Preakness, Slots, And Taxes

It is Preakness time again in Baltimore!  Can you name another sporting event in this country where 120,000 people pile in to a non-downtown neighborhood for a sports spectacular?  The event is uniquely Baltimore. From 1994 to 2001 I attended five Preaknessses.  I can remember the local kids getting paid $5 to push around beer in shopping carts for people who were tired of dragging 3 cases of beer along Northern Parkway.  Mount Washington residents charging $20 per car to park in their front yards is another memory that sticks out in my head.  The infield is total anarchy and is known in some circles as the Mid-Atlantic Mardi Gras.  Pimlico racetrack and many of the nearby residents make a lot of money on the third Saturday of May every year.  Preakness is an event that becomes more popular every year and it is an event we can not afford to lose.  If the Preakness left it would be like when the Colts left. It would be another embarrassing, disgraceful blow to the collective ego of Baltimore.  Baltimore would be one step closer to becoming some faceless boring city like Richmond, El Paso, Cincinnati, or Cleveland. 

It is in Baltimore's best interest to save Preakness but slots are not the answer.  The horse racing industry and the owners of Pimlico say the state needs slots in order to help make horse racing successful. They threaten to move the Preakness if they do not get their way.  A successful business is able to adapt to the current market and come up with creative solutions to survive.  Slots are not creative.  Once slots come you know the gambling industry leaders will immediately say that slots are not making enough money, that horse racing still will not survive, and that we need casino gambling ASAP.

I think slots are being used by some leaders to act in fiscally irresponsible ways. Mayor Dixon has said that slots would help generate revenue to lower Baltimore property taxes.  Instead of finding ways to cut spending the Mayor would rather gamble on slots that may or may not produce new revenue for Baltimore.

People say that slots would improve the area around the track.  Would you want slot machines in your neighborhood?  If you would then I have no problem with you designating Pimlico or Pigtown the gambling center of Baltimore, but what gives you the right to force hardcore gambling and the lovely people who surround it in to another neighborhood?

I personally believe Pimlico needs to reinvent itself.  I remember being 17 years old and going to the track for the first time and loving it. There are a lot of ways to get young people to Pimlico.  It is totally self-contained and there is plenty of parking. They could create some sort of mega-bar there and have college kids bused in. The Virgin Festival is already a very successful event.  There need to be more events at Pimlico, maybe have some sporting events on the infield or more concerts.  Let artists use some space when there is no racing (there is no racing there at least 80% of the year).  Rent out different parts of it during the winter.  I am just coming up with these ideas as I type so I am sure if you got some creative people together (and I would love to help) you could come up with some amazing totally Baltimore ideas that would help generate loads of revenue that would enable Baltimore to keep the Preakness.

I want to stress that my main goal here is not to be anti-slots at all costs but to rather promote keeping the Preakness, having fiscally responsible leaders, and creating something new and original for Pimlico that will benefit Baltimore on a social and economic level.  Now if you want to see a guy who puts anti-gambling high on his lists or priorities I suggest you check out Aaron Meisner (no relation to me).   Aaron is a resident of Mount Washington and I believe he would be a great representative of the 5th district on City Council (I know an actual resident of the 5th district on City Council is quite a foreign concept to most).  Here are links to anti-slot sites that Aaron is associated with.
Topics: taxes , Rikki Spector , Preakness , Pimlico , Slots , Aaron Meisner