So if this Baltimore revival idea is appealing, marketable, yet false – what can we do with this information? What does Baltimore actually need to finally arrive and deliver on its potential?
It’s not as if we are NOT making progress, but a simple visit to any of our “Arts & Entertainment” districts reveals blight, a lack of day-to-day traffic, and a need for cohesive organization, communication, and support – as well as a way to boot derelict landlords out of arts districts and put these properties into responsible ownership.
When people who live in Baltimore are asked what they love best about their city, the most popular answer is their neighborhood. This is wonderful, but also speaks to the fractured nature of the city which exists in tiny pockets of investment, but lacks an overarching civic and economic strategy to connect and support success.
It’s easy to start a new business, launch a new product, create a new space in Baltimore – and we celebrate these new ideas with gusto, within the modest media ecosystem we have left that largely relies on WYPR, the Baltimore Banner, and other smaller independent publications. However, once your business or organization reaches a moderate level of success, it’s challenging to find the funding necessary to staff up and grow sustainably, despite Maryland being the wealthiest state in the nation. Baltimore’s glass ceiling is prohibitively low, which is why businesses and organizations that reach a mid-level of success typically close in exhaustion or leave.
The money is here, but it’s not being concentrated in the right areas.
What is needed are strategic investments into real estate and businesses, aligned with public policy and solid urban planning. We need successful businesses to exist in the city, to hire employees, to create not just jobs but desirable parts of town where retail, food, and appealing public spaces exist. We need inspired, visionary economic development, a city that creates the conditions for significant investment across neighborhoods. We do not need more luxury condos, more false promises of an impending revolution, or news media owned by the super wealthy. And for god’s sake, please put something in the giant hole in the ground that was once the Morris Mechanic Theatre downtown!