Baltimore city gets it right: Plowing in the worst of conditions
I believe in always giving credit where credit is due, especially if I am among the critics when something was done wrong or if something was not done at all - whatever the case.
The City botched part 1 of the Great Blizzard of 2010. But damn if they didn’t get it right on part 2.
I know. I came. I saw it for myself.
Congratulations to the people in charge of the city, ie the new mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her team. Somebody listened to our WOLB radio show on Tuesday morning at 10 am as Darren Muhammad, David Brown and myself offered up some critical analysis of how the City had fumbled last weekend. More importantly, we offered up some solutions.
It’s easy to talk about someone when they are wrong. It’s easy to turn a deaf ear to whatever it is they have to say – simply based on past performance.
I am reminded of the many, many mistakes I have made. I am reminded of the mistakes I continue to make.
The real question becomes – for me and many of you – what are we going to do about it? Are we going to go into our introverted shells and innoculate ourselves from the glaring truth? Or, are we going to take a minute, breath, take in sound logic, and then implement these thoughts into a plan of action.
It would be all too easy for me to point a finger and keep pointing one, because there is a karma in the universe that reminds me that every time I point one at you, there are three points coming right back at me.
At the end of the day, the blizzard was not about race, or class, or religion. It was about people. In the final analysis, the question is what are we going to do about it?
During the Great Blizzard, I had the opportunity to watch the Michael Oher Story. I had heard something about the Raven superstar in the past, but it had not really captured my attention like watching the movie did.
According to a USA Today article,
| Michael Oher says he doesn’t hold grudges against anyone for the misfortune he encountered as a child. “I don’t dwell on anything,” Oher says. “I’m not going to feel sorry for myself because I didn’t have a place to stay a lot of time. It is what it is. We’ve got to go through some things in life. Take it and run with it.” |
A very compelling story and movie, Michael’s (who is black) legal guardian mom (who is white) showed an unconditional love for someone else’s child simply because she saw the need. That’s it!
Unless I missed some conspiracy theory/white paternalistic or maternalistic/anti-self empowerment theme at work (you guys know I can be radical), it was one of the greatest examples of unconditional love I have ever seen in my life.
As comedian Katt Williams suggests (and I love Katt’s work), white people better get some black friends; and black people better get some white friends.
My late daddy put it this way, “With a closed hand, nothing gets it and nothing gets out. However, with an open hand, there are endless possibilities.”
The moral to the story is help somebody.
Just like Michael Oher said, we can either choose to be a victim … or a victor. We never know what life will throw us. We simply have to be willing to take those cards and do the best we can.
Mayor Blake could have chosen to turn a blind eye to the criticism put at her feet, or she could rise like the Phoenix from the ashes, step to the plate, and smack that sucker out the park like Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron.
The City did well on part 2 of the Great Blizzard of 2010, and what a compelling lesson for us all. We might lose the first round in life, but it is not how many times we are knocked down. It is how many times we get back up.
Kudos, Baltimore City. Kudos, Mayor Blake. And kudos to Michael Oher. And special thanks to the many people who worked while we were sleeping to make life a little better for us. See the video of the plowing of Part 2 of the great Baltimore Blizzard of 2010 on BMORENEWS by clicking here: http://www.bmorenews.com/video/baltimore-gets-plowed-21010.shtml.
Other than that, let’s get to the digging out. And remember to help the less fortunate while we are at it.
Doni Morton Glover, the founder and publisher of www.bmorenews.com, has been a journalist for the past 15 years. He is a writer, photographer, and a political analyst for WBAL TV 11. Additionally, he is a local radio personality and host of “Empower Hour” on Radio One’s WOLB 1010 AM. The show is now in its 10th year and is the longest-running customized program on the station.
David Brown was fired by DOT for incompetence and arrogance; anything he says on air should be completely discounted
Sorry, I love the city, but they have failed us.
It is 6:30 PM in Tuesday the 16th and most of the side streets in NE Baltimore have never seen a plow. I walked/drove through Cedonia, Hamilton, Canton, Edison, and the Franford area today. Maybe 10% have seen a plow.
We dug our street out….but we can’t dig for 2 blocks to get to Belair Road or Cedonia ave. The church or school is not plowed.
Cedonia Avenue is a main commuter road through 3 neighborhoods to get to Belair road….it had still never been plowed.
Keep in mind that Baltimore county had plowed their side streets by last Thursday.
This guy has it totally wrong. If the city actually cared, it would have cleared major roads, but, it has not. Look at MLK for proof. This road is 3-4 lanes in each direction, going down to two near howard. Currently its between 1-2 lanes the entire way along it. and Howard, which itself is a 3 lane road between route 1 and MLK, is now down to 1 lane. WTF Baltimore…do you know how much congestion this is going to cause come Tuesday?
Thanks for not getting hour $hit together and clearing one of the most, if not THE most important road in and out of Baltimore City besides 83.
As a point of perspective on this, my cross-street, 27th, has yet to be plowed on my block yet, but I can deal with that, I would much rather see the city deal with a major thoroughfare that is going to become a parking lot on Tuesday if they don’t take care of it. But instead, they think its better to spend the time clearing mounds of snow out from around churches. That appalls me…public resources used to provide convience for private organizations. If the churches want their area’s cleared, perhaps they should contract with a plowing service, or having their members help chip in, after all, they call themselves a close knit community.
That is all.
Thank you, Mr. Glover, for pointing out the heroic, relentless efforts by so many city workers to get this place moving again. I am stunned and saddened by the complaints of so many fellow citizens. And so ashamed.
Snowplow drivers, salt truck drivers, BGE crews, EMTS, doctors, nurses, bus drivers, and all manner of people have been busting their asses, often in terrible, even life-threatening conditions (such as Cat 1 hurricane winds), sleeping on floors, not seeing their families, working exhausting shifts. And in return, what do they get from the citizens of Baltimore? Constant griping.
Except for those who realize that we’re all in this together and who have been working with their neighbors to help each other out, this is not a shining moment for the denizens of Charm City. And just think — 4-8 more inches possible on Tuesday. And more rude, pushy, “I’m indispensable!” types trying to race along narrow, snow-packed streets, ready to mow down whoever gets in their path.
It’s just unbelievable, the level of pusillanimous, carping, whiny entitlement.
Thank you, city workers, for your extraordinary efforts, especially when they’re so little appreciated.
KUDOS My a** The hole of baltimore city goverment failed it citizens Not one time did i see a plow come down the street.We where abandoned to our own self reliance.This city is pathetic. Mayor(not elect) better stop looking like a deer caught in the headlights and get her sh** together or on election day she can join her cohort Dixon in the unemployment line