Reply to Hogan Slashes Baltimore Redevelopment funding

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am from Baltimore and I’m not entirely upset. The state and the Fed have poured billions into Baltimore over the last few decades with little to show for it but persistent problems that never get better. It really is not fair to the rest of the state to keep dumping money into Baltimore. The problems are much deeper than what money can solve. It’s throwing more money after bad.

I’m also astute enough to know that just about all the redevelopment money that is pouring into Baltimore is private money. And that money is making a difference. The key safe parts of the city have grown and gotten better and more desirable. The state didn’t have a role in that.

I will be supporting Hogan because his responsibilities are to the entire state, not just Baltimore. And he’s done a good job from that perspective.

Let’s be frank. Even O’Malley didn’t do much for Baltimore once he became governor despite having been the mayor. [/quote]

Is the more then ten percent of the state population that live in Baltimore or the fifty percent of the state that live in the greater Baltimore area not Hogan’s constituents?  He has repeatedly screwed Baltimore kids by underfunding the Thornton requirememts and killed the red line which would have created 10,000 jobs in Baltimore and solved a long standing public transportation problem that makes it difficult for many city residents to get to to jobs.  He then compounded the problem by dramatically cutting bus services to inner city neighborhoods,

It is ironic that the law and order governor has seen the Baltimore murder rate double during his time in office.

As long as Baltimore is in its current condition, it is going to repress business development throughout the state.  No man lives in a bubble—as Baltimore goes, so goes the state.[/quote]

The Baltimore suburbs have no love for the city. Spend some time in the burbs and you’ll soon realize that. Few voters in the suburbs will be voting based on what Hogan does or does not do for the city.

Baltimore City is still an economic center but it’s far less important than it was 50 years ago. Washington is the real economic machine for Maryland.

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I live in Baltimore County and work in Baltimore city, but thanks for incorrectly explaining the political dynamics of my community to me.[/quote]

Baltimkre city resident here. The suburbs do not love the city. There is a very long history of racial and social divides between the city and the suburbs. A lot of people, and I mean a lot, thoroughly despise the city. It’s unfortunate but also understandable.

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Again, thanks for explaining my community to me but your stereotype is just as off as the other one.  Most of my neighbors work inthe city, send their kids to private schools in the city and by no means despise the city.  You have to go out to the rural outer suburbs to find the attitude you are describing.[/quote]

Or Parkville, Perry Hall, White Marsh, Essex, Dundalk, Linthincum, Owings Mills (and, of course, leaving out the northern Baltimore suburbs and Carroll and Harford and AA counties, and Howard might as well be on a different planet).

I'm not quite sure what community you're referring to as the region isn't a single community but 2.5 million people, of whom the vast majority, as borne by census data, do not work in Baltimore city but live and work in the suburbs and are more likely to work in other suburban counties than Baltimore City.

I grew up in Baltimore City. It's my home. I own property in Baltimore City. I love Baltimore. But I'm in no denial when it comes to the realities of city/suburban split. And even within the city. Do you think the good folks of Roland Park live in the same "community" as the people in Park Heights or Belair Edison or Sandtown-Winchester? The "White L"is a real thing. So many people who love Baltimore City live their lives within the "White L" and rarely stray east or west of it. People may talk the talk but when it comes to reality, it rarely translates into anything more than good feelings and not effective policy. When I was growing up in comfortable North Baltimore we used to joke that you needed a passport to go to other parts of Baltimore, for that was how strange it was to us, even if it was only a few miles (or less) away.

As for the suburbs, I grew up listening to so many suburbanites talk about their old childhood neighborhoods in Baltimore (or their parents) and how it used to be nice at one time but sadly no more (and of course the unsaid but implied bit left out was that the black people moved in and ruined it). I worked in Baltimore County for years with residents of Towson and Cockeysville who refused to come to the city and had no idea that places like Roland Park existed. The typical county resident looks at the city news, hears about the violence, shrugs and thinks, typical for Baltimore and doesn't care beyond that. And now it's not just the white flight, but the large black middle classes that have moved out to the suburbs too, eager to leave behind the city and its problems.

In other words, you cannot easily dismiss the contempt or indifference of so many people in the counties for the city. And it is understandable. People see the city as dysfunctional and helpless. They see much of the city's problems (high taxes, crime, drugs) as consequences of the actions of the people in the city. And why should it be their problem? It's an ongoing dysfunctionalism that's now lasted two generations with no end or solution in sight.

The Baltimore suburbs voted for Hogan in the last election. The suburbs voted for Ehrlich heavily when he first ran, and when Ehrlich lost his re-election four years later, even then the suburbs narrowly voted for him over O'Malley, despite O'Malley's advantages of a popular young mayor during a time when the city seemed to be rebounding and also, of course, running during the staunchly anti-republican wave of 2006. There will certainly be people (like you) angry with Hogan for not doing more for Baltimore, but for the rank and file of Baltimore suburban voters, it makes no difference. They will be judging Hogan on other grounds, not the city. [/quote]

This is utter and complete nonsense.  No one  in Towson or Cockeysville doesn’t know where Roland Park is unless they are a complete moron, and a substantial number of them send their kids to school in Roland Park as it is literally a few miles away.  Towson directly borders Baltimore city, for God’s sake.  I don’t know who you worked with, but they sound like idiots, and certainly weren’t representative of the County.  Your assertion is like saying residents in Bethesda don’t go to dc or know where Cleveland Park is liocated, completely ridiculous.  The overwhelming majority of people in this area of the County work in Baltimore.  And guess what, more than a quarter of the county population is African American, and close to half is non-Caucasian— so of people are here to avoid minorities as you claim, they didn’t do a very good job of it.

O’Malley won in 2006 because he won Baltimore County.  The Baltimore County executive has been a Democrat for many years.  Ehrlich and Hogan won because the democrats nominated particularly weak candidates.  When Ehrlich had a record to run on, he lost.

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The Baltimore suburbs encompasses more than just Baltimore County. Your single minded fixation on the city probably suggests you do not think about the needs of other counties so I won’t judge voters from other counties for not prioritizing the needs of the city. [/quote]

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