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It used to be that you had to keep your wits about you once you got below Cold Spring Ln., then Northern Parkway. Now I think it's anywhere inside the Beltway including parts of the county that fall under the "always being mindful of your surroundings" territory.
I don't think Baltimore is as foregone as some people believe, but there are definitely a lot of bad apples congregated in a relatively small geographic area.
I live on the County side of "inside the beltway." Should I run out and get a gun and keep my eyes on the strange neighbors?
The city has plenty of issues but you are greatly exaggerating and even distorting the reality. There are lovely and safe areas inside the city and most of the county inside the beltway is just fine and dandy. I'm all for constructive criticism of Baltimore's problems but hyperbole does not make for a good discussion.
It's not Scott's plan; it's a proposed bill in the state legislature. Not sure why trying to curb crime is a bad thing either way, though. The city still owns 500 E. Baltimore St. since BPD HQ still uses the site. Only BPD Central District - not BPD HQ - was involved in the move to the Baltimore Sun building (which the city doesn't own, it leases). Your "connected developer" conspiracy is really poorly researched.
OK its not part of Mayor Scotts Plan but is it not being sponsored by the State Senators and Delegates that represent the City?. Would they put forward such a plan without involving or informing Mayor Scott? If Mayor Scott is aware he either A) supports it, B) opposes it but doesnt want to upset the delegation and will just sit by and see what happens C) He's indifferent. Again, I am not saying its a bad thing to limit the block hours to get at crime but I would imagine the Delegates would want Scotts support and do it to complement what is outlined in his Plan
As far as my "connected developer conspiracy" ......I did called it "BPD Police HQ" though it occupies the same site as the Central District..so that was incorrect. That said....."yes" the Central District is relocating to the leased former Sun building along with other agencies associated with BCFD. I think the City is leasing 130k of a 450k building? I dont know what is in the rest of the building but if consolidation and leasing is a cost savings then I coul see them taking more of the building if available or made available over time ...which would make sense. The current Central District building will be redeveloped as indicated by the City (this was under Young...Mayor Scott could opt not to) and BPD Police HQ will remain. What developer gets it and how they go about getting it I guess is a topic of future conversations. Having lived through and being in conversation with other residents that have gone through many a city disposition process whether via Baltimore Housing or the Baltimore Development Corp (BDC) in their neighborhoods. The "conspiracy theory" of city owned properties ending up in favored developer's holdings is not far fetched.
Last edited by Woodlands; 01-25-2022 at 06:24 PM..
My personal view on Mayor Scott is favorable. I believe he got elected as Mayor during a very rough time in the country. I think we have to look at things in context. It should be highlighted that a good Mayor does not have to know everything. A Mayor is only as good as its staff, and we all know Baltimore City sub departments are not known for efficiency. We have to examine the cities topography and the representation of the city council. Each district has its own self-interest. Crime has always been an unanimous caliphate, but those in Roland Park for example, only care about crime in Roland Park. In prospective, their biggest focus is a $1 million park on the hillside. This brings challenges if the Mayor is looking for support and I am not sure how unified the city council is on issues.
As for crime, there is only so much a Mayor can do. No Mayor can stop a man from pulling a trigger over drugs, territory or a robbery in Federal Hill. The defacto response is to deploy more uniforms throughout the city. Last month, we learned that a cop can get shot in the head during said deployment. Damn if the Mayor does - Damn if the Mayor does not.
Having read some of the city council memo's, there top priority is eradicating covid-19. That is a job within itself and cannot be done without cooperation from constituents. Many city employees tested positive for Covid, thus city operations have slowed.
I believe Covid has inhibited growth in Scott's plan. It would for me if I were mayor. On a small scale, Scott appears to be the most interactive mayor the city has ever seen. He is in the community non-stop, and goes to more youth sports games than even the parents. He has also made good strides by supporting non-profits, affordable housing, and some road work in various communities.
As for some who say he has an attitude. Imagine being blamed for everything on a daily basis. I will even say that people are just picking on him at this point, "Oh Mayor Scott is at the Towson mall buying tennis shoes while people are getting shot." I don't fault him when asked biased questions. The two hardest sectors to overcome in Baltimore is crime and public schools. These two sectors incorporate people who have a mind of their own. No blanket policy will reduce the crime rates and school efficiency where it needs to be to change the city around.
All in all, I think its too early to judge Scott's performance. But if we are only going to judge based on crime and school percentages, then we need to come to terms that no mayor is going to solve this in the near future. It has always been my opinion that Baltimore looks to DC as its playbook, and awaits mass gentrification to change the city.
My personal view on Mayor Scott is favorable. I believe he got elected as Mayor during a very rough time in the country. I think we have to look at things in context. It should be highlighted that a good Mayor does not have to know everything. A Mayor is only as good as its staff, and we all know Baltimore City sub departments are not known for efficiency. We have to examine the cities topography and the representation of the city council. Each district has its own self-interest. Crime has always been an unanimous caliphate, but those in Roland Park for example, only care about crime in Roland Park. In prospective, their biggest focus is a $1 million park on the hillside. This brings challenges if the Mayor is looking for support and I am not sure how unified the city council is on issues.
As for crime, there is only so much a Mayor can do. No Mayor can stop a man from pulling a trigger over drugs, territory or a robbery in Federal Hill. The defacto response is to deploy more uniforms throughout the city. Last month, we learned that a cop can get shot in the head during said deployment. Damn if the Mayor does - Damn if the Mayor does not.
Having read some of the city council memo's, there top priority is eradicating covid-19. That is a job within itself and cannot be done without cooperation from constituents. Many city employees tested positive for Covid, thus city operations have slowed.
I believe Covid has inhibited growth in Scott's plan. It would for me if I were mayor. On a small scale, Scott appears to be the most interactive mayor the city has ever seen. He is in the community non-stop, and goes to more youth sports games than even the parents. He has also made good strides by supporting non-profits, affordable housing, and some road work in various communities.
As for some who say he has an attitude. Imagine being blamed for everything on a daily basis. I will even say that people are just picking on him at this point, "Oh Mayor Scott is at the Towson mall buying tennis shoes while people are getting shot." I don't fault him when asked biased questions. The two hardest sectors to overcome in Baltimore is crime and public schools. These two sectors incorporate people who have a mind of their own. No blanket policy will reduce the crime rates and school efficiency where it needs to be to change the city around.
All in all, I think its too early to judge Scott's performance. But if we are only going to judge based on crime and school percentages, then we need to come to terms that no mayor is going to solve this in the near future. It has always been my opinion that Baltimore looks to DC as its playbook, and awaits mass gentrification to change the city.
I hear you.. I think the challenge is that 1) Leaders need to lead.. granted they cant solve all the problems themselves but they need to be out front and be open transparent and action oriented and take calculated risk to address the issue and 2) Need to surround themselves with competent people who are equally action oriented. .. I think Baltimore politicos are either corrupt and push the the status quo or unfortunately inept. I dont think Mayor Scott is corrupt and I guess only time will tell on his competency. Then you have stories like this that seem to elude to the later
I think where Scott has more control is on neighborhood and economic development. I think he needs to spend his energy trying to improve neighborhoods.. new development, new affordable housing, better infrastructure, and improving city services (COVID notwithstanding). That will not solve all the citys problems BUT they will slow the exodus especially in stable or borderline communities. If you can stabalize your population especially of middle and working families.. you will have a tax base to attempt to tackle the more substantive issues like crime and schools. Stable neighborhoods become active in their local neighborhood schools (look at Roland Park Middle, Mt Washington, Cross Country etc) for example. Many people in Roland Park and Mt. Washington dont even send their kids to the BCPS in their neighborhoods... but advocate for the teachers and students who do go to those schools.. Stronger neighborhoods around schools is beneficial to the schools..Schools in war zones turn classrooms into battlefields...Again.. I welcome conversations and ideas because that is where that action begins.. but as to the point of this thread.. the Mayor needs to lead, encourage and nurture these types of efforts at the neighborhood level and it takes $$ and the allocation of resources not just kind words and aspirations. There needs to be a concerted effort to pursue development in other parts of the city (and there are quite a few) that are not "long shots" be are stable or borderline and shore them up and increase development in them to encourage residents to move it and/or remain in them.
Last edited by Woodlands; 02-02-2022 at 06:48 AM..
I believe that Baltimore is done. Nobody will be able to save the city because the people of Baltimore keep voting the same garbage into City Hall. At this point, I'm interested to see how bad it will get. What companies are gonna leave the city for a better city? How many more people are going to leave? How dead will downtown Baltimore become? Baltimore marketed itself as a DC suburb, and still didn't work. A large portion of city is uninhabitable, the City's high school students are reading (I kid you not) at a kindergarten level. Even the suburbs are suffering because of the city. Towson is seeing more murders, Baltimore county as a whole is seeing more murders. Towson Mall is starting to resemble Security Mall. The luxury wing of the mall is 80 empty. People have no reason to move here. City Hall wants to blame businesses for crime, yet not punish the criminals. In the instance of "The Block," the Police Headquarters is literally across the street, and they can't stop, or deter crime. I can keep going, but most of you get what I'm saying. I can't, in my right mind, defend this garbage anymore. Baltimore is a dump, and it's sad.
I believe that Baltimore is done. Nobody will be able to save the city because the people of Baltimore keep voting the same garbage into City Hall. At this point, I'm interested to see how bad it will get. What companies are gonna leave the city for a better city? How many more people are going to leave? How dead will downtown Baltimore become? Baltimore marketed itself as a DC suburb, and still didn't work. A large portion of city is uninhabitable, the City's high school students are reading (I kid you not) at a kindergarten level. Even the suburbs are suffering because of the city. Towson is seeing more murders, Baltimore county as a whole is seeing more murders. Towson Mall is starting to resemble Security Mall. The luxury wing of the mall is 80 empty. People have no reason to move here. City Hall wants to blame businesses for crime, yet not punish the criminals. In the instance of "The Block," the Police Headquarters is literally across the street, and they can't stop, or deter crime. I can keep going, but most of you get what I'm saying. I can't, in my right mind, defend this garbage anymore. Baltimore is a dump, and it's sad.
Baltimoreans electing the same folks to office year after year is a catch 22. Most times its the same people running for office year after year along with choice of candidates being a "bad" candidate or the "worse" candidate. Lets face it... who in their right mind would want to be an elected official in Baltimore? A bunch of new young faces were elected to city council in 2020. I would venture to guess the voters who did go to the polls (not sure what percentage of eligible voters that are registered actually voted) was an attempt to get new blood and ideas on City Council. To date, the city still needs to have a blood transfusion.
The GOP and Independent candidates run for some seats but they are less known, resourced and seem less qualified than the machine candidates produced by DEMs. I did like Bob Wallace but he got like 20% of the vote compared to Scotts 70%. I think even in that election like half of the Citys eligible voters voted and the rest of the candidates were not even viable. This is on top of the rank and file bureaucracy which is full of some fine people but is unfortunately dominated by political hacks and loyalist at the highest levels many whom may or may not be qualified to run their shop. Then it runs down hill from there....declining tax base, crime, schools, infrastructure and all the rest.
All of that said.. Mayor Scott and Gov. Hogan sitting down and trying to get a handle on crime is a good thing if they are both serious and not just grandstanding. To me, there needs to be a summit... Mayor, City Council, State Representatives (of the City), and the Governor just to talk about the state of the City and to put pen to paper to come up with some bonified strategies. Then they need to have standing meetings and open them to the public and begin to work through those items with a real long term commitment to implementing them while making adjustments as needed..A separate summit could drill down on Crime and involve City Judges, States Attorney, BPD, State Police etc. Seems like a reasonable ask and one that most voters would want.. but a little thing like politics is getting in the way... all the scandals and corruption issued dont help.
To your point on crime spilling into the surrounding Counties.. I think that is inevitable and a reason why if the City goes to hell and stays there.... it could be a real problem for much of the State. Criminals will follow the money and the opportunity and can care less about municipal boundaries political sub divisions
Last edited by Woodlands; 02-04-2022 at 04:15 AM..
If that is true then EVERY city and town is just as "done" ...
even the ones whose tax base isn't politically divided from their surrounding counties.
Actual solutions require the underlying truths to be acknowledged.
Number one is the population ratios of net producers vs net consumers.
Some spots are clearly worse than others... but they're ALL out of whack.
Baltimoreans electing the same folks to office year after year is a catch 22. Most times its the same people running for office year after year along with choice of candidates being a "bad" candidate or the "worse" candidate. Lets face it... who in their right mind would want to be an elected official in Baltimore? A bunch of new young faces were elected to city council in 2020. I would venture to guess the voters who did go to the polls (not sure what percentage of eligible voters that are registered actually voted) was an attempt to get new blood and ideas on City Council. To date, the city still needs to have a blood transfusion.
The GOP and Independent candidates run for some seats but they are less known, resourced and seem less qualified than the machine candidates produced by DEMs. I did like Bob Wallace but he got like 20% of the vote compared to Scotts 70%. I think even in that election like half of the Citys eligible voters voted and the rest of the candidates were not even viable. This is on top of the rank and file bureaucracy which is full of some fine people but is unfortunately dominated by political hacks and loyalist at the highest levels many whom may or may not be qualified to run their shop. Then it runs down hill from there....declining tax base, crime, schools, infrastructure and all the rest.
All of that said.. Mayor Scott and Gov. Hogan sitting down and trying to get a handle on crime is a good thing if they are both serious and not just grandstanding. To me, there needs to be a summit... Mayor, City Council, State Representatives (of the City), and the Governor just to talk about the state of the City and to put pen to paper to come up with some bonified strategies. Then they need to have standing meetings and open them to the public and begin to work through those items with a real long term commitment to implementing them while making adjustments as needed..A separate summit could drill down on Crime and involve City Judges, States Attorney, BPD, State Police etc. Seems like a reasonable ask and one that most voters would want.. but a little thing like politics is getting in the way... all the scandals and corruption issued dont help.
To your point on crime spilling into the surrounding Counties.. I think that is inevitable and a reason why if the City goes to hell and stays there.... it could be a real problem for much of the State. Criminals will follow the money and the opportunity and can care less about municipal boundaries political sub divisions
Most places elect the same types of politicians because the politicians reflect the demographics they serve. In genuine politically mixed areas you do get a sense of variety and different views. Howard County has trended Democratic for decades but it occasionally elects a Republican county executive because it has a large enough base of independent voters open to different parties.
Baltimore is always handicapped by that its core constituencies are 1) black urban residents and 2) white urban residents. The former reflects traditional urban big machine Democratic politics with all the internal corruptions that come with it (for all of Baltimore's current problem with corrupt politicians, it pales in comparison to the corruption you saw under the major Democratic machines you saw in Chicago or Philadelphia, and of course, New York). The latter, however, increasingly reflect a distinctly more progressive than liberal political viewpoint. This is a new urban form of Democratic politics emerging in many cities. The Soros-funded DAs, for example. Highly controversial outlook and as we see, are having distinct implications for how urban politics and policing are now being done. These two types of politics are exemplified in Nick Mosby representing 1) and Zeke Cohen representing 2).
It does mean that the voting demographics representing a more moderate governing approach willing to seek different, but still pragmatic, new solutions, isn't large enough to win anything more than a local council seat. Maria Miller would have been a very interesting gamble as a mayor with her extensive and impressive private sector background and offering a new approach to leading the city, but the urban white progressives wouldn't touch her because she's a rich white woman who lives in Guilford. And she's too moderate. And too willing to compromise (progressives hate compromise and seeking consensus). This same urban white progressive demographic also refused to support Sheila Dixon despite her previous record as an excellent hands-on mayor because of the gift card scandal and her cozy relationships with developers. Progressives never forgive nor are they tolerant.
Wes Moore is making a splash running for governor. I do wonder why he didn't first try his hand at Baltimore politics? HE could have been an unifying figure between the 1) and 2) demographics, as white urban progressives LOVE the articulate urbane black man regardless of any actual accomplishments, but Moore is also capable and intelligent enough to have broad appeal among the moderate minority.
But perhaps Moore is also intelligent enough to stay the heck away from Baltimore politics!
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