Do you know about the millions of city dollars that go to subsidize builders and developers ?
Take this example: The City of Baltimore recently bought a square block of property in West Baltimore for more than $12 million, then turned around and sold it the the Bank of America for $6 million, LESS THE COST OF CLEANUP.
But that wasn’t enough of a deal for the Bank of America. They came back to the City and cried that they didn’t know about the lead and asbestos in those properties (as if the problems of urban buildings should be new to a financial company as big as the Bank of America) and asked for an additional $1.5 million, which the Board of Estimates approved–at the same time that workers were being laid off in the schools.
Although this particular outrage was reported in THE SUN (January 22, 2004), most people do not know about it, since it was on page 3 of the second section. How, then, are they supposed to know about the other millions of dollars of giveaways that never get reported ?
Where is the City Council during all of this ? Why isn’t your “representative” doing everything possible to see that you know about such diversion of your money ?
The city council must be more than a little legislature. Council members must be active advocates for the citizens of Baltimore–in City Hall, in Annapolis, in Washington, DC. Even when they do not have specific delegated authority in an area, they must speak up and bring these dealings to the attention of the citizens. In short,they must lead.
November 2, vote for change:
Elect TERRENCE FITZGERALD, M.D. Baltimore Green Party candidate
for City Council, District 5