Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Another take on baseball in DC from the Baltimore Sun

mayorwilliamsbaseball Mayor Williams at the announcement that Major League Baseball chooses Washington. (There is a great photo in yesterday's Washington Times in "Nats fans full of glee" showing Mayor Williams in the stands at Philadelphia's CitizensBank Stadium for Monday's opening game. Alas the photo isn't online.)

Today's Baltimore Sun has this letter to the editor:

Montreal survives exit of the Expos

Amid the hoopla over Major League Baseball's return to Washington, D.C., we should say a word of condolence to the citizens of Montreal.

First these poor folks lost their national sport, hockey, to the greed and mismanagement of their southern neighbors.

Then we rudely and cynically took their Expos, leaving them without a major-league sport of any kind.

The poor Canadians will have to console themselves with the little they have left; a beautiful, vibrant city, clean streets, a low rate of poverty and a high rate of literacy, national health care and a lively arts scene.
Of course they shouldn't give up hope; maybe someday Montreal will be more like Southeast Washington. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Mac Nachlas
Baltimore
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Note: I am all for baseball, just not for subsidy of it by local government. That unfortunately is a problem that Congress must resolve. Instead, they are more concerned about steroid use, rather than the antitrust exemption and how cities are played off each other (i.e., Las Vegas, Norfolk, Monterrey Mexico, and Northern Virginia in this latest venture)

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