Opinion: 10 ways to grow Baltimore at little cost and with big benefits

“This is spot on, ideas wise. But he’s underselling the cost. Some of these ideas are super-expensive.”
– ianpatrickhines, via Twitter

[On “Open the door to school choice”] “What a great way to drive people out of the city. . . If you have school choice in a city in which most of the schools are lousy, there will be too much demand for the few good schools, and some sort of screening system or lottery will need to be implemented to decide who gets a good education and who does not.  That’s way too much risk for most people who care about their kids’ education.  Take a look at Baltimore’s public high schools — terrible schools, despite all of the school choice. “
– Parent

“Schools need to be better. That doesn’t happen overnight and I think Alonso has many things moving in the right direction. However, in the meantime, he has let the really good schools, City, Poly, Western decline. While working to make all of the schools good, make a handful of them great so you give the middle class families that value education a choice of living in the City without breaking the bank yet again (after paying property taxes) by having to pay private school tuition.”
– Tim Pula

“Mayor WDS had the right idea.  Instead of taxing abandoned property, he sold 500 abandoned buildings for $1 apiece to urban homesteaders and hundreds of commercial shells for $100 each to businessmen. Forget taxing these properties. Turn them over to those that will invest in them.”
– Jdmohre

“The two most successful of the 1970s dollar house programs in Otterbein and Barre Circle had a unique circumstance – the city had previously acquired all the houses for highways that were never built. But it actually turned out to be an expensive and disruptive process, not unlike the current East Baltimore Development Initiative north of Hopkins Hospital where huge swaths of houses were purchased wholesale. It worked in the 70s mainly because they were great locations.”
– Gerald Neily

“Stop relying on Disneyesque downtown gimmicks and focus on real urban amenities (like the streets). Tie all the disparate, half-assed transit networks together, and tie the CCC into the system as well so it is not an expensive duplicator of existing services. Yes! Yes! Yes! All these ideas make so much sense.”
– Marc
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What can “post-blackness” author Touré say to still-black Baltimore?

“Excellent critique.”
– Lester Spence, via Twitter

“Anything that preserves victim status is sacred. it is essential to promoting guilt trips.”
– baldasslie

“Not buying it!  The book or the notion …”
– Ktrueheart

“My take on the whole subject of race – from my perspective as a young black man. As soon as people stop defining our differences and pointing a finger at it, we can stop remembering that this difference even exists.”
– Richard Cheese
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At Hilton an inaugural ball, at City Hall a protest

“Interesting comparison and contrast between the two events. If I were a young person just getting started in life, I would look at these two contrasting spectacles and ask myself, ‘Where would I rather be when I grow up?’ For me personally, there is no doubt that I would aspire to be one of the successful people at the inaugural ball. I wonder how many people would voluntarily choose to be a street protester?”
– Balt Observer

“Balt Observer has got it all wrong. Telling a child that it is better to end up at some schmuck fancy ball than in the streets standing up for what you believe in. I’ll stay in the streets with the people because beneath the streets is the beach!”
– United peoples

“The Occupy Baltimore protest appeared to be the better choice for the evening. It was a ‘party’ with a righteous purpose! Our Mayor should have joined them and bucked the tradition of an inaugural ball. I’d point out that most of the 99% couldn’t afford the $75.00 ticket price, and all reports say the food at McKeldin Square was way better without breaking anyone’s budget.”
– Ktrueheart

“I wonder the reasoning behind Occupy going to City Hall after the inauguration, and then missing the Ball. Seems like a missed opportunity?”
– Ben Kutil

“It seems like Occupy Baltimore is missing one opportunity after another. I agree with their cause in theory but it is seriously lacking in execution. A good time to get the mayor’s attention would have been at her inauguration. The problem is that they care more about keeping their camp in place and don’t want to rock the boat too hard apparently.”
– bmore guy

“Well, I am the one in the protest in front with the purple boots. As well I want to be one of the successful (as any 11th grader would) but I rather fight for whats right because as one of the 99% it would never happen unless we fight to get equal and fair then maybe we all can rise up a class one day!!”
– Mariebrooks43
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“A Great Place to Grow,” Baltimore’s new tagline?

“Three things: schools, taxes, crime. Everything else is just fluff.”
– westside resident

“What do I think [of the new tagline]? I think the mayor would make a great stand-up comedian. You can’t help but laugh at the ‘bring 10,000 new families to Baltimore in a decade’ goal. Is it impossible? No, but it’s just another mayoral platitude. Right now there don’t seem to be any serious policy proposals behind that idle wish. I’ve read more ambitious and sensible policy proposals in the Brew comments section that I’ve ever read on the press releases from the mayor’s office.”
– Marc

“Why would anyone bring their family into the city that has such poor public schools and little PUBLIC recreation facilities?”
– Robin Baker

“Lester Spence, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University, [has] urged that ‘the mayor should push harder to improve the lives of poor people who live in the city now.’ It would be highly preferable, indeed, to have the number ‘10,000’ (or even a larger number) applied to these current residents of Baltimore City, or to the tens of thousands of vacant houses, buildings, and lots pockmarking our city – representing little more than enduring moments to colossal waste.”
– Art Cohen

“Shoot… I’m still working on ‘believe’.”
– Mair
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Inaugural speeches then and now

“This is a good speech. Growing the population, especially the middle class, should be focused on with laser like precision. It should trump all other issues. Without increasing the tax base and health of the communities all of the other problems will continue. There IS a direct correlaton between the city’s ills and loss of the middle class.”
– Baltimoreplaces

“Progressives have ruined the city I grew up in and once loved with all my heart. It all started with Martin O’Malley… If this sounds harsh, so be it. The city of Baltimore has lost its forward motion by way of your liberal chess moves.”
– A very concerned citizen
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Behind the buzz about Black Ankle Vineyards

“I have to say that, while it’s the newest, it’s also my favorite. Though the wine less affordable, it is by far the most special and worth every dollar.”
– Margie

“Looking forward to Part Two… looks like you had a lovely, sunny Maryland day for the winery visit!”
– Priscillalady
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Contractor protests his own bid; 34 cost overruns for new homeless shelter

“I am glad that the city decided to allow Lane to withdraw their bid. They most certainly would have lost money on that contract. if i recall correctly the other prices were very close in the upper 5 to lower 6 million dollar range. Anyone who stuffs 1 million dollars of profit into that bid won’t win any work …The contractors recourse would either be to eat the million dollars, go against their bonding company, or to cut corners. That’s not desirable for anybody. No simple clerical error like that should cost anyone 1 million dollars.”
– PCCP

“Regarding the consultants, you might want to check into their hourly rates. Overall, you make some good points regarding some of the government contracting shenanigans that occur. Too many people ignore procurement because the practices can be confusing.”
– Maryland Esquire

“[Lane Construction Co.’s] other recourse would have been to come back to the City with numerous EWO’s or Change Orders. The inherent problem with low bid work is it values price above completeness of scope of work and quality of work.”
– Tim Pula
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VIDEO: Rawlings-Blake stands up for marriage equality bill

“Well, isn’t that special? Another politician embraces the lie that there can be such as thing as marriage between two people who lack sexual complementarity. O brave new world, blind to the true meaning of an institution that has been the foundation of civilization and ignorant to the damage done to society by eros unbound.”
– James Hunt

“O brave new world where the uneducated idiots get a voice.”
– Hate the hater