In the 1980’s Baltimore was acclaimed, “the best city in the world” , with one man at the helm, William Donald Schaefer. According to the report in Esquire magazine, he did what many other mayors before him never did: rebuilding the walls of city hall, brought Baltimore the subway, and light rail systems, five interstates, and of course, the transformation of downtown Baltimore, as we witness the glorification of the Inner Harbor, i.e. HARBORPLACE, jobs, jobs, and more jobs.
We are going on 45 years since Schaefer, and 4 succeeding mayors, 3 black, 1 white, and under those, the city’s attraction and ranking plummeted. Hard to believe, when one of them was a Rhodes Scholar, black, with a city that’s predominantly black.
Here we are again, 2016, and the major candidates among the 11, are black (African American). Who is going to step up to the Schaefer dynasty? What does Baltimore need? Who has the vision to gain the applause. The way to empower people is to improve their economic status. The Sears department store in East Baltimore was replaced with a courthouse/jail. The canning companies have left replaced by rubble. Coppin State University in West Baltimore has expanded taking over many homes in the area, the same as Johns Hopkins has done in East Baltimore, with no improvement to the economic base in these neighborhoods, except to be employed as security guards.
Baltimore needs a mayor who will travel abroad to bring industry to the inner city, to improve the existing neighborhoods, empowering the residents to buy things not steal them. A ride through the city, many areas have been razed to the ground, like Gay and Chester Streets. Upland Apartments, remodeled for incomes 45 thousand and above, pushing residents to flee for housing in Harford County some 45 miles away.
Why would anyone living in the city take a minimum wage job in Columbia, Essex, Bel Air Md.? After paying transportation and lunch, what is left? Daniel Henson! ? (Check what city mayor did he serve). It is easier to sell drugs, play the Maryland Lottery, and enjoy the good life like the black politicians and pastors throughout the city.
Some pastors in Baltimore are holding up T.D. Jakes a magachurch pastor, turned filmmaker as an example to follow. What hypocrisy! No wonder a young prominent church pastor is waiting for a vacancy in West Baltimore politics, so that he can hypocritally represent that district in Congress.
Perhaps the most uniquely qualified person running for mayor of Baltimore is Wilton Wilson. (watch video).
I talked with Sheila Dickson in 2012:
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