A letter from the Pimlico Infield

Marty Kwedar writes to the Maryland Jockey Club about his Preakness Day:

The Preakness Stakes according to your own official program offers "Marylanders and visitors alike an unrivaled experience." As a person born and raised in Maryland, and currently living in Northern Virginia, I attended the Preakness Stakes this past Saturday as both a Marylander and a visitor. To my extreme and utter dismay, the experience at the Preakness could only have been rivaled by a prison riot at Jessup. As an attendee of multiple Preakness Saturdays, I understand that the infield at Pimlico is no place for haughty gentlemen or dainty ladies. The complete and total anarchy and felonious violence I witnessed on Saturday, however, went beyond the pale. The most disgusting things that happened on Saturday were not the actions of the denizens of the infield, rather it was the inaction, indifference, and willful negligence
displayed by your staff. It is your legal and moral duty to safeguard your patrons, but through your carelessness or willfulness you allowed numerous people to be injured. Indeed, I was told by your own security supervisor in so many words that posse justice was in effect for the day in the infield.

I arrived at 9:00 a.m., the crowd was boisterous as expected and everyone was enjoying themselves. Along with my friends, I set up camp in between emergency exits 6 and 7. As could easily be predicted, around noontime the crowd (largely made up of what appeared to be intoxicated minors) began to feel their oats. Their idea of a good time was to throw beer cans, often full, into the huddled masses on your infield. The initial bursts ended relatively quickly, but another onslaught was clearly imminent. At this point, your security personnel made a series of unforgivable mistakes that, only by the grace of God, resulted in countless serious, but non-fatal injuries.

Had your staff acted quickly and made their presence known in the areas where the unmitigated hurling of dangerous missiles was occurring, perhaps the activity would have died down. Instead, your security staff did nothing. At any one time dozens of dangerous projectiles were flying through the air. Some cans contained little alcohol, others were unopened and full. Even a partially opened can could cause serious injury, a full beer can thrown with great force, however, is unquestionably a deadly weapon. As I stood in the infield in shock at the overwhelming deficiency of a security presence, I saw several of my own friends hit by these cans. The blunt force resulted in serious bruises, cuts, and other trauma.

At this point, at roughly 12:15, with the onset of unchecked deadly assault and battery in public, I felt that it was my duty as a citizen and an officer of the Maryland State Bar to try to stop the throwing because it was obvious that your personnel had no intentions of curtailing the potentially deadly acts passing before their eyes. To this end, my friends and I tried to tell the people around us to stop throwing cans because someone was going to get seriously injured. Our neighbors took our pleas for peace as some sort of battle cry and were intent on using force to silence our pleas for calm. After a half an hour of apparently hopeless negotiation with our fellow patrons, one of our neighbors charged at my party. Another neighboring group attempted to break up the physical fight that had begun. With no security to be seen, there was an open window for these animals next to us to maim anyone who got in their way.

As could be expected, within seconds of the start of the fight there was a serious injury. A man was knocked out cold with a metal crutch. After witnessing this umpteenth act of assault with a deadly weapon that day, I ran to find security personnel. I spoke with a young African American male roughly 5'8" tall with two gold capped teeth and a baseball cap (I identify him as such because I did not have the opportunity to get his name) working on your security staff. He was polite, but did not appreciate the urgency of the situation. I went back to the scene of the fight and saw that there was still violent unrest. I then ran back to the area where security personnel were located. I informed the security worker referenced above along with another security worker that someone had been seriously injured, and that there were individuals continuing violent acts. It was an extremely dangerous situation. I asked to speak to someone who could help us.

A supervisor was called over. His yellow staff shirt said "supervisor" on it. He was a large African American male, about 6'5" with a shaved head and a goatee. I told him that someone was knocked unconscious and that there was an imminently dangerous situation between emergency gates 6 and 7. The supervisor responded by telling me that the problem of the beer can throwing was my own fault because, he said 'You all are throwing these cans.' I explained that I was trying to stop people from throwing cans by trying to verbally reason with them. (Of course I was forced to do so because there was no security presence whatsoever). I further explained that we needed help or multiple people would be seriously injured.
The supervisor's response completely floored me. He told me that my friends and I should "knock out" the troublemakers, and only then security would come and take away the unconscious men, but would not arrest us. He said that he was not there to "baby sit us."

Fortunately, when I returned some of my friends had managed to quell the threat from our violent neighbors. Beer cans, however, continued to be thrown. I was hit twice, once in the right knee with a full beer can, aggravating a previous injury. It has left me limping around to this minute, and the full effects of the assault have not yet entirely been manifested. With no end in site, my friends and I tried to gather our things and leave before one of us was seriously harmed. As we were leaving, the can throwing began to die down. Only then did security personnel arrive at our area. It was too little too late. I had witnessed a score of people injured by the cans. Undoubtedly, hundreds more were injured. The overwhelming majority of these injuries could have been prevented if your security personnel made any attempt to stop the violence.

Saturday was truly a sad day for all of Maryland. It would be wise for your organization to address my concerns. I noticed that your dangerous failures were not reported in the media, and I feel it is important that local and national media outlets hear my story of your intolerable disregard for your own customers' safety and well-being.

How Slots Revenue Estimates are Created

Slots proponents seem to have an unending list of things that slots money will do for Maryland. Schools, teachers, health care, bay clean-up, roads, urban renewal, higher education, and land preservation to name a few. But they will never show a single footnote, study, or mathematical underpinning for how this is supposed to work. And if you want an accounting of the costs (lost revenues, failed businesses, homelessness, domestic violence, etc.) you can forget it. They refuse to acknowledge any of it.

Meanwhile, the experts (like Moody's Investor Services and others) call these propaganda-like revenue numbers "overly optimistic" and worse.

I have often wondeded about how the pro side comes up with their ever-growing figures, but now I know. Sometimes you need Dilbert to provide enlightenment:

Virgin Festival 2-for-1 Returns

As many of you know, the MWIA does a lot of critically important work on behalf of Mt. Washington residents. Much of it is behind the scenes--important, but boring. Some of it, though, has pretty clear benefit--like getting you a deal on Virgin Festival tickets.

The MWIA has arranged for folks who live in the neighborhood to get 2-for-1 tickets to the Virgin Festival at Pimlico. We would first like to thank promoters I.M.P. for this very generous deal for the second year in a row.

The best way to get your voucher (details below) is to attend the Spirit of Mount Washington Fourth of July Parade on the Fourth at 10 am. More info in the calendar section of MWIA.org.

For more information, please contact Peter Clough at CPeterC (at) Comcast (dot) net.

The promoters, who were generous enough to create this deal for us, have asked that we institute a process so that only people in the neighborhood get the ticket deal, and that the tickets are NOT re-sold. To that end, we have come up with the following:

1) Dues paying members of the MWIA are eligible to receive a voucher to purchase up to four tickets at the 2-for-1 price. Dues are $40 and cover the 18-months from July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009. You can send your dues to the MWIA at PO Box 10404, Baltimore MD 21209. You will be given a ticket purchase voucher at that time.

Your name and address will be recorded on our V-Fest Master List. You can also pay your dues and get a voucher at the annual picnic to be held in Luckman Park on June 22 at 4 PM.

2) On the day of the concert, you will need to show up at Pimlico's Will Call window with a local ID that matches the name and address on the master list. You can then buy up to four tickets at the 2-for-1 price. You will have your choice of 1-day tickets, 2-day tickets, or 1- or 2-day VIP tickets. All of the details on ticket levels are available at www.VirginMobileFestival.com.

3) YOU CANNOT RE-SELL THESE TICKETS. We want to respect the generosity of this offer by observing the one rule that I.M.P. insisted on.

And now, your Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What if my son or daughter wants to buy tickets?

A: As long as your household has a paid membership, that is fine with us. Please have the person who will pick up and pay for the tickets have their name on our master list. If you show up with a voucher and your name is not on the list, you have a problem.


Q: What if the Festival sells out?

A: This deal is good regardless of a sell out. I.M.P. has assured us that they will have tickets at Will Call for us regardless. Remember, this is not a seated event. A few extra tickets are not that big a problem.


Q: What if there is a problem with the process the day of the concert?

A: My cell number will be on the front page of the master list. If there is a problem, you can call me at that time. I have the cell info for the principals at I.M.P. and will do everything I can to help solve your problem. PLEASE AVOID PROBLEMS BY FOLLOWING THE ABOVE INSTRUCTIONS CORRECTLY. Have local ID and be sure that YOUR name is on the master list.


Q: What exactly IS a local ID?

A: A local ID is a driver's license of Maryland State Identity Card that shows your picture and an address within the MWIA boundaries. These boundaries can be seen in the MWIA by-laws (article III) at http://www.mwia.org/mwia/Association_By_Laws.pdf


Q: Can I invite a guest from outside of the neighborhood?

A: Yes, so long as the person who is listed on the Master List picks up all of the tickets for your party, your guests can live outside of Mt. Washington. And we feel bad for them. If your guests live in Baltimore County, you are required to make fun of them.


Q: I cannot make the picnic or the Annual Meeting. How can I get a voucher?

A: Are you kidding? It's the MWIA Annual Meeting! The special guest will be Baltimore City Planning Director Doug McCoach. You want to know what is being planned for our city, right? If, however, you are in a coma or are called to Stockholm to receive a Nobel Prize, you can contact me off-list at Aaron@21209.org and I will upbraid you personally and then provide you with a voucher and add your name to the Master List.