Friday, July 01, 2011

A Midwestern Reader Writes, on “Washington, D.C.: Black Gangs Target White Fans After Nationals Games”

 
See: “Washington, D.C.: Black Gangs Target White Fans After Nationals Games”

“White fans need to boycott Nats games. (“White fans” and “fans” are here synonyms, since “Chocolate City” blacks see the Nats merely as a source of income through jobs and crime, but do not support the team. Then again, how is this city different from all other baseball cities?)

For Nicholas:

Comiskey Park in Chi was the same way. Always negroes harassing whitey for tips to watch the car, etc. And if you walked east you could be set upon just in reaching the El tracks at 35th St. That was when Taylor homes was still in place, and you had to walk a gauntlet to reach the El station.

When they built the new Cellular Field they just bulldozed everything within a half mile of the ball park to make it "safer". I understand they did the same at Yankee Stadium.

I reply,

I see that I made a mistake: That should be “but do not support the team.” I just made the correction.

I wasn’t aware of the bulldozing, but it makes perfect sense. There is no point in making a billion-dollar investment, if it is going to be destroyed by the neighborhood scum. Although I do not support eminent domain for allegedly private undertakings, such neighborhoods typically have properties that are either publicly owned (projects or parcels/homes in property tax default), or belong to private owners who wish they could sell, but can’t because the neighborhood is so unlivable.

On the other hand, I’d just as soon see no new stadiums, than see them subsidized by the taxpayer, who has no control over them, and gets no return on his investment. (Sports stadiums bring no net economic return to the communities that pay for them, but simply re-channel pre-existing spending habits. And since they add over $1 billion in costs, they are bottomless money pits for tax payers.)

2 comments:

Californian said...

When they built the new Cellular Field they just bulldozed everything within a half mile of the ball park to make it "safer".

Sort of like clearing the vegetation around a forward operations base in order to have a clear field of fire...

Anonymous said...

This isn't a new story by any means. Attendance was down in the 1960's for this very reason. Most of the ballparks had been built early in the 20th Century. By the 60's, the area around these parks had become "bad neighborhoods," in the parlance of the time.

In the 1970's, they started building new dual-purpose (both baseball and football) stadiums in the suburbs, or in a "better location."

In July 1965, we traveled hundreds of miles to St. Louis to see a Cardinal-Dodger game. The Cardinals were in their last season in Sportsman's Park, which was in the black section of St. Louis. We didn't have any trouble, but it looked like a dangerous place.

You could see the new stadium (which has since been demolished) under construction. It was some distance away.

Nowadays, it can be dangerous inside the park or parking lot. The assault this year on the Giant fan outside Dodger Stadium, for instance.

David In TN