Baltimore City Leaders Question Timing Of Seating Closure At Pimlico Race Course
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — It's the latest lob in a back-and-forth battle over Pimlico. Almost 7,000 seats in the north grandstand are now closed after an engineer's inspection.
With one month until the Preakness Stakes, city leaders want proof the 125-year-old section is closed for safety and not politics.
Acting Mayor Jack Young said he found the development curious and the timing, suspect.
Pamela Curtis' name is on that lawsuit, and said her community feels left behind.
"Honestly, I was not surprised. I was not surprised. The simple fact is that, they never really invested into the community that Pimlico Preakness is in," Pamela Curtis, Park Heights community leader.
Christopher Crockett, who has lived a block from the track since childhood, remembers the time Park Heights and Pimlico depended on each other.
"The atmosphere around here was unbelievable. Unbelievable," Crockett said.
But recent disinvestment in Pimlico has spelled trouble for the neighborhood.
"Well the last 15 years have been a decline in interest from the owners of the race track," Crockett said. "And so they don't have no sensitivity to the history or how people feel around here about it,"
Now, pieces of that century-old history are quite literally closed.
The Fire Marshal's Office is now arranging an inspection for a closer look.
But for Park Heights, what's at stake here, is much more than a jewel of the Triple Crown.
Stronarch Group has not released the full engineering report. Acting Mayor Jack Young said he is consulting with city attorneys and general assembly members about the next steps.
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