proposal that pacifies millionaires at the expense of the poor, who disproportionately play the slots.

It is not news that cities invest more in pro sports than children. What is particularly disappointing about these giveaways is that they come in an era of budgetary and educational crisis and involve Democratic mayors who represent two of the top three players in the new regime of the National League of Cities.

The league is allegedly the most serious organization lobbying on Capitol Hill for 18,000 cities, villages, and towns. The league's website says its top legislative priorities for 2004 were homeland security, public safety, transportation, housing, and children and families. It says it wants increased or full funding for Head Start and No Child Left Behind.

Instead, Williams and Peterson want increased or full funding for sports owners while schools go wanting. It makes you wonder if Democrats in particular and mayors in general have any alternative vision to carry to the Hill. Williams said cities face "community needs far exceeding our budgets. Traffic, crime, struggling schools. Not enough health care and affordable housing."

By their actions, Williams and Peterson have declared that the needs of sports come first, no matter how they exceed our budgets.

© Copyright 2004 Boston Globe

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