Baltimore Grand Prix-ola

by Benn Ray

How does a city like Baltimore, with no real current ties to the automotive industry, let alone any ties to the auto racing industry, get an expensive, disruptive Grand Prix in the heart of its commercial district?

Especially when city residents are weary of the disruptions it will cause, increasingly skeptical of questionable revenue projections organizers have provided, and nearly mutinous over the possibly illegal removal of hundreds of old growth trees from downtown.

Well, ya gotta, to use an automotive reference, grease the wheels.

The Baltimore Brew has an excellent piece on campaign contributions from parties attached to the Baltimore Grand Prix.

...analysis of data on file with the Maryland Board of Elections found that individuals and companies connected with the three-day, Indy-style auto race have donated at least $42,400 to the campaign funds of supportive politicians and officeholders.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake: received $24,200 in campaign contributions from Grand Prix-connected interests

City Counilman William H. Cole IV: received $5,500 in campaign contributions from Grand Prix-connected interests

Governor Martin O'Malley: received $7,000 in campaign contributions from Grand Prix-connected interests

All in all, not a bad buy for $42k.

For those who are puzzled why the Baltimore Grand Prix has so deeply angered so many city residents, it's because it is a symbol of the problems residents are having with a city government that is increasingly not governing in the best interests of its residents, but instead in the best interests of its corporate funders.

In the Grand Prix you have yet another large project that promises wealth and jobs for Baltimore City, yet residents are growing increasingly sketpical of such pie-in-the-sky promises from entrepreneurs/developers.

You have a project that takes over part of our city, that will be large, and disruptive, and mainly for the entertainment of out of town visitors.

You have destruction of parts of our property to better aid in the profits of these entrepreneurs and the entertainment of the tourists.

And you have a bunch of money changing hands on the upper levels that won't trickle down to the city and its residents much more than some street repaving and some new growth trees replanted to replace the large, beautiful old growth trees that were destroyed in the name of entreprenneurial profit and out of town tourist enjoyment.

Residents are growing increasingly resentful at City Hall over such community sacrifices for corporate profits, especially when we see our city services cut or threatened on an almost daily basis.

This is why so many of us are mad.

Source.

For more reading - Ed Ericson has an interesting article in the Baltimore Citypaper.

Comments

[BaltimoreGal]

Possibly the most effective use of a Wacky Races graphic ever.

[Sarah]

I'll add that as a lot of cities are trying to go a little greener, Baltimore is inviting racecars into downtown to waste gas and pollute the air.

[Richardwv]

All the same comments/complaints raised when the Camden Yards stadium was built. Few would wish it away and I suspect much the same will be true of the Grand Prix in the end. From the first two days, it appears revenue projections were way too conservative and overall economic stimulus will far exceed initial projections.

[Donald]

I guess I don't understand what's wrong with developing events for tourists. It's the tourists that spend money here, not the 4 kids Section 8 Independence Card single moms that infest my neighborhood. They drain the city of resources, they don't add to it. And yet you seem to want everything to focus on them, more public pools and rec centers so they don't have to watch their kids, more after school programs to keep them entertained, more welfare programs to help these moms get off welfare or drugs or whatever it is that keeps them from shutting their legs and getting jobs instead. It's not the tourists dumping garbage week after week in the alleys, it's not the tourists shooting people or roaming the streets in mobs attacking others, it's not the tourists that sit on their front stoops day after day smoking and drinking, it's not the tourists tagging buildings and street signs.

[Richardwv]

Baltimore remains at its heart a blue collar city in a nation that has abandoned its blue collar economy. Bringing in people with money to spend (without trashing the City and raising crime rates even higher) seems like someone is at least trying to raise the revenue it takes to underwrite all the social programs.

[Tilghman Scott]

It would seem that Charm City has lost none of the backward-looking people who have kept a potentially good city from becoming greater than it is. Look around !! Your unemployment is far above the Obaba doctored national average and there is little industry scheming to locate there. Be thankful that any group has found a way to boost your city. Remember, it takes income to support all of the protestors who, without doubt, never miss a trip to the local welfare office.