Thinking Out Loud: Grand Prix, Jacques Kelly, Mercy, Baltimore R.F.D.

Baltimore Grand Prix:

The Baltimore Sun reported last week that Downforce Racing, the new organization running the Baltimore Grand Prix auto race has missed three of the five benchmarks due March 15.  I hope someone is waving the Yellow caution flag like crazy in City Hall. 

Jacques Kelly: Repeated Memories:

In case anyone missed Jacques Kelly's column in Saturday's Sun, he wrote that he will be focusing his future work  on "what is new and changing" the the metro area, and not so much on the glorious past.  That is good news.  I stopped ready Kelly years ago.  I really didn't have the time to read yet another account of how his family packed their bags and loaded the car for another trip to Rehoboth Beach, DE, for the summer.  I got it.  It was exciting and a fond memory.

But the interesting thing in Kelly's Saturday column was why he decided to start writing about "new" Baltimore instead of the old.  It seems that he has been "repeating sentences and entire passages from past columns," without informing readers, which Kelly noted, was against Sun policy.

No wonder his columns seemed so old and stale to me - they did to him too!

As a side note, I went hunting for Kelly's old columns on the Baltimore Sun website and I can't find them anywhere.  It seems the Sun may have wiped out Kelly's past memories for good and all.  

I've always liked Kelly, so I wish him luck with his future columns.  But remember, Jacques,  rinse and repeat only works when washing your hair.  

Mercy Medical Center: 

Hopefully you haven't had any reason to visit the new Mercy Medical Center downtown, but unfortunately I have.  Without getting in to too much detail, I will say the staff has been outstanding.  The new building is spectacular.  The rooms and waiting areas are huge.  I don't know of too many hotels that have a nicer front lobby waiting area than Mercy.

Baltimore or Mayberry R.F.D: 

Despite a huge loss of population over the last fifty years or so, Baltimore City still has a big city feel to me and, as reported in the Baltimore Sun last year, our downtown is the "eighth-densest metropolitan core in the United States".  But, if you are downtown at night and need a cup of coffee, you might as well be in Maryberry R.F.D. 

I was at Mercy one night recently and I wanted a cup of coffee.  The cafeteria was closed so I had to hit the streets for some Java.  The city was a ghost town and it just didn't seem safe enough to walk around looking for a store that was open for business.  I ended up driving several blocks to a convenience store on the corner of Guilford Avenue and Baltimore Street.  Maybe I expect too much from a city.  I just felt very isolated and alone in the midst of the "eighth-densest metropolitan core in the United States".