Let’s applaud all those who scratched out a survival planfor the Preakness Stakes to remain at Pimlico Race Course, while realizing thata single day’s worth of horse racing might be the least important aspect of thedeal.
Emotionally, it’s a signal that the city of Baltimore hasn’ttaken another punch to its midsection (and its self-respect.) The Preaknesshelps this city feel good about itself. Politically, the deal says we have amayor who’s got more game than some people suspected.
But most of all, the arrangement that was brokered last week– pending an OK in Annapolis – indicates that all parties understand that thisNorthwest Baltimore property is too valuable to be defined by a horse racealone.
For all those neighborhoods just below the track, along ParkHeights Avenue and Reisterstown Road, it’s a signal that maybe the city’s goingto get serious about rehabilitating those undernourished communities, whichhave been neglected while falling apart for nearly half a century.
For all those neighborhoods just above the track, which aremiddle-class, multi-racial and thriving, but nervous about Pimlico’s future –it’s a signal of stability.
The track’s future, and the surrounding areas, areinextricably tied together.
Never mind, for a moment, the Preakness race itself. Or themillions of dollars now in place to demolish and rebuild the ancient clubhouseand grandstand. And never mind that the bulk of Maryland racing will shiftalmost entirely to Laurel Park, while Pimlico’s reduced to a few weeks of live action.
What’s more important is that Pimlico will be put toyear-round use, and that private developers can build new housing andcommercial buildings and such amenities as a new public library there.
When Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young first sat down withBelinda Stronach, president of the Stronach Group which owns Pimlico andLaurel, he was only days into the job he inherited after former Mayor CatherinePugh’s “Healthy Holly” book scandal.
The Stronach people seemed ready to give up on Pimlico.Whatever chemistry Stronach and Young found in each other, and whateverguidance they got from the lawyers and accountants and architects (andpolitical leaders such as Del. Sandy Rosenberg) advising them, it’s clear therewere grownups in the room.
It’s the Preakness horse race that got the big headlines.But it’s the rest of the property, and the imagination and intelligence thatcan bring it to life, that’s the real story here.
Whatever the future of thoroughbred horse racing – let’sface it, it hasn’t been a major player in America’s sporting culture fordecades, and its future is uncertain – those neighborhoods around the trackwill go on living.
The new deal says life just got more promising for thatentire section of town – and, by extension, the whole city.
A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books, most recently “Front Stoops in the Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come of Age” (Johns Hopkins University Press).
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