Overwhelming view of barge restaurant: 'Bubba Schmubba!'
Editor's note: The writer is not the publisher of The Sun.
The building of the Bubba Gump restaurant in the Inner Harbor is taking the expansion of the Inner Harbor too far. It appears that the citizens of Baltimore are not for this idea, no matter the stance of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and David Cordish. Mr. Cordish said in Friday's Sun, "This restaurant is going to be built." That is fine Mr. Cordish, but we don't have to come.
Kevin R. Blackwell
Catonsville
We believe the construction of the large Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant on a barge between the National Aquarium in Baltimore's two pavilions on Piers 3 and 4 sets a dangerous precedent for both the aquarium and the entire Inner Harbor.
The Board of Governors of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, one of the Inner Harbor's oldest and most popular attractions, would be derelict in its duty not to oppose this radical departure from what has been the vision for the area since the aquarium's very beginning.
The charm and beauty of Baltimore's Inner Harbor have long been among the great attractions of living or visiting here. We believe that the outstanding work of many of Baltimore's most distinguished leaders, including former Gov. William Donald Schaefer and Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, in revitalizing this extraordinary area and in bringing responsible development and growth to our Inner Harbor is now endangered.
We also believe the Bubba Gump project threatens the very economic health of Baltimore's most effective commercial attraction for Maryland residents and the millions of visitors to the city.
It is important to remember that the aquarium attracted 1.7 million visitors last year, has an economic impact of more than $197 million per year and employs more than 400 people. The aquarium's announced, long-term plan calls for a major expansion to accommodate changing exhibits that will ensure continued growth and economic stability for the aquarium in the years ahead. Since 1981, the aquarium has shown compounded annual growth in visitors of 17 percent, and our future calls for similar growth in the years ahead. The new diagonal bridge, already approved by the city's Architectural Review Board, maintains visitor access to both of our buildings and maintains our ability to maximize peak visitor utilization.
We believe that placing the restaurant between Piers 3 and 4 also threatens the aesthetic values of the east side of the Inner Harbor. It cuts off sightlines to Piers 5 and 6 and is the first step, we fear, to a future where people's contact with the water, the very element that distinguishes the Inner Harbor from waterfront developments elsewhere, is lost.
We have always supported the responsible development of the Inner Harbor, and we hope the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant eventually makes its home in Baltimore. That home should not, however, be on a barge out in the waterway of the Inner Harbor. We have no choice but to strongly oppose a project that damages the aquarium's ability to provide a safe, positive and healthy environment for visitors, that has a potential impact on the aquarium's ability to meet changing exhibit needs vital to its future, and that is aesthetically unattractive.
Our Inner Harbor is Baltimore's crown jewel. We believe its future is worth defending.
Ralph H. Gibson
Baltimore
The writer is chairman of the board of the National Aquarium.
Thank you so much for your wonderful July 16 editorial "Don't give city's jewel a tacky setting." I couldn't agree more; well, yes, I could agree more because there is an issue you have not addressed -- noise pollution.
The megaton amplifier at Rash Field during the recent Avon 10K walk-run is an excellent example of the contempt the "Hollywood glitz" crowd has for the residents of downtown Baltimore. Thanks again for a fine editorial.
Rosalind Ellis Heid
Baltimore
So Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke wants Paramount's Bubba Gump seafood restaurant barge parked in front of the Power Plant. Isn't the harbor supposed to be for the benefit of all?
Mr. Schmoke, take your Hollywood shades off and focus on Baltimore's real needs. The kind of low-wage, service jobs that this project will bring Baltimore is just the kind we don't need. Plenty of neighborhoods need your attention. The poverty, crime, grime and the educational problems of troubled Baltimore City should come first.
Pat Hornburg
Baltimore
As a citizen of Baltimore who has seen the Inner Harbor come alive since the building of the aquarium and the other attractions, I am appalled at the hard-nosed attitude of the mayor and the Cordish Co. in their insistence that the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. be located in a place where it would have the maximum negative effect on any aesthetic considerations. Surely there are other locations that can be considered. And why aren't they?
Anne G. Imboden
Baltimore
Bubba, Schmubba! The only thing paramount here is the almighty dollar! Oblivious to the elements that have made our Inner Harbor the envy of waterfront communities the world over, we seem hellbent on making it just another overcrowded, overbuilt tourist mall that is incidentally on the water.
Before the Inner Harbor was a gleam in our eye, Jim Rouse asked if he could build an L- shaped, 11-story tower at the intersection of Pratt and Light streets on the water's edge. The city, having no other offers, consented. The battle over this bit of thoughtlessness saved the city and Mr. Rouse from themselves. In laying down the principle that the water's edge belonged to the people and that the waterfront should be as open and visible as possible our Inner Harbor was reborn, and Mr. Rouse became a sage.
This vision should sink Bubba Gump's boat. Move it east, Mr. Mayor, where the city is so interested in development it even allowed the Wyndham hotel to be built.
Walter S. Orlinsky
Baltimore
The writer is a former City Council president. Recently enacted federal transportation legislation will ensure that Maryland's average annual share of highway funding will rise from its current level of $307 million a year to more than $395 million in each of the next six years.
The legislation also provides for Maryland's mass transit funding to rise from $376.6 million to approximately $629 million. And, additional money is available for so-called "new start" transit projects.
All in all, this legislation is a major win for Maryland's congressional delegation. The results should have a significant positive impact on our transportation infrastructure and our economic development marketing efforts.
It is significant that several of the projects called for in the legislation have been strongly supported by the BWI Business ++ Partnership and other organizations for some time. The situation around Fort Meade and the National Security Agency campus, for example, has cried out for relief for years. Route 32 has been widened in both Anne Arundel and Howard counties, but a stretch of that highway remains two lanes wide -- an unacceptable situation if we are to approach optimum economic benefit. The newly enacted transportation legislation provides $9 million for the widening and expansion of this vital link.
Similarly, the legislation earmarks $120 million for double-tracking of Baltimore's light rail system. This is an essential improvement, which will help to eliminate delays and improve reliability of the system.
The transportation bill also provides other improvements that will make this region not only more accessible, but more competitive when vying for jobs and investment, including:
$185 million for MARC commuter rail capacity improvements (including a connection between the MARC Camden Line and the MARC Penn Line/Amtrak Northeast Corridor), maintenance and layover facilities, track and station improvements, and the purchase of 50 bi-level coaches and six electric locomotives;
$18 million to replace existing MTA buses and bus equipment; $11.25 million for the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, which, with portion of the $165 million included in the bill for park highways, will ensure that the seemingly perpetual construction of the parkway will be completed.
The bill also appropriates some $900 million for construction of a new Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Though that amount is inadequate for this huge endeavor, it is indeed a good start.
Make no mistake about it, these improvements are much-needed and are fully aligned with our recently articulated vision for the BWI business district. That said, we cannot afford to lose sight of two issues that must remain high priorities: building the long-heralded and much-needed Intercounty Connector (ICC) and connecting Washington to the business district via Barney Circle.
The growth potential of the Baltimore-Washington corridor depends, ultimately, on our ability to avoid unacceptable levels of vehicular congestion. Currently, however, the cluster of technology firms and related businesses in Montgomery County are separated, literally, from greater Baltimore by their geography. There is simply no easy way to get from one area to the other. The ICC would provide that vehicle.
Moreover, both the ICC and Barney Circle would have an immediate and dramatic impact on the future growth of BWI. There is no question that the airport is the major economic engine powering the BWI business district. Incumbent on us, then, is the responsibility to assure that BWI remains competitive in service levels, amenities and utility.
That said, let us salute our congressional delegation for its major role in enabling the transportation bill to become law, while keeping an ever-watchful eye on the improvements in transportation that still must be made if we are to maximize the economic benefits our region affords and so richly deserves.
Neil M. Shpritz
Hanover
The writer is executive director of the BWI Business Partnership Inc.
Handicap access and the Constellation
While I greatly sympathize with Robert Reuter's dispute ("A Civil War-era ship sails into a modern dispute," July 22), does he realize that if they cannot make the Constellation wheelchair accessible, none of us will be able to take our grandchildren aboard the ship?
Marge Griffith
Pasadena
Robert Reuter asks us to give him a break and alter the Constellation to make it wheelchair accessible below the main deck.
I would turn the plea right back at him. He should give us a break, and give the Constellation Foundation a break. They are doing a great thing, attempting to restore the vessel to its original form. That does not include an elevator. That does not include making the cramped quarters accomodate at least 3-foot passages for wheelchairs.
Lonnie Fisher
Baltimore
Wheelchair access to three lower decks on a 140-year-old ship? By this logic, those who use wheelchairs are also entitled to have lifts and elevators to allow them full-and unencumbered access to the ship's crow's nest and rigging.
Where does this nonsense stop?
ichael Holden
Chestertown
Advocates exist for health care
Recently during a press conference on health care, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Eileen Rehrmann called for creation of an advocacy office in the state health department to help patients cope with conflicts with their HMOs.
I find it interesting that someone who portrays herself as an advocate for the consumer, who served in the House of Delegates, served as a two-term Harford County executive, who has Larry Gibson as campaign adviser and has an extensive campaign staff didn't do her homework.
Either she is out to create a new bureaucracy or in her time served in government Mrs. Rehrmann never was aware that she could have referred her constituents to the health education and advocacy unit of the attorney general's office.
Staffed with two full-time ombudsmen and 20 interns and volunteers, the unit deals with doctors, hospitals, dentists, insurance companies, dental managers and optical companies as a mediator on the citizens' behalf. This unit has been operating for a number of years.
It is unfortunate that neither Mrs. Rehrmann nor her staff was aware of the unit. I guess they were just too busy putting up political signs in all the wrong places.
Dean G. Muscello
Baltimore
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Pub Date: 7/25/98
PTC