Shortly before the start of today’s vote on Question F, the developer-financed political committee pushing for public approval of high-rise apartment buildings at Harborplace denounced as racist an image that briefly appeared on its opponent’s Facebook page.

Jon Laria, chair of Baltimore for a New Harborplace, the pro-development committee underwritten by MCB Real Estate, called the image that appeared three weeks ago on the Harborplace Forum “insulting and demeaning [to] Black Baltimoreans.”

The October 17 message was posted by former City Councilman Anthony J. Ambridge, one of the leading opponents of Question F, a charter amendment that would allow apartments and off-street parking in the public park surrounding the Harborplace pavilions.

The post contained an image of the three wise monkeys that represent the Japanese proverb, “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” accompanied by the headline, “Mayor – City Council – BDC.”

Ambridge said he found the image on an anti-Donald Trump website and deleted it the same day after a friend complained. The image was replaced by a generic white businessman with his hands over his mouth, eyes and ears (see below).

“It was a brain fart. I regret doing it. But these accusations of racism are a smokescreen by people acting out of desperation,” Ambridge told The Brew this afternoon.

“Race has nothing to do with my opposition to a giveaway of public parkland to a private developer to build luxury apartments,” he continued. “I’d be just as mad and vocal if the city was giving the Inner Harbor away to a white developer. Making this about race is a tactic by the mayor and MCB because they cannot justify a $400 million subsidy and a five-acre land grab by a private developer.”

Ambridge said he deleted the image after Lisa Harris Jones told him it was distasteful. He said he wasn’t aware that Harris, a local attorney, was also a lobbyist for MCB Real Estate, which purchased Harborplace out of receivership in 2022 and now seeks to replace the low-rise pavilions with high-rise apartments and other commercial structures.

“I was shocked about the whole racism thing. The fact that we’re willing to volunteer our time has everything to do with wanting to make a better city”  – architect David Benn.

David Benn, a longtime city architect who has testified against the project, took time out from lobbying voters at a southeast Baltimore polling place today to share his thoughts about the allegation against him and fellow critics.

“I was shocked about the whole racism thing,” Benn said. “If you don’t agree with me about everything, then you’re a racist? That seems to be the way the mayor is running things these days.”

“The ‘vote yes’ people out here are being paid,” Benn continued. “The fact that we’re willing to volunteer our time has everything to do with wanting to make a better city and nothing to do with anything racist.”

Heavy Pro Advertising

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Maryland Governor Wes Moore have urged voters to approve Question F, calling the company’s plan essential to the future of downtown Baltimore and revival of a one-time waterfront tourist magnet.

But as criticism of the project mounted, Scott has charged opponents with picking on MCB’s co-founder, P. David Bramble, because he is a successful Black businessman.

“The moment that a Black man from West Baltimore decides to intervene and jump on top of that and actually build it – and went out and talked to everybody downtown – all of a sudden, there’s a group of people who are opposed to it,” Scott said after a judge nullified the ballot question, a decision later reversed by the Maryland Supreme Court.

Laria cited the three monkeys and an image of Moore with a clown nose as examples of racist memes made on the Harborplace Forum.

An attorney who represented MCB Real Estate before he retired last year, Laria confirmed a statement he issued to The Banner last night and asked that it be published in full by The Brew.

It reads, “Question F is about moving Baltimore forward, not back, and the offensive racist images and stereotypes are taking us back to a grim time in our city and country. These opponents are insulting and demeaning Black Baltimoreans, but all Baltimoreans should be appalled and reject their outrageous attacks, including at the ballot box. Their message is beneath us as a community and a city.”

The ballot committee that Laria heads was formed by Leland Shelton, an MCB executive who was Mayor Scott’s campaign treasurer between 2020 and 2023.

Through October 17, MCB was the sole financial contributor to the committee, advancing $240,000 for pro-Question F advertising, billboards and voter canvassing, according to its finance report to the State Board of Elections.

The group has stepped up expenditures over the last 19 days based on its canvassing operations and online and print advertising in the Baltimore Banner, Baltimore Sun and elsewhere.

The group has hired the Fells Group, a local communications firm, to coordinate its activities and marshaled top MCB executives as “poll workers” to promote the pro-development line.

Election-day Campaigning

Today, 20 MCB officers and paid associates fanned out to a dozen polling stations located in the “White L” of Roland Park, Hampden, Charles Village, Fells Point, Highlandtown and Locust Point, according to an internal memo obtained by The Brew.

The coordinator, Liam Davis, a former First District City Council candidate, instructed the advocates to “stick to our established talking points” and “get out the facts,” which included disparaging the opponents as “led by a Republican developer, City Councilman-turned-developer and Thiru Vignarajah.”

The former refers to David Tufaro, a developer who once ran for mayor as a Republican; Ambridge, who says he sold his real estate interests and is now retired; and Vignarajah, a former Maryland deputy attorney general who ran unsuccessfully for mayor and state’s attorney.

MCB’s director of leasing analytics, Jean Farnsworth, was scheduled this morning to approach voters at the St. David’s Episcopal Church polling place on Roland Avenue, according to the internal memo.

A woman who acknowledged she worked in that position for MCB (but declined to give her name) spoke with a reporter.

She was distributing “Vote YES on F” literature to voters because, she said, it is a cause she truly believes in.

“I really think it represents the best chance to revive the Inner Harbor,” she said. “I love Baltimore. I want to see it thrive.”

Nearby, a 56-year city resident who overheard the conversation offered a different view.

“I am completely against F,” said Barbara Blumberg, of Bolton Hill, who was distributing literature in opposition to Question H, which would reduce the size of the City Council.

“Anyone who loves the city and wants to see it succeed would not want to have our public space that belongs to the citizens handed over to a private developer to put in 900 apartments,” Blumberg said.

“Once this land goes, what’s next? Druid Hill Park? Patterson Park?” she continued.

Jean, a consultant who declined to give her last name, agreed to talk about her election choices.

Unlike her votes for Kamala Harris for President and Angela Alsobrooks for Senate, “Question F was a tough one,” she said.

“I went back and forth on that” she said, concerned about “using public park space for private development.” In the end, she voted “yes” in part because “I’d like to see it go to a local developer instead of some out-of-town company.”

Further up Roland Avenue was Mary Nyanzi, who had just cast an “F-no” vote.

“I don’t believe we should allow apartments on our city public parkland,” Nyanzi said. “We definitely need to do something down there, but we need to settle on a good plan. Not more towers.”

Recruited to the Cause

Another person supporting Question F – and raising the race issue – is Bolton Hill resident Sarah Matthews, a community engagement assistant with Park Heights Renaissance who is also active as a volunteer focusing on Baltimore senior citizens.

Matthews told The Brew she got involved at the urging of “my friend Liam Davis,” the Council candidate and former assistant to Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young.

“Because Mr. Bramble is an African American, some segments of our city are against the project” reads the flier Matthews handed out at senior centers and senior apartment buildings as well as posted on social media.

“When it comes to minority businesses in Baltimore, the playing field has not been level”  – Pro-MCB handout.

“When it comes to minority businesses in Baltimore, the playing field has not been level,” the handout said.

Matthews says she convinced fellow seniors they would benefit from the redevelopment, despite the fact that the apartments Bramble proposes would be pricey and out of reach to most of them.

“Even though they might not be able to live in the apartment complex – and neither will I – I think that we can still come down and enjoy the green space and still, you know, be able to shop,” she told The Brew today.