Working to reverse declining bookings

The Baltimore Sun

As The Sun has reported, the outlook for the citywide convention business from 2008 through 2010 is soft, and that's why the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association is taking immediate steps to fill some holes in the coming years ("Convention bookings decline," Feb. 10).

Convention business is typically booked five to seven years in advance. But there is still time to make an impact with short-term bookings.

Our strategies include adding more muscle to the sales team with one or two new sales managers in the Baltimore office and opening a Northeast sales office that will focus on corporate and pharmaceutical groups, which can book meetings in the short term.

We're also developing a trends, analysis and projections (TAP) report for Baltimore that will track booking progress monthly, identify holes in the business cycle and track our sales pace compared with that of our competition.

A destination audit is in the works as well. It will determine how our customers and stakeholders perceive BACVA and the job we are doing.

That being said, we are happy to report that our long-term future is very positive. Sales bookings have increased the past two fiscal years, and we are on pace to surpass the fiscal 2006 mark for room-nights booked. In fiscal 2006, we booked 352,603 room-nights, 87,162 more room-nights than in the previous fiscal year.

BACVA lives in a glass house, and it is our responsibility to share information, both good and bad, with our tourism partners and stakeholders.

That's why we released the booking numbers for 2008 through 2010; that's why we are conducting a destination audit to determine what we do well and what we can do better; and that's why we are developing the TAP report to track our progress.

There are no secrets in this business, and the more information we share about the business landscape, the more effective we will be as salespeople and as a destination.

Tom Noonan Ed Hale Baltimore

The writers are, respectively, the president and CEO and the chairman of BACVA.

City's history merits much more respect

The reuse of old buildings, which are inherently historic, is the most sustainable, regenerative choice a building owner can make for the future health of our environment.

But I find it discouraging that, once again, the historic buildings that make Baltimore the place that it is have lost out to yet another special interest - Mercy Medical Center ("A city's treasures," editorial, Feb. 8).

The sense of place and uniqueness of Baltimore is gradually being eroded.

Disparate parties promote the value of their economic agenda, but their projects produce only a sameness of place.

Legislation enacted to cause a contemplative pause in the rush to sameness is readily swept aside.

The city's historic buildings deserve better.

They deserve more from their owners, who are the stewards of the property and its history, and from the city, which must protect its valuable built environment so that Baltimore remains a distinguishable place over the next 100 years.

The architects of Baltimore have the talent to respond but need enlightened clients and a committed city government as partners.

Robert P. Brennan

Baltimore

The writer is a principal for an architectural firm and a member of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation.

Bush won 2000 race under agreed rules

Contrary to popular opinion, and to an assertion in The Sun's article "Electoral College reform in Md. sought" (Feb. 7), the "legitimacy" of the 2000 presidential election was in no way diminished because the winner, George W. Bush, received fewer popular votes than the loser, Al Gore.

The outcome of any contest is legitimate if it was conducted fairly under the rules agreed upon in advance.

In a presidential election, the rules are set by the Constitution, which states that the winner of the most electoral votes wins the contest.

Presidential candidates are keenly aware of this, and campaign accordingly. And there would have been no "constitutional crisis" had not Mr. Gore, after conceding the race to Mr. Bush, decided to press for a selective vote recount only in Florida districts he had already won, in a calculated attempt to increase his count and win Florida's electoral votes.

The Electoral College is not archaic or unfair or a mistake. It is simply misunderstood.

The Framers of the Constitution balanced the interests of individuals with their collective interest as citizens of a state by granting them representation proportional to their population in the House of Representatives but giving each state two senators.

They designed the Electoral College to reflect this balance.

The fact that tiny Maryland has the same number of senators as much more populous California does not call into question the legitimacy of the outcome of votes in the Senate.

The Electoral College simply gives each voter the same electoral "pull" in selecting the leader of the executive branch as he or she has in the Senate.

It would be a mistake for Maryland's legislature to diminish the value of Marylanders' votes.

Jeffry D. Mueller

Eldersburg

A fair way to reform Electoral College

While I applaud the lawmakers in Annapolis for trying to reform Maryland's role in the Electoral College, this new proposal is not the right solution ("Electoral College reform in Md. sought," Feb. 7).

Our current winner-take-all system is flawed and inequitable. In a mostly Democratic state, Republican voters may feel that their vote doesn't really count.

The new proposal, which would give all the state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most votes nationwide, would certainly be more equitable than the current system. However, an initiative in Colorado offers another perspective.

Under that proposal, the state's electoral votes would be proportionally allocated based on the percentage of votes each presidential candidate receives in that state.

In that system, every voter would get a voice.

As a middle school teacher who tries to explain the Electoral College system to seventh-graders, I know these future voters see the current system as antiquated and unfair.

I hope our state leaders will reform our present system before my students get to exercise their right to vote.

Barbara Blumberg

Baltimore

Chinese teachers pose us no threat

The statement by Chester E. Finn Jr. of the Fordham Foundation in The Sun's article "Introducing China" (Feb. 9) - "I see this [Chinese teachers in American schools] not as a humanitarian act, but a very clever campaign to dominate the world" - is inane.

First, 38 Chinese-government sponsored teachers in American schools are insufficient to dominate anything.

Second, while their American students may not learn the language very well in 18 months, they will certainly be exposed to Chinese culture and the Chinese teachers will learn something about American culture and democracy to take back to China.

We need more, not fewer, social and cultural relationships with China, which is destined to be a superpower in the near future.

I believe that it's better to know your rivals than not to know about them.

And, in the scheme of things, teaching the Chinese language should be a higher priority than learning the romance languages.

Let's not fall into the sort of trap we did in Iraq - of not having enough Arab experts and linguists.

Let's see the future clearly and start training Chinese speakers and experts now - not after it's too late.

I, for one, welcome these Chinese teachers and wish we had more of them here.

Robert E. MacDonald

Ruxton

The writer is a retired foreign service officer.

Female circumcision isn't part of Islam

The authors of the column "Female circumcision not just African issue" (Opinion Commentary, Feb. 12) rightly condemn female circumcision. But implying that this practice is Islamically sanctioned or that local findings from a study in Kurdistan can reflect the prevalence of the practice in other Muslim nations is invalid, given that its prevalence varies within and between nations.

The practice of female circumcision predates the development of Islam by centuries.

In 2006, UNICEF published the largest statistical analysis of the prevalence of female genital mutilation in 20 nations, primarily in Africa.

It found that FGM is primarily the result of cultural factors, that any relationship between religion and FGM is inconsistent, and that it is not possible to establish a general association between religions and FGM status.

The study conducted in Kurdistan on which the column relies was not based on a randomly selected population.

To infer from this local survey that there are "indications that FGM might be widespread in the Arab Middle East" is irrational.

FGM is a female public health issue that is largely the result of male attitudes.

Widespread education, changing local attitudes and female economic opportunities will decrease the incidence of this brutal practice.

Dr. Mohamed Khodr

Winchester, Va.

The writer is a former public health director for the Virginia Department of Health.

Raid report evades Jewish history

My anger and disbelief upon reading the misleading headline for The Sun's article "Israeli police raid grounds of mosque" (Feb. 10) were amplified by the article itself.

The "grounds" of this mosque also happen to be the grounds of the Temple Mount - the site of two destroyed Jewish temples, the most visible, significant surviving remnant of which is the Western Wall, the most revered and sacred site for Jews in the 3,000 years since the destruction of King Solomon's Temple.

The plaza facing this wall is never without the presence of Jews at prayer, except on the Friday in question in this article, when rocks were being thrown on those Jews from the mosque grounds directly above.

The police entered the compound not to raid the grounds of the mosque but to prevent the rock-throwing by Muslim worshipers.

Incredibly, the article refers to the site exclusively as "the compound" and the revered Western Wall (the wall closest to the excavations in dispute) as "the wall around the compound."

The article completely ignores any Jewish roots and significance to the area while dutifully noting the reverence of Muslims for the site and using their name for it, the Noble Sanctuary, with explanatory Muslim-only history.

Nelson L. Hyman

Randallstown

Chile's army guilty of the worst abuses

Daniel Mandel's column "The Allende school for subverting democracy" (Opinion

Commentary, Feb. 11) was utterly misleading.

To claim, as Mr. Mandel did, that the government of Salvador Allende was primarily responsible for the collapse of the Chilean economy and guilty of subverting democracy in Chile - while ignoring the well-documented role played by the CIA under the Nixon administration, in coordination with right-wing Chileans and members of Chile's elite, in bringing about the economic collapse and social chaos that led to the fall of the Allende government - shows just how biased Mr. Mandel is.

The fact is that for the three years Mr. Allende led the government of Chile, he was a victim of relentless attacks by the Chilean right wing.

The side that employed the most violent tactics, including the cold-blooded murder of Leonardo Henrichsen, an Argentine TV cameraman, was the same military Mr. Mandel is quick to praise.

It was officers of the same Chilean military who were responsible for planting a bomb in the car of Mr. Allende's military attach?, which ultimately killed him, and also for the assassination of the pro-constitutionalist head of the Chilean army, Gen. Rene Schneider.

I wonder whether this is the sort of democratic process that Mr. Mandel espouses.

Nonso Umunna

Baltimore

Move would disrupt a series of schools

The Sun's article "City principal threatens to quit position" (Feb. 6) dealt with only a narrow part of concerns that have been raised over the proposed move of Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts to the Harlem Park Middle School complex. A more complete accounting would have included some other issues.

For the past year, the Harlem Park Community School Council has been working to develop a state-of-the-art prekindergarten to Grade 12 community school in Harlem Park that would provide continuous support for families and students from age 3 to post-secondary schooling. With the YMCA, the Baltimore Department of Social Services and the Johns Hopkins University as anchor partners, this effort is poised to be a model for the city, state and nation.

Moving the 600- to 700-student Augusta Fells Savage Institute into the Harlem Park complex would consume all its available space and prevent the community school effort from realizing its potential.

The transfer also poses significant safety concerns for all students in the complex.

Harlem Park Middle was designed as a walk-to neighborhood junior high.

With the addition of the students from Augusta Fells Savage, approximately 1,200 high-schoolers from two different schools will have to use seven neighborhood bus stops, many of which are out of eyesight and earshot of the school.

There are real concerns that crowding at these bus stops will push students to walk into areas of high crime and drug activity in search of rides home.

Four schools will face serious disruptions from this relocation.

Augustus Fells Savage will lose ready access to the athletic fields its sports teams require (there are no fields at Harlem Park). The eighth-grade class at Harlem Park Middle School may have to be moved to Calverton Middle School. The middle-grade students at Harlem Park Elementary may have to be housed in portable classrooms. And the Baltimore Talent Development High School would have to divert its attention and energies to provide what security it can at the bus stops.

All this for what is described as a temporary two-year solution.

If a good home for Augustus Fells Savage can be found in two years, why can't that be done now?

Students need stability and security to succeed in school.

Doesn't it make sense for an expanded group of stakeholders, including representatives from the city and state planning offices, to take 30 days to look for a good home for Augustus Fells Savage High, rather than throwing up our hands and saying that a bad solution is the only solution?

Robert Balfanz

Baltimore

The writer is the manager of the Baltimore Talent Development High School.

It's foolish to focus on Obama's race

Jean Marbella's column on what a lot of people are thinking about Sen. Barack Obama's race was pure hogwash ("Who's right when race lies below the surface?" Feb. 6).

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. definitely did not verbalize what I've been thinking. I think that Ms. Marbella is the one who is hung up on race and that she is projecting her feelings onto the general population.

The most laughable part of the piece was Ronald Walters' comment that Mr. Obama is not as threatening to white voters as someone who is descended from slaves because a more traditional "black" candidate raises the question of the culpability of whites in slavery. This is pure liberal silliness.

Here's a big clue, Mr. Walters: Whites living today didn't own slaves. I don't own slaves, my dad didn't own slaves, nor did any of my grandparents or great-grandparents. I have a bit of advice for Mr. Walters: Get over it. It happened quite a long time ago. If it still impacts you, it's because you have a large chip on your shoulder.

And if "traditional" (whatever that means) African-Americans don't think the senator from Illinois is "black" enough, they are the ones with a problem.

As political scientist Matthew Crenson said at the end of the column, this will be less of an issue as we get to know Mr. Obama better.

Eric Schwartz

Annapolis

Humans play role in global warming

I have to disagree with the writer of the letter "Natural cycles alter Earth's temperature" (Feb. 7) and his response to the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("Turning up the heat," Feb. 2).

The whole point of the report - not to mention the three IPCC reports that preceded it - is to give thousands of pages of evidence that explain why the global warming we are experiencing right now is not part of a natural cycle.

The concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are higher today than they have been at any point in the last 420,000 years and are rising quickly.

If we continue using fossil fuels as we have for the past couple of centuries, atmospheric concentrations could rise to levels that have not been seen on this planet for hundreds of millions of years.

Indeed, there is virtually no disagreement in the scientific community about the profound effects humans can have on the planet - especially on global warming.

Just because we may not want to take responsibility for global warming doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Paul Burman

Takoma Park

The writer is a communications and policy fellow for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

Patients must be told all options

As a doctor, I accept that we all have our own moral beliefs, especially about controversial issues such as abortion and end-of-life care ("Doctors saying no on moral grounds," Feb. 8).

However, I believe that as physicians, we have a responsibility to provide our patients with complete and accurate information about all of their health care options.

Personal opinions are not medical facts, and it troubles me to read about a fellow physician who fails to respect this boundary.

As a doctor, my job is to talk to my patients about all their options and help them make the decision right for them.

My job is not to steer my patient in one direction or another by refusing to give him or her essential information or by presenting my personal opinions as medical fact.

Dr. Tessa Madden

Baltimore

The writer is a member of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health.

In a world in which many health services require referrals, the fact that so many doctors do not feel compelled to provide one when they personally object to a legal procedure or medication is abhorrent.

Doctors should not and do not legally have to provide services or medications they personally object to. But referrals should be a different matter.

Consider, for instance, the case of abortion services.

If a doctor truly cared about his or her patients, that doctor would investigate the clinics where these services are provided and refer patients to those with the best care.

The doctor who was quoted in the article as saying that women know abortion exists and don't need to be told that is being disingenuous.

Women know cancer care exists, too. But they don't always know where the best place to get care for the disease is, and doctors know how important referrals can be in that case.

A doctor's refusal to provide prescriptions for emergency contraception and further refusal to refer a patient to someone who will prescribe emergency contraception are extremely problematic because of the very short window of time a woman has to get the medication: With each hour that passes until a woman begins the medication, her chances of becoming pregnant increase.

A referral, and one with a quick turnaround, is critical.

Much the same is true of prescribing birth control for teenage girls - and offering a referral should be a minimum requirement for physicians.

To those doctors who refuse to offer referrals, I would say: A "conscience clause" that allows you to keep your patient in the dark or in crisis is no conscience clause at all.

Not only is a referral important for insurance coverage, it also helps to ensure patients get top-notch health care.

The legislature should revisit this issue and require doctors to provide referrals.

Heidi L. Gerbracht

Baltimore

Of course a physician has every right to refuse to perform a procedure or prescribe a drug if he or she has a moral objection to that treatment.

And no one should think of cajoling a doctor into doing anything he or she believes is wrong.

But it is totally unacceptable for a physician to withhold information about or access to treatments that he or she will not perform.

Certainly the physician's autonomy is important. But the autonomy of the patient is of paramount importance in a situation involving a patient's health or well-being.

Informing a patient about treatment options does not make the doctor morally culpable for any choice the patient makes.

But to deny the patient information or access puts the doctor in the undesirable and distasteful position of playing God.

As physicians, we have the onerous responsibility of our patients' health in our hands.

We may choose to eschew participation in a given treatment. But we may not mislead or misinform our patients about treatment choices, whatever those choices may be and whatever we may think of them.

If a patient feels that the doctor is ignoring his or her wishes and acting strictly on the basis of the doctor's own personal morality, that patient needs to find a new doctor.

Dr. Stan Brull

Baltimore

The writer teaches medical ethics at the University of Maryland Medical School.

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