If the National Sailing Hall of Fame moves to Annapolis, we should NEVER refer to Annapolis as the Sailing Capital of the World.
We don’t want or deserve the title, and everybody in the sailing community will know we didn’t fight to retain the title.
This is what happens when we don’t have a clear vision of what we want to be. Nobody’s singularly to blame, yet we’ve all got chum on our hands.
It’s partially my fault the sailing hall of fame is likely uprooting from Annapolis to Newport, Rhode Island. In hindsight, two columns encouraging elected officials, business leaders and the sailing community to rally together over the past five years just weren’t enough.
It’s the Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce’s fault, too. And don’t forget the area’s maritime industries and its entire business community. Over the past 13 years, there was zero united upswell in support.
Former mayors Ellen Moyer, Josh Cohen and Mike Pantelides couldn’t convince stakeholders to invest in what should be a community jewel.
Same goes for county executives Janet Owens, John Leopold, Laura Neuman and Steve Schuh.
The Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference & Visitors Bureau isn’t off the hook. Can’t forget Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., Martin O’Malley and Larry Hogan. Maryland’s governors over the past decade and a half were in position to make the hall a reality. The state leased the Burtis House to the hall for $1 a year. But the state offered no significant financial investment. The hall never tapped the $1.25 million the state allocated because it was contingent on starting construction.
No question the majority of blame falls at the feet of hall of fame’s leaders. A debilitating recession didn’t help fundraising. But the hall’s honorary advisory board is littered with millionaires including Stephen Colbert and Morgan Freeman and billionaires Ted Turner and William Koch.
It’s their job to show business leaders and officials the hall’s value. It’s the hall’s responsibility to ask them to write checks. It’s their duty to solicit donations from private institutions.
National Sailing Hall of Fame President Gary Jobson understands fatigue regarding the hall. What started out as a $28.5 million project was whittled to $9.5 million. A year after saying organizers needed just $5.7 million more, we’ve reached a make-or-break moment.
The hall missed multiple fundraising deadlines. The state showed patience. Potential donors didn’t ante up. The community shrugged.
Jobson, who joined the hall in 2012, expects his board to decide by February whether to buy a waterside property in Newport for $2 million.
“I can’t keep spinning the wheels indefinitely,” Jobson said.
Not a priority
The lack of vision for what we — as a community — want to be is undermining Annapolis’ potential.
“We’re too busy criticizing each other’s vision of what we want Annapolis to be,” said chamber of commerce CEO Bob Burdon. “We’re fractionalized.”
We must concede Newport got done in less than a year what Annapolis managed in a decade.
Shameful.
“Newport had a vision for itself and executed it over the past few decades,” Burdon said. “We’re still trying to figure out what we wanted to be.”
This is our collective failure.
Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley, who has been in office seven weeks, said the hall of fame flap exposes a leadership void.
“We have to put our money where our mouth is,” Buckley said.
In what might be an Annapolis record, the Annapolis Yacht Club was given permission to relocate to the Harbor Grill site on City Dock less than a month after a devastating fire. In less than 24 hours, Hogan, Schuh and Pantelides were on site pledging their assistance. But here we are, looking for our own Minnesota Miracle to keep what should rightfully be ours.
The economic impact of losing the hall might be minimal. The hall won’t attract millions of additional tourists. The visitors we do receive likely will couple their trips with shopping and eating, however.
A northern relocation for the hall of fame could mean saying goodbye to programs teaching kids to sail for free and a STEM initiative that reinforces math and science lessons through sailing.
“They’re such an integral part of this community in training of future sailors,” said AAACVB CEO Connie Del Signore. “Folks need to understand — and support — that this is not just a brick and mortar facility, it’s a part of our community.”
We’re not losing just a hall of fame. We’re losing part of our identity.