No Root, Root for the Home Team, Baltimore Orioles Style

"O" "R" "I" "O" "L" "E" "S"

Wild Bill Hagy is turning over in his grave.

There won't be anybody taking anyone out to the ball game in Baltimore today. No peanuts. No Crackerjack -- nada. No spectators will be allowed today to watch Orioles baseball against the Chicago White Sox at Camden Yards.

How did it come to this?

The National Capital region has benefited from a massive spending bomb the last ten to fifteen years in the worlds of Bush and Obama. We blogged again and again on the incredible affluence that club fed has showered on its community. So, of course, when the populous goes off the rails, what is the answer? Yes, it is to spend and spend more. That's what we hear from congressional leadership. 

WASHINGTON — House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer defended Baltimore city officials’ reaction to the riots erupting in the city by asking for more federal tax dollars.

The Daily Caller asked Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, if the city’s leadership had failed, since the West Baltimore area was still being rebuilt from the 1968 riots. Hoyer replied, “We have to invest in making sure that we have proper infrastructure and proper housing so that we have neighborhoods that are safe and that we safe conditions in which to live.”

“But I wouldn’t call it a failure, certainly, of Baltimore,” he added. “But we’re going to have to as a country invest if we’re going to have the kinds of communities we want.”

Dear President put his typically divisive spin on the same, pulling out his shopworn can't get nothing from nobody, rhetorical slam.

The President took aim at the Republican-controlled Congress, saying he was “under no illusion that out of this Congress we’re going to get massive investments in urban communities.”

Hey Barack, how is that investment in the Yellowstone Club working for you?

And now, what is Baltimore doing to succor itself? It's driving economic activity away.

The city has three huge economic engines that collectively bring in billions of dollars from neighboring jurisdictions.

Inner Harbor is a 365 day a year draw, with attractions including museums, performance venues, historic vessels, shops, restaurants and the immodestly named National Aquarium at Baltimore.

• Inner Harbor supports substantial employment (21,000 jobs) and economic impacts ($2.3 billion) annually for the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland;

• Of the 23.3 million visitors who came to Baltimore in 2012, 14 million people from outside of the region visited the Inner Harbor, according to preliminary data. That’s 60% of all visitors to Baltimore who generate economic activity throughout the City; and

• Inner Harbor tourism and business activity accounts for $102 million in annual tax revenue to the City and State.

Inner Harbor is now attracting a different sort of crowd. Says the New York Times, "Throughout Tuesday, state troopers in riot gear and National Guards members patrolled the Inner Harbor tourist district and around downtown Baltimore hotels." Even when business "returns," look for patronage at Inner Harbor to drop at least fifty percent. 

As for the baseball stadium operation it support 2,500 jobs, produces probably a couple hundred million in wages and salaries, contributes up to half a billion to the state economy, and at least $25 million dollars into state and local coffers. Expect to see a downward draft in attendance and revenues, with the beneficiary being Nationals Park in DC. 

The third economic magnet is the M&T Stadium which hosts the Ravens. Only it not being in season protects a negative economic impact.

Way to go Baltimore. Geez.