Obligatory Stephanie Rawlings Blake Suggestion Post – Pt. 2

(part 1)

More community gardens absolutely everywhere

Remember those 30,000 vacant properties I mentioned earlier? Yeah they aren’t really helping the economy in Baltimore. But you know what would, while simultaneously raising morale/property values/a sense of community in the immediate area? Raze a few of them and convert the plots into community gardens. Obviously this strategy doesn’t apply to areas that are completely abandoned, but for those areas that are struggling to rebuild and/or feature a few certain properties that cannot be salvaged and have been remained idle for years, just do it. Flatten the property, put in some dirt and grass and charge people a tiny fee to grow whatever they want on 3×3′ plots. The fees would pay for maintenance, while boosting the immediate area’s worth on all fronts. Hell, any stretch of a few blocks featuring a community garden and a charter school? Golden.

“Green” Jobs

I wince at the title and its ridiculous media-buzz nature, but environmentally conscious service, infrastructure, and manufacturing jobs are going to be a huge part of this city’s future. Smilin’ Martin has been jawing about it for a good long while now with regard to the state, and with the industrial infrastructure already featured within city limits it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to retrofit some existing manufacturing installations that aren’t in use with proper “green” measures in an effort to bring back working class employment to the city without further destroying what’s left of the inner/outer harbor. It’s just a matter of attracting the right businesses to the area. God knows, I certainly wouldn’t be adverse to paying 2-3 dollars more for a t-shirt manufactured in Baltimore if it supports the local economy, as opposed to China’s. The ball appears to have started rolling on this one, let’s keep it that way – and with the rather limitless infrastructure fixes that can be made toward getting Baltimore off the BGE coal tit, let’s speed it up actually.

BRING FIOS TO THE CITY OF BALTIMORE, MD

This one is a completely selfish pet issue but I am certainly not alone when I say: I am sick to death of the monopoly that Comcast Cable Corporation has with regard to the media choices that our residents have in the city of Baltimore. There are literally no other options for terrestrial cable services within city limits and the company knows it. Consumers deserve a choice, and there currently are very few to none aside from the overcharging, customer-supportless behemoth entity known affectionately as Comcrap. I don’t care what needs to be done, I don’t care who needs to be called or how many HJ’s need to be serviced, please for the love of Mike do something to entice Verizon Wireless to bring their illustrious FIOS service to our fair city. Please. Anything.

…it’ll totally boost the economy or something.

SRB and company, please take these humble suggestions and know that every one of them has been thought about by at least a thousand other people. Get to work.

Related posts:

• Obligatory Stephanie Rawlings Blake Suggestion Post – Pt. 1
• City Council Update 04/25/2008
• City Council Update 05/05/2008
• PSA