As community groups sue out-of-town property owner, some ask “Where was the city?”

“Exactly. why is a private agency suing a landlord? that’s the city’s job. so obvious, it hurts.”
– Robert Mara

“Been going on for years and years and years.”
– Ren Poulsen

“The City can deny their role in this but why continue to sell to this person and or his companies if he is known to be a slumlord? BAN him from purchasing!”
– Julie Ivey, via Facebook

“The fact that Baltimore Housing keeps using the 16,000 number [of vacants] amazes me. Wouldn’t the number be less by now, since V2V is such a success???”
– Bmore Slum Watch via Twitter

“To those folks sending all these emails to their councilpeople with no reply, try this: cc: Baltimore Slumlord Watch or a similar willing party on every single one of them. Then give them a maximum of 60 (30? 15?) days to reply. When the deafening silence continues unabated, run it as a story. Let the shaming continue just as unabated until they do their [expletive] jobs.”
– Evan

“Where is the money in buying up blighted property? There has to be some financial incentive for Wizig and others like him.”
– Matt Wilson

“The incentive is told hold the properties until the 800 lb gorilla known as Johns Hopkins comes calling to buy them – and then the slimelord cashes out.”
– Keith Finnegan

“Note to @MayorSRB: Please ensure your reformed employee health care program includes eye exams. It appears that your solicitor, Mr. Nilson, is visually challenged and unable to see that slumlords like Mr. Scott Wizig have definitely caused ‘general injury to the city.’”
– trueheart4life
__________________________________
Red Line planner answers his critics

“After running two critical pieces on the Red Line, I’m glad Baltimore Brew gave Henry Kay the opportunity to respond. Bravo. It’s good to read about the decision process and how the current proposal wasn’t arbitrary. We are ten years into the development of the Red Line, and articles like this emphasize how many interests Kay juggled with every foot of railway.”
– cbroome

“‘Why not run the Red Line on surface streets through downtown, much like the current Light Rail on Howard Street?’ // Kay said that he and the other engineers liked that idea – ‘We didn’t want to spent the money on a tunnel’ – but they ultimately decided that surface running would be too slow and unreliable, and would make already crowded Pratt and Lombard streets even more congested.’ In other words, we as a city prioritize auto traffic over all else, and are willing to spend $2 billion extra not to do some simple, common-sense engineering work that dozens of cities around the world have figured out just fine. Oh, and that extra $2 billion means our project is scored much worse by FTA than it would be otherwise, meaning we might not ever build it at all. Engineering and political cowardice, simply put.”
– Chris

“Ahem. If you’re going to call others out for ‘cowardice,’ at least use your full name. And, yes, cars have priority in Baltimore. This is why the Abell Foundation (where HK’s wife works, BTW) and other non-profits have programs to help poor people get cars and thus get to work.”
– James Hunt

“I’m afraid that what Henry Kay passes off here as reasons for the MTA’s choices about the Red Line are just rationalizations for a route and station locations which were mostly already decided upon way back in 2001 or 2002 – when discussions were held on the so-called ‘Baltimore Region Rail System Plan.’
– Art Cohen

“An underground downtown alignment is the worst of all worlds: expensive, largely invisible to the public, and maintains the status quo of facilitating automobile traffic at the expense of a realistic, cost effective transit system – all for a couple minutes of travel time savings.”
– Danny Boy

“If we want commuters to actually use the Red Line, then the tunnel is a better idea because it will be faster and more efficient. If we wanted slow transit, we would just hop on an MTA bus.”
– Nina

“So many corners have been cut in the design of the Red Line that the travel time from end to end is already going to take longer than driving. The money would be much better spent on creating a world class bus system in Baltimore, which could be done for a fraction of the cost and would benefit far more transit riders.”
– Jason Taverner

“I fully agree that private automobiles should sit at the bottom of our transportation priorities, but it’s more important to give transit riders a high level of service than to stick it to the motorists. I’d be pretty upset if to save money the MTA routed the Red Line on the surface through downtown. It’s no secret that riding the Metro Subway from State Center to Shot Tower is a far better experience than riding Light Rail from Cultural Center to Camden Yards (5 minutes vs 13 minutes).”
– Phil LaCombe

“The problem is that the choice to tunnel under downtown Baltimore and Fells Point has forced the Red Line planners to engage in some very severe cutbacks to save money. This includes the removal of the University of Maryland station and platforms will only be long enough to carry two car trains, a decision I fear may result in severe overcrowding. Also, as both Chris and the Brew point out the tunneling required by the Red Line may result in the project becoming so expensive that it never gets built. And while there once were plans to run the Red Line every four minutes during rush hour the Red Line website now states that trains will only run every 8 minutes during rush hour.”
– Greg Friedman

“I’m not debating that it’ll be faster, but Portland (I know, I know) is doing pretty damn well with a mostly surface light rail system for a fraction of the cost of ours. In a competitive funding environment, cost does matter.”
– Chris

“Since you brought up Portland, you ought to go there sometime. The light rail is successful there because Portland is a sprawling, low-density city where a great deal of the land area was developed within the past 30 years. Tri-Met planners had no trouble securing rights-of-way for the trains because they weren’t stepping on anyone’s toes. . . Baltimore is the complete opposite.”
– Andre Stone

“Unfortunately this proposed system is neither fast nor efficient. It’s about 50% faster than a city bus, at the cost of about $7 per rider per trip (that’s not including the capital costs). People are right to be asking big questions before we spend what will likely be $3 billion after overages when the feds have downgraded the project funding to ~38% and won’t pay any share of overages costs. . . The 48% payout appears to be a thing of the past. If we sink $2B of Maryland tax dollars into this, it will be the last cent we get to spend on Baltimore for a very, very long time. We’d better be sure it’s worth it. I don’t think it is.”
– Marty Taylor
__________________________________
Rx for Inner Harbor: cut down on cars and glitz, add good transit

“I think the harbor should try and change the aesthetics of the buildings there. Fells, Canton, and Fed Hill all have a small town feel that appeals to most people in the city. all these neighborhoods have small town main street type feels. The inner harbor is basically a mall.”
– Aaron Mirenzi

“Totally agreed. . . Lower the speed limits of the streets around Harborplace, design the architecture to have more of a Baltimore-feel, and maybe the Inner Harbor can be more than just a place tourists go to in the warmer months.”
– MikeG42

“Having a 10-lane freeway through the heart of your city’s main pedestrian tourist attraction is just ridiculous.”
– Arcturus

“Unless there is some scheme for making drivers pay for their commute through the cities streets, it’s difficult to see other ways of auto traffic making the connections they want without using pratt, lombard and light. There are too many people using those particular streets as highway connectors to just say to take back the lane space – even tho I’d like to.”
– bmorepanic

“Gerry, I don’t always agree with your ideas, but you do have a fantastic sense of what the Baltimore *should* be doing to make lasting change and not what the politically palatable thing to do is. . . Making that area more pedestrian friendly with slower traffic, and less barriers will do wonders for the area.”
– CB

“Great ideas! I’m all in. Not planning on going anywhere for a long time, so I’m hoping Baltimore continues to improve, but it can’t do that if it’s not smart. Keep pumping out the smart.”
– Scott Meek

“I have been a reader of the Brew for years but I am so sick of your anti-light rail articles that I’m going to be renewing my subscription to the Sun and not wasting any more time reading your NIMBY propaganda anymore.”
– SouthEastResident

“To claim that Gerry is anti-transit simply because he opposes the Red Line is very unfair. . . We need a to have an honest conversation about the pros and cons of the Red Line but calling everyone who disagrees with it a NIMBY is not the way to do it.”
– Greg Friedman

“I was so sad to see Ripley’s thrown into Inner Harbor mix. It is such a mis-match for the future of the Inner Harbor. Pratt Street is a roaring mess. Lombard is a visual disaster. Why do they let businessmen design city space? Instead of designing walkable, street-friendly space that encourages visitors, they develop ugly, thoughtless space that is unwelcoming to people.”
– jan angevine
_____________________________________
$27 million in sewer consultant contracts pushed through BOE

“Holy, effluence, Batman!”
– Marilyn Kindrick Julius, via Facebook

“The people no longer matter.”
– Rhonda Wimbish, via Facebook

“Baltimore water service is ridiculously inexpensive – a veritable steal. Try living in DC.”
– Galen Wallace, via Facebook

“When I lived in DC I paid about 1/3 of what I pay in Baltimore. And I probably use a lot less water. . . go figure.”
– Carol Ott, via Facebook

“As somebody who works as a consultant to Baltimore City DPW (and a city resident and taxpayer), I’ll tell you that there’s no way the city can manage all the work that needs to be done with the people that are in-house. The consultants that are working on the projects are temporary employees who will not be drawing a pension off the city in 20 years further adding to the deficits of the city. . . I’m not saying blank checks are the answer, but hiring on all the employees necessary to complete this work is not a feasible solution either.”
– WaterWorx
______________________________________
A fiery act of civil disobedience in Catonsville still resonates, 45 years later

“Yay @hitandstaydoc featured in a great @BaltimoreBrew piece! Read it!”
– Corey Reidy, via Twitter

“Readers interested in learning more about the Catonsville Nine might want to read Shawn Francis Peters’s The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era. It’s a thoroughly researched, well written account of the action and its aftermath, as well as the motives and exeriences of nine themselves.”
– Linda Shopes
_______________________________________________________
Retirees a calm, caring and helpful influence in city schools

“When I read that the budget for Experience Corp would be competing with VISTA and Teach for America, the first thing you consider is exactly what is reflected in this article. Children from at-risk families need people in the classroom with which they can bond and trust. No matter how great a VISTA or Teach for America, that cannot be replaced by seniors from our own communities. We are shouting for more Experience Corps and less and less of the other groups.”
-cwals99

“Thanks for covering this program. It benefits students, older adults, schools, and their communities. A quadruple return on investment sure makes sense to me.”
– SteveK
_____________________________________________________
Baltimore’s joyful pirate, Mick Kipp, sails away from us

“Mick was a wonderful, heart-filled guy.”
– Nick Sheridan

“He enjoyed his last hike to Harper’s Ferry and posted about a warm fire wit his feet up. Then he started his final sail to Whiskey Island . May it be a smooth voyage. We will miss his energy here.”
– Alex Tobey Southwick

“It’s an old saw, but a sharp one nonetheless: it’s not the years in your life that matter. it’s the life in your years. Sail on, Sailor.”
– davethesuave

“I only met him through the events he supported at the Heavy Seas brewery but he 100% made the events what they were. His passion for what he produced using ingredients from the local area was sincere, the food he made was great, and on top of that he was just a genuinely nice person.”
– Scott Gelinas

“And once you made that connection with Mick, he never forgot. My heart goes out to Motoaka, who I knew as a little girl, long ago. So many people will mourn the loss of your father. He was loved.”
– Mary Jo Kirschman
__________________________________________
Meet Baltimore’s $560-an-hour cop consultant

“What we have here is a married silver-haired white male who is going to tell a largely suburban white male police force how to effectively police an impoverished African American city that is 3000 miles away from where this guy resides. The only thing I see that will happen is William Bratton is going to obtain a whole bunch of our money, and the city will be none the wiser.”
– bosco222
_____________________________________________
“Demolition King” Pless Jones wins more city work

“This is so typical of the Baltimore bidding process. Why do we have performance goals at all? The mayor and the rest of the criminals who trample all over fair bidding laws to award contracts to their friends and political supporters may believe they’re acting in the best interest of their careers and pocketbooks but in essence, what they’re really doing is weakening the local economy. This type of corruption is the reason the vacancy rate has increased and the monies earmarked to alleviate the vacancy problem is gone without a trace.”
– AuthorShereeseM
_______________________________________
Hopkins conference tackles link between wealth and health

“There are some obvious (if imperfect) solutions to narrowing the correlation between poverty and life expectancy, but no politician is willing to champion any of them. The most obvious is a government-funded single-payer healthcare system which insures all people in America regardless of age, race, wealth, or income.”
– Barnadine_the_Pirate

“Not disagreeing with Barnadine, but adding the combined effects of poverty, crime, high levels of environmental pollution plus high levels of addiction and its collateral damage also affect health. There is an enormous amount of stress living every day without enough money, without choices but with a really strong dose of fear and anxiety. And the fear is not about a child’s college fund, but whether their they or their child will be alive tomorrow or can afford to eat.”
– bmorepanic
______________________________________________________
The Inner Harbor then and now

“Imagine if that stream buried beneath Central Avenue could be brought back to life. We did.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md10sVS5d4o .”
– Amy Nelson

“The postmortem on your uplifting video is that the city is currently spending upwards of $75M rebuilding Central Avenue from the underground river upwards to serve as the gateway to Harbor Point.”
– Gerald Neily

“Seoul managed to remove a 12 lane highway to liberate a buried stream in just a few years. I’d be willing to let Central go to get the big prize. Free the Jones Falls!”
– Chris Streb
______________________________
 A blue-collar future proposed for Sparrows Point

“This is [the] type of plan that I was discussing, a multiple industrial complex combining light industry, the shipping industry (heavy and light repair, distribution), a green area, energy and a logistics area. . . The critical word is JOBS right now. Not a yacht club or a casino.”
– Dr. Raymond Boothe

“Yes, this is what Baltimore needs. Go, Mr. Kamenetz!”
– Sherri A

“Kamenetz has NO residents on the panel to decide their own fate.”
– Maryjane Oelke, via Facebook

“This means after all the cleanup and dismantling, after all the paperwork and transferring of hands, after all the proper liscensing and permits are in place THEN they can start building. The hiring for these new companies will begin year 2026. At this point, todays toddlers will be old enough to work there. Good try but get out of Baltimore if you want jobs now.”
– My2Cents69