To paraphrase an old legal adage, if you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; if you have the truth on your side, pound the truth; if you have neither, pound the table and yell like hell. We – see this website – have the first two; they – the racing industry and its slow-witted apologists – are yelling, or distracting, like hell. With each passing day, as the desperation mounts, they search for something, anything, to hold on to; lately, it’s been all about “jobs,” or more specifically, what will become of all the hard-working folk of racing should we, the evil activists, get our wish and racing is defunded (has its subsidies stripped away) and/or outlawed. Well.

Here are some of the racetracks that have closed since the turn of the century and the redevelopment that has (is) followed (following). New jobs. New business. New tax revenue. New, in-demand replacing old, no-longer-viable – the American economic system as it was designed to function. And moral progress, to boot. Imagine that.

Hollywood Park, California, closed 2013
undergoing massive mixed-use redevelopment – jobs, lots of them

Bay Meadows, California, closed 2008
underwent a massive mixed-use redevelopment – homes, offices, retail, parks

Suffolk Downs, Massachusetts, closed 2019
plans for massive mixed-use redevelopment – commercial, retail, residential

Portland Meadows, Oregon, closed 2019
plans for industrial redevelopment – warehousing, distribution, light manufacturing

Beulah Park, Ohio, closed 2014
undergoing massive residential redevelopment (with some commercial, too)

Hazel Park, Michigan, closed 2018
undergoing commercial redevelopment

Pinnacle Race Course, Michigan, closed 2010
undergoing commercial redevelopment anchored by two giant Amazon warehouses

Maywood Park, Illinois, closed 2015
undergoing major industrial and retail redevelopment with a projected 700 new jobs

Anthony Downs, Kansas, closed 2009
residential redevelopment

Rockingham Park, New Hampshire, closed 2009
undergoing massive mixed-use redevelopment – with a projected 6,000 jobs

Jackson Harness Raceway, Michigan, closed 2008
plans for a new convention center

Sportsman’s Park, Illinois, closed 2002
redeveloped as a shopping center

Garden State Park Racetrack, New Jersey, closed 2001
underwent a massive mixed-use redevelopment – homes, retail, restaurants

Playfair Race Course, Washington, closed 2001
underwent massive industrial/commercial redevelopment