Across the country, cities are seeking ways to stimulate the economy, engage new residents, and restore robust cosmopolitan life. For me, one of the best ways to do this is through contemporary art. When we think about urban environments impacted by art and artists, what comes to mind? Chelsea on Manhattan’s West Side, the West […]
-
Up on the roof tops
Monday, December 07, 2009Look out any window more than a few stories high in Baltimore. Can you spot a vast untapped energy supply? Those stretches of mostly flat rooftops rolling out before your eyes are fallow ground for wind and solar farms! Recently we started to bring farming back to the city through programs like School Farm and […]
-
The Outer Harbor Initiative: affordable development districts
Monday, June 29, 2009Baltimore’s central paradox is this: there are 30,000 vacant properties while 42 percent of residents earn $25,000 a year or less and struggle to find decent affordable housing. Outsiders are often struck by the number of vacant houses they see as they pass through Baltimore on a train. Insiders too are also struck by the […]
-
The Chesapeake Crescent
Monday, May 11, 2009Baltimore sits in the greatest innovation gold mine in the world. The National Capital Region headquartered by the Federal government now stretches far to the north of Baltimore and as far south as Tidewater, Virginia, with Baltimore being the second largest and Tidewater the third largest Federal government employment centers in the nation, after Washington […]
-
A fund for Baltimore
Monday, February 23, 2009Most suburban residents live in a metropolitan district in order to share the good things the city can offer. Sadly, we enjoy those benefits without paying a proportional share of their costs. Whether we use the urban setting for employment, or as a cultural, commercial, educational or recreational base, we rely on the city for […]
-
Real stimulation for only $25 billion
Monday, February 02, 2009No, this is not an overly expensive trip to the Block, this is how we could create and or sustain 1,187,500 jobs, improve the quality of life, reduce congestion, manage growth, limit sprawl, protect and improve the environment, and increase opportunity for the 2.6 million people in Central Maryland. It’s a way to get one […]
-
Rebuild schools, create (green) jobs for local communities
Monday, December 01, 2008Imagine walking into a Baltimore City public school, noticing immediately the light streaming in through the windows, the attractive rooms where children are excitedly discussing their latest project, the sound of a flute coming from the music room. Could this be a Baltimore City school? YES, IT COULD be, if Baltimore citizens and leaders team […]
-
History is in our hands
Monday, November 24, 2008We are living in an extraordinary time. The country has elected its first ever African-American President who is also our first community-organizer-in-chief. The country is experiencing an economic meltdown as serious as any since the Great Depression. States and cities are experiencing budget shortfalls, while families, workers and communities are hurting. We know that the […]
-
Charles North Vision Plan
Monday, November 10, 2008at the center. in the mix. Can Baltimore create a regional destination that is not on the waterside? In the last 10 days, there has been widespread media coverage of the release of the Charles North Vision Plan by Mayor Dixon, the Central Baltimore Partnership and the Baltimore Development Corporation. Surely a country that can […]
-
The audacity of simplicity: Baltimore needs higher wages
Monday, October 06, 2008For many decades, Baltimore was a great engine of the American Dream – a blue-collar city, where residents without a college degree could find a good, family-supporting job. But over the past generation, most of those mostly manufacturing jobs were replaced by lower-paying service sector jobs – with disastrous results for many Baltimoreans. But why […]
