Weekend of local rock volume 30
I’m sure many of you come here in this timeslot and expect an op-ed from me as my normal practice is to repost my most recently cleared column from Liberty Features Syndicate at 10:30 on Sunday morning. But today I’m doing an op-ed of a different sort. (and no, it wasn’t syndicated.)
This was the scene when I walked into the bar area of Flavors of Italy Friday night.
My significant other and I had debated about dinner yesterday since we bowl on Friday nights, and I mentioned pizza might hit the spot. Yes, I knew The Permilla Project was playing so that was why I suggested Flavors of Italy.
When I peeked into that bar, I thought I saw every hipster, tripster, and anyone else who wanted to see and be seen within a 10 mile radius of the club.
We actually heard most of the first set before seeing them as we were seated in the restaurant portion enjoying a Continental-style dinner at 10:00 at night. A little dinner music, maestro?
If you take rock as a base, add some jazz influence and the willingness to extend the song to create the feel of perhaps a heavier version of O.A.R. you’d come up with The Permilla Project. The folks up front were certainly swaying to the music and a college town like Salisbury is a natural home base for such a band.
I can see why this is my blogger friend (afterthegoldrush) Ridgely Griffith’s favorite band, they are pretty good. Permilla isn’t completely my cup of tea but they are entertaining.
So next time The Permilla Project is at Flavors of Italy, I encourage you to come early, get a pizza, and grab a seat. You may not choose to stay in it, though. It’s a band and venue which will make you wish it was summer since you can stand outside and hear them (FoI has outdoor seating in the summer, but it’s limited.)
Then again, they may have to find a bigger venue before they know it.
A heavy heart (requiem for M.N.)
Through the grapevine I’ve found out one of the good guys in Maryland blogging passed away today.
While he blogged out of Anne Arundel County, I met Mike Netherland at the Tawes event in Crisfield two years ago, after I found out he was a fan of my site. In this we were a mutual admiration society; Mike wasn’t the most prolific blogger at his own site but he was an outspoken commenter in other venues and in all respects was a great spokesman for the conservative cause.
Most times death is unexpected, and judging by his last post Mike was looking forward to a lot more blogging. It reminds us again that we need to approach life by living it – little did Mike know that his version of “middle age” was several years ago.
In the space Mike had for his “about me” profile, he wrote in part:
Approaching middle age with not-so-quiet desperation, I find solace in my writing. I love trying to get people to think for themselves, thus I have a small but hardy band of friends who seem to tolerate me.
Hopefully he’s in a place where he can find out that he had more friends than he thought and we did a lot more than tolerate him. Perhaps he didn’t have the most well-read site but he held his little corner of Maryland’s blogosphere well and we’re all poorer for his loss.
Rest in peace, Mike.
The Spending Limit Amendment
Earlier this morning I participated in a conference call with Rep. Jeb Hansarling (R-TX) and Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). They are two of the three initial sponsors of a possible Constitutional amendment called the Spending Limit Amendment (H.J. Res. 79), a proposal to limit federal spending to 20% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This number was arrived at because that’s a rough average of federal spending vs. GDP over an extended period.
Their argument falls in a number of categories ranging from dire economic straits to lost productivity to a national security threat. In the call, Hensarling noted “we believe we have to act now” and that he’s “not naive about the fact 5,000 amendments to the Constitution have been offered but only 27 ratified.” Instead, “what we hope to do is start a national debate on the size of government.”
Added Pence, “we have come to the conclusion that we need to introduce a new force,” that force being one of changing our “charter.” He also made the oft-noted point that “as government expands, freedom contracts.”
A number of different bloggers asked questions; I happened to be one of them. My question related to the fact that this seemed to me a weaker version of the balanced budget amendments proposed in the early 1990’s. Congressman Pence argued that this was “not a weaker version” but “a focused effort” on reining in the “runaway spending on steroids” going on today. In their estimate, running a small deficit but only spending 20% of GDP was preferable to having a balanced budget consuming 40% of GDP.
On an earlier question, the pair agreed that the BBA debate ”had an impact” on spending immediately after it was considered.
There’s a lot more to the roughly 40-minute call, but since I’ve been promised the recording later today I can let you be the judge. Suffice to say that this should be a great issue to use in the 2010 campaign and they hope the TEA Party movement embraces the proposal, but they agreed this will be “a multiyear effort” and warned that, left unchecked, in 20 years our spending will place us in the similar position Greece faces now.
It reinforced my belief that Pence and Hensarling are “keepers” when it comes to a “throw the bums out” mentality. You’ll enjoy hearing what they have to say.
Stealing a post
My original intention was to write a very short post highlighting an excellent, well-documented piece on Human Events by Newt Gingrich regarding the specter of reconciliation – after all, he’s been in Congress so I would have to defer to his expertise on the subject. I don’t always agree with Newt but I’m a fan and the man has a pretty good understanding of history.
But in looking for the actual website for the above link (I get the Newt Gingrich Letter in my e-mail so I don’t necessarily go to Human Events all the time) I found an op-ed by Maryland U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Eric Wargotz detailing his trip to Massachusetts during the exciting final days of Scott Brown’s campaign.
What I found most interesting was that Eric didn’t pull any rank during the visit, going out and slogging in the trenches like hundreds of other political volunteers. Having done petition drives in the cold and snow of January in Ohio for a candidate who wasn’t even in my district, lit drops and door knocking in October’s chill, and working the polls on a number of raw and rainy Election Days both here and in my native area I could relate.
And while Eric didn’t have the chance to hang around to savor Scott Brown’s eventual victory, there is a thrill for those of us who are political junkies as the elections draw closer.
Yet it’s both political junkies and agnostics who can make a difference in the battle over health care. Newt’s article is important because he describes the process which either health care bill needs to go through in order to be passed. Aside from a few small cracks here and there, the GOP wall of opposition has held fairly firm over the last many months these Obamacare proposals have been debated (remember, the original goal was to have health care done by last August’s recess.) With Frank Kratovil being considered as one of the possible key votes on the current reform packages being considered, it’s very important to let him know his original opposition should stand.
Unfortunately, none of the phone calls and e-mails beseeching them to “just say no” to Obamacare are likely to dissuade our two United States Senators from toeing the liberal Democrat line and voting in its favor. Since Barbara Mikulski has put aside those rumors she was calling it a career, the national GOP will likely not invest much time or effort into the Maryland Senate race. (Too bad, because the money they wasted on Dede Scozzafava may have come in handy here.)
It just so happens that Wargotz is hosting an online “Mikulski Retirement Party” (it’s really a ‘money bomb’ fundraiser) tomorrow. That’s an idea borrowed from the Brown campaign too, and if it works half as well as Scott’s he’ll gain an even larger financial advantage over his two main contenders. (He had a huge cash-on-hand advantage on Jim Rutledge at the end of 2009, but Wargotz’s pot was less than 1/10 the size of Mikulski’s. Carmen Amedori has just entered the race so she has no FEC reporting data yet.)
Right now we have to play the hand we were dealt in 2008, though, so it’s up to us to convince the jokers we have to vote in our country’s best interest and scrap this health care debacle once and for all.
Do we need bipartisanship?
Yesterday those Americans who were treated to the Blair House health care summit saw a President who told Congress that his time was more equal than theirs and snippily retorted that the 2008 campaign was over when John McCain made a point challenging one of Obama’s assertions.
Obviously the two parties have a very different perspective on what needs to be done with the healthcare issue, and the American people don’t necessarily agree with either side. Same goes for a number of other issues like the (so-called) stimulus, environment, energy independence, and foreign policy.
But this generation isn’t the only one who has wrestled with difficult issues. Over portions of four different centuries Americans have disagreed over a table, in a chamber, and even on a number of battlefields that include a few in our fair state of Maryland. Our Founding Fathers were divided into two camps, Federalists and Anti-Federalists, who made their case through debates and competing pamphlets – perhaps that was the internet of the day.
So what we are going through isn’t really new – I’m sure you could have even found a few folks back in the day who thought George Washington was a horrible President.
Yet there was also created with our system of government a system of checks and balances, and perhaps the three-legged stool isn’t standing so straight these days. With one party controlling the legislative and executive branches, the lone check on their power is the judiciary branch whose highest court hangs with a delicate balance of conservatives vs. liberals – should one of the conservative justices falter it’s possible that the next high court member could tilt the entire court in the opposite direction.
Once again we sit at a precipice which can determine the direction our nation will take. We in the political business are fond of using (or overusing) the phrase, “this is the most important election in years/a generation/our lifetime.”
In this case, though, the hyperbole may be true. If Americans elect a solid conservative majority we would see perhaps the quickest partisan turnaround in history, going from a solidly Democratic House to one run by Republicans and the onetime filibusterproof Democratic majority in the Senate coming down to possibly a split 50-50 body where Vice-President Biden may have more to do than snooze through a seven-hour long summit.
Some decry the loss of what they consider thoughtful moderates in each body, but over the last several decades we’ve seen moderation continue the helpless drift our nation has endured from republic to tyranny, with the federal government controlling more and more of the pursestrings and determining who wins and who loses in business and society. I don’t mind bipartisanship as long as it works in a manner that promotes the conservative, limited-government, Constitutional direction I believe the country needs to progress in. A 218-217 spilt in the House between parties is fine, but I truly want 435-0 conservative.
There is a core of about 100 Congressmen and maybe 20 Senators who deserve to be re-elected, in my opinion. The rest can be retired as far as I care.
In my lifetime, we’ve had a total of about 4 years when Republicans controlled both legislative branches and the exceutive branch (the pre-Jeffords jump 107th Congress and 108th/109th Congresses) – but conservatism hardly advanced because too many people said we had to be “bipartisan.” Bipartisanism has its use, but to me it’s a question of philosophy over party and what we need is a philosophical overhaul of Congress this year and the executive branch in 2012.
Weekend of local rock volume 29
Normally I put these posts up on the weekend and save the weekdays for more serious political items, but since there was a charitable element to most of this post I decided to push the date ahead a few days.
I saw 13 acts in a span of about 48 hours, and all but one was doing their thing for a cause. My friends from Semiblind aren’t strangers to doing charity shows either, but in this case they were out to entertain the patrons at the Oasis Bar and Grill last Friday night and maybe make a few bucks for themselves.
Since a lot of their friends were there and wanted to hear a couple originals, I was happy to hear the band comply. They’re over in Salisbury this Saturday night; alas, I can’t make that show.
I did make this one on Saturday evening though:
Walking in, I heard the jazz-tinged rock of The Permilla Project.
They played a set mostly comprised of originals, with a couple covers thrown in. TPP is a talented group who plays the local upscale joints frequently.
Next up was the ’80’s revival of Bluelight Special.
Before going much farther, it bears mentioning that the half of the local blogosphere I didn’t see at the Conway/Mathias townhall I attended earlier Saturday was at this event. Several contributors to Progressive Delmarva were among the bands playing, plus I met Ridgely Griffith and his daughter Meredith (afterthegoldrush and Twirling…Towards Freedom, respectively.) Melanie of PD is the female member of Bluelight Special, so this was a good time to bring that fact up.
I certainly don’t agree with their politics but give them props for helping out this cause!
Of the bands performing, I was familiar with The Permilla Project and these guys, Not My Own.
After the ’80’s pop of Bluelight Special, these guys multiplied the heaviness quotient about fivefold. Yet they had a good sound about them and they were the first of the three “message” acts which played. Between sets the show featured local clergy who related their stories about the experiences they had in Haiti, with the Brumbleys, or both.
Things quieted down again with the lone solo act featured, Corey Franklin.
Corey played songs which reflected his ministry, as did the headlining act, Reconcile520.
What I can’t figure out about this group is whether they comprise a house band for the Uprising Church (who put on the event) or if they just happen to be church members who started the band on their own. All of them certainly show that the young whippersnappers aren’t the only ones who can rock and minister at the same time.
Unfortunately, I found out later that by missing the afternoon session I didn’t get to catch the sixth band on the bill, Proof Of Love. They had a scheduling conflict and only played the earlier session.
Most importantly, I also learned that the event raised over $1,000 for the Brumbleys’ Haitian mission. The room was about half-full for the evening event so perhaps 300 to 400 attended that show. It’s the first of what will likely be a continuing series of performances until the Haitian mission gets back on its feet.
On Sunday I attended a program with a different (but still noble) cause. The Wicomico Child Advocacy Center put on an interesting fundraiser at Chef Fred’s Chesapeake Steakhouse, and although just three bands were on the bill a total of seven acts contributed entertainment, beginning with Wes Davis.
After his set, we got more classics from two bands who share many of the same personnel. Agent 99 was on the bill, but many of those members also play for the band Full Circle. See if you can figure out the different players in the next two pictures.
Between Agent 99 and Full Circle there was a short break as Davis Ruark announced the CAC will soon have a name change to honor Sarah Foxwell’s memory.
Since this was a fundraiser, there was also a silent auction. I’ve asked Davis Ruark how much was raised but haven’t received an answer yet. These items, though, weren’t moving very briskly.
I didn’t know this, but there were other treats in the musical bag as well. This young man is Michael Sky Chester, and at the tender age of 16 he was doing his first full-set solo.
Mom (a.k.a. Marla, singer/guitarist for Agent 99) had a lot to be proud of. Look for this young man to go places.
Another quick performance came from hip-hop singer Rayz, who performed a song he penned in memory of Sarah Foxwell along with another tune from his recent CD.
Up next was another young musician who had ties to a previous performer – Natalie Davis is Wes’s daughter.
This young woman has a voice on her. Perhaps her and Michael Sky Chester could become a duo act – you never know in the world of local Delmarva music.
Finally, we got to hear the heavy covers of Vivid Season. If you turn on a local rock station like 93.5 the Beach or 96 Rock, you’ll probably hear a good portion of the songs Vivid Season covered.
Unfortunately, their performance was marred by the lead singer being sick, yet he gamely went on with the show as best he could. Next time I run across them hopefully he’s in fine voice again.
Well, this certainly qualifies as a weekend of local rock, does it not? If I get a update from Davis Ruark or the CAC on the proceeds from the event I’ll follow up. But there was some disappointment expressed that the event wasn’t promoted better – local blogs did their part but they don’t reach a huge audience yet. We’re still in an era where promotion requires television or print exposure to succeed.
I look for each event to come back in bigger and better form next time around as the kinks have hopefully been worked out of both.
Benefits with friends
This is a tale of two (actually, three) good events in one weekend – if circumstances permit I plan on being at two. Let’s start with next Saturday, February 20th:
You actually have two chances to attend, one during the afternoon and one during the evening. My guess is that the six bands (in alphabetical order they are Bluelight Special, Corey Franklin, Not My Own, Proof Of Love, Reconcile520, and The Permilla Project – someone who reads this may let me know the actual lineup order) will play about a half-hour set apiece with a few minutes set aside for setup, then do it over for show #2. It promises to be a long day for the performers but an entertaining day for the patrons.
One thing this doesn’t tell me, though, is a cost – apparently there is a freewill donation but there are special deals available, at least according to Reconcile520’s Facebook page.
However, you might need to be a little extra generous with your donations on this one. This is a comment from Progressive Delmarva, where “Reconciled1″ is one of the contributors:
By the time the civic center added all their extra fees.. the room is costing us roughly 1800 bucks. We were originally told $758 then you add a 10% building improvement fee, .25 a chair rental and set up fee, security, event staff, stage manager, paramedic on site, etc… the room was waaaaayyyy more then first quoted. We had volunteers to do all of this but they refused and said it had to be through them. Our stage manager had an inside track in there and it was taken in front of the board to see if they would donate the room but the board turned it down.. The reason we aren’t selling tickets before the concert at the box office is because there is another added cost to do that. With all things considered, we have roughly $5,000 into the operating cost when you add in the sound and light company and the use of a back room for the bands to hang out during the concert.
We have a restuarant that is feeding us all but we have to use another building for that because the Civic Center wouldn’t allow them to cater in. We would have to us their catering if we want to eat. Live and learn…….. The next concert will most likely be held somewhere else.
This got me thinking back to the first Salisbury Skatepark fundraiser, which was also held at the Civic Center – but subsequent ones were held in other locations. Maybe that’s why.
As far as the bands go, the two I’m most familiar with are The Permilla Project (I’ve seen them at the Salisbury Festival) and Not My Own, which has been featured occasionally on 93.5 the Beach’s “Local Produce” show. So the show should have a fair dose of original music along with some cover stuff too.
Then Sunday brings another benefit show – this one benefitting a different cause.
We all know about the tragic death of Sarah Haley Foxwell late last year, and the Wicomico Child Advocacy Center is using her name (presumably with the permission of her family) to raise money and awareness for their cause. It’s a little different fundraiser for them than I am used to, since the last couple years they have auctioned off special gameworn items from the Shorebirds. Last year’s auction was a bit of a downer because of all the rainouts the team suffered, so this is a different opportunity to contribute to the cause and hear more local music.
(There’s also free food, a silent auction, and 50/50 raffle to help raise money beyond the $20 admission price.)
In this case the bands will be Wes Davis, Agent 99, and Vivid Season. (Yep, this is why I included the Vivid Season video last night.)
I’m more familiar with these bands, although I’ve yet to see Vivid Season live. Wes Davis is a frequent player at Salisbury area events, including the Salisbury Festival, and has performed a number of times on Ocean 98’s “Live Lixx at Six.” And many of the events featured in my Weekend of Local Rock series have been graced by the sounds of the ladies of Agent 99, so I’ve seen them at least a half-dozen times. With the possible exception of Wes Davis throwing in an original composition or two, expect to hear a wide range of classic and modern rock standards remade in each band’s image.
If you haven’t been able to get out this weekend to cure your cabin fever, next weekend may present an opportune time to do so.
Those things which divide us
The other day I began a Facebook group based on political belief. This nascent group isn’t large and it may sound controversial, but hear me out before you condemn.
The group is called “Answer just ONE question on the Census.” My contention is that the only question which should be answered on the upcoming Census form is the one where you state how many people live in your dwelling because the only mandated purpose for the census – according to the Constitution at any rate – is to determine numbers for proportional representation to Congress. If America has 300 million people and 435 representatives to Congress, then the only thing truly necessary to know is how much of a multiple of 690,000 or so live in each state so we know the proper number of Congressmen a state should have. For Maryland that will likely remain eight and for Delaware one.
The important question on the standard Census form is Question #1: “How many people were living in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?” It’s the population snapshot which determines the count they need.
But Question 2 asks about additional people (related or unrelated) not included so they can “contact respondents whose forms have incomplete or missing information.” Since there is no need for additional information, it seems to me this can be used to hound nonresponders. Perhaps this question is innocent enough, but it leads to more divisive questions.
The third question asks about the status of your living arrangements, whether you own or rent. The answers are “used to administer housing programs and to inform planning decisions.”
This is where the Census starts to creep well beyond its appointed scope. Then Question 4 asks for your phone number “so they can contact respondents whose forms have incomplete or missing information.” No, the government does not need my telephone number because who knows where that data may end up. Same with Question 5, which asks for the name of each person living in the home.
Question 6 asks about gender, in part because “many federal programs must differentiate between males and females for funding, implementing, and evaluating their programs.” Now back in 1790 when this was first asked this might have made sense because the voting franchise was unavailable to women, but we took care of that with the Nineteenth Amendment.
The next question (#7) asks for age and date of birth, in part for “forecasting the number of people eligible for Social Security or Medicare services.” It’s a handy way to continue the transfer of wealth of working-age folks to those seniors who rely on entitlements. That gravy train is soon coming to an end because the Ponzi schemes are unsustainable.
But the two truly dividing questions begin with Question 8: “Is Person (x) of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?” As the Census people explain, “state and local governments may use the data to help plan and administer bilingual programs for people of Hispanic origin.” Aren’t we supposed to speak English in America? Similarly, Question 9 asks about race in order to cover any other minorities.
More troubling is the data on Question 9 goes to the purpose Question 1 is supposed to: “State governments use the data to determine congressional, state, and local voting districts.”
YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DIVIDE BY POPULATION! NOT BY RACE, NOT BY GENDER, NOT BY WHETHER WE OWN OUR HOME OR WE DON’T – NOT BY ANYTHING EXCEPT “AMERICAN!” This is the one situation where the old Bob Seger song “Feel Like A Number” should apply.
Question 10 just asks about whether the people in Question 1 stay somewhere else. Compared to the other ones, it’s fairly innocuous.
The Census is sold as an innocent method to get what a community deserves – radio commercials pit it as a method to assure we have the classrooms we need or the traffic signals a growing area has to have. But there are other ways of getting that information – school systems annually count their enrollment and traffic counts are easy to obtain.
Perhaps the biggest problem I have with the Census is that “each question helps to determine how more than $400 billion will be allocated to communities across the country.” It’s a signal of just how far the nation has gotten from Constitutional government and become addicted to the spoils of Fedzilla largesse.
But if you answer just one question on the Census, it confounds the process and hopefully sends a message to Washington that we as a nation refuse to be divided. As it is, the system pits black against white, man against woman, poor against wealthy, and old against young in a never-ending battle for taxpayer funding.
I thought the idea was “united we stand”, so why should we assist the overly mammoth federal government in dividing us? Just answer Question 1 and send the form back. Let them call; that’s all the info they’re getting out of me.
So…how do you like the new look?
Here is the new look. I had to reduce the names of the pages to make this look good. I may yet have to tweak the order around to put my General Assembly voting records into a hierarchy and allow myself to add a few more pages as needs arise.
Some other changes I’ll have to make is reducing the size of pictures and videos so as not to crowd the first column on the right-hand side in future posts. That’s all right, just have to remember this once I do new posts (no need to go back and reinvent the wheel.)
Now, though, I have to figure out just how to get some of the other elements into this setup like my Site Meter and other elements. But I have nowhere to go now so this afternoon I may be able to work this out.
Do not adjust your set
Today I’m planning on playing with a new theme for my site, something a little different. So you may find a new appearance as I try to work in some of the elements I’ve built onto my site into this one.
It’s a work in progress, but I think you’ll like it. The trick will be taking the items I’ve put onto what is a pretty much dinosaur theme (Journalized Sand dates from WordPress 1.x) and attempting to fit them into a newer design with widgets. Hopefully it will be smooth but I doubt it!
Wicomico County Lincoln Day Dinner postponed
I didn’t know Al Gore was in the area, but he must be since he brought yet more evidence of global warming.
Anyway, the Wicomico County Lincoln Day Dinner originally scheduled for tomorrow night has been postponed thanks to the massive snowstorm we’ve really yet to experience. (Here in Parsonsburg it is snowing – and has been since noon – but not sticking yet.)
The key to a reschedule date will be when we can get the featured speaker, Bob Ehrlich, to return (and get the same venue.) Once we have a date then we can discuss refunds for those who cannot attend on the new date.
Until then, I guess you will be left to your own devices on how to entertain yourselves tomorrow night.
Will they buy the Brooklyn Bridge next?
Sometimes I take someone else’s comment left here and make it into a post, but in this case I’m going to take something I left in Right Coast Girl’s sandbox and bring it on back here.
She noted that the Wicomico County Council held their public hearing on whether the county should use $1.5 million in Program Open Space money that’s apparently just laying around for our use and spend it on 5 acres to create more parking for the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center. While I heard a lot of proponents of the deal during the portion of the public hearing I watched on PAC-14, Julie pointed out that a number of opponents were likely unable to attend because they were working or watching their children who were home from school thanks to a snow day.
But here was my comment on her post.
Although I question the accuracy of the source, let’s talk about the “barter” idea. Why not sell some “surplus” land in order to purchase the 5 (perhaps eventually 20) acres on better terms?
Meanwhile, it was only a couple years back that some serious discussion was being made about relocating the WYCC to a lot adjacent to Perdue Stadium. Since Perdue Stadium is only used about 75 days a year, chances are that sharing parking with the stadium (and its capacity of 10,000) would create a win-win for the taxpayers and may end the subsidies necessary to continue propping up a building which is beloved by locals but becoming hopelessly outdated.
Mr. Urban may want to note that the OC Convention Center is getting $2.8 million in upgrades if the information given at the most recent AFP meeting is correct, so the taxpayers of Wicomico County may be faced with the prospect of losing business to their competitor to the east anyway.
It may be a difficult pill to swallow in these economic times, but the reality is getting another parking lot isn’t going to make the Civic Center all that much more viable in the long run.
I also briefly commented on proposed stormwater regulations on her site but my main point was the idea of alternatives to the revised parking. As I noted, it was only a couple years back that there was talk about relocating the Civic Center to the Hobbs Road site but that chatter ceased once the county’s finances hit the skids. Perhaps it’s still a viable idea, but the rotten economic situation we find ourselves in means it’s an idea going nowhere fast.
Yet the Youth and Civic Center is likely approaching the end of its useful life. In this day and age of constantly improving facilities, a long lifespan for such a facility would be 40 to 50 years.
Recently the city of Philadelphia closed down the Spectrum. That facility was built in 1967 to house the then-expansion Philadelphia Flyers so its useful life turned out to be 42 years. An even newer facility, Giants Stadium in suburban New Jersey, closed up shop after just 34 years as a new facility is being built next door.
While the Youth and Civic Center doesn’t host a professional sports team, it still competes in a league of its own against newer and larger facilities throughout the region. In the next decade, it’s going to be up to the community to decide whether they want to use public funding to build a more modern facility and perhaps draw a professional minor league basketball, hockey, or even indoor soccer team – or, create the incentives to have a private developer build a new arena on the Hobbs Road site. (Baseball stadiums tend to have a longer shelf life, so Perdue Stadium has the potential of decades more service unless the accreditation process for class A ball becomes much more stringent.)
As part of the process of determining whether paying $1.5 million for a parking lot to serve the Civic Center as well as the funding necessary to rework the lot to conform with state regulations and create the 500 or so spaces on the site, much thought needs to be devoted to the prospect of selling the land once the Civic Center is relocated – given the restriction on alcohol sales at the present site, it’s doubtful the Civic Center will ever exist without a taxpayer subsidy otherwise.
With the backing of the majority of the testimony today and the slick marketing of the County Executive claiming the land will be bought with “free” money, the citizens of Wicomico County may end up buying a pig in a poke. (I predict a 5-2 or 4-3 vote in favor of the purchase.) But we may look back in 10 years and wonder about the wisdom of the white elephant we purchased at the old Mall site, a site which may yet be undeveloped in a decade’s time.
I don’t think this is the wisest move, but perhaps it can trigger further discussion of whether we find it necessary to have a county-owned civic center.
Please note that the opinions expressed on monoblogue are not necessarily those of the Wicomico County Republican Party Central Committee, of which I'm a member. (But they probably should be.)
News from the loony left:
