Parking and safety in Arlington/not for me

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

Bob B,
At 07:47 05/03/2000 EDT, you wrote:

>Sorry Carol but most of what you have included in your letter will push  
>people like me who were "on the fence" about going to Arlington into making 
>the decision not go go at all.

No need for paranoia, here.   Thought and preparation, yes.  Even here in
not-quite-the-middle-of-nowhere-but-you-can-see-it-from-here-Iowa there are
streets which should not be walked after dark.  If you look and act like a
target, your chances are better that you will _be_ one.   I'd never go to
the place-of-the-burning-river, but _that_ isn't an accurate portrayal
either, is it?

(Historical note for the younger ones - at one time the Cuyahoga River
which flows through Cleveland was so polluted that it actually caught fire.
 It has long since been cleaned up and there is a thriving riverfront
renewal going on.)

>Perhaps the persons deciding on  Convention sites should consider places
that 
>are not primary tourist traps-errrr I mean tourist prime sites  for the 
>annual.  The purpose of these PTG events is to  attend classes, learn,see 
>products and as an afterthought, go "touristing".  I will never attend a 
>Convention in a large Tourist-attractive location.

You may never be at another convention, then.  The "touristy" locales have
the large facilities NECESSARY to host the convention. The rush 5 minutes
in this town may suit you better, but the Super 8 couldn't handle it.   I,
for one, as a  _fore_thought, take advantage of the opportunity to see what
each area has to offer.  I have usually combined a vacation trip with the
convention.  (Example - I'd never been in Oregon before the Portland
convention made it my 50th state.) BTW, I do plan to spend some time either
before or after seeing the sights - [I have a friend who works at the
Smithsonian...;-]

>  Hot weather sites-as in Orlando in recent years- are also quite low on
my list of places I want to 
>visit(during the HOT summer months).

Sorry, not a valid reason.  North America is HOT in July.   Air
conditioning has been standard in hotels for quite some time.  Dearborn
(not real far from you) and Toronto (even further north) weren't exactly
chilly, either.

>Just my spin on things.

I think we should be concentrating on why we may want to GO to the
convention instead of rationalizing why we aren't.



Conrad Hoffsommer - mailto:hoffsoco@luther.edu
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