Another excellent letter about the meeting on the Fair Hill Turf track.
It points out that the largest percentage of the people in attendance were either flat horse trainers or owners or people that wanted racing resumed at the Fair hill track.
One person in the group I was in pointed out that the Memorial Day races were family friendly and cost effective, while the Maryland 5* was very expensive.
Actually, professionals could restore the track to use in a matter of weeks, but the DNR refuses to listen.
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Many people have asked me about the Fair Hill meeting.
I HAVE kept my mouth shut about it lately, because I had given up that they will ever fix the track.
The meeting was intended for stakeholders only until it became public knowledge and the locals came out in droves!
I figure all of us taxpayers are stakeholders, so everyone had a right to be there!
I was told there were 132 cars, so around 150 to 175 people in the non-air conditioned tea barn with a box fan hanging.
When the Secretary of DNR, Josh Kurtz, started the meeting with the introduction that the Special Event Zone needs a vision and schedule of use and talked about how proud DNR is of the partnership with the 5*, all of my hope was deflated.
It was the same old story….Isn’t the 5* so frickin’ fantastic? I just about vomited at that point.
The apparent plan for the meeting was to have no plan.
There were no extra seats and people standing.
At the last minute they were obviously trying to figure out how to handle the large crowd, which caused the meeting to start late.
They were going to split into three groups to discuss what is working, the challenges, and what we want to see.
The intention was to rotate, but they quickly learned that wouldn’t work either.
Needless to say, each group just wanted to talk about the races.
It was advertised by some people to be a meeting about the races and for the community to tell DNR why we want the races.
The moderators of the groups were not necessarily prepared for what they were walking into.
People were fired up about the races!!!!
We talked about our concerns, voiced our opinions, got a few answers, but nothing was transparent.
The community (many of them from Fair Hill Training Center and the thoroughbred racing community) had a lot of great ideas from a multiple day “meet” of turf races to having a Grand Prix while things are set up from the 5*.
The Department of Agriculture lady was in our group and wanted to know what other events we would like to see there.
Some suggested concerts to festivals or dog shows.
Me, I said I didn’t want anything but horse related activities because I don’t want “progress” to ruin Fair Hill.
Many attendees repeatedly suggested that the state listen to local horse people that could give insight as to how to correct the problems and how to get racing back to Fair Hill.
At the completion of the meeting when people just started walking out because they realized it was a waste of time and energy, I took the time to speak to people individually.
I reminded Rachel that the horse barns still don’t have a wash rack.
I told her that people left that meeting more angry than when they came in.
People came to get answers and all they got was more political b.s.
I introduced myself to Kurtz and introduced him to some people that could help.
He says he has not spoken to the Stadium Authority yet, but I doubt that.
I spoke to Chris about he new job position that they are creating for someone to manage he special even zone.
And then I talked to Kevin Hornberger about Breeders Fair.
I was one of the last ones to leave - at least half an hour after the Annapolis DNR crew rolled out!
So, what did we learn from today?
1. The state has no idea what to do with the track. They don’t know how bad it is and what it will cost to fix it.
2. The state won’t tell anyone what the problems are with the track and why it can’t be used. Over and over again people asked why the track is not useable, and in our group the DNR man said it was a “minor infrastructure issue.” He was referring to the drainage culvert that is inside the track and so now they need to move the rail or redo the drainage system. He neglected to bring up the compaction and sliding sod.
3. The state has no plan of what to do to get the track to be useable. None of the state representatives had any clue about horses or what a track should be. They have no idea about what it takes to have races or what is good footing. Our group’s moderator kept saying that they can’t find anyone to “certify this very unique hydroponic track”. Well of course not….it isn’t safe to run on! You can’t certify it if it isn’t certifiable!!!!
4. If the track surface is deemed unsafe and needs to be ripped up and replaced, the state doesn’t have the money to do that and make it right. So, if it is found to need major repairs, the track will be doomed forever.
5. We (Maryland taxpayers) are still paying Rupert landscaping 1.3 million dollars PER YEAR to maintaining the track and the irrigation system. That is to say that we are wasting our tax dollars to maintain a beautiful but useless racetrack that may or may not be fixable and is surrounded by a fence that is turning brown and already falling down.
6. If you are looking for a job, the state is creating a new position to work out of FHNRMA, but maybe not actually be a part of FH office, to be the special event coordinator to work with event coordinators and be the person that brings in more people. They want someone to market Fair Hill NATURAL RESOURSES MANAGEMENT AREA as a place to host large events that will bring tourists and traffic and chaos to the area.
What we didn’t learn
1. What are the state’s known issues with the track.
2. What is the plan moving forward from today?
3. How is the state going to address the track issues?
4. Is racing ever coming back to Fair Hill?
Some of us voiced our distain for the 5* and how it has created so many problems for historical users.
But in our group, we were told that the state “needs” the 5* to happen, after admitting that the Special Event Zone was built to welcome the 5*.
And again, I just about vomitted.
The state representatives only know the 5* and don’t appreciate the community history of the Fair Hill races.
They have no clue as to how this has impacted the local horse industry and the residents of Cecil County.
They kept talking like they cared, but I don’t believe them.
If someone cared, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
I cannot tell you how many times I heard “we inherited this problem from the previous administration.” Ok…and how long has Wes Moore been in charge of this???
It was just a lot of political b.s that we are all tired of hearing.
I know they had the meeting on a Tuesday morning to limit attendance, but it didn’t work!
I have been at every one of those meetings since this mess started and I sure as h-e-double hockey sticks wasn’t missing this one!
I was in a room with the stepmonster, the stalker, and my least favorite politician, but I stuck it out because I care about Fair Hill and the future of this community!!!
It was encouraging to see so many familiar faces there today, but I fear that we weren’t enough to force any kind of action from the state.
The damage is done and I am terrified that it may be irreversible.
We were told that there will be more meetings, but for what purpose???
The state doesn’t listen to us and they just do what they want.
My husband reminded me that the state has been working on this for 10 years, and this is all the farther it has gotten.
The wheels of progress move slowly at the state, so now we wait until the next “come and voice your opinions even though we don’t listen” meeting where they will continue to point fingers and offer zero solutions.
I have this post to remind me, so we will see how the next one, two, five, ten years go and if racing has returned to Fair Hill in this decade…I sure hope it does!
Monica Mason
