How the flood of 1976 changed Frederick
The Frederick News-Post - 10/09/2016
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2016
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fredericknewspost.com Vol. 133 No. 361 6 sections
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How the flood of 1976 changed Frederick Carroll Creek flood control project is one of a kind By NANCY LAVIN
[email protected]
Walking along Carroll Creek in downtown Frederick, few visitors might realize they’re walking atop a buried concrete river, created to avoid a potentially catastrophic 100-year flood. Heralded as a “gem” of downtown, the redeveloped Carroll Creek has attracted no shortage of acclaim and attention. Much of the praise centers on the visible elements: landscaping, park beautification, and the commercial and residential buildings the project has spawned. Below the surface of the creek lies the oft-overlooked, vitally important flood control system designed and built in the wake of the 1976 flood.
Flooding near Baker Park
Boats used for downtown rescues
How it works
A view of All Saints Street
The innovative system relies on a series of four underground conduits running below the artificial creek. When water collects in Baker Park, the conduits prevent flooding by channeling the flow of water east toward the Monocacy River. Each 20-by-20-foot conduit — large enough to drive a bus through — can hold up to 1.4 million cubic feet of water, according to TraNews-Post file photos cy Coleman, a city engineer.
An aerial view of the Carroll Creek flood control project looking west as of 2004, before the linear park construction began.
Blurring racial boundaries the local black community.
How Carroll Creek redevelopment desegregated downtown Frederick By NANCY LAVIN
[email protected]
The natural stream known as Carroll Creek once divided downtown Frederick, not only geographically, but racially, as well. The flood-control and park project after the flood redirected both the flow of water and the migration of
people in downtown Frederick. The redevelopment in turn blurred the lines between “white Frederick” and “black Frederick,” creating racially diverse neighborhoods across downtown. Supporters of the Carroll Creek project point to the desegregation as one of its many benefits. But others see it as a loss of identity for
Copyright © 2016 Randall Family, LLC 10/09/2016 December 27, 2016 3:00 pm (GMT +5:00)
Life below the creek In the decades before schools desegregated and the Civil Rights movement took hold, the area north of Carroll Creek remained white people’s domain. African-Americans weren’t allowed in Baker Park. Those who wished to enter the then-Frederick City Opera House had to use the fire escape in the back of the building, according to coverage in The News at the time. (See BOUNDARIES A4)
(See FLOOD CONTROL A4)
Dispatchers remember calls as floodwaters rose By DANIELLE E. GAINES [email protected]
It started as a typical rainy Saturday morning when Randy Waesche reported to his job as the only on-duty emergency dispatcher on Oct. 9, 1976. It had been a rainy week. Through Oct. 3, 1976, the region had been doused by about 3.5 inches of rain during a four-day storm. When the rain started again Thursday, Oct. 7, weather forecasters were predicting only moderate rain, according to Frederick News-Post archives.
The rain continued to fall for two more days. During one 16-hour period, it rained 7.2 inches, including 3 inches in one hour, according to The News-Post archives. “It obviously was a rainy day,” Waesche said. “I remember when I got there at 7, it was kind of slow. Usually on a rainy day, it’s slow.” Frederick County Volunteer Fire Chief Clarence “Chip” Jewell, another dispatcher at the time, had the day off (See DISPATCHERS A5)
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THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST
|
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2016
Evolution of Carroll Creek Oct 9, 1976
1978
1985-93
1991
2005-06
2013-16
After several days of heavy rain, a major flood begins. Roughly 7.2 inches of rain falls in 16-hour period, flooding Carroll Creek and spilling into downtown. Damage estimates ranged from $5 million to $25 million.
Preliminary design plans for an underground conduit system, with four culverts to control the flow of water from Baker Park toward the Monocacy River, plus levees to hold excess water.
Construction of the $60 million Carroll Creek Flood Control project, which eliminates most of downtown from the 100-year floodplain.
City adopts a master plan for the Carroll Creek Linear Park project, detailing a multi-phase beautification spanning 1.3 miles of the creek, with corresponding economic development.
Construction of $10.6 million first phase of Carroll Creek Linear Park, which stretches from Court to Carroll streets.
Construction of $15.8 million second phase of Carroll Creek Linear Park, east from the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center.
Sources: The Frederick News-Post archives, city of Frederick Department of Economic Development
Flood control (Continued from A1) The four together hold a combined 5.7 million cubic feet of water. Baker Park, by comparison, can hold up to 580,000 cubic feet of water, Coleman wrote in an email. As she noted, however, stormwater doesn’t sit still. The flood control system also uses a series of pumps that regulate how much water enters the conduits. Flap valves in the conduit walls push standing water through the 1.3mile pipe system and out to the Monocacy River, according to a 1992 article in The Frederick NewsPost Leader. The system as a whole effectively prevents a 100-year storm event — a rainfall that has a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year — from flooding as it did in 1976, when 7 inches of rainfall drenched downtown in less than 16 hours. The project also removed about 130 acres in downtown from a 100-year floodplain, relieving property owners in that area
Boundaries (Continued from A1) Restricted from many of the amenities, parks and businesses that populated northern downtown Frederick, the local black population created its own community south of the creek. By the 1920s and ’30s, South and All Saints streets were described as “teeming” with all-black churches, businesses, schools and homes, according to a story in The News in 1995. Sites such as Asbury United Methodist Church and the historic B&O Railroad Station at South Market and East All Saints streets were key meeting places. Mullinix Park and the William R. Diggs Memorial Swimming Pool, created with donations from Joseph Baker, also were gathering sites for African-Americans, the 1995 News story stated. The area remained a stronghold for the black community through the early 1970s, according to Seaven Gordon, president of the board of directors for Frederick Community Action Agency. In an interview last month, Gordon — who played an instrumental role in opening a community center at the former B&O Railroad Station in the late 1970s — recalled Saints Street as an all-black neighborhood. When Walter “Pete” Sewell opened his barber shop on All Saints Street in 1972, there was a thriving black community, he recalled. Relics from that era still decorate the inside of
Copyright © 2016 Randall Family, LLC 10/09/2016 December 27, 2016 3:01 pm (GMT +5:00)
from mandatory flood insurance contain a constant amount of warequired by the Federal Emergen- ter. The upper artificial creek was cy Management Agency. inspired by the River Walk in San Antonio, Texas. But the combinaAn innovative solution tion of the above-ground waterThe 1976 flood devastated way and subterranean flood conmuch of downtown Frederick, trol system was original. causing between $5 million and Many communities locally and $25 million in damage, accord- nationwide have looked to Freding to estimates published by The erick’s design as a model for their News-Post. own flooding solutions, most reTo state Sen. Ron Young, cently those from Ellicott City, D-District 3, the city’s mayor at the according to Richard Griffin, the time of the flood, the need to take city’s economic development dipreventative measures was appar- rector. ent. Exactly what those measures Conceptual plans emerged by would be, however, was less clear. the late 1970s, but construction The best option from a function- didn’t begin until 1985. Part of the al standpoint was akin to a giant delay stemmed, in part, from raissewer system running through the ing the money necessary to pay heart of downtown. Although the for the $60 million project. system effectively moved flood waYoung described financing as ter, it was unattractive. “the most daunting” part of the “It was very ugly,” Young re- project, noting that initial cost escalled Tuesday in a phone inter- timates were four times the city’s view. “It did nothing for down- operating budget. Working with town.” the Frederick County delegation Young, working with various and state legislators, he successarchitects and design firms, in- fully pitched a $2 million contristead proposed covering the un- bution from the state budget the derground conduit system with a first year, with subsequent $2 milshallow manmade creek channel. lion allocations in the next three The body of water comes from the fiscal years. Once Gov. William Donald natural creek, but is controlled to
Schaefer was elected, he helped Young secure additional state dollars, which were combined with city and county contributions. Young chalked up the success of his legislative request, in part, to the way he pitched the project. Neither flood control nor park beautification was enough to convince state legislators at the time, he said. Instead, he sold the project on economic development.
Economic benefits Many of the direct and intangible economic benefits of the project are still to come. Construction of the flood control system ended in 1993. Although a master plan for the linear park to rest atop the flood control was adopted in 1991, park development didn’t begin until 2005. Young lost his 1989 bid for reelection. According to Young, the project also lost momentum under new leadership. He said if he had won reelection, the entire project would have finished by 1995. He said he was thankful subsequent administrations eventually resumed his efforts. The $10.6 mil-
lion first phase of park improvements, spanning from Court to Carroll streets, ended in 2006. The $15.8 million second phase of improvements along the eastern portion of the creek was earlier this year. Despite the delays, Young called the end result “beautiful.” Several significant projects have been completed. Griffin noted that the first phase of park improvements coincided with about $35 million of new construction in four new buildings along the creek, bringing about 80 new residential units and 110,000 square feet of office and retail space. Griffin named renovations to the C. Burr Artz Public Library and improved pedestrian and bicycle connections through downtown as additional benefits. The various projects in the pipeline including a proposed downtown hotel and conference center that, once finished, would add $100,000 to $150,000 more in private investment, according to Griffin. The circle of positive impacts surrounding the creek will continue to widen with time, project by project, block by block, he said. Staff writer Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this story
the small one-room shop at 122 W. All Saints St. — signs that read “NAACP membership sign-up here,” yellowed newspaper clippings and photos of local Civil Rights advocates. In those days, he did steady business, Sewell said in an interview. “How do you think I’ve stayed here since 1972?” he said. “It’s not because of how things are now, I can tell you that. My business is about shot.”
Redefining racial boundaries Sewell’s business is one of very few remaining from those days. Many longtime residents, too, have moved out of neighborhoods south of the creek Gordon estimated All Saints Street was at least 50 percent white. He attributed the changes, in part, to the redevelopment of Carroll Creek after the 1976 flood. “The creek project was one of the best things that happened to downtown Frederick,” Gordon said. “It was money well spent.” Other factors, including desegregation and a new Frederick County Courthouse building on West Patrick Street, also played a role in diversifying the neighborhood, he noted. The flood-control project moved area properties out of the 100-year floodplain. The corresponding economic development spurred rehabilitation and increased property values and demand to live downtown, according to Richard Griffin, the city’s economic development director.
Staff photo by Bill Green
When Walter “Pete” Sewell opened his barber shop on All Saints Street in 1972, there was a thriving black community, he recalled. Relics from that era still decorate the inside of the small one-room shop at 122 W. All Saints St. Griffin, in an interview Monday, described the result as a “far healthier, far safer and far more integrated” neighborhood. State Sen. Ron Young, who spearheaded the creek redevelopment project as mayor, also called the changes to Saints and South streets as healthy and beneficial. Though the changes have cost Sewell a significant amount of business, he described the evolution of the once-all-black neighborhood as inevitable.
“Things change,” he said. Mwariama said. “That’s just the way it is.” There is little evidence of the blocks of barber shops, pool halls, restaurants and Losing their identity Longtime All Saints homes that he remembers Street resident Watu Mwari- from before the flood. Key ama doesn’t see the creek gathering places, too, were redevelopment as a benefit. replaced or modified beIn an interview, he framed cause of redevelopment, he the project as a way to drive said. As examples, he named African-Americans out of downtown and the diversi- the community center on fication as a loss of identity the corner of South Market and East All Saints streets, for the black community. “Carroll Creek was de- now home to Frederick signed to take away what Community Action Agenwas ours, a kind of ‘divide cy, and Mullinix Park, a porand conquer’ strategy,” tion of which was integrated
into the Carroll Creek Linear Park. “They mutilated that park,” agreed Malik Adisa-Ajene, another longtime neighborhood resident. “There’s very little real estate left in that area that we can identify as part of our park.” Young said the city’s 1979 purchase of the community center was independent of the creek project, and its designation as the Frederick Community Action Agency the result of federal block grants secured to help fund the social service program there. As for Mullinix Park, he noted that desegregation meant African-Americans could enjoy any and all city parks. To Adisa-Ajene, the loss of park property itself was less important than its history. “The more property we lose off this street, the more history we lose,” he said. Janet Foreman, 88, a former West All Saints Street resident who now lives elsewhere in the county, saw both positives and negatives to the creek project. “I’ve always been a person for progress,” she said in a phone interview in September. But, she added, “I don’t see enough black people being part of the revitalization. And that saddens me.” Charles Poindexter, who has lived on West All Saints Street for more than 50 years, agreed. “The south end always seems to get the short end of the stick,” he said. Follow Nancy Lavin on Twitter: @NancyKLavin.
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fredericknewspost.com Vol. 133 No. 361 6 sections
© 2016 Randall Family LLC
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How the flood of 1976 changed Frederick Carroll Creek flood control project is one of a kind By NANCY LAVIN
[email protected]
Walking along Carroll Creek in downtown Frederick, few visitors might realize they’re walking atop a buried concrete river, created to avoid a potentially catastrophic 100-year flood. Heralded as a “gem” of downtown, the redeveloped Carroll Creek has attracted no shortage of acclaim and attention. Much of the praise centers on the visible elements: landscaping, park beautification, and the commercial and residential buildings the project has spawned. Below the surface of the creek lies the oft-overlooked, vitally important flood control system designed and built in the wake of the 1976 flood.
Flooding near Baker Park
Boats used for downtown rescues
How it works
A view of All Saints Street
The innovative system relies on a series of four underground conduits running below the artificial creek. When water collects in Baker Park, the conduits prevent flooding by channeling the flow of water east toward the Monocacy River. Each 20-by-20-foot conduit — large enough to drive a bus through — can hold up to 1.4 million cubic feet of water, according to TraNews-Post file photos cy Coleman, a city engineer.
An aerial view of the Carroll Creek flood control project looking west as of 2004, before the linear park construction began.
Blurring racial boundaries the local black community.
How Carroll Creek redevelopment desegregated downtown Frederick By NANCY LAVIN
[email protected]
The natural stream known as Carroll Creek once divided downtown Frederick, not only geographically, but racially, as well. The flood-control and park project after the flood redirected both the flow of water and the migration of
people in downtown Frederick. The redevelopment in turn blurred the lines between “white Frederick” and “black Frederick,” creating racially diverse neighborhoods across downtown. Supporters of the Carroll Creek project point to the desegregation as one of its many benefits. But others see it as a loss of identity for
Copyright © 2016 Randall Family, LLC 10/09/2016 December 27, 2016 3:00 pm (GMT +5:00)
Life below the creek In the decades before schools desegregated and the Civil Rights movement took hold, the area north of Carroll Creek remained white people’s domain. African-Americans weren’t allowed in Baker Park. Those who wished to enter the then-Frederick City Opera House had to use the fire escape in the back of the building, according to coverage in The News at the time. (See BOUNDARIES A4)
(See FLOOD CONTROL A4)
Dispatchers remember calls as floodwaters rose By DANIELLE E. GAINES [email protected]
It started as a typical rainy Saturday morning when Randy Waesche reported to his job as the only on-duty emergency dispatcher on Oct. 9, 1976. It had been a rainy week. Through Oct. 3, 1976, the region had been doused by about 3.5 inches of rain during a four-day storm. When the rain started again Thursday, Oct. 7, weather forecasters were predicting only moderate rain, according to Frederick News-Post archives.
The rain continued to fall for two more days. During one 16-hour period, it rained 7.2 inches, including 3 inches in one hour, according to The News-Post archives. “It obviously was a rainy day,” Waesche said. “I remember when I got there at 7, it was kind of slow. Usually on a rainy day, it’s slow.” Frederick County Volunteer Fire Chief Clarence “Chip” Jewell, another dispatcher at the time, had the day off (See DISPATCHERS A5)
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The Frederick News-Post - 10/09/2016
A4 | FROM PAGE ONE
Copy Reduced to 49% from original to fit letter page
Page : A06
THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST
|
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2016
Evolution of Carroll Creek Oct 9, 1976
1978
1985-93
1991
2005-06
2013-16
After several days of heavy rain, a major flood begins. Roughly 7.2 inches of rain falls in 16-hour period, flooding Carroll Creek and spilling into downtown. Damage estimates ranged from $5 million to $25 million.
Preliminary design plans for an underground conduit system, with four culverts to control the flow of water from Baker Park toward the Monocacy River, plus levees to hold excess water.
Construction of the $60 million Carroll Creek Flood Control project, which eliminates most of downtown from the 100-year floodplain.
City adopts a master plan for the Carroll Creek Linear Park project, detailing a multi-phase beautification spanning 1.3 miles of the creek, with corresponding economic development.
Construction of $10.6 million first phase of Carroll Creek Linear Park, which stretches from Court to Carroll streets.
Construction of $15.8 million second phase of Carroll Creek Linear Park, east from the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center.
Sources: The Frederick News-Post archives, city of Frederick Department of Economic Development
Flood control (Continued from A1) The four together hold a combined 5.7 million cubic feet of water. Baker Park, by comparison, can hold up to 580,000 cubic feet of water, Coleman wrote in an email. As she noted, however, stormwater doesn’t sit still. The flood control system also uses a series of pumps that regulate how much water enters the conduits. Flap valves in the conduit walls push standing water through the 1.3mile pipe system and out to the Monocacy River, according to a 1992 article in The Frederick NewsPost Leader. The system as a whole effectively prevents a 100-year storm event — a rainfall that has a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year — from flooding as it did in 1976, when 7 inches of rainfall drenched downtown in less than 16 hours. The project also removed about 130 acres in downtown from a 100-year floodplain, relieving property owners in that area
Boundaries (Continued from A1) Restricted from many of the amenities, parks and businesses that populated northern downtown Frederick, the local black population created its own community south of the creek. By the 1920s and ’30s, South and All Saints streets were described as “teeming” with all-black churches, businesses, schools and homes, according to a story in The News in 1995. Sites such as Asbury United Methodist Church and the historic B&O Railroad Station at South Market and East All Saints streets were key meeting places. Mullinix Park and the William R. Diggs Memorial Swimming Pool, created with donations from Joseph Baker, also were gathering sites for African-Americans, the 1995 News story stated. The area remained a stronghold for the black community through the early 1970s, according to Seaven Gordon, president of the board of directors for Frederick Community Action Agency. In an interview last month, Gordon — who played an instrumental role in opening a community center at the former B&O Railroad Station in the late 1970s — recalled Saints Street as an all-black neighborhood. When Walter “Pete” Sewell opened his barber shop on All Saints Street in 1972, there was a thriving black community, he recalled. Relics from that era still decorate the inside of
Copyright © 2016 Randall Family, LLC 10/09/2016 December 27, 2016 3:01 pm (GMT +5:00)
from mandatory flood insurance contain a constant amount of warequired by the Federal Emergen- ter. The upper artificial creek was cy Management Agency. inspired by the River Walk in San Antonio, Texas. But the combinaAn innovative solution tion of the above-ground waterThe 1976 flood devastated way and subterranean flood conmuch of downtown Frederick, trol system was original. causing between $5 million and Many communities locally and $25 million in damage, accord- nationwide have looked to Freding to estimates published by The erick’s design as a model for their News-Post. own flooding solutions, most reTo state Sen. Ron Young, cently those from Ellicott City, D-District 3, the city’s mayor at the according to Richard Griffin, the time of the flood, the need to take city’s economic development dipreventative measures was appar- rector. ent. Exactly what those measures Conceptual plans emerged by would be, however, was less clear. the late 1970s, but construction The best option from a function- didn’t begin until 1985. Part of the al standpoint was akin to a giant delay stemmed, in part, from raissewer system running through the ing the money necessary to pay heart of downtown. Although the for the $60 million project. system effectively moved flood waYoung described financing as ter, it was unattractive. “the most daunting” part of the “It was very ugly,” Young re- project, noting that initial cost escalled Tuesday in a phone inter- timates were four times the city’s view. “It did nothing for down- operating budget. Working with town.” the Frederick County delegation Young, working with various and state legislators, he successarchitects and design firms, in- fully pitched a $2 million contristead proposed covering the un- bution from the state budget the derground conduit system with a first year, with subsequent $2 milshallow manmade creek channel. lion allocations in the next three The body of water comes from the fiscal years. Once Gov. William Donald natural creek, but is controlled to
Schaefer was elected, he helped Young secure additional state dollars, which were combined with city and county contributions. Young chalked up the success of his legislative request, in part, to the way he pitched the project. Neither flood control nor park beautification was enough to convince state legislators at the time, he said. Instead, he sold the project on economic development.
Economic benefits Many of the direct and intangible economic benefits of the project are still to come. Construction of the flood control system ended in 1993. Although a master plan for the linear park to rest atop the flood control was adopted in 1991, park development didn’t begin until 2005. Young lost his 1989 bid for reelection. According to Young, the project also lost momentum under new leadership. He said if he had won reelection, the entire project would have finished by 1995. He said he was thankful subsequent administrations eventually resumed his efforts. The $10.6 mil-
lion first phase of park improvements, spanning from Court to Carroll streets, ended in 2006. The $15.8 million second phase of improvements along the eastern portion of the creek was earlier this year. Despite the delays, Young called the end result “beautiful.” Several significant projects have been completed. Griffin noted that the first phase of park improvements coincided with about $35 million of new construction in four new buildings along the creek, bringing about 80 new residential units and 110,000 square feet of office and retail space. Griffin named renovations to the C. Burr Artz Public Library and improved pedestrian and bicycle connections through downtown as additional benefits. The various projects in the pipeline including a proposed downtown hotel and conference center that, once finished, would add $100,000 to $150,000 more in private investment, according to Griffin. The circle of positive impacts surrounding the creek will continue to widen with time, project by project, block by block, he said. Staff writer Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this story
the small one-room shop at 122 W. All Saints St. — signs that read “NAACP membership sign-up here,” yellowed newspaper clippings and photos of local Civil Rights advocates. In those days, he did steady business, Sewell said in an interview. “How do you think I’ve stayed here since 1972?” he said. “It’s not because of how things are now, I can tell you that. My business is about shot.”
Redefining racial boundaries Sewell’s business is one of very few remaining from those days. Many longtime residents, too, have moved out of neighborhoods south of the creek Gordon estimated All Saints Street was at least 50 percent white. He attributed the changes, in part, to the redevelopment of Carroll Creek after the 1976 flood. “The creek project was one of the best things that happened to downtown Frederick,” Gordon said. “It was money well spent.” Other factors, including desegregation and a new Frederick County Courthouse building on West Patrick Street, also played a role in diversifying the neighborhood, he noted. The flood-control project moved area properties out of the 100-year floodplain. The corresponding economic development spurred rehabilitation and increased property values and demand to live downtown, according to Richard Griffin, the city’s economic development director.
Staff photo by Bill Green
When Walter “Pete” Sewell opened his barber shop on All Saints Street in 1972, there was a thriving black community, he recalled. Relics from that era still decorate the inside of the small one-room shop at 122 W. All Saints St. Griffin, in an interview Monday, described the result as a “far healthier, far safer and far more integrated” neighborhood. State Sen. Ron Young, who spearheaded the creek redevelopment project as mayor, also called the changes to Saints and South streets as healthy and beneficial. Though the changes have cost Sewell a significant amount of business, he described the evolution of the once-all-black neighborhood as inevitable.
“Things change,” he said. Mwariama said. “That’s just the way it is.” There is little evidence of the blocks of barber shops, pool halls, restaurants and Losing their identity Longtime All Saints homes that he remembers Street resident Watu Mwari- from before the flood. Key ama doesn’t see the creek gathering places, too, were redevelopment as a benefit. replaced or modified beIn an interview, he framed cause of redevelopment, he the project as a way to drive said. As examples, he named African-Americans out of downtown and the diversi- the community center on fication as a loss of identity the corner of South Market and East All Saints streets, for the black community. “Carroll Creek was de- now home to Frederick signed to take away what Community Action Agenwas ours, a kind of ‘divide cy, and Mullinix Park, a porand conquer’ strategy,” tion of which was integrated
into the Carroll Creek Linear Park. “They mutilated that park,” agreed Malik Adisa-Ajene, another longtime neighborhood resident. “There’s very little real estate left in that area that we can identify as part of our park.” Young said the city’s 1979 purchase of the community center was independent of the creek project, and its designation as the Frederick Community Action Agency the result of federal block grants secured to help fund the social service program there. As for Mullinix Park, he noted that desegregation meant African-Americans could enjoy any and all city parks. To Adisa-Ajene, the loss of park property itself was less important than its history. “The more property we lose off this street, the more history we lose,” he said. Janet Foreman, 88, a former West All Saints Street resident who now lives elsewhere in the county, saw both positives and negatives to the creek project. “I’ve always been a person for progress,” she said in a phone interview in September. But, she added, “I don’t see enough black people being part of the revitalization. And that saddens me.” Charles Poindexter, who has lived on West All Saints Street for more than 50 years, agreed. “The south end always seems to get the short end of the stick,” he said. Follow Nancy Lavin on Twitter: @NancyKLavin.
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