Who maintains the stadium on a daily basis? Is it the responsibility of the city or the team?

The team bears the responsibility of all the operating costs for the ballpark. That includes making repairs and generally keeping the ballpark modern and up-to-date.

Bill McNeill asks: "Have you gotten an opportunity to taste the food at the park yet? How is it? How are the costs in relation to other stadiums?

I had a chance to taste menu items from both the regular concessions and the food that will be served in the luxury suites. The Nationals have a nice array of choices...I had a half-smoke from Ben's Chili Bowl yesterday as well as a soft pretzel. I like the "Curly W" pretzels from Noah's. If you're lucky enough to be a suite holder, you'll get to choose from some high-end options like rockfish, pea-crusted tuna and salmon. The more traditional fare like hot dogs and cheesesteaks are pretty good.
As for prices, I'd say the food is in line with most ballparks, which is to say it's incredibly overpriced. But what do you expect?

Question fro Ben Jaber: Are there going to be any good ticket deals coming up for a single game?

Well, there are $5 seats available for every game, you just have to line up at the gate to get them the day of the game and there is limited availability. Also, the Nationals will have special family packs where you can get a ticket, a hot dog, a soda and bag of chips for a fixed price. I'm not positive of the price, but I know it's a similar deal to what they had at RFK.

Patrick from Va. Beach asks: Are the Nats concerned at all about the how the field will hold up following the papal mass services? Assuming there will be field seating for that event, any idea on how that will work?

I have not heard anyone from the team express concern about the field. I think there will be some field seating, but you're talking about people sitting in chairs, not diving around or doing anything to extreme. Also, the Pope's visit is on April 17...the Nats don't play another home game until April 23. So there's a week there to make any necessary field repairs.

Bobby Hill asks: What's the deal with that concrete factory next store? I thought the city was buying up all that land.

Hi Bobby. Tell your father Hank I said hello. Arlen's a nice town.
Anyway, I think what you're referring to is the Florida Rock cement plant just to the south of the ballpark. No, the city is not buying that land. Florida Rock has submitted plans for a mixed-use development at the site that will mesh well with the ballpark and redeveloping neighborhood. But it still needs to go through the full zoning and planning process. Florida Rock had submitted plans long ago, even before everyone knew the ballpark was supposed to be there. But once the ballpark was approved they had to go back to the drawing board because city zoning officials didn't think the plans made sense anymore. I think you will see that area redeveloped and become less of an eyesore, but it's a few years away, at least.

Nick Leyva asks: How good or bad a value are the ticket prices for the various sections?

Hi Nick. You're at least the fifth-best Phillies manager of the last 25 years.
I'd say overall, fans will find Nationals Park to be one of the more expensive ballparks in baseball. Most of the lower-bowl seats are quite expensive....you might be able to get a good seat down low for $35, which is tolerable, if not great. Up top, you can find some good $10 and $15 seats, and that's where you can find the best value. The problem is that there are fewer upper deck seats than most ballparks, so finding a great deal may be tough, particularly for the most popular games.

The food at the park sounds awesome. How did the city and sports commission manage to get people like Gifford's and Ben's Chili Bowl to open? And how much more expensive will food be there?

It's actually the team that was most instrumental in bringing in the local vendors. I think the fans expected local vendors, and the team very early on targeted restaurants that were indicative of Washington, following the model that we've seen at other ballparks. Centerplate, the concession provider at the stadium, was instrumental in working with the vendors to make sure folks from Ben's and other establishments had what they needed to deliver the same quality of product at the ballpark. So Centerplate made sure to work with the same suppliers and everything was done in a collaborative fashion. I doubt the Ali family would have come on board if they felt their half-smokes would be of lesser quality than at their U Street shop. And I had one yesterday....it's the real deal.

Bill asks: Are Season Ticket Holders with permit parking allowed to tailgate?

Yes, you can tailgate. The issue is that because parking is so scarce and nearly every space will be filled, you can't spread out with your grills, coolers and tents like you might have at RFK. But I think if you stay in your own little small area, you'll be ok. It just won't be the same kind of tailgating environment we saw at RFK or we see at FedEx for the Redskins.

Tom asks: I hear stadium tours begin April 19th. Any details available?

I'm not sure when they start, but I do think they will begin offering tours later this month, probably after they get through the first week and the Papal Mass. The tours will be offered four times a day on nongame days at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Cost is $15 and you can buy them online or at the Nationals Park box office.

Ian Koski asks: Tim, what's your favorite feature in the new park?

Hey everybody, it's Ian Koski of Nationalspride.com, a very high-quality Nats web site.
Ian, I can't single out one feature, which is one of the criticisms I have of the place. There's no defining characteristic. I do, however, like the fact that the upper deck seats are unusually low to the ground and close to the field. Every seat is comfortable and provides a great view without being to high up. There's no real "nosebleed" section, so to speak. I have been inside the President's Club and Stars and Stripes Club, and find them impressive. But the average fan won't be spending much time in there.

Stewart Griffin from Quohog, RI asks: I know the big screen is HD, but what about the people operating it? Will the new gear make it easier for the booth guys to keep the screens current?

Haha...hopefully. I don't know much about the inner workings of the scoreboard, except to say that it's new, it's modern and there should be no excuse for failing to keep it up to date. Now all we need to do is prevent the team from putting up lame, meaningless stats like "Austin Kearns is batting .326 in his last 7 night games against left-handed pitchers named Phil or Jerome."

Dave Nelson from Wisconsin asks: First, I really loved the special section yesterday. Well done. I seem to recall local protesters crashed many of the stadium events early on to protest the use of taxpayer dollars on the park. Have they gone away?

Thank you for the compliments. We're proud of it. I must give a nod to our assistant editor Harrison Goodman, who did most of the layout and worked himself nearly to death to get it done.
Regarding the protesters, I have not seen any for a very long time. There were a couple protesters who made an appearance a few months ago at an event featuring the Mayor, but I think they were more ticked off at something else the city was doing. I expect we'll see the protests return when the D.C. Council takes up the issue of a soccer stadium at Poplar Point.

Ok, it looks like that's it for today...thanks to all the people who wrote in. Hope it's a great weekend of baseball for everyone!