Despite his general distaste for such events, the Journal’s Scott Sexton is gearing up for this afternoon’s groundbreaking ceremony for Winston-Salem’s taxpayer-funded downtown stadium:
So, given a choice, would I prefer, say, a rusty fishhook in the eye or attending a groundbreaking ceremony? Let’s see. Risk blindness and excruciating physical pain or risk dying of boredom and excruciating mental pain?
Give me a second; I’m thinking about it.
That said, I will make a point of attending this afternoon’s formal groundbreaking for a $22.6 million downtown baseball stadium for the Winston-Salem Warthogs. And it’s not because the insurance co-pay on a rusty fishhook accident is too high, nor is it because Hank Aaron is scheduled to make an appearance……
Right now, as anybody who regularly drives down Business 40 knows, the site in question is basically a mud bowl. The small houses and what passed for vegetation in the area have been leveled, and its residents have been moved. A small neighborhood church is gone, and the entire area is now surrounded by chain-link fence.
Yet it does look (and feel) as if something positive is under way. Call it addition by subtraction.
That’s the wonderful thing about taxpayer-funded projects and economic incentives. You feel the vibe almost immediately. They also help keep families together. Give me a break, N&R. Editorials cheerleading for the Skybus deal are one thing. Supposedly straight news stories, above the fold on B1 no less, are quite another.
