Area requires help during stadium events
Based on all the media reports, entertainment lineups and vendor and attendance figures, it is obvious that the AFRAM '94 Festival was a huge success and seems destined for a bigger and better future.
Given the quantity and quality of Baltimore's African-American heritage, including industry, politics, civil service, education and many other areas, this destiny is both warranted and necessary as a means of cultural preservation.
However, with the apparent indication from local officials that AFRAM has found a home on the grounds of Camden Yards, our city officials must be more pro-active in dealing with the basic logistics of yet another type of "stadium event."
As far as I am concerned, any event with an expected attendance of more than a few hundred and that takes place on any part of the Camden Yards proper is a "stadium event."
As a resident of Ridgely's Delight, the next-door neighborhood to Camden Yards, I accept the fact that these "stadium events" including baseball games, the October 1992 religious revival, the annual Hoop-It-Up tournament, AFRAM and the upcoming October visit by the pope are facts of life.
This is a fact I willingly live with, since the downtown/stadium location is the main reason I chose to purchase a home in Ridgely's Delight. However, I find unacceptable the fact that due to shortcomings in the basic services of a city worthy of my tax dollars, the quality of life in Ridgely's Delight sometimes suffers during a "stadium event."
City officials must address the following areas:
During baseball games, there are usually at least 20 to 30 police officers on the stadium grounds to preserve order and maintain the general welfare of the fans.
Yet 150 feet away in Ridgely's Delight, there is rarely a foot patrol officer to be found, let alone two or three as there should be.
Why are there no officers to preserve order for the Ridgely's Delight residents and to ensure the safety of the 1,000 or so fans that enter and leave the stadium through the neighborhood?
These officers are also needed to monitor the behavior of the occasional groups of males who go to the games sober and return stinking drunk with the urge to get rowdy or leave some urine stains on a local residence.
During AFRAM, the foot traffic was at least two or three times that of a normal baseball game. Can you imagine the irony of this situation?
During AFRAM, I got on a teen-ager's case for throwing a piece of trash on the sidewalk that I had just spent an hour sweeping. This punk responds by threatening to mess me up in various ways if I don't leave him alone.
Thirty minutes later, when a car patrol officer returned with a teen closely matching the punk's descriptions, I had to tell the officer that this scared, innocent, young fellow was not the one.
What is this unfortunate kid supposed to think? How am I supposed to feel that the bad guy got away? How should that officer feel?
If there were foot patrol officers in the neighborhood at the time, there can be little doubt how the situation would have been resolved.
While the Department of Public Works does an excellent job of ticketing and towing cars that are illegally parked in the neighborhood during baseball games, I have to ask why the religious revival, Hoop-It-Up, AFRAM and the upcoming visit by the pope are not being considered as "stadium events"?
Ridgely's Delight is a small community with about 470 homes, but only 400 or so on-street parking places. During the revival in 1992 and AFRAM '94, vehicle traffic through the neighborhood was unbelievably dense, and it was virtually impossible to find a parking place all weekend.
At night, the female neighborhood residents should have an opportunity to park within eyesight of their homes. Public Works must treat all "stadium events" equally, whether the event is a baseball game, a religious meeting, AFRAM or anything else.
Finally, with the large amount of foot traffic through the neighborhood comes an increase in the amount of trash that seems to end up on the streets.
The amount of trash left behind after AFRAM was about the same as after a baseball game. When there is a heavy amount of foot traffic through Ridgely's Delight due to a "stadium event," Public Works should provide extra clean-up details for returning the neighborhood to a condition equal to or better than it was before the event . . .
Steven Hegg
Baltimore
Obey the curfew
Recently there was a TV news segment showing a group of youths playing late at night on an inner-city street on the first night of the city's curfew.
The youths -- and some of their parents, who also were interviewed -- chose to ignore the curfew because there were no police around to enforce it.
It is this way of thinking that shows why there are a lot of problems with crime in the city. Apparently, many youths have been taught that one doesn't have to obey the law if there is no one around to enforce it.
Police and city officials started the curfew to help save children from being killed and wounded on the streets at night.
They can do no more. It is now up to parents to make sure their children obey the law and are inside by the time the curfew starts.
The first time someone's child is killed or wounded on the street after curfew has started, the blame will rest with the parents and the child.
I don't want to hear a distraught mother crying into the television cameras that the police aren't doing enough and that something needs to be done to protect her children. Something has been done.
It is past time for people to take responsibility for their actions and stop waiting for someone else to make them do what they should be doing anyway.
A. Krafft
Baltimore
Bad crime bill
Nearly every article concerning President Clinton's crime bill states that the National Rifle Association and the Republicans caused its defeat. The papers rail against partisanship and the desire of the Republicans to prevent the president from winning.
This bill was a bad bill that did a few things to fight crime but mostly was a social welfare bill disguised as a crime bill.
The American people are not as stupid as too many of our representatives think. I doubt if any of their children will be playing midnight basketball. They will be in bed so that they can get up early for school the next day.
Banning so-called assault weapons may feel good, but it fails to appreciate the fact that these weapons are not used in the commission of most crimes.
It is another example of our representatives doing what looks good rather than what is good.
I suspect many citizens called their representatives to let them -- know how they felt about this phony piece of legislation.
That is the real reason why this bill failed and will continue to fail as long as it does not fight crime.
J. Myers
Sparks
Dangerous liberals
This is in reference to William O. Miles' letter July 30 that thoughtful conservatives are a hazard, and intelligent ones dangerous. In truth, liberals are the clear danger to this country.
Liberal policies creating a welfare state are bankrupting the country. Liberal policies destroy our liberties with laws controlling everything from guns to seat belt and helmet usage.
Liberals are the people who use our tax dollars to fund programs giving needles to addicts and condoms to teen-agers.
What all liberal policies have in common is control and power. They all want to control what we can and cannot do.
In order to control people, they either create laws to directly control us or create give-away programs to make people dependant on keeping them in power.
In general, conservatives believe in a limited government based on the Constitution, while liberals want big government, which is all things to all people.
Which is the more dangerous position?
imothy J. Kief
Baltimore
Igor's dream
How tragic that young Igor Berenshteyn journeyed with his family from Russia to America seeking the legendary American dream, only to be brutally murdered as he tried to deliver a pizza.
America's not so beautiful any more.
First, we must pray for Igor's soul; then we must pray for the soul of America, for it is slowly dying.
rlene Goodwich
Baltimore