BALTIMORE-The Orioles Park at Camden Yards, which opened in 1992 at a cost to the taxpayers of $210 million, was touted as the linchpin of a major economic rebirth for the struggling surrounding neighborhoods at the time.
More than 20 years later, those same neighborhoods are still coping with poverty and crime and in fact boast few businesses today than they did when the major league baseball franchise's ballpark first opened. Since then, nearby a stadium for the NFL's Baltimore Ravens also was built and opened. Despite the development of these major sports venues, the city of Baltimore has some 16,000 vacant properties and pays among the highest taxes in Maryland, according to Bloomberg News.
The amount of development around Camden Yards has been disappointing, according to State Senator Paul Pinsky from Prince George's County who was in the legislature when subsidies were approved for the baseball and football stadiums, starting in 1987.
“There were lots of guarantees that this would revitalize the city,” Pinsky says. “Everyone stood up and said it would help the city's economic development. They promised the moon, but I don't think it revitalized the city.” See story at Bloomberg News.
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