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Baltimore Nonprofits Fail To Pay Their “Fair Share” Of City Services

December 22, 2019 Mark Reutter, Baltimore Brew. , , ,
Last night the City Council ripped off one of the biggest scabs on Baltimore’s body politic – the fact that large nonprofit institutions pay no property taxes. At an informational hearing, the Council heard from advocacy groups who denounced a 2016 agreement with anchor hospitals and universities in which they agreed to pay a total of $6 million a year for their use of city services. Critics have called the Payments in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, a “backroom deal” passed by the Board of Estimates to allow the nonprofits to grossly underpay their fair share of taxes through June 2026. Negotiated by former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the deal was approved by Baltimore’s current mayor, Bernard C. “Jack” Young, when he was City Council president.

Baltimore Protesters Give President Trump A Hostile Reception

September 14, 2019 Bill Hughes, Baltimore Post Examiner. , , ,
Baltimore, MD - Although the temperature hovered around the ninety-degree mark in the late afternoon of Thursday, September 12, 2019, it was even hotter in the section of Baltimore known as Harbor East. The reason for that was that the ultra-conservative Republican President Donald Trump, a lightning rod for opponents of his policies, was in town. Local protesters were out in force to give him a piece of their angry, collective minds. Trump was in town to give a speech at a three-day retreat being held by members of the national Republican Party at the Marriott Hotel. It’s located at the harbor’s edge at 700 Aliceanna Street. The protesters, about 300 or more in number, couldn’t get close to the hotel. The local police presence was definitely on the heavy side. A piazza honoring Christopher Columbus, just west of the Little Italy neighborhood, was the staging area for the rally.

Trump And Black Misleadership Class: Collaborators In The Defense Of White Power

August 1, 2019 Ajamu Baraka, Blackagendareport.com , , ,
In a case that finally started to receive national attention over the last few weeks, Baltimore prosecutors finally achieved their desired goal after three attempts, a conviction of Keith Davis Jr, a young Black working class resident of Baltimore, who his supporters say, was set up by Baltimore police for the murder of Kevin Jones.  Two trials ended in hung juries and another resulted in the judge overturning the conviction of Davis. Community supporters of Davis said that the aggressive prosecution was just another example of the heavy-handed use of state power by local Black authorities that the residents of the city have come to expect in Baltimore.

Something Trump-Bashed Baltimore Would Like To Ditch: ‘Kushnerville’ Homes

July 28, 2019 Mary Papenfuss, HuffPost. , , ,
After a series of vicious attacks on their home by their own president, proud Baltimoreans are standing by their city. But there is something local they would likely be happy to ditch: decrepit “Kushnerville” housing provided by Donald Trump’s own son-in-law, who has been blasted by tenants in the press as a “slumlord.” Trump has lashed Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) in yet another attack on an African-American because of the congressman’s criticism of inhumane treatment of immigrants at the southern border, and slammed Cummings’ Baltimore district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

Baltimore Teachers Unseat Incumbents, Who Demand A Do-Over

June 11, 2019 Samantha Winslow, Labornotes.org , , , ,
What happens when new leaders run for office and beat an eight-term incumbent? In the Baltimore Teachers Union, it seems, the incumbent tries for a second bite at the apple. A slate called “The Union We Deserve,” backed by two rank-and-file caucuses, ran for office this spring. Its platform was to open the union up to its own members and join with parents to fight for fully funded public schools. To the surprise of many, the challengers won the union presidency as well as the 19 executive board seats for teachers. The incumbents held onto the 20 paraprofessional seats, producing a split board.

Baltimore Teachers Unseat Incumbents, Who Demand A Do-Over

June 1, 2019 Samantha Winslow, Labornotes.org , , , ,
What happens when new leaders run for office and beat an eight-term incumbent? In the Baltimore Teachers Union, it seems, the incumbent tries for a second bite at the apple. A slate called “The Union We Deserve,” backed by two rank-and-file caucuses, ran for office this spring. Its platform was to open the union up to its own members and join with parents to fight for fully funded public schools. To the surprise of many, the challengers won the union presidency as well as the 19 executive board seats for teachers. The incumbents held onto the 20 paraprofessional seats, producing a split board.

“No Justice. No Peace. No Private Police.”

May 12, 2019 Staff, Aclu-md.org , , ,
“No Justice. No Peace. No Private Police,” was a chant that rang through the Charles Village and Waverly neighborhoods last Wednesday. On the 300th “West Wednesday,” John Hopkins University students and community members gathered together to rally against JHU’s planned private police force and contracts to train employees of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. While dozens of campus police watched ominously from the sidelines, people marched peacefully in the streets and then rallied inside JHU’s administration building.

7 Arrested After Police Raid Sit-in Against Hopkins Private Police

May 11, 2019 Jaisal Noor, Therealnews.com , ,
The university had warned protesters they were subject to arrest after they took over and chained themselves to the building on May 1. Just days earlier, activist Tawanda Jones, whose brother was killed by police in 2013, was threatened with legal action over her participation in the protests (https://therealnews.com/columns/baltimore-activist-threatened-with-legal-action-over-participation-in-hopkins-protests). In a statement, the university cited “grave concerns about the unsafe circumstances in and around Garland Hall and followed multiple offers of amnesty from university officials and warnings from the police if the protesters left the building.”

Endless Trials

April 23, 2019 Alice Speri, Theintercept.com , ,
KEITH DAVIS JR. was supposed to die. He had been on the phone with his girlfriend when four police officers cornered him into a dimly lit garage in West Baltimore. They had mistaken him for a robbery suspect, and they mistook his phone for a gun. After yelling at him to drop the gun, they fired 44 rounds at him. “Baby, I’ma die,” he told his girlfriend over the phone. Then she heard him ask the officers, “Why y’all tryin’ to kill me?”

Citing School Officials’ Campaign Contributions To Pugh, Hopkins Students Protest Private Police Plan

April 12, 2019 Fern Shen, Baltimorebrew.com , , ,
Occupying a campus building for nearly a week, protesters say plan is tainted by its ties to a “pay-to-play” mayor. They chant every hour, often choosing “No justice. No peace. No private police.” They chant whenever President Ronald J. Daniels passes by, calling on the Johns Hopkins University president to “Ne-go-ti-ate!” And now, after nearly a week camped out in the Garland Hall administration building, students protesting the school’s private police force initiative have another message...

Johns Hopkins’ Latest Plan For Police Force Prompts Protest From Students, Faculty, Neighbors

February 14, 2019 Catherine Rentz, Baltimoresun.com , , ,
Worried about over-policing in Baltimore and across the country, Johns Hopkins University students, faculty members and others on Wednesday protested the school’s efforts to establish its own police force. Students Against Private Police demonstrated days before state lawmakers are to debate the issue — and one year after the group defeated a similar effort during the last legislative session. More than 100 people gathered holding signs stating “Keep guns off campus” and “No private police” amid piles of days-old snow outside the Milton S. Eisenhower library.

City Council Approves Bill That Could Shut Down Massive Trash Incinerator

February 13, 2019 Dharna Noor, Therealnews.com , , ,
Baltimore City Council unanimously passed a bill on Monday that would force the city’s Wheelabrator trash incinerator to dramatically reduce its emissions of pollutants or shut down. 14 of 15 council people voted yes; one, Councilman Kris Burnett (D-8), was absent. The bill, co-sponsored by 13 of 15 council people, will now go to Mayor Pugh’s desk for final approval. “Mayor Pugh is 100% for clean air but she will need to review the legislation,” said a representative from her office. The incinerator burns most of the city’s trash, and also burns trash from surrounding localities.

In Baltimore, Money Still Follows The Segregation Map

February 6, 2019 Chase Hoffberger, Baltimorebrew.com , , ,
New study shows the differences in economic activity—and access to opportunity—between neighborhoods new analysis of investment patterns in Baltimore shows the degree to which decades-old housing policy that divided the city by race has locked in a landscape of “haves” and “have nots.” Between 2011 and 2016, Baltimore neighborhoods that are less than 50% African American received four times the investments of neighborhoods that are over 85% African American, according to the report published today by the Urban Institute.

Baltimore Joins Global Movement, Becoming The First Major U.S. City To Ban Water Privatization

November 19, 2018 Thomas M. Hanna, Inthesetimes.com , ,
On November 6, Baltimore became the first major city in the United States whose residents voted to ban water privatization. Nearly 77 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of Question E, which declared the “inalienability” of the water and sewer systems and exempted them from any city charter provisions related to franchising or operational rights. This vote resulted from an ongoing struggle waged by Baltimore community activists, unions and civic leaders demanding affordable access to water for low-income residents. That struggle emerged in response to concern the city could sell off the community’s water infrastructure to for-profit investors. The vote is also part of an emerging worldwide movement to fight back against privatization and to municipalize or re-municipalize (put under public control) local enterprises and services.

Baltimore Voters Stand Up To Water Privatization

November 10, 2018 By Chuck Collins, Inequality.org , , ,
One interesting local victory on Tuesday was a vote by the citizens of Baltimore to amend the city’s charter to prohibit the privatization of their water and sewer system. In a rare instance of progressive preemption, the city’s voters told private water corporations to leave them alone. “Private corporations have been circling Baltimore for years, ramping up efforts to pitch a privatization effort,” said Rianna Eckel, an organizer with Food and Water Watch and a member of the coalition that pressed for the charter change. “Baltimore has an aging infrastructure and is under pressure from the EPA to upgrade our system.” Corporate vultures like water conglomerates Veolia, American Water, and Suez were lobbying to take over the system, with Suez and its Wall Street partner KKR proposing a 50-year lease.
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