Observing from beyond the solar system, a cultural outsider looks in.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Hey, City Paper! I'm sick of this issue too!

City Paper notes that The Senator is the "Best Local Issue We're Sick Of." Well, heck! So am I! I would dearly love to be able to go back to my life, knowing that The Senator is in the safe hands of a viable community-based non-profit and that Tom Kiefaber and his staff have finally been recognized and rewarded for all their wonderful work over the years, and that all is right with this corner of the world.

But, guess what? I can't, because I care about The Senator and the people involved, and all is not right in this corner of the world.

Can't we all just get along? Can't Baltimore City do the right thing here?

Well, if I'm not mistaken, this is at least the second time in the past two and a half years or so that City Paper has written about The Senator. So, no wonder they're sick of it, with all that intensive coverage. Take a break from all that hard work, guys!

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3 Comments:

Blogger RAC said...

Nice to watch them admit that they themselves don't get it. Admitting off-handedly that you don't get it, though, isn't quite the same thing as saying "Hey! Our continued silence, as journalists, makes us complicit in this whole corrupt process!" Which is the statement I would view as, y'know, accurate.

...actually, reading it again, that whole little passage is infuriating. It boils down to "Tom Kiefaber was right, and we spent the whole time sitting on our hands- but gosh, now that it's too late for anything we say or do to be useful in any way we sure hope it all turns out for the best!"

The City Paper is free and it still costs too much.

September 15, 2009

 
Blogger Laura Serena said...

Good points, RAC. Or, as the old saying goes, "bad things happen because good people do nothing."

I realize this was part of City Paper's annual reader's poll, so I'd like to say to City Paper readers, if you're sick of this issue, you need to ask yourself why it continues to be an issue.

It continues to be an issue because Baltimore City and the BDC are making it a problem, rather than coming to the table with the community, as they were asked to do, and figuring out how to do the right thing here.

Tom K and his staff have been working mightily to do the right thing all along.

September 16, 2009

 
Blogger Laura Serena said...

CORRECTION TO MY EARLIER COMMENT:

I had not seen the print version of City Paper when I assumed this was part of a reader poll. I have since been informed that City Paper has only a small sample of categories that they actually poll readers on, and then editors make up the rest.

The "Best Local Issue We're Sick Of" category was in the reader poll, but City Paper readers voted for Mayor Dixon's indictments.

The snarky take on The Senator was the choice of City Paper editors.

ANSWER TO A READER QUESTION:

I received a question from a reader about why no non-profit yet exists that could take over The Senator if Tom Kiefaber has envisioned this future since at least 2001. The answer, as I see it, is that a person can't single-handedly start a viable non-profit while simultaneously running a seven day a week, very demanding business.

Non-profits that have successfully ensured the continued operation of historic theatres elsewhere have typically come about because the community got involved and local government entities encouraged them, rather than discouraged them. In this particular case, Baltimore City has taken pointed steps to thwart non-profit efforts to acquire The Senator, and I'll be covering that more in future posts.

September 17, 2009

 

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