Just a quick chuckle at the expense of St.Louis’ new Ballpark Village, the taxpayer-subsidized bar-and-restaurant venue that adds very little to downtown St. Louis, except for more revenue for the already wealthy owners of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team:
I’ve just read that Ball Park Village will be hosting a tech conference in September. I find that amusing. Why? Because last week, when I lost my previously avowed Ballpark Village virginity [I swore I wouldn’t support it, but…poof!], I opened the Google app on my iPhone to do a little research over my grilled cheese sandwich and fries at the Cardinals Nation restaurant. When the free internet connection didn’t appear automatically, I asked our server if there was, indeed, free wi-fi in the restaurant. There’s not, she said, because it interferes with the restaurant’s internet credit-card system.
So, there it is. Ballpark Village is hosting a tech conference, featuring some very fast-forward tech companies, in a place where they can’t figure out how to have wi-fi and swipe credit cards at the same time. Oh, and by the way, the conference is called “Startup Voodoo.” Tee hee.
[Thanks, Arthur Lieber, for the news tip.]