The City That Breeds » Politics

City Council passes tax free shopping week tax

Evan — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:22:45 +0000

Starting today, the MD Comptroller's office has kicked off Shop Maryland Week, during which qualifying apparel and footwear $100 or less are exempt from the Maryland 6% sales tax. The event is expected to stimulate local retail business and offer an opportunity to pass minor savings onto those attempting to clothe their families. {...}

The Pizza Lobbyist

muke — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:21:27 +0000

Jack Abramoff became a household name for bribing Congressmen in DC, now he’ll be a household name in Baltimore for his pizza! That’s a spicy meatball! Wait, that’s a spaghetti reference. Anyway, more recently you may have heard his name in connection with a movie featuring Kevin Spacey as the now pie chef himself. I [...]

PSA

muke — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:35:52 +0000

Via Baltimore Slumlord Watch, Baltimore has a new law governing vacant city buildings. For more on this legislation, or other budget matters, you can read this article from the Baltimore Sun.

Update: The Proposed Walmart in Remington Opinions Roundup

Evan — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:14:54 +0000

A bit of time has passed since the whole “Walmart might be coming to Remington” debacle began; it would seem that every media outlet, blog, dog, dog blog and log log has covered it in some way, ranging from the usual copy/paste anti-or-pro statement seen thousands of places around the internet to the truly well [...]

Realistic solutions for Baltimore City’s budget crisis – part 2

Evan — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:00:30 +0000

Now that the complaints regarding Baltimore City’s budget horrors are behind us, I’d like to explore some of the very realistic, very awesome and totally doable strategies that can be implemented almost immediately (as immediately as government can function), and will serve to aid in the patching of our enormous deficit, while paving the way [...]

Realistic solutions for Baltimore City’s budget crisis – part 1

Evan — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:27:13 +0000

This is a two part rant; Part 1 is mostly complaining. If you don’t like constructive complaining, just wait for part 2! A few weeks ago after the announcement of the mayor’s proposal to levy multiple fees and fine hikes city wide in an effort to close the most catastrophic budget gap the city has [...]

Update: Judge sentences criminal to watch every Orioles game

Evan — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:24:05 +0000

Last September, in what had seemed to be a routine reckless endangerment case, Baltimore City Circuit Court judge Sylvester B. Cox handed down a sentence to defendant Ray Ray Richards; his punishment being to watch every Orioles game for the next three seasons. Deemed “exceedingly cruel” by various human rights organizations, the sentence sent shockwaves [...]

5 simple solutions for Baltimore City’s budget crisis

Evan — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:17:35 +0000

Baltimore’s City Council faces one of the most apocalyptic budget crises in …ever, to the tune of a $121 million shortfall. $50 million of the projected gap is expected to be paid for via a slew of fees and increased revenue grabs, many of which absolutely boggle the mind. But I say the proposed bottle [...]

Baltimore’s water problem – can it ever be fixed?

muke — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:00:18 +0000

A few days ago, the NY Times ran a piece in their series Toxic Waters about the alarming rate of rupturing water mains in many cities across America (“Saving U.S. Water and Sewer Systems Would Be Costly,” March 14th, 2010). Baltimore is certainly no stranger to this, being one of the oldest cities in the [...]

City officials defer pay raise in favor of pay raise

Evan — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:13:30 +0000

As reported yesterday by the Sun’s Julie Scharper, City Hall officials are reviewing automatic pay raises slated to be given to them in the upcoming fiscal year, raises which generated some controversy previously when then-mayor Sheila Dixon initially refused to donate her raise to charity, as others alternatively did at the time (“City Hall pay [...]