Politics $ The City That Breeds

Frank Conaway, meet your competition

August 9th, 2011 | 3 Comments

So Frank Conaway is running for mayor? Frank Conaway thinks rap is gonna get him elected? I don’t even wanna hear that mess. Frank Conaway doesn’t even KNOW. He doesn’t even KNOW. I’m kicking off my campaign with less than 40 days until the election RIGHT NOW with my sure-fire, ace in the hole campaign poster, candidate, and musical number RIGHT HERE. VOTE FOR US. CRANK DIS … Read entire article »

Filed under: Politics

Foglemanileaks: the video the liquor board DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE

April 8th, 2011 | Add a Comment

Late last night, an anonymous tip came to us via Twitter revealing this shocking video of Stephan Fogleman, Baltimore City’s head of the Liquor Board. In it, the then future head of the liquor board details ways of dealing with stress, including underage drinking (probably) and Black Magic. Or, it could just be some college TV show from James Madison University in the 1980′s, I’m not some sort of videologist expert. (Seriously, watch some of the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Politics, Schadenfreude

This whole towing scandal thing is giving me a soul infection

February 28th, 2011 | 2 Comments

Since the story broke (for me, anyway) last Wednesday regarding one of the largest police corruption cases we’ve even seen in Baltimore, so much information has bubbled to the surface regarding the cadre of officers being charged and suspended in the FBI’s investigation into kickbacks and illegal towing over the weekend (which, oddly, was brought to light a full month ago by Investigative Voice) that it’s literally making my head spin. Information, which, read with … Read entire article »

Filed under: Baltimore, Politics

Your new city council districts: Or, Baltimore loves segregation

January 31st, 2011 | 11 Comments

Due out today from the Mayor’s troop, a proposed map of redrawn city council districts that must be finalized by April 1st, effects that would last for at least the next 10 years. The proposed redrawn districts (you can see the illustration here) would drastically change the makeup of certain districts, and depending on your take of the proposal, it’s either to group neighborhoods of a similar makeup together so that districts are better represented, or mostly politically oriented to curry favor by the mayor from seated and future council members. The centerpiece of the redistricting process are districts 9, 10, and 11, which would undergo rather striking transformations which beg at least a certain level of examination. District 11, in particular, would swell in size (nearly double) to include … Read entire article »

Filed under: Politics

Baltimore’s Shared Imagination: How The Wire Influences Us

January 27th, 2011 | Add a Comment

I make it a point to watch all cool things at least five years after everyone else has stopped caring. Consequently, I’m just now watching The Wire. You might have caught the recent spat between Wire creator David Simon and Police commissioner Frederick H. “The Frederanizer” Bealefeld III. In substance, it amounts to little, with the commissioner decrying the show’s “smear” job on Baltimore — which can smear itself just fine, thank you very much! Simon responded by pointing to years—decades really—of misguided public safety policy, and defending the essential truth depicted by his fictional show. Friends and family of mine have been using The Wire for years now to make critiques of Baltimore. It’s a shorthand way of referencing a problem or failure by the city. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Politics