Baltimore Small Tales: A place to read about hopes, thoughts, dreams, tragedies, and triumphs.

Last Sunday the world watched as Spain finally scored a goal against Netherlands, winning this year's FIFA World Cup. Before the 2010 World Cup even finished, the idea of having the global event take place in Baltimore began to buzz.

More than 31,000 people have signed the official petition to bring the World Cup to Baltimore in 2018 or 2022. Anyone can easily support the bid, see below.

But do we really want the World Cup to come to Baltimore? With all good ideas come potentially negative consequences. So rather than spending too much time taking a position stating why Baltimore  either should or shouldn't host the World Cup, here are just some thoughts about why it's both a good and bad idea.

Why it's a good idea:

• It could give the city good PR. As much as I loved "The Wire" it didn't give the city a positive view from people who've never been here. A recent study on this year's World Cup shows that more than 90% of all tourists who traveled to South Africa would recommend the location to friends and family for future vacations. Not to mention the billions of people who watched the games internationally.
  
• Tourism = dollars. Baltimore is a poor city. No further explanation needed.
• It would be a dream come true for soccer lovers. But, of course!
• It will amplify the already seemingly diverse culture permeating throughout the city.
  

Why it's a bad idea:

• Baltimore has a lot of poor people. A LOT. I saw in the news time and again that of the $2 billion that South Africa spent on the infrastructure to get ready for the World Cup, a lot of the money was spent "pushing aside the poor."
• Do we have the space? Supporters of bringing the World Cup to Baltimore are trying to sell M&T Bank Stadium for the games. But this seems like a lie since all of the soccer games I've ever been to in Baltimore have all been at First Mariner Bank Arena, which is entirely way too small for an event like the World Cup.
  
• I have no idea how many hotel rooms were booked and how many hotel rooms are needed to host such a large-scale event. Do we even have the capacity to host the event? I can't seem to find answers about this anywhere.
• This also leads to a major traffic question. Rush hours in Baltimore are particularly awful during baseball and football seasons if the teams are doing well. In an event like the World Cup, how long do you think it might take to get from one place to another?

What do you think?

I wasn't really sure what to expect. I only knew that I wasn't going to be as high-strung about the possibility of meeting a Baltimore City Mayor as the day I hightailed out of work about a year ago to rush to City Hall after-hours for a one-on-one interview with former Mayor Dixon about the new Charm City Circulator.

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Mayor Rawlings-Blake tonight, she connected well with the audience and shared an inspirational story about why she pursued a career in public leadership. She showed a human element that local TV and newspapers haven't really captured (although Evan Serpick did a pretty good job of showing it in the March 2010 issue of Baltimore magazine) and I'm excited to have the opportunity to write about the event for my work. It should be posted within the next couple of days on my work's homepage, which I will link to here.

I should get to bed, I have an earlier than usual day tomorrow -- I'm going to a seminar at a steakhouse off Conway St. before heading to the office. I haven't quite figured out how or why an educational seminar takes place in a steakhouse at 8 o'clock in the morning. If I figure it out tomorrow, I will be sure to share.

Finding time for myself lately has been a tremendous challenge. Let alone thinking about redesigning my own website. A decent website is important for anyone in the creative industry to have and I am proud of what I've been able to accomplish in rebuilding my site so far, considering my minimal web design skills.

Things have been going nonstop since the holidays months ago. Hell, maybe even before that. But finally I have made the time -- between finding a new place and moving -- to start this new website. I am a full-time professional writer, and as fulfilling as it is to be able to spend my days pounding my fingertips along the keyboard, I am often too tired by the time I get home to write for myself. But I am hoping that with beautiful spring weather on the horizon and my excitement about this new site, that this will change.

In the meanwhile, I desperately need to update my style blog on Examiner.com.  If anyone has anything fashionably exciting to share, feel free to email  me at carrieoleynik@gmail.com.

Thank you for stopping by and I promise that there are more exciting posts to come . . .