Posted by
Lance Cordill on Monday, February 16, 2009 12:00:00 AM
I walked passed the statute of our young Abraham Lincoln downtown on S. Harrison today. 'Young Abe" is still looking ever so youthful and (like most of Fort Wayne) stuck in time where he (it) has been all of my life. Young Abe may now have a cynical smirk on his face as he gazes up in what he can with the downtown development of Parkview Stadium. He surely has a morose look of despair peering through the infinite bureaucratic pores of the Adair Federal Building on to Ewing Street heading north to the intersection with W. Jefferson Blvd. Excuse me, but is there soon to be an MTV hip-hop video to be produced here? That stretch of street with those properties immediately to the west of Parkview Stadium is disgusting! One of those structures on that land might be good for President Obama's forsaken half-brother in Kenya. But, here in Fort Wayne they are a city blight that I sure hope gets taken care of ASAP!
I throw this out to you: if these propeties are not properly dealt with, I guarantee you that old adage, "Build it and "they" will come", will not fly. The "they", of course, is people. Not only will there be no resounding cheers from fans when our Tin Cups score and win; no thumping boos when the umps blow another call. But, catch this: the coming pigeons will not solicit free food and leftover crumbs with their "cooz"; the night owls will be absent with their "whooz"; the radar disrupted Canadian geese will not bless the field with their "pooz". The predicted fan base and tourists will be absent with their physical and verbal "shooz". The city then gets a big "lewz", the taxpayers a big "screwz"! So, what then is there to "chewz" about this issue? Please, get this land fixed up! Hey, wait, I really do need a job (why else do I write so much?). I'll do it...do it on the cheap!
From Baker St. north, EVERY property next to the new stadium is run down! Most have profanity laced graffiti written all over the structures. Most have their windows either shot out or smashed out. There is garbage and debris everywhere. It looks more like the setting for the Cartoon Network's "The PJ's" than it does what I would wish for this city's version of a professional baseball team. Or, is this stretch of land the proposed condominium development that city planners have fought so hard and diligently to secure along with the ballpark? I guess these nasty "Wood Ups" would be a nice matching contrast to a place hosting a baseball team with the name "Tin Cups"?
Surely, the supposed "developers" and elected "smarter than I's" here have a plan to get this fixed up before opening day. Meantime, if any local ideoographers here want a gloomy, dark, grainy backdrop to a hip-hop inspired music video, having good ole young Abe on the one hand and that nasty stretch of urban blight on the other..."mix 'em up, rub 'em togetha, replace dos huts, b gon 4eva!"