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Can Michael Bloomberg move to Baltimore and run for Mayor? We should start an online petition .He can find a nice place down around the water I am sure...His name recognition alone could turn around the face of the city's business climate.. Which is not horrible but could be better. .Secondly, he needs to appoint a "Deputy Mayor of Neighborhood " who should be a season community development professional with experience in Civic Engagement. Have this person have key city agencies report to them that focus on neighborhood improvement, public services, and public safety.. Force these folks into a "COMSTAT" style meeting to cull over 311 complaints, code violations, liquor store/problem apartment buildings etc and report on trends that are based on complaints, nuisance issues, and the like and force these agencies to work together to resolve them in a coordinated manner not in their own individual silos.. BPD should have a rep in those meetings. They can divide the city in to four quadrants and have monthly meetings on each individual quadrant every week.. which means that each quadrant will get a thorough look over once per month...The meeting would start off with what has been resolved and what is still outstanding and why from the previous meeting before going on to new issues.
Seriously.. We need someone who is looking for a legacy of good deeds to be their guiding light to run this town and is self made thus not as inclined to focus on furthering their billions.. Right now.. you will have Council President Jack Young auditioning for Mayor and likely getting it as he will finish out Pughs term; Brandon Scott activist/progressive though maybe good intentioned still needs to get his stripes/experience.. and then their is Zeke Cohen.. I don't know enough about him but he seems to be a part of the wave of young progressives that swept into City Council during the last election and the second coming of Martin O. He is already speaking out against Pugh so I am sure he is getting his sneakers on....
I saw Martin O outside of his house the other day. He lives over in the Hollywood neighborhood. Bloomberg is an interesting choice, I'm not sure if he would come here though. Baltimore City just can't stay out of the corruption zone, it is always something. I think the first step is we need a Mayor that is not from Baltimore. Someone who doesn't seem to have this "Baltimore view of things". Secondly, we have to make a decision. Do we want to build up our disenfranchised communities? Or do we want gentrification to take over like DC? In my opinion. We have been doing the ladder.
The challange for any Mayor coming Baltimore will be, 1) A strong progressive city council (Very fixed and stubborn ideas) 2) Tax revenue to small for real change 3) Crime/Drugs.
Demographics are going to be another challange. I look at Baltimore like International Relations. The interests of the 5th district are total opposite of the 8th. Roland Park's view of a good city as opposed to Sandtown. Police are viewed favorably in the white L but not in poor black communities.
I saw Martin O outside of his house the other day. He lives over in the Hollywood neighborhood. Bloomberg is an interesting choice, I'm not sure if he would come here though. Baltimore City just can't stay out of the corruption zone, it is always something. I think the first step is we need a Mayor that is not from Baltimore. Someone who doesn't seem to have this "Baltimore view of things". Secondly, we have to make a decision. Do we want to build up our disenfranchised communities? Or do we want gentrification to take over like DC? In my opinion. We have been doing the ladder.
The challange for any Mayor coming Baltimore will be, 1) A strong progressive city council (Very fixed and stubborn ideas) 2) Tax revenue to small for real change 3) Crime/Drugs.
Demographics are going to be another challange. I look at Baltimore like International Relations. The interests of the 5th district are total opposite of the 8th. Roland Park's view of a good city as opposed to Sandtown. Police are viewed favorably in the white L but not in poor black communities.
I could type more but I'm on my cell.
Good Points.. I believe you are right about getting a Mayor not from Baltimore..but that factor would likely also disqualify someone from being Mayor in certain quadrants of the City... "He is not even from here.. he/she is a carpetbagger or University Egghead coming down here to do social experiments on us!!!!!" would likely be their undoing in some areas..
You have also touched on something that I think is the undercurrent of problems in this City. Baltimore is like the Balkans.. Neighborhoods and Districts see their self interest independent of the entire body politics... "We" "Them" They"... each neighborhood is competing against each other for basic services attention from the City... Unfortunately, this has always been part of the Baltimore body politic and it was exacerbated (I was told) under the Baltimore Icon Mayor Schaefer who would rewarded and punished neighborhoods that were loyal or disloyal to him.. The "do it now" mantra got stuff done in favored quarters while ignoring/diverting resources away from those areas that were not in his court.... this was based on political patronage and thus the favor or unfavored areas were not discriminated against based on race or income since one needs a percentage of both races to win in Balitmore.. Therefore there were black white rich and poor neighborhoods both in and outside of the tent... Patronage and loyalty not need, feasibility of redevelopment plan, good budget practices.. drove improvement and services in neighborhoods outside of downtown which was run by developers.... You can see that even today and certainly patronage is no stranger to Baltimore as two of our last four Mayors have been now been wrangled in its grasp from a legal perspective.. the other two were certainly immersed in it but managed somehow to keep their activities "legal"
Every Mayor since then had their own form of pitting neighborhoods against one another based on race, religion or socio economics and thus now we have a city that is made up of 20 or so smaller cities..and resemble the Chicago or NYC suburbs in terms of being a checkerboard of small communities that work entirely for their own self interest with little regard for the city as a whole....Roland Park feels like they are underwriting crime prevention and the failed redevelopment of Sandtown and not getting anything in return and the residents of Sandtown believe that Roland Park is getting all of the cities resources.. street paving and police protection leaving them to suffer.... yet the truth is somewhere in between. I believe the politicos intentionally exacerbate these feelings in their districts... especially during elections.. then quiet down once they are returned to office.... and divert they resources neither to Roland Park nor Sandtown but to downtown and reward the developers for contributing to their campaigns.....
Last edited by Woodlands; 04-05-2019 at 08:31 AM..
The best mayor the city ever had was from Baltimore. What the hell do you need somebody from outside the city for. You need somebody competent that gets it. Since the public doesn't get it I doubt that will happen.
The best mayor the city ever had was from Baltimore. What the hell do you need somebody from outside the city for. You need somebody competent that gets it. Since the public doesn't get it I doubt that will happen.
From my perspective "from" Baltimore doesn't mean move here yesterday run for mayor tomorrow. Someone who has lived away has experience running a city ideas and is not part of city's political network and is independently wealthy not to need it to get elected. The only person that needs to be from here and raised up from the streets through the ranks to a position maybe the police commissioner (assuming the one from nawlins isn't successful which I hope he is)Only a native can run this department they can be tough and no nonsense but for Gods sake just don't be corrupt or inept . Bealfield seemed to fit that build
Good Points.. I believe you are right about getting a Mayor not from Baltimore..but that factor would likely also disqualify someone from being Mayor in certain quadrants of the City... "He is not even from here.. he/she is a carpetbagger or University Egghead coming down here to do social experiments on us!!!!!" would likely be their undoing in some areas..
You have also touched on something that I think is the undercurrent of problems in this City. Baltimore is like the Balkans.. Neighborhoods and Districts see their self interest independent of the entire body politics... "We" "Them" They"... each neighborhood is competing against each other for basic services attention from the City... Unfortunately, this has always been part of the Baltimore body politic and it was exacerbated (I was told) under the Baltimore Icon Mayor Schaefer who would rewarded and punished neighborhoods that were loyal or disloyal to him.. The "do it now" mantra got stuff done in favored quarters while ignoring/diverting resources away from those areas that were not in his court.... this was based on political patronage and thus the favor or unfavored areas were not discriminated against based on race or income since one needs a percentage of both races to win in Balitmore.. Therefore there were black white rich and poor neighborhoods both in and outside of the tent... Patronage and loyalty not need, feasibility of redevelopment plan, good budget practices.. drove improvement and services in neighborhoods outside of downtown which was run by developers.... You can see that even today and certainly patronage is no stranger to Baltimore as two of our last four Mayors have been now been wrangled in its grasp from a legal perspective.. the other two were certainly immersed in it but managed somehow to keep their activities "legal"
Every Mayor since then had their own form of pitting neighborhoods against one another based on race, religion or socio economics and thus now we have a city that is made up of 20 or so smaller cities..and resemble the Chicago or NYC suburbs in terms of being a checkerboard of small communities that work entirely for their own self interest with little regard for the city as a whole....Roland Park feels like they are underwriting crime prevention and the failed redevelopment of Sandtown and not getting anything in return and the residents of Sandtown believe that Roland Park is getting all of the cities resources.. street paving and police protection leaving them to suffer.... yet the truth is somewhere in between. I believe the politicos intentionally exacerbate these feelings in their districts... especially during elections.. then quiet down once they are returned to office.... and divert they resources neither to Roland Park nor Sandtown but to downtown and reward the developers for contributing to their campaigns.....
We have a few councilmen that were not originally from Baltimore. Zeke Cohen comes to mind. Although he gets crap from a few conservative members within his district for being a "poverty pimp", I think he's genuine and a smart guy. I think the biggest challenge in his district is taking a position on illegal immigration since the majority of the Latino population in his district. Other than that, anyone can authorize to fix potholes in Canton. I would like to see a Nancy Polosi type leadership with a no-nonsense attitude. I think an outside perspective would greatly benefit the city.
Some can argue that every major city has good and bad neighborhoods and that every city is under the same philosophy of self-interest, You can. But how good is the tax base? NYC, Philly, DC, LA, ect have a large tax base and a strong employment infrastructure that attracts gentrification. The cost of a home in SE DC is the same as a modest house in Canton or even Mount Washington. SE DC looks no different than a Forest Park. So the challenge for any mayor is to please everybody with limited funds.
In my opinion, Mayor Pugh and Mayor Rawlings took a hands-off approach as meaning that they want gentrification to take over. To fix impoverished neighborhoods will take time, money, effort, and a lot of pain. It's simply a long term goal that's not really attainable. Contrary to those who think a Republican Mayor will come in and save the day by "cutting funding" and permitting conceal and carry is not realistic. It didn't work in DC and it's not going to work in Baltimore. Baltimore City government knows that the best way to change the city is to gentrify.
There a three target area's where the city should strategically develop.
1) Downtown - Need I say more?
2) Pimlico - Discussed ad nausea
3) Northwood/Lake Montebello- With Morgan State University construction to redevelop the Northwood Commons with a Barnes and Noble and eateries, this is a brilliant oppurtunity to develop and grow an already middle class area, Original Northwood, Hillen, Mayfield and to tie in Lake Montebello.
From my perspective "from" Baltimore doesn't mean move here yesterday run for mayor tomorrow. Someone who has lived away has experience running a city ideas and is not part of city's political network and is independently wealthy not to need it to get elected. The only person that needs to be from here and raised up from the streets through the ranks to a position maybe the police commissioner (assuming the one from nawlins isn't successful which I hope he is)Only a native can run this department they can be tough and no nonsense but for Gods sake just don't be corrupt or inept . Bealfield seemed to fit that build
We are in a representative Democracy. Because of that system, voting for someone
who will be successful at their elected position is a crap shoot. You have better odds
at blackjack than getting an honest, emphatic politician. For a city like Baltimore, you
have a better chance at winning the Power Ball Lottery.
We have a few councilmen that were not originally from Baltimore. Zeke Cohen comes to mind. Although he gets crap from a few conservative members within his district for being a "poverty pimp", I think he's genuine and a smart guy. I think the biggest challenge in his district is taking a position on illegal immigration since the majority of the Latino population in his district. Other than that, anyone can authorize to fix potholes in Canton. I would like to see a Nancy Polosi type leadership with a no-nonsense attitude. I think an outside perspective would greatly benefit the city.
Some can argue that every major city has good and bad neighborhoods and that every city is under the same philosophy of self-interest, You can. But how good is the tax base? NYC, Philly, DC, LA, ect have a large tax base and a strong employment infrastructure that attracts gentrification. The cost of a home in SE DC is the same as a modest house in Canton or even Mount Washington. SE DC looks no different than a Forest Park. So the challenge for any mayor is to please everybody with limited funds.
In my opinion, Mayor Pugh and Mayor Rawlings took a hands-off approach as meaning that they want gentrification to take over. To fix impoverished neighborhoods will take time, money, effort, and a lot of pain. It's simply a long term goal that's not really attainable. Contrary to those who think a Republican Mayor will come in and save the day by "cutting funding" and permitting conceal and carry is not realistic. It didn't work in DC and it's not going to work in Baltimore. Baltimore City government knows that the best way to change the city is to gentrify.
There a three target area's where the city should strategically develop.
1) Downtown - Need I say more?
2) Pimlico - Discussed ad nausea
3) Northwood/Lake Montebello- With Morgan State University construction to redevelop the Northwood Commons with a Barnes and Noble and eateries, this is a brilliant oppurtunity to develop and grow an already middle class area, Original Northwood, Hillen, Mayfield and to tie in Lake Montebello.
You are right its not an easy game and there are real tough decisions all around, not to mention the negativity in political campaigns which is why may people will likely good candidates will never run...
To me.. the City needs to continue throw its weight in "tween" neighborhoods while making sure the stable ones stay that way.. "tween" neighborhoods are in between stable and unstable neighborhoods... Here are a few that I can think of.. some already are taking off others need help but are not the most far gone places in the city.
Abell/Barclay
Waverly
Old Goucher
Druid Heights/Madison Park
Mondawmin (area NW of the Mall up towards BCCC and around Druid Hill Park frontage)
Forest Park/ Garwin Oaks/Howard Park/Lake Ashburton/Garrison (Some of the nicest homes in the city are in this area)
Clyburn/Greenspring (especially the areas just across for Woodberry.. the houses immediately across from Woodberry on Druid Park Drive are like $100 less than houses in Woodberry and are practically the same..
Irvington
Parkside/ Belair Edison
Mideast/Oliver/McElderberry Park (Just north of Patterson Park... but a world away)
Northwoods
Bloomberg is old and white, no chance. Baltimore gets the government they deserve.
People elect the government they deserve.
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