links for 2009-06-21

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  • Local Froomkin Connection
    The to-do du jour of blogging this week was the cancellation of political blogger Dan Froomkin's contract by the Washington Post. It was vaguely interesting to me at first, but became more interesting when I read Winston-Salem Journal editor Ken Otterbourg's blog post about having dinner with a young reporter named Dan Froomkin at Mr. BBQ in W-S. I wonder how many reporters who have gone on to (relative) journalistic stardom have gotten their start at the Camel City rag?
    (tags: winston-salem newspapers)

Winning Isn’t Everything

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Want some evidence that people are p-o'd at the ownership of the Winston-Salem Dash, a venerable Carolina League franchise that's been an integral part of Winston-Salem summers for decades?  Just check out this story about the Dash having the best season they've had in years on the field yet only averaging 600-700 butts in seats per game.  Even with the new stadium I'm wondering how realistic it is to expect an average of 4,000 fans per game which is what the powers that be say is necessary for the financing of the stadium to work.  

More Thoughts on the Downtown Winston-Salem Stadium

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The following thoughts aren't mine, they were emailed to me by fellow Lewisville-ian Dwight and I thought they were well worth sharing (with his permission):

This is in reference to your comments about the downtown baseball stadium.  As a couple of Lewisville residents, aren’t we glad to be distanced (albeit only a few yards) from those dodos in Winston-Salem. 
   I have recently enjoyed watching the College Baseball World Series on ESPN and was very interested in the commentator’s take on the new TD Ameritrade Park soon to replace Rosenblatt Field as the site of the College World Series.  As you would expect, they said, “It’s going to be a beautiful facility”, but mostly they bemoaned the loss of a very special landmark.
   Well, does that sound familiar?  We (and yes, I include us among the dodos because Forsyth County residents have a stake in this fiasco as well) had a very special landmark in Ernie Shore Field but now it is gone.
   All this prompted me to google Omaha, Nebraska for info on the financing of their new baseball facility.  I have to admit that I am not the sleuth that I would like to be, but I did learn that their new facility is expected to cost $120 Million and will have a capacity of 25,000 and TD Ameritrade is paying $20 M for naming rights.  The remainder (I think) will be financed by public bonds administered by a special Commission.  WOW!  Why didn’t we think of that?  We have the successful WSFC Utilities Commission and the unsuccessful Tanglewood Park Authority as guides.  In my opinion, The Utility Commission was successful because it functioned as an independent Commission staffed with competent people (only recently have they seen revenue decline because local municipalities have been using solid waste fees to fund their recycling efforts).  The Tanglewood Park Authority was never successful because it was never “independent” of elected officials.
 
So where are we?
 
Omaha gets a new 25000 capacity stadium.
We get a 5000 capacity stadium.
 
Omaha pays $120M minus $20M. ($4000 per seat)
We pay $42M (and rising).  ($8000 per seat and rising)
 
Omaha owns their stadium when completed.
We have to wait 25 years for a deed (good luck Jon, I won’t be around then).
 
Omaha will have a watchdog if they appoint competent people to the Commission.
We have Billy Prim.
 
   Jon, I have chosen to send this comment to you via e-mail because it is somewhat critical of elected officials and I do not feel comfortable using your site for my agenda.
 
   You have my permission to post this comment on your sit or not as you choose.  As always, thank you for an interesting (and provocative) site.
 
Dwight

The Week That Was

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This has been an interesting week.  I spent a couple of days in Raleigh for the day job and had my first opportunity to get a first hand look at the NC legislature in action.  Here's my takeaways from the experience:

  • Compared to the US Capitol the state legislature is very casual.  It's nothing special to bump into a state rep or senator and give them your two cents while walking to a meeting or getting on an elevator.  Heck, it's expected.
  • There's no security to speak of;  no line to go through a metal detector and no one standing at the door to wand you.  Of course there are security guards but I've seen tighter security at a day care center.
  • With some exceptions their offices are tiny. I'm talking room for a desk and two chairs.
  • The legislators, and their staffs, were very responsive.  When I contacted them last week to try and schedule appointments I heard back from most in a matter of hours, which I found pretty impressive given the amount of work they're doing right now.

The other thing that made this week interesting was the hometown drama known as the downtown baseball stadium.  While I could probably write dozens of pages of thoughts on the whole situation, I'd rather just ask the leaders of Winston-Salem some questions:

  • What the heck were you thinking when you broke the multi-million dollar news on Friday and told the public they had a whole weekend to share their thoughts and give you their feedback before a probable vote at a special city council meeting on Monday night? 
  • Were you trying to make it look like you were railroading the thing? 
  • Were you trying to make people even more suspicious than they already were? 
  • In short, were you trying to be obtuse?

Seriously, the city's leadership couldn't have tried to make this deal look any worse.  I'm really not sure what the motivation could have been to handle it this way, but whatever it was I can't imagine that it balances out the negative taste that this left in the public's mouth.  Put it this way: Mayor Joines and the city council spent a whole lot of their political capital to get this done and while they were going to take a hit no matter how they handled this, I think they at least doubled the damage by handling it in the manner that they did.  It will be interesting to see what happens with the next economic development deal that comes along.

links for 2009-06-19

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links for 2009-06-15

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  • Iranian Election May Have Been Legit
    This piece in the Washington Post reminds us why newspapers are important. The article is a nice counterpoint to the common assumption that the Iranian election was rigged, and even better, the authors seem to have significant survey data to back up their arguments. Whether or not they're right it's important that there's a place where a reasoned argument against the prevailing stories can be found.
    (tags: newspapers politics)

Update 6/15/09: Definitely read the links provided in the comments below, which lead to pieces that ask some hard questions.  This reminds me of why blogs and comments are so important!

Arlington

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Although I grew up all over Northern Virginia (the joke in my family is that we moved every few years because my Mom hated redecorating) the place I think of when I think of my childhood is Arlington.  We moved there when I was in 7th grade and stayed through the end of 10th grade and those were some formative years for me.  The Arlington of the late 70s and early 80s that I remember was a little rough around the edges, with neighborhoods like Ballston and Clarendon epitomized by retail strips that had seen better days and some neighborhoods that were teetering on the edge of going to seed.  Well in the 80s the Orange line of the Metro system was finished and the stops in Arlington attracted all kinds of development and there isn't much of Arlington, the smallest county in Virginia and located right across the Potomac from DC, that hasn't be redeveloped. Heck, it's downright upscale these days. That's what makes this video, Arlington: The Rap so funny.  Thanks to my buddy Rich for sending me the link.

links for 2009-06-13

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