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Grand Prix Folly

Originally Published in the Frederick News-Post

Economic & Fiscal Policy

by Marta Hummel Mossburg

OP-EDS

In case you hadn't heard about it, this weekend was supposed to be Baltimore's coming-out party.

Previous cotillions such as the Inner Harbor redevelopment, a newer and expanded convention center every decade, a new city-financed hotel and tax breaks galore for important companies -- the Ritz Carlton even! -- failed to lure suitors, aka new residents, so a new one was needed.

City officials promised skeptical residents this time it would be different. This time Baltimore -- and Maryland, they said -- would really be on the map as an international destination with the Grand Prix.

As Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has said, "This event will be a game changer for Baltimore."

As a result, officials took a year off from worshipping at the church of green living to primp for sexy open-wheel racing cars that can zoom faster than 220 mph. They snarled commuter traffic to make the 2-mile course smooth for drivers who will spend three days a year in the city, using millions of other people's money in the process.

No doubt it will have been a lot of fun for everyone from the plebes on the ground to the privileged viewing the cars from air conditioned box seats. But will it have been worth it? Will it have a lasting impact on a city that has been shedding thousands of people and jobs for decades and becoming in its decline a bigger and bigger siphon of tax dollars of residents in every other part of Maryland?

The economic impact statement for the race way overestimated its potential benefit, because it computed its figures based on the fact that no tourists would be in the city over the weekend. As a result, the $60 to $100 million projection will likely be a fraction of that since the event is merely replacing many people who would have chosen to visit without the Grand Prix. And since many people fled the city to avoid the noise, road closures and chaos downtown caused by the races, it remains to be seen if the restaurants and bars not in the downtown area lost business this weekend.

Personally speaking, my husband and I sailed to the Eastern Shore and spent money at a marina and restaurant in Rock Hall. That worked out to about a $200 transfer of wealth for our household. Who knows how much it will be in total?

The bigger issue, however, is when the mayor and elected officials will realize that events and buildings do not make a city great; its people do. If Baltimore is to become a net exporter of taxes instead of perpetual importer of other jurisdictions' money it needs more people with jobs like in Frederick. More people migrated to Frederick County within Maryland than any other county in the state from 2000 to 2009.

In contrast, almost 78,000 people left Baltimore in the same time period -- the most in the state. And Frederick achieved growth by offering low taxes, a county government that welcomed businesses and a conspicuous absence of "game-changing" events. For the sake of all state residents, when will Baltimore officials learn?