What's Missing?

I snapped the photo to the right on Sunday in Annapolis. This picture represents just a slice of the downtown area of Maryland's capital. Annapolis is only the second largest city in Maryland behind Baltimore, but boasts no big city buildings and is not nearly the center of the state's commerce.

If you click on the photo, you can enlarge it (and if you hold the cursor over the enlarged photo for a couple seconds until the little box appears in the lower right corner and then click that box, you can enlarge further).

Now look at the enlarged picture. There are a total of six small buildings in the picture. Let's do an exercise in comparisons: Wilmington, DE versus Annapolis, MD.

Wilmington is, of course, the biggest city in Delaware. It is the center of commerce in the state. It is the seat of wealth. It boasts many buildings over 12 stories in height. Surely we'll need to handicap this comparison to give little Annapolis a fighting chance.

Wrong.

I'll give it away: Annapolis beats Wilmington hands down in nearly every comparable category (probably with the sole exception that Wilmington boasts being the location of much of this country's corporate law).

Using the photo, let's look at what Annapolis has that Wilmington doesn't offer.

Starting from left to right:

1. A downtown hardware store. Not a big thing, but it would probably be useful. (Full disclosure: not in walking distance, but there is a Home Depot about a five minute drive from downtown...so maybe this is a wash.)

2. Souvenier shops. Quite honestly, there is nothing that says "Wilmington, DE!" Except maybe DuPont teflon. Otherwise, I don't see what they could possibly market as a souvenier of Wilmington, DE. A crack pipe maybe?

3. A nice little antique shop. I'm not one for antiquing, but the only shops that I would identify with Wilmington are probably wig stores and nail salons. Maybe corner liquor stores, too.

4. Armadillos (a nice little restaurant with outdoor seating). It's not so much that Wilmington doesn't have any restaurants with outdoor seating...but off the top of my head, I can think of maybe three (Cavanaughs, Mezzanote, Costas). Off the top of my head, I could name more than that in the 2 1/2 block walk from Fleet Street to the scene of this photo. And where are the downtown Irish bars? With the exception of the Trolley Square area (a neighborhood on the other side of I-95), I don't think there are any located in Wilmington. How un-American (that's a joke, by the way).

5. An ice cream shop. We don't have ONE in downtown Wilmington. I was told there are SIX in downtown Annapolis. Lucky duckies!

6. Starbuck's. Say what you will about Starbuck's, but I continue to believe Starbuck's is an economic indicator. If you have one (or usually several), you're doing just fine. If you have none, like Wilmington, economically your town might was well be Beirut. They even have a "Starbucks" in Afghanistan for crying out loud!

7. Moes's (chain food joints). Wilmington has plenty of mom and pop eating establishments, but only one downtown chain eatery: Quizno's. Again, say what you will about chain food establishments, but they are chains because they make food people overwhelmingly enjoy. Just like Starbuck's, they also act as economic indicators. Moe's is a yuppie Southwestern-style food chain. You're most likely to find them in suburban strip malls. Annapolis is so yuppie, they have one downtown. Wilmington, by contrast, is so lame, we don't even have a McDonald's downtown! That's right, no McDonald's. I hear there is one not far from downtown, but it's in a neighborhood you are unlikely to want to find yourself. And it's definitely not like McDonald's can't be found downtown because we're just too good for it. Just take a walk down the main shopping drag, Market Street, and you'll see what I mean.

8. I'm cheating here, but just off the screen to right is a sushi restaurant, one of several in downtown Annapolis. There is a sushi joint in downtown Wilmington, but it is a place that calls edamame "pop beans." Does that really count?

9. Finally, I think it's unfair to compare the sailboats and pleasure craft in Annapolis harbor to what you'd find in Wilmington since Wilmington's showcase downtown park, Rodney Square, doubles as a public transportation depot and riff-raff magnet. I'll just note that the photo accompanying this post was taken on a Sunday and the downtown area is packed with weekend revellers. Contrast with Wilmington where downtown is generally a ghost town on weekends and any time after 6pm on a weekday. Sigh.

Just wanted to give a little flavor for what it's like here in Wilmington compared to one of my favorite towns in America. I just can't get over what a soulless place this city is. If only it had a fraction of the character of Annapolis, this might be an attractive place to live and work. In fact, if we could just replicate the six building stretch shown in the photo here in Wilmington, we'd be making some serious progress.