Sunday, August 8, 2021
For some time now, I’ve been arguing that city government urgently needs to encourage significant investments in all-inclusive neighborhood economic development. As part of that effort, I’ve been wondering if the city has, for decades, squandered huge amounts of financial and political capital on downtown projects – precious resources that should have been spent in other ways in parts of the city where families are struggling to get by.
As what might be described as a casualty of the mess that has turned out to be the administration of Mayor Catherine Pugh, William Coles is resigning as the head of the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC). And not a moment too soon. But then this isn’t about the specifics of why he should be replaced. It’s about a much larger problem, that being the entire mission of the BDC.
Of all the development options the owners of the Horseshoe could have proposed to go on the water, next to their Baltimore casino, is a Topgolf driving range/bar really the best they could do?
If you don’t already know, the owners of the Horseshoe Casino – the only one of Maryland’s 6 casinos that has been experiencing declining revenues in the past few years and with substantial support from Mayor Pugh and her Baltimore Development Corporation – are planning to put a Topgolf on these two adjacent waterfront properties…
Who’s in control of the city?
The city of Baltimore has roughly 612,000 people. It’s a number that continues to decline because, let’s be honest, the city has very serious deficiencies. For most of its residents, particularly those without money, it is not a good place to live and work.
A conscientious reader of our website has sent us the following article from the Wednesday, February 13, 2019 edition of the Baltimore Sun. It’s by Daniel Parsons, an English teacher at Frederick Douglass High School and it is essential reading for anyone who cares about the City and its people. If you have trouble reading the version that you can see below, even after clicking on it to make it larger, you’ll need to find the article on the Sun’s website. …As for the uneven edges around the image of the paper version, it was cut out by a younger member of my family who is still perfecting his skills with a scissors. Until then, “Good work!”
This is the second in our series of posts about TIFs. A TIF – if you remember from our piece entitled “To TIF or Not To TIF?” which became an instant classic – stands for Tax Increment Financing.
Screenshot from the Baltimore Development Corporation website. Note the BDC’s slogan. Catchy, but what exactly does it mean?
Let’s talk briefly about TIFs. “To TIF or not to TIF?” isn’t really the question, but it makes for a catchy title. The real question isn’t whether or not, but where.
“Excuse me.”
Yes?
“What’s a TIF?”