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2 things I see going in the right direction in Baltimore:
addressing public employee pensions before many other cities in the same boat
and finally beginning to tear down some of the vacants.
Outside of that, I agree that SRB's leadership is lacking. Only 28% turned out to vote last primary, then the move to change the primary to line up with the other elections, thus giving SRB and extra 2 years in office (and she came in when Dixon was shown the door), so Baltimore basically has an unelected mayor, no mandate, another family politician, friend of MOM. The Gran Prix was a total failure. Taxes being raised, and SRB fights having audits for the city. The grants TIF for fat cats with polluted waterfront property. All with the highest property tax rate in the state. Where is my tax money going??? They don't know - they don't audit!
Interestingly - the population has ticked up slightly after 60 years of decline. Looking at census and property data, it appears in general that some of the poor in East and West Baltimore are leaving, and Hispanics and young professionals are moving into the city's North South corridor and along the Gold Coast (harbor).
The best thing Baltimore could do is follow in Boston's and San Francisco's footsteps and cut property taxes dramatically. This will encourage rather than discourage investment and city coffers will fill as the city fills, a win/win. Lure that lucrative DC commuter market with affordable living and amenities; it will work. But the city isn't doing that, doesn't even knwo where its money (our money!!!) goes, can't account for it. Seriously, its time for anybody but a Baltimore family/machine position.
Otis Rolley ran in the last election, he had experience in city planning and budgets in NJ. You want someone with that experience to run Baltimore, but he was an outsider (NJ) and the voters don't trust or vote for ANYONE that is not from Baltimore. How do you get that thinking to change? Mayor Anthony Williams, former DC mayor, got the ball rolling making DC what it is today. Someone with qualities from both these men could turn Baltimore around. But folks here want to keep it small town, small thinking.
Do you really think that Otis Rolley did not make it because he was from NJ? I believe that Otis did not get the nomination for two reasons: 1) he was running against a scion of an established Baltimore political family who already had an unbeatable, well-funded machine in place (her father and his friends helped her immensely), and 2) his views were not the policies of a typical democratic politician. He looked, acted, and talked like a republican, and a republican, or someone with republican views, could never win in Baltimore. His platform was school vouchers, reforming city government to make it more efficient, luring new businesses to the city, and drastically cutting property taxes, all typical republican policies. When he advocated for school vouchers he lost the vote of all school employees (teachers, school administrators, support personnel, etc.), and when he supported the reform of city government he lost the support of all municipal employees, two big blocks of voters in Baltimore City. Another big block of voters, the social services recipients, are not going to vote for someone who sounds like a republican, even though he has the word democrat after his name.
Rejection of people such as Rolley is why Baltimore remains stuck in the past. Baltimore lost a lot by not giving him a chance.
The pig that sits in city hall right now has mentioned a couple of times about cutting property taxes. It will never happen under her administration. Democrats do not cut property taxes. Period. Even republicans who talk and act like democrats, such as Chris Christie of NJ, do not cut property taxes. For the record, Chris Christie just raised property taxes in NJ, a state that already had the highest property taxes in the country. Get ready for the same in Baltimore City.
"Do you really think that Otis Rolley did not make it because he was from NJ"
*Yes, I do!! During the last mayoral run-offs, they were political radio ads that spoke indirectly about a candidate "not even being from Baltimore, but from Philly or New Jersey." The ad was tasteless, but effective. Baltimoreans already feel inferior in certain aspects of within the political and social arenas, so to have an out-of-towner come and changes things is out of the effin' question. I attended some of the local mayoral debates and they were practically hilarious.
Quote:
Originally Posted by james777
Do you really think that Otis Rolley did not make it because he was from NJ? I believe that Otis did not get the nomination for two reasons: 1) Do you really think that Otis Rolley did not make it because he was from NJ? 2) his views were not the policies of a typical democratic politician. He looked, acted, and talked like a republican, and a republican, or someone with republican views, could never win in Baltimore. His platform was school vouchers, reforming city government to make it more efficient, luring new businesses to the city, and drastically cutting property taxes, all typical republican policies. When he advocated for school vouchers he lost the vote of all school employees (teachers, school administrators, support personnel, etc.), and when he supported the reform of city government he lost the support of all municipal employees, two big blocks of voters in Baltimore City. Another big block of voters, the social services recipients, are not going to vote for someone who sounds like a republican, even though he has the word democrat after his name.
Rejection of people such as Rolley is why Baltimore remains stuck in the past. Baltimore lost a lot by not giving him a chance.
The pig that sits in city hall right now has mentioned a couple of times about cutting property taxes. It will never happen under her administration. Democrats do not cut property taxes. Period. Even republicans who talk and act like democrats, such as Chris Christie of NJ, do not cut property taxes. For the record, Chris Christie just raised property taxes in NJ, a state that already had the highest property taxes in the country. Get ready for the same in Baltimore City.
"1) he was running against a scion of an established Baltimore political family who already had an unbeatable, well-funded machine in place (her father and his friends helped her immensely), and 2) his views were not the policies of a typical democratic politician."
*The Rawlings Family is well established and steeped inside city government and politics. And the way electoral politics are run in Baltimore, it's all about popularity and who's who.
Do you really think that Otis Rolley did not make it because he was from NJ? I believe that Otis did not get the nomination for two reasons: 1) he was running against a scion of an established Baltimore political family who already had an unbeatable, well-funded machine in place (her father and his friends helped her immensely), and 2) his views were not the policies of a typical democratic politician. He looked, acted, and talked like a republican, and a republican, or someone with republican views, could never win in Baltimore. His platform was school vouchers, reforming city government to make it more efficient, luring new businesses to the city, and drastically cutting property taxes, all typical republican policies. When he advocated for school vouchers he lost the vote of all school employees (teachers, school administrators, support personnel, etc.), and when he supported the reform of city government he lost the support of all municipal employees, two big blocks of voters in Baltimore City. Another big block of voters, the social services recipients, are not going to vote for someone who sounds like a republican, even though he has the word democrat after his name.
Rejection of people such as Rolley is why Baltimore remains stuck in the past. Baltimore lost a lot by not giving him a chance.
The pig that sits in city hall right now has mentioned a couple of times about cutting property taxes. It will never happen under her administration. Democrats do not cut property taxes. Period. Even republicans who talk and act like democrats, such as Chris Christie of NJ, do not cut property taxes. For the record, Chris Christie just raised property taxes in NJ, a state that already had the highest property taxes in the country. Get ready for the same in Baltimore City.
As demographics continue to shift within the city, new cohorts will begin to have significant political pull. In Baltimore the fastest growing segments of the population are millennials that grew up outside of the city and Asian and Hispanic immigrants. Given the relatively low voter turn out during the last election (26%), a mobilized group of transplants that really wants to see fundamental changes could significantly improve the chances of a transformative outsider like Otis Rolley. We need to get mobilized before the next election to have our voices heard! Its time to take down the the "old boys club" that seems to be ineffectually running Baltimore City politics. (What’s holding Baltimore back? Political leadership, survey respondents say | Baltimore Brew)
Last edited by baltplanner; 01-07-2014 at 07:59 AM..
"Given the relatively low voter turn out during the last election (26%), a mobilized group of transplants that really wants to see fundamental changes could significantly improve the chances of a transformative outsider like Otis Rolley."
*BP, what about a mobilized group of native, progressive Baltimoreans who want to see fundamental changes??!! What about progressive African Americans, West Indians, Continental Africans and Whites?
Quote:
Originally Posted by baltplanner
As demographics continue to shift within the city, new cohorts will begin to have significant political pull. In Baltimore the fastest growing segments of the population are millennials that grew up outside of the city and Asian and Hispanic immigrants. Given the relatively low voter turn out during the last election (26%), a mobilized group of transplants that really wants to see fundamental changes could significantly improve the chances of a transformative outsider like Otis Rolley. We need to get mobilized before the next election to have our voices heard! Its time to take down the the "old boys club" that seems to be ineffectually running Baltimore City politics. (What’s holding Baltimore back? Political leadership, survey respondents say | Baltimore Brew)
"Given the relatively low voter turn out during the last election (26%), a mobilized group of transplants that really wants to see fundamental changes could significantly improve the chances of a transformative outsider like Otis Rolley."
*BP, what about a mobilized group of native, progressive Baltimoreans who want to see fundamental changes??!! What about progressive African Americans, West Indians, Continental Africans and Whites?
They're more than welcome to join the party... and I hope they do! Given the size of their populations they're still the most powerful voting block in the city. Its just that they haven't really come around to supporting more fundamental change... so I don't know what can change their minds (if anything).
There are always going to be politically involved cohorts, like those mentioned by one of the previous posters (municipal employees, teacher unions, social service beneficiaries) that will understandably be threatened by change. I know that if we could ease the fears of some these groups but still support more dramatic changes the city could really turn a corner.
New blood with more energy and fresh ideas could be the catalyst for change.
"Do you really think that Otis Rolley did not make it because he was from NJ"
*Yes, I do!! During the last mayoral run-offs, they were political radio ads that spoke indirectly about a candidate "not even being from Baltimore, but from Philly or New Jersey." The ad was tasteless, but effective. Baltimoreans already feel inferior in certain aspects of within the political and social arenas, so to have an out-of-towner come and changes things is out of the effin' question. I attended some of the local mayoral debates and they were practically hilarious.
So you disagree with me.
"1) he was running against a scion of an established Baltimore political family who already had an unbeatable, well-funded machine in place (her father and his friends helped her immensely), and 2) his views were not the policies of a typical democratic politician."
*The Rawlings Family is well established and steeped inside city government and politics. And the way electoral politics are run in Baltimore, it's all about popularity and who's who.
And you agree with me. Nice. I like different points of view, even if they come from the same person at the same time.
PS--I'm sure glad you didn't leave, Infinite. This board would be a lot more boring without you.
"1) he was running against a scion of an established Baltimore political family who already had an unbeatable, well-funded machine in place (her father and his friends helped her immensely), and 2) his views were not the policies of a typical democratic politician."
*The Rawlings Family is well established and steeped inside city government and politics. And the way electoral politics are run in Baltimore, it's all about popularity and who's who.
And you agree with me. Nice. I like different points of view, even if they come from the same person at the same time.
"New blood with more energy and fresh ideas could be the catalyst for change."
*I agree, but this will most definitely come at a cost. There are many of the old guard in Baltimore who talk change, but can barely change their socks in a coordinated manner. Baltimore, and Maryland in general has an old league of old guard politicos who only want change for a selected few.
"They're more than welcome to join the party... and I hope they do!"
*Well, they've been people who been here for decades trying to effect change, but they get met with severe resistance at times, what make you think things can, or will be different?
Quote:
Originally Posted by baltplanner
They're more than welcome to join the party... and I hope they do! Given the size of their populations they're still the most powerful voting block in the city. Its just that they haven't really come around to supporting more fundamental change... so I don't know what can change their minds (if anything).
There are always going to be politically involved cohorts, like those mentioned by one of the previous posters (municipal employees, teacher unions, social service beneficiaries) that will understandably be threatened by change. I know that if we could ease the fears of some these groups but still support more dramatic changes the city could really turn a corner.
New blood with more energy and fresh ideas could be the catalyst for change.
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