In Annapolis, they were talking about a "supertrack" for downtown Baltimore, a fanciful new complex for Maryland's racing industry stocked with thousands of slot machines.
But Leola Haywood has no doubt she would vote against it -- because she has no desire to give up where she has lived her entire 88 years. Her house on Bayard Street would be one of about 170 that could be demolished to make way for the track just west of the city's professional sports stadiums.
"I've been in this house all my life," Haywood said. "I wouldn't know where to go."
A plan to give Baltimore two racetracks with slot machines -- the legendary Pimlico Race Course and a new downtown track -- worries local residents and elected officials, intrigues a leading business group and has Old Hilltop's owner saying a new city track will never fly.
The plan emerged this week in discussions among state leaders interested in holding a special session of the General Assembly to place the question of legalizing slots before voters in November.
Though the possibility of a special session appeared to evaporate last night, it's clear that Annapolis lawmakers will continue talking about a new track proposed near Baltimore's two stadiums.
The Maryland Stadium Authority's preliminary plan calls for a $400 million racetrack encompassing 185 to 210 acres.
Betty Bland-Thomas, president of Sharp-Leadenhall Planning Committee Inc., said the new racetrack would destroy affordable homes and historical buildings.
"I think we've suffered enough" with the two stadiums, she said.
Haywood added that her neighborhood of Washington Village-Pigtown already deals with the vehicle and pedestrian traffic accompanying events at the stadiums. The possibility of a year-round horse racing and slots facility would increase the burden on her struggling community, she said.
"I'd hate to see it," she said, adding, "the big wheels are going to get what they want. They don't think about poor people."
Her neighbor, William "Mayor Bus" Chambers, said the residents who would be displaced by a track would be people who have known one another for generations.
"Everybody around here are relatives or close friends," Chambers said. "It would be hard to build that community somewhere else."
At a Washington Village-Pigtown Neighborhood Planning Council meeting June 30, 70 percent of the 300 who attended voted against the idea.
