My Second Favorite

Besides the daily Rants in the newspaper the second favorite thing I read are the letters to the editor. They are a lot like the Rants, but longer, they also give the editorial staff the rights to edit them, and they have to sign some name - fictitious or not. I usually skip the national news and public service letters, because lets be honest - we've heard heard them all before and who are they kidding? Like a letter in the local paper, claiming we should leave Iraq is going to make a groundbreaking impact with the Prez. BOOORING, I need the letters from a preteen telling me who to vote for or some piddle about how getting rid of road signs is the end all of ways to beautify our city - by the way - I do appreciate opinions and hate roadsigns (100 signs for$100, is a pretty great deal). Once in a while you stumble upon a legendary letter that makes you put on a confused face, fire off a couple of emails with the URL in it, and double check a couple of facts that were splashed out there to the entire circulation.

Here's a recent gem, not quite legendary in my book -

Harrison Square might fail like other projects

Midtowne Crossing was a project for downtown in the 1980s. It was supposed to bring people back to downtown. It was never completed and didn’t do much of anything. I had no idea people were living in an unfinished housing project. The place is completely sold out, and with one livable unit for rent on the MLS. I'd say thats about as good as expected. Now, was it a catalyst for other projects? No, unfortunately no one has capitalized on the concentration people living downtown, perhaps the population hasn't hit some sort of critical mass yet. Website HERE

Grand Wayne Center is a beautiful complex, but no one is answering questions about whether it is even breaking even. It was pushed through the City Council without detractors being given much voice. It seems to be more of a white elephant than a banner for the city of Fort Wayne. Really? Check out another positive experience at the GWC - HERE

I have not found anyone who thinks Harrison Square is a good idea. The numbers given for attendance at the Wizards’ games have nothing to do with the number of people who actually come to the games. I have attended when there were at most 1,000 people, and the numbers given for that day’s attendance were at least 2,000. Why lie about it? Don't they go by the number of tickets sold? Oh, by the way, I think Harrison Square is a good idea -so do six councilmen. Plus, the ~40% of the people that were Zogbyed think its a good idea.

There are many things that could be done downtown; an IMAX theater is one idea combined with the ball stadium. No one seems to be listening. All that seems to be getting done is spending taxpayers’ money and making a few politicians with aspirations beyond Fort Wayne look good. See, this is what I have a problem with. People keep suggesting ventures that should be completely financed privately. Someone has suggested that we should setup bike rentals downtown. Does this seem like something the government should do? Its called capitalism, if you think its a good and profitable idea, then do it.

The cities with downtown ballfields used to compare with Fort Wayne have a much greater population to draw from. Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal ranked Fort Wayne as the best city for minor league teams; the magazine assumes it knows better than tens of thousands of people in this city. What??? The magazine ranks us the number #1 minor league, and you're saying that the people in FW are going to dispute this?

I will be one of the people paying for Harrison Square for years to come. I only hope it will be more successful then Midtowne Crossing. I think the city needs to re-evaluate the situation before it spends our hard-earned money. Can someone tell me where the money will come directly from the pockets of the citizens of FW?

I think the administration has sold Harrison Square terribly. Mayor Richard should have just came out and said, "Its going to be baseball or nothing." We don't have any other private investors lined up to put anything else into downtown. We have deadlines to spend a portion of the money, and the money has to be spent downtown.

I forgot to add that the title of the letter is laughable, "Harrison Square might fail like others." REALLY? I had no idea that business ventures carried some degree of risk. Maybe that should be our tagline - "Fort Wayne, afraid to fail." Its as if its not going to absolutely positively 100% take off like gangbusters, then its not worth doing. Nothing would ever get done if we all took this approach. I don't know about you, but personally, I'd rather try and fail, than fail to try.