Maryland city readies for Mideast talks

Campus can handle crowds
The academy's fall football games, along with the annual 90-day legislative sessions of the Maryland General Assembly, long ago trained Annapolis to handle big crowds and a lot of disruption. Residents have to deal with crowds from games, frequent boat shows and a regular influx of tourists.

"It is not something that is going to tie us up on a major way," said city spokesman Ray Weaver of the peace talks, though the city still has few details on how the event will run.

Nor has St. John's College, a small liberal arts school that abuts the academy, been told much about what to expect next week, according to school president Christopher Nelson. But the meeting's lofty goals far outweigh any local hassle, he said.

"Associating this small community with a grand hope for peace is a grand thing for the town."

Things are not quite so peaceful among shop owners on Main Street. With the critical post-Thanksgiving shopping surge approaching, many are wary that another big event might scare shoppers away from downtown.

Kerry Smith's cookware store usually clocks about 40 percent of its annual business during the last two months of the year. Business has already been hurt by a wilting economy and a just-completed special General Assembly session, during which lawmakers took all the prime parking spots. Even the perception that the city will be crowded could drive shoppers away, he said.

"I'm having a hard time finding positive things to say," Smith said of the peace talks.

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