Vibrant, Man, Vibrant

Don't laugh, dammit! Harrison Square is going to Turn Downtown Around in the Fort! And Mariott will help!

A Courtyard by Marriott hotel will anchor the $130 million Harrison Square development.

Mayor Graham Richard on Thursday announced the brand of the new downtown hotel. While the hotel brand is a step below what city officials coveted, Richard said the Courtyard will be a quality hotel and provide the financial support needed for the rest of Harrison Square.

Besides a hotel, Harrison Square includes a parking garage, condominiums, retail and a city-owned baseball stadium southwest of the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Harrison Street.

So, will it be next month, maybe, when we see our dynamic leaders explaining to us that the new Motel 6 that will be anchoring our hopes for the future is a really, really good deal? Why, it'll have an ice machine in every hallway, you betcha!

Really, I shouldn't laugh. Just look at the existing "Courtyard by Marriott" up at Lima and Washington Center. It's revitalized the whole area. Now, there's a BP station, a McDonald's, Golden China, a Cracker Barrel, Gordon Food Service, and ... (insert drum roll here) ... Kaysan's Fifth Down!!!

So: the Courtyard by Marriott is a step below what city officials "coveted." Why is it that reading the news in this corruption-riddled burg makes me feel the need of a shower? One thing that Fort Wayne city officials are unquestionably good at is coveting, no doubt about it.

Finally, our booster "newspaper" needs to pay a little attention to its copy-editing function. What's this "baseball stadium" crap? That doesn't sound all warm & friendly. That sounds all cold & concrete, just like that "Memorial Stadium" that we're still paying for -- the one that's all of fifteen years old and completely worn out, yessir. Get it right, Journal-Gazette -- it's "ballpark." Yes, ballpark. Write it five hundred times on the chalkboard before you get to go home for the weekend. "The preferred nomenclature is 'ballpark,' Dude."

UPDATE: Grace has just alerted me that Marriott is all sorts of a major purveyor of pornography! I guess we'll be able to head down to Harrison Square for a little mini-vacation featuring Wizards baseball, vibrant night life, and feeelthy movies. Now the "coveting" connection is becoming clearer ... Mayor Richard, you dirty, dirty boy, you!