Urban edge ag
Today's column deals with what experts predict will be a growing trend in farming.
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July 31, 2008
July 30, 2008
The new arena
A week ago today, city and state officials announced plans to tear down First Mariner Arena and replace it with an 18,500-seat, $300 million arena, possibly by 2012. Gov. Martin O'Malley and Mayor Sheila Dixon said they wanted the new venue on the site of the current one because of its proximity to the Inner Harbor, the Baltimore Convention Center and transit lines, and they said they believe it would anchor the revitalization of downtown's west side. On Midday today, we hear from M. J. Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp., sports commentator Milton Kent, and Shani Tate Ross, representing the management of the Sprint Center in Kansas City. The $276 million Sprint Center opened last fall.
Midday, noon, 88.1 FM, WYPR
Mad Men or Sad Men?
David Zurawik joins me on Midday to talk about, among other things, the Emmy nominations. David has been praising AMC's Mad Men as great television -- maybe the greatest -- and I have an e-mail to read from a listener/reader challenging him on that. Where David finds cutting edge drama about pre-feminist America, this listener/reader finds a depressing depiction of male-dominated early 1960s corporate life, "Nazi Berlin without any of the art or culture."
Tune in, call in, e-mail us at midday@wypr.org, 1 pm on 88.1 FM, WYPR
July 29, 2008
Farm to fork movement
Midday today is all about farming and the future of food:
Tuesday, July 29
Noon-1:00
We'll talk with Wayne McGinnis, a fourth-generation Maryland farmer, on how to encourage a new generation of farmers, as well as Alice Ammerman, Director of the UNC Center for Health and Disease Prevention. She's working on a study of the public health impact of moving toward a local, sustainable food system. We'll also talk with Dale Allen Pfeiffer, Geologist and author of Eating Fossil Fuels: Oil, Food, and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture.
1:00-2:00
Our look at farming in the 21st century continues with a focus on the benefits of growing and buying locally grown produce. We'll talk with Brian Biggins, who runs Miolea Organic Farm in Frederick County, and Kimberly Triplett, Executive Chef for Sustainability for Bon Appetit Management Company.
88.1 FM, WYPR
Locavore in Mount Airy
From a reader in Mount Airy:
"I guess we're very fortunate here, where we not only have a farmer's market every Wednesday afternoon for three hours, but also have a farming family, the Knills, who operate their own produce stand just on the outskirts of town during the growing season. . . . The next time you come to Frederick, you might want to try a new restaurant, Volt, which is using locally grown foods."
-- Mary Jane Wilson
Greening the new arena
Loads of comment came in on Friday's column on the new arena and Sunday's column taking things a big step further with my advocating of a state-of-the-art "green" arena for Baltimore.
Thoroughly enjoyed your concept and article about the opportunity before Baltimore to make another major national impact with a green approach for a replacement to 1st Mariner!! It has moved me into wanting to do something to help it (not something I'm usually inclined to do). Can you suggest ways to help encourage the right powers-to-be to take a long, hard and sincere effort at going green? Political (city, county, state), private sector......I would like to make my voice heard and maybe influence some family and friends to get the word out. Thanks again for a wonderful idea! -- Steve & Marianne Davies, Bel Air, MD
DR: Thanks for the note, Steve and Marianne. Here's what you do: Compose a letter supporting a green arena and send copies to Gov. O'Malley, Mayor Dixon and M.J. Brodie, the president of Baltimore Development Corp. Consider writing a letter to the editor of the Sun too.
The "greening" of a new arena is the only way to go. Your suggestions were realistic and you proved that each suggestion was achievable. Like you, I feel very strongly in reducing my carbon footprint and bringing about positive environmental change. I have changed my lifestyle to reflect the importance of protecting our environment. I don't want this to be an idealistic dream; this is a vision that can be achieved and I don't want the people of Baltimore to have to settle for anything less. My next step is to contact both the mayor and the governor. -- Felicia Stolusky
You're right. Baltimore has got to stop thinking small. This defeatist attitude that
the city can't support another sports franchise is nothing short of cowardly. Remember
the attitude that the NFL was NEVER returning to Baltimore? If Memphis, Oklahoma City,
and other small markets can attract an NBA franchise, why can't Baltimore, especially now
that people from the suburbs do come downtown, which was not the case in 1973 when the
Bullets moved to Landover. I'm sure you realize that cities like Indianapolis and Cleveland have built two new arenas since Baltimore opened the old Civic Center in 1962 which was functionally obsolete the day it opened. So what is Baltimore waiting for? -- Joe Pantaleo, Brookpark, OH
We could not agree with you more that this facility presents an incredible opportunity to not only meet the requirements of the Green Building Legislation in both the city and the State, but also to serve as an example of how a public facility can operate responsibly. Heck, it can even be used to educate the public about how buildings actually become "green," what that means, why that should actually matter to them, and perhaps how they can incorporate some of these features into their own homes and businesses, without too much cost or trouble. The costs of green are inappropriately maligned - it's not much of an argument to say that the 2% increase in cost is not worth the 30% energy saving, or the 20% water saving, or the reduction in landfill, or the improvement in health status....
And as much as the environmental movement has reached a tipping point over the past 12 months, particularly in the building industry, there are still too many nay sayers and non believers, and there are still a great number of people who don't even know that there is a very real crisis lurking a round the corner, and that it IS going to affect them right where they live and work and play. The environmental challenges we face are not someone else's problem anymore. If the arena is designed by a visionary architect, it could be built with consideration to every detail, from incorporating every scrap of metal and bolt that can be re-used, to having non toxic paints and fabrics, low flow or waterless urinals, solar energy.... and as each step progresses, the developers and owners could work with the city to make it a learning opportunity for the public. This certainly applies to many green initiatives, because so many people still think that these energy, water, toxic material issues are going to happen somewhere else, to someone else. Arena's are supposed to bring people together for a common cause - why not bring them together at the very beginning, as the building is being designed and the plans drawn up... we could start with day one of the design?
-- Lorraine Tunis Doo
A green arena should be a no-brainer for any public funded contract.
-- Bob Kramer
Article could not have been more on target! Every observation...spot on! From a Baltimore native who loves Baltimore, lives in LA and who has spent time in just about every major city in the US. -- Alan
I am not a Baltimore native. Moved here two years ago to attend law school in DC. Had no plans to stay here at all. But NOW I'm looking at condos in Harbor East and planning all the ways to dump my money in Baltimore...this is a great city...with awesome potential, and even as a newcomer my heart beats fast thinking about where this city is going... -- Nikkiyah J. Williams
I’m a 50 year old Baltimorean. Grew up in Don’tDock and I currently live in Carroll County. I love Baltimore and have watched it change from an Industrial wasteland to a thriving metropolis. I left town in 76 when I joined the Marine Corps and upon my return in '80 I was floored. The City needs this new arena. Not for the billionaires to use as a bargaining chip but for the rest of us that need other forms of entertainment. With today’s technology this could be a true state of the art arena. Pool? If I’m not mistaken didn’t they put a temporary indoor pool in for the Olympic trials? How many first rate concerts can be held in a large arena off I-95. NCAA basketball? The circus. Ice skating. Regional and national and Olympic events as well as the ever-popular Disney on Ice and don’t forget Sesame Street. Republican and Democratic national conventions. Arena Football. The Blast, if Ed Hale decides to stay. Indoor Lacrosse. Supercross and Monster truck. Don’t forget the X Games. . . . . The key is to do it right. Build an Arena that is flexible and can change to meet the demand. Baltimore has a proven track record on urban revitalization. This could be the next jewel.
-- M. Scott Jones, Petroleum Service & Installation, Inc., Frederick
As a young Baltimorean who has spent the last six years in Atlanta, I often wonder why quite frankly Baltimore isn't a bigger better city. I keep coming back to the lack of an audacious vision. It's as if we feel that we don't belong at the table with other major league cities. "Small-Think" is why we don't have a real metro, why our skyline lacks vertical height and why most people overlook a great city for other cities in the northeast. "Small-Think" has ingrained itself into the city's fabric ever since the Great Baltimore Fire. Both Atlanta and Chicago had Great Fires with the latter reemerging as a major international city and the former (Atlanta) becoming a major domestic city. With a new arena Baltimore has an opportunity to really reemerge on the national field. I hope that it is daring in design and symbolic of the new Baltimore. I hope that the mayor, the city council and the Annapolis legislators as well as Baltimore residents won't compromise on the size, design or location of the new arena. -- Julian Jackson
I confess that when construction started downtown around six or seven years ago (BEFORE the rehab of the Hippodrome Theater) on Eutaw street to build those condos on top of a parking garage around the corner from University of Maryland Medical Center, I remember thinking, "Who would want to live on top of a parking garage in this part of town?" I was totally wrong. Now that whole corridor is hopping. The little coffee shop (Kirby's) that serves all the medical personal on Redwood Street is more than thriving, in spite of the installation of a Starbucks practically across the street. Things have changed for the better. -- Joane Stato
In 1962, we built the largest public arena in a major league city on the east coast south of New York. We got an NBA team and a team in the highest minors of hockey when there were only six NHL teams. But...we built it 3,000 seats too small and lost out on NHL expansion just five years later. You never know what is going to happen...but you need to be prepared. -- Bob Leffler
July 28, 2008
I-95 trivia
In the second hour of Midday, we go off the beaten path to discover the tastiest little restaurants, best roadside amusements, and sneakiest speed traps with Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner, authors of the book Drive I-95: Exit by Exit Info, Maps, History and Trivia. Stan and Sandra will be on the phone from Montreal. They offered sending callers a copy of their book if they correctly answer trivia questions about I-95. The answers to the questions can all be found in the book. A bit of trivia about their book is that it is frequently stolen when sent in a clear mailer.
Midday, 88.1 FM WYPR
Midday, 88.1 FM WYPR
David Wood on Midday
The Sun's military affairs correspondent and Military Watch blogger David Wood is my guest on Midday today at noon. Last time we spoke, he was in Afghanistan with the Marines. More on the U.S. operation in Afghanistan, where at least 19 Americans have died this month, when David joins us in Studio A.
Midday, noon-2 pm, Monday through Thursday, 88.1 FM WYPR
July 26, 2008
Featured local farm: Hereford
Mingodale Farrm, on Masemore Road, off Mount Carmel Road in Hereford, features pick-your-own blackberries and tomatoes this week. The farm is open Wednesdays, 12-6 pm, Saturdays 10 am til 4 pm, Sundays 12-4 pm. Mingodale also sets up at the Tide Point Farmers Market on Thursdays from 4-7 p.m. You can find them at 1040 Hull Street, near Key Highway and Hull Street.
www.mingodalefarm.com
410-357-0403
July 25, 2008
Arena and conventions
Is it a stretch to think of Baltimore as the locale of a national political convention? If we're to reach the next level as a convention destination, a spectacular new arena would be an important factor. Look at what's going on here. There are 6,847 hotel rooms in downtown, with 1,192 under
construction, including the new headquarters hotel. According to the Downtown Partnership, there are another 1,891 in the pipeline for the next four years. That's a possible total of 9,930 just
in downtown.
That, by itself, doesn't get Baltimore in the running for a national political convention - Mob Town hasn't hosted once since the Democrats nominated New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson here in 1912 - but, figuring on future hotel rooms and suburban hotels within 30 minutes of downtown, we could
make a run for it.
And a new arena with 18,000 to 20,000 seats would be a must. Even if a presidential nominating convention is a stretch, there are many other meetings that demand the big space a new arena would provide, Thomas J. Noonan, president and CEO of the Baltimore Area Convention and
Visitors Association, told me a few months ago. The arena issue is not just about sports, not just about concerts, not just about conventions. It's about all of it.
Below are early reactions to today's column. More are welcome. But remember: This is a Small-Think/Never-Think Free Zone
"For years, the small-minded have told anyone who would listen that Baltimore can't support the NBA, can't support the NHL, can't afford a new arena, and then get offended when the national media calls our city "minor-league." This a hotbed of high-school basketball talent (don't believe me, check out espn.com for validation), one of the best underground music scenes in America (Rolling Stone said that), and a ever-changing population that is starved for new and different forms of entertainment. Remember, these are some of the same people who preferred the Stallions to the Ravens. Remember, small minds talk about people, mediocre minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
-- David, Baltimore
"how to pay for a new arena? put a casino in the basement. the gambling
industry is always looking to grow, no matter the economy. they can pay
for the building. and with slots on the way, casinos are next. lets just
bite the bullet now, have 1 huge casino in bmore. the devil in the
basement pays for the arean above. just keep the doors locked!"
--john m, bmore
July 24, 2008
Jobs of the future
In a changing marketplace, which careers will emerge as the most lucrative and secure? On Midday at 1 pm today we hook up with Marty Nemko, a career coach and author of U.S. News & World Report's "Best Careers of 2008," and Dumont Owen, Director of the Career Center at the University of Baltimore. Click here for the Baltimore Sun's job resources
Douglass High
If you got a chance to see the HBO doc Hard Times At Douglass High, you might want to check out Midday at noon. The directors Alan and Susan Raymond are to be guests. 88.1 WYPR. The film airs again this weekend.
July 23, 2008
Last of its kind
The second hour of today's Midday show is themed, "Last of its kind," products, objects, people, traditions or phenomena that are at long last unique -- or just about there. We're looking for things that are going, going . . . but not quite gone yet.
The last pinball manufacturer, the last duckpin bowling machine repairman, the last company making washboards, the last store with a Baldwin Flyer pulley-and-crank system (tune in to find out what that's all about). If you think of other examples, please drop us an e-mail at midday@wypr.org
John Brown at Inner Harbor
Former Sun editor Ernie Imhoff, author of Good Shipmates, about the rescue and restoration of the World War II Liberty ship John W. Brown, says the ship will make a rare stop at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, where more visitors can get a tour of this almost-last-of-its-kind vessel.
- The S.S. John W. Brown, Baltimore’s still operating World War II museum ship, will visit the city’s Inner Harbor from Thursday July 31 to Sunday August 3 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her rescue and subsequent second sailing career.
A fixture in Baltimore since 1988, the Brown nevertheless remains an unknown quantity to many Marylanders because of her location in industrial Canton. You can get a close-up at the Inner Harbor.
The Brown will be open to the public at the West Wall of the Inner Harbor. Visiting hours are listed below. The ship’s company, all volunteers, will greet visitors at key spots, explain the ship and help them follow blue arrows painted on deck in self-guided tours of the entire ship.
The 441-foot Liberty ship carried troops and cargo in the European Theater of World War II from 1942 to 1945 and landed soldiers in the 1944 invasion of Southern France. Her convoys often came under attack, ships were torpedoed near her, but the lucky Brown survived intact.
On her first trip in 1942, without convoy and to avoid U-boats, the Brown sailed alone from the East Coast through the Panama Canal, into the Pacific Ocean, past Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope and into the Persian Gulf to Iran where she unloaded goods for wartime ally Soviet Union.
She was a stationary high school maritime ship in the East River and then the Hudson River in New York City after the war and was in a reserve fleet for five years before rescued by Marylanders in 1988.
Visitors can see the engine room, museums to the merchant marine that ran the ship, the U.S. Navy Armed Guard that protected her and the shipbuilders who made her at Bethlehem Fairfield in 42 days in 1942.
The vessel is owned by Project Liberty Ship, Inc., (PLS) a nonprofit group of spirited veteran seamen and landlubbers who made the Brown a lucky ship once again. They pulled the vessel out of the National Reserve Fleet in the James River, Fort Eustis, VA. and saved her from probable breakup as was the fate of most of her sister ships. Of 2,710 Liberty ships built, only the Brown and the Jeremiah O’Brien in San Francisco still sail.
The Baltimore crew worked for three years on the ship at her new home, Pier One, Clinton Street, Canton, East Baltimore, to revive her original triple expansion steam engine and make her presentable again. She resumed sailing in 1991. She has made more than 75 voyages since then on the Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes.
The ship is owned by her 2,100 members, some of whom have worked a total of 1.3 million hours on the ship to maintain her and more hours off the ship to promote and manage her. Donations will be requested to defray expenses.
The shipmates have raised and spent more than $15 million for the many items needed to maintain the ship. The 66-year-old ship has been in drydock several times to insert 20,000 new rivets. The Brown needs one entire barrel of oil to travel one mile and run auxiliaries.
In 2000, the old steamship travelled 5,200 miles in the Atlantic, St Lawrence Seaway, Lakes Ontario and Erie and associated waterways in its Great Lakes trip which attracted 35,000 visitors. Top speed is 11 knots, about 13 miles an hour.
The ship has attracted more than 200,000 visitors including 13,000 visitors last year on her Yankee Adventure trip; she stopped at Cape Cod, Portland, ME and Boston. She has visited 20 Atlantic Ports and eight ports in the Great Lakes since 1991.
The ship’s open hours at the Inner Harbor July 31-August 3 are as follows:
Thursday July 31: from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (last visitor off at 2:30 p.m.) and from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (last visitor off at 9 p.m.)
Friday August 1: from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (last visitor off at 3 p.m.) and from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (last visitor off at 9 p.m.)
Saturday August 2: from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (last visitor off at 5 p.m.)
Sunday August 3: from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last visitor off at 6 p.m.).
Visitors can test their sea legs on the Brown when she sails on the Chesapeake Bay later this year. She departs from the Passenger Terminal at South Locust Point on two six-hour Saturday Living History cruises at 10 a.m. September 6 and 10 a.m. October 4.
She will take veterans and their guests on her annual two-hour Veterans Week cruise in Baltimore Harbor at 10 a.m. Saturday November 8.
July 22, 2008
The economy -- Morici & Basu
The housing collapse, bank failures, government bailouts, inflation in fuel and food prices – the economy is issue numero uno. At 1 pm today on the Miday show, we’ll discuss the economy with two terrific guests -- Anirban Basu, Chief Executive Officer of Sage Policy Group, and Peter Morici, Economist and Professor of Business at the University of Maryland. Midday airs on WYPR-FM, 88.1. E-mail comments or questions at midday@wypr.org
Baltimore Third World?
In a recent Wall Street Journal piece, Stephen Walters, a Loyola College economics professor, and Steve Hanke, a Hopkins professor and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, said Baltimore deserves the Third-World profile it got from the HBO series, the Wire, and they blame high taxes and wasteful spending. The mayor’s office says facts were distorted to unfairly depict Baltimore as a decaying city. We'll hear from both sides during Midday at noon, on 88.1 WYPR-FM. E-mail comments or questions at midday@wypr.org
July 21, 2008
Levinson on Midday
1:00-2:00 pm on WYPR-FM, 88.1
As My One and Only wraps production in Baltimore, we note that movie-making and TV production has slowed here in recent years due to lucrative incentive packages offered by other states. I’ll discuss what Maryland needs to do to attract more film production with Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson, casting director Pat Moran, and Jack Gerbes, Director of the Maryland Film Office.
Fear itself
Midday, 88.1, WYPR-FM
Noon-1:00
How does the increasing amount of fear in our lives affect the way we live them? I’ll talk with Canadian journalist Daniel Gardner, author of The Science of Fear, about the many ways our irrational “gut” reactions can lead us astray and allow others to manipulate us.
July 20, 2008
Cuffed, with child
The New York Times reported today that an immigrant in Tennessee was detained for being an illegal immigrant, placed under guard during childbirth and cuffed to a bed. It's more cruelty courtesy of 287G, the fed-local partnership to round up illegals, and another proud moment for the nation. Read it and weep: Immigrant, pregnant, jailed under pact
Cabrera and 'Cakes
I returned home from a trip just in time to see Daniel Cabrera give Detroit a 6-run first inning and make a bad play on a grounder in the second. If Cabrera could have heard what Jim Palmer was saying about him in the TV booth, the next pitch might have gone up there. Not that Cakes said anything that wasn't rational, fair and justified.
The Bad Daniel appeared again last night, and he missed a double steal and walked guys and hit one of the Tigers. Palmer sounded like a pissed-off parent in a public place. The Hall of Famer controlled himself, saying lots of negative things about Bad Daniel in the most pleasant way possible. It has become one of the most entertaining hours in sports television -- Jim Palmer commenting on Daniel Cabrera's pitching.
The whole time I'm listening to this, I'm imagining what Palmer would really like to say: "Dahn-yell-ay! You obtuse stork! Don't you know they all steal on you? Could you throw a change' once in a while? Have you heard anything I've been saying for the last five years?" And Palmer thought Trembley should have ordered someone to warm up in the bullpen when Cabrera started off yet another inning with a walk. It's what Earl would have done.
I enjoy this Palmer-Cabrera thing. I look forward to it. It's like listening to a retired Johns Hopkins professor commenting from the balcony while one of his students, now a surgeon himself, lectures below -- we hear all the points the protégé missed, about his limited diagnostic imagination, his sophomoric understanding of human physiology, his poor choice of surgical instruments. It's a great learning experience, really. It brings out the best in Palmer. He'd have made a terrific medical examiner, dissecting cadavers and dictating the reasons for their premature deaths. CBS should cast Palmer in the lead of a new drama: CSI Cabrera.
At some point, you wanna turn to the professor emeritus and say, "Why don't you go down there, put on a gown and show him how to do it!"
Of course, Palmer has counseled Cabrera, which might be why he sounds so vexed when Bad Daniel appears. It's great television. I may never go to a game when Cabrera pitches, just so I can stay home and listen to this. Please, MASN, when it's time for Cabrera, it's gotta be time for Cakes.
Nestor Aparicio's comments on Cakes in b