Stupid Government Tricks

Good grief:

Maryland Stadium Authority chairman Frederick W. Puddester has begun discussions with legislators about creating a statewide panel to attract more sports and entertainment events to facilities around Maryland.

The authority works with a panel of businessmen to attract events to Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. But Puddester wants an inventory of all the facilities in the state and an analysis of how they might be marketed. He said he wants to see all parts of the state benefit from attracting events.

Works cannot adequately describe how silly this is, especially considering yesterday the story was all about how the MTA should be focusing on transit-oriented development.

Of course, Puddester's idea is harebrained. Should not the Stadium Authority concern itself only with facilities they own? Are they talking about a panel to push events towards non-state facilities? Is this some sort of scheme to try to take control of certain venues for the Stadium Authority? What exactly does Puddester have up his sleeve?

As usual, this seems like a poorly constructed cockamamie scheme coming from a professional bureaucrat. I've already shown my support for abolishing the Stadium Authority and privatizing the venues, but at the very least the Stadium Authority needs to stay out of the event promotion business when they are already private companies that, you know, do that sort of thing.