O'Malley's Folly
Mayor Martin O'Malley cannot seem to avoid a bad idea when it is thrust in front of him.
The Mayor's persistance on building a city owned hotel in downtown Baltimore is an absolutely absurd concept. I have yet to understand where the city of Baltimore has the capital or the ability to construct a hotel at a cost of over $300 million dollars. Even more absurd when you consider that private developers have offered to buy the land and build the hotel for far less than the $300 million price tag.
This in a city that continually runs deficits in its school system. A city where the crime rate remains one of the highest in the country. A city where drug dealers rule many streets. To spend that amount of money on a business venture is nearly criminally absurd.
What makes it more absurd is the failure of other publcily financed projects of similar magnitude in other major cities. As the Sun cites, similar projects in Myrtle Beach, St. Louis, and Sacramento have been built at tremendous costs to the taxpayers, but without the expected benefits in bookings and revenues the city expended. And on top of those projects, the Rocky Gap resort in Garrett County and our very own Compass Pointe Golf Course are local publicly financed projects that have run in the red since their conception.
What is the point of this hotel? Is it political patronage? Is it a legacy within the city? Is it connected to his gubernatorial campaign? It is hard to determine O'Malley's motives. But in the long run, the project will be known as O'Malley's Folly: a monument to blind ambition at the cost of one's community.
The Mayor's persistance on building a city owned hotel in downtown Baltimore is an absolutely absurd concept. I have yet to understand where the city of Baltimore has the capital or the ability to construct a hotel at a cost of over $300 million dollars. Even more absurd when you consider that private developers have offered to buy the land and build the hotel for far less than the $300 million price tag.
This in a city that continually runs deficits in its school system. A city where the crime rate remains one of the highest in the country. A city where drug dealers rule many streets. To spend that amount of money on a business venture is nearly criminally absurd.
What makes it more absurd is the failure of other publcily financed projects of similar magnitude in other major cities. As the Sun cites, similar projects in Myrtle Beach, St. Louis, and Sacramento have been built at tremendous costs to the taxpayers, but without the expected benefits in bookings and revenues the city expended. And on top of those projects, the Rocky Gap resort in Garrett County and our very own Compass Pointe Golf Course are local publicly financed projects that have run in the red since their conception.
What is the point of this hotel? Is it political patronage? Is it a legacy within the city? Is it connected to his gubernatorial campaign? It is hard to determine O'Malley's motives. But in the long run, the project will be known as O'Malley's Folly: a monument to blind ambition at the cost of one's community.
posted by Brian Griffiths at 8:17 PM
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