Coyote Blog

If you want to see your socialist future, look no further than this mess in Maryland, hat tip to Overlawyered.  Absolutely nothing in this looks like free market capitalism, from the dueling subsidies to the threat by Baltimore to actually seize a business for the crime of trying to move out of their dysfunctional city.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh sued the owners of Pimlico Race Course in hopes of blocking them from moving the Preakness Stakes or using state bonds to fund improvements at Laurel Park.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, Pugh, on behalf of the city, also asks the court to grant ownership of the racetrack and the race to the city through condemnation....

Citing The Baltimore Sun’s reporting, the lawsuit asserts that since 2011, Stronach has “systematically underinvested in Pimlico and invested instead in the Laurel Racetrack.”

Stronach has spent the majority of the state aid it receives for track improvements on Laurel Park for the past several years.

“Through the systemic divestment of Pimlico, Defendants could indeed manufacture an ‘emergency or disaster’ to justify transfer of the Preakness to Laurel, as undermaintained infrastructure begins to fail and crowds attending Pimlico races and the horses racing there are endangered,” the lawsuit states.

Moving the race or shuttering the track would harm the Park Heights and Pimlico neighborhoods around the track, which are significantly poorer than Laurel and Bowie, the lawsuit states.....

Stronach Group officials previously pledged to keep the Preakness at Pimlico through 2020. The 2019 race is planned for May 18.

But they also have made clear that they plan to invest in Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County, in hopes of building a “super track” that could attract a high-profile race such as the Breeders’ Cup.

To accomplish that, Stronach is backing legislation in the General Assembly that would allow the Maryland Economic Development Corp. to issue $80 million worth of bonds to pay for improvements at Laurel and an additional $40 million in bonds for its Bowie Training Center. The bonds would be paid back with money from the state’s Racing Facilities Renewal Fund, which is funded by a portion of slot machine proceeds....

If the court awards ownership of the track and the Preakness to the city, “These properties will be used to continue their historic role in the cultural traditions of Baltimore City, to foster employment and economic development in Baltimore, and in particular in the Park Heights Urban Renewal jurisdiction, as well as to protect the health and safety of the people attending the Preakness and other Pimlico events, as well as the employees and horses working there,” the city wrote in the lawsuit.

All of this is set against the backdrop of horse racing being a dying business.  This almost reminds me of the end days in Atlas Shrugged when rival local governments are fighting over a last, soon-to-close factory.

By the way, the article mentions the poorer Park Heights and Pimlico neighborhoods.  Now, I am not familiar with these parts of Baltimore, but let me venture it is insane to base your local economic development on a business (the Pimlico race course) that has racing just 12 days of the year over a single 3 week period in May (the rest of the time I believe it's just an oversized OTB parlor).  Just about any other business in that space would likely be healthier for Baltimore.

This is a classic case of politicians destroying economic progress by forcing sub-optimal resource investment.  I have observed that politicians love subsidizing the hell out of these high-profile single day businesses.  The Fiesta Bowl in the Phoenix area is another good example.   Look at how much politicians bend over backwards to get a Superbowl, which is at best one day out of every 5 or 6 years.   I am still trying to formulate a theory as to why, but a few elements likely include:

• Local political leaders get treated as a king-for-a-day at these events.  They get interviewed by national media, they hobnob with stars, they get special seats and boxes at the event
• Politicians want bullet points and sound bytes for their elections and these events are more widely visible to and understood by voters than the nuts and bolts of real economic prosperity.  A seen and unseen type thing.  From a politician's point of view, even massive unseen prosperity is useless to them.
• These events act as short-live but meaningful subsidies to a variety of powerful local interests such as hotel owners