Originally posted by lbcardoni:
From the Baltimore Sun...
"The event falls on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and Pimlico is near Jewish communities in Northwest Baltimore. The director of the city's Office of Neighborhoods is setting up a meeting between the Mount Washington Improvement Association and concert organizers.
A meeting date has not been set, but the president of the association, Mac Nachlas, said he was concerned about public safety, traffic, trash and noise. He said Rosh Hashana is a day of introspection when many people don't drive, and that traffic from the show could be dangerous for pedestrians.
"When Pimlico has concerts, we can hear it quite loudly in our neighborhood," Nachlas said. "Frankly, I'm not sure the Red Hot Chili Peppers are conducive to a day of introspection."
A spokeswoman for Mayor Martin O'Malley said the effect on the neighborhood would be manageable because the event would draw fewer people than the 100,000-plus who attend the Preakness every year."
Concerning the immediate neighborhood, at one time, this would have been true but nowadays, this doesn't wash. From what I know of the neighborhood, and I know it fairly well, I'd have to say that at least half of the Jewish families moved out with the newer families being mostly Black Christians and most don't celebrate any Jewish holidays. The heavier concentration of Jews have moved a little further north and should be minimally impacted. West, south and east is extremely culturally diverse once you extend a little.
Yes, it's a shame that the Virgin Festival falls on a holiday that a portion of the potential fans might celebrate but one can't expect the rest of the world to shut down because one group does. We are a world that (supposedly) coexistes with a multitude of others which will result in even more overlapping of specific cultural holidays. That can't be avoided without major social engineering which would blend the holidays which is a whole other issue. Seth is juggeling an immense amount of factors here that have to all fall into place. That alone is a major chore. Christians would bitch if it fell on Christmas but they would make their personal choices and hope for better luck next time.
While not as sacred, this massive festival which we are damned lucky to even have the opportunity of receiving also falls on the same day as several other musical events that the very same fans most likely would want to attend. Again, personal choices need to be made. That's the breaks.
Regardless of my personal tastes and other obligations, besides hoping that the Virgin Festival is a massive success and hoping that there will be many more at Pimlico in years to come, I'm also very happy for the sake of Pimlico Race Track. The place is a classic and has been going through years of some trouble with the Preakness Stakes threatening to leave town. This would be a great loss to Baltimore on so many levels. I truly hope that this starts to bring in a little more money for them that is then invested back into the place to make it a little nicer so that you snobs who think that it's not nice enough for a rowdy rock concert will have less reason to complain.
For the person who suggested that it should be on a farm in Baltimore County; forget it. It wouldn't work. You think Pimlico will have parking problems. There would be
no parking at all on a farm. Harford County would be a much better location for such an idea but then you would bitch because it's maybe 15 or so miles farther. There again, there would be way too many logistics like that to make it that much more difficult.
For the DC area crowd, keep your eyes peeled for On Tap busses. I
assume they will have as many as they can fill. In fact, for many of the Baltimore area fans, that would probably make
your commute and parking issues even that much easier than ours considering how screwed up our public transportation is.
