The audacity of simplicity: Baltimore needs higher wages

For 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 […]

Slash the city’s property tax rate by more than 50 percent over the next 25 years

The City of Baltimore finds itself mired in a classic Catch-22.  Property taxes in Baltimore City are more than twice as high as any county rate in Maryland.  That’s because to balance its budget each year, Baltimore City must levy disproportionately high taxes on its citizenry, which in turn induces more people to leave the […]

It’s a right, not a privilege

Last week I participated in a discussion about the Supreme Court’s decision in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board with Ron Christie, a former special assistant to George W. Bush.  In that case, the Supreme Court upheld, 6-3, Indiana’s voter I.D. law.  The venue was NPR’s News & Notes, a public affairs program hosted by […]

What do Baltimore’s children & youth need to succeed? Let’s ask them

I have practiced civil rights law for twelve years and have had the pleasure of traveling to cities across this country to work with youth, particularly African-American and Latino youth, who wanted to improve services provided by public schools and juvenile justice systems.   When I think about some of the youth I have met, I […]

Suppose we voted?

Here is an audacious idea. What if people actually voted? When the “founding fathers” first wrote the constitution, only white men could vote. Since that time, extraordinary citizens have given up life and liberty to expand voting rights to all citizens so that the United States could try to become a government of the people.  […]

Treatment or incarceration? The costs of failure for Baltimore and beyond

Maryland legislators are trying to decide how to close the billion dollar budget gap. The choices so far are–raise taxes or cut spending. Enough said about raising taxes. But a good place to start cutting spending is the $76 million a year Maryland spends imprisoning people convicted of low-level drug offenses. Not only would we […]