pile of masonry but not nearly so forbiddingrnnow as when Shelley saw it, thernbuilding having been painted a creamy yellowrnand converted into residential apartments.rnOnly the blackened shadowy archrnconnecting the two portions of the palacernacross a narrow cobbled street retains a hintrnof the monstrous Baroque crimes that occurredrnhere four centuries ago.rnFrom the Palazzo Cenci, I made myrnway back to the Hotel Forum, betweenrnthe northern end of the Palatine Hill andrnthe Campidoglio. Except for the tallrnbrick arches set into the hillside beneathrnthe massed green of the cypresses and therndarker pines above them, the palaces ofrnthe eiuperors and the ancient Romanrnaristocracy have to be imagined today.rnThe Forum below the hill was green v’ithrnJanuary grass and forbs which I hated tornbe leaving for the snow and ice ofrnWyoming.rnAt the hotel that evening, we had a finernRoman feast, with a cocktail pianistrnthrown in by a generous management.rnMost of the guests were departing on earlyrnflights the next morning, and after therngoodbyes had been said, the RockfordrnRump Parliament, consisting of all thernusual suspects, gathered in the bar downstairsrnfor scotch and to say farewell tornFausto, the indulgent keeper of our liversrnfor the past eight or nine days. I regret tornsay that I (but not I alone) had too manyrnscotches, got to bed well after midnight,rnand would have got up at six in the morningrnwith a serious headache had I not, inrnfact, awoken drunk. I was still drunkrnwhen Ray Olson and I arrived together atrnthe airport at nine. Wliether it was withrnlast night’s scotch or with the haunting,rneternal beauty that is Rome, I could notrnhave said.rnChilton Williamson, jr., is the seniorrneditor for books at Chronicles.rnLetter From Detroitrnby John O’NeillrnField of SchemesrnExcept for the filming of 61″, the upcomingrnmovie about the home-run racernbetween Yankees Mickey Mantle andrnRoger Maris in 1961, there was no actionrnlast summer at Tiger Stadium. The DetroitrnTigers have ditched their historicrnhome at the corner of Michigan Avenuernand Trumbull and are entering their secondrnseason at their new home, ComericarnPark.rnUnlike Tiger Stadium, which seatedrnover 50,000, Comerica Park seats roughlyrn40,000—that including the seating inrn100 luxury boxes, 20 more than the franchisernsaid it would have. The team’s newrnhome has scarcely a downward angle inrnthe lower deck, making it difficult to seernover the heads in the next row. There isrnalso little shade from the sun or shelterrnfrom the rain, unless you are in one of thernluxury boxes.rnThere is a Ferris wheel at ComericarnPark, visible from southbound 1-75, and arncarousel with tigers instead of horses.rnThe new ball park has the biggest scoreboardrnin the major leagues. There is alsornparking, but it costs $20, which is morernexpensive than the very few economyrnseats available.rnAll of this might have been easier to acceptrnhad the public not been forced intornpaying much of the $240 million constructionrncost. Detroit-area reportersrnhave praised Tigers’ owner Mike Hitchrnfor covering most of the cost himself, unlikernfranchise owners elsewhere whornpractice legal extortion, forcing theirrnhometowns to pay all construction costs.rnThe Tigers, however, were bound byrnlease to the old stadium. Unlike franchisernowners in other cities who reallyrnmeant it when they gave the taxpayers thernultimatum to build a stadium or lose thernteam. Hitch did not have the option tornmove the Tigers from Detroit.rnThe press hasn’t always favored a newrnball park. Tom Monaghan, the previousrnowner of the Tigers whose staunchrnCatholicism made him unpopular withrnthe media, was never able to enlist theirrnhelp to rally for a new stadium. Nor wasrntiie late Coleman Young, who served fivernterms as mavor, and had the most hostilernrelationship ever between a mayor andrnlocal media. After Hitch bought the teamrnon the eve of the 1992 season and DennisrnArcher was elected mayor in 1993, however,rnthe baseball-team owner and thernbig-city mayor enjoyed a free ride withrnthe local media.rnMonaghan’s nemesis was the TigerrnStadium Fan Club, whose spokesmenrnbelieved that the sale of the team wouldrnsave the stadium. Hitch and Archer werernboth careful and clever enough to pay liprnservice to examining the option of preservingrnTiger Stadium, and the fan clubrnbought into this charade.rnThey got taken. Archer and Hitchrnworked immediately to get all the powersrnthat be lined up behind what would becomernComerica Park, hi March 1996,rnArcher arranged a ballot proposal to approvern$40 million in city bonds to fundrnthe new ball park—on the same day asrnthe Republican primary. The timing wasrndeliberate: The press’s focus on the primaryrnwould ensure limited public debaternabout the ball park, and, because Republicansrnin Detroit are quite rare. Archerrnensured a low voter turnout.rnArcher made his pitch for the new ballrnpark in a television ad which aired thernweekend before the vote. Singing thernpraises of a new park, Archer insisted thatrnthe best aspect of the plan was that therncity would own the new facility. Hernfailed to mention that the city alreadyrnowned Tiger Stadium.rnThis was the same Dennis Archer whornhad refused to take a position the previousrnAugust on a ballot proposal to allowrncasino gaming in Detroit. During thatrncampaign, the mayor had insisted that hisrnposition dictated that he not campaignrnfor or against a ballot proposal.rnArcher proved to be selective in applyingrnthis principle. And why had he madernthe bizarre assertion in the first place?rnBecause he had pretended to be againstrncasino gaming during the mayoral racernin 1993, lest he incur the wrath of therncit”s religious leaders, whose crucial endorsementsrnonly Coleman Young couldrngarner while publicly supporting casinorngaming. But it was clear that Archer wasrngiving a wink to the gambling interests,rnespecially when it was revealed duringrnthe campaign that he had patronizedrncasinos in Canada.rnAs a candidate. Archer opposed gambling,rnhi his first term as mayor, he tookrnno position but insisted, most cleverly,rnthat he would fight for Detroit’s right torngamble should the proposal pass. After itrnpassed, he vowed to keep casinos off Detroit’srnscenic and residential riverfront.rnAnd now—you guessed it—Archer wantsrnto put casinos on the riverfront.rnThe interests who pushed for a newrnstadium were largely those who had alsornpushed for casinos. Although Archer hadrnadmonished the Tiger Stadium FanrnClub for haying non-resident members,rninstrumental in the drive for a new parkrnwas the Coalition for Jobs and EconomicrnDevelopment, an almost entirely subur-rn36/CHRONICLESrnrnrn