Click here to view the embedded video.

On Saturday some of the people behind Occupy Baltimore are encouraging citizens to show up at the Mayor’s Budget Workshop and actually ask hard questions. This type of community meeting is usually just a show where people can feel like they are being heard. Here is the Facebook invite that has more information.

Speaking of funerals for the American Dream… CBO: Federal workers make more than their private-sector counterparts.

“If you’ve been to our website recently (and seen the new feature on our main page), you’ve probably seen that we’re really going to be focusing on the gas tax increase for the next couple months during the 90-day legislative session. Specifically, we’ll be doing our best to inform the electorate about how unnecessary this tax increase truly is, and on some better ways to plug the holes in our infrastructure budget.

To this end, we’ll be sending emails out specifically pertaining to the gas tax increase whenever we publish new content on the subject. Today, we begin with a brief list of myths and realities.”

If you are not a fan of the proposed gas tax then you probably should keep up with the Maryland Public Policy Institute.

If our gas taxes actually went to funding public transportation (heavy rail subway lines in Baltimore) then we probably would not have the vacant property problem we have in the city. A few weeks ago Mike Subelsky compiled a list of major Baltimore vacant property owners. The city of Baltimore is by far the biggest owner of vacant properties in Baltimore.  It is a shame that they did not liquidate their portfolio back in 2005 (like I recommended) when housing was extremely overvalued. Most of the portfolio is now worthless.

One of these days I want to search through all the private owners and find out if any gave political contributions to our local leaders.

Mike’s lists:

Jubilee Baltimore now owns the old theater at 10 East North Avenue in Station North.  This building went to auction in June. The Jubilee Baltimore web site says: “Over the next three or four years, we will work to create a center for the arts, including theatres, studios, galleries, and probably much more”.

10 East North Avenue

You can barely see the building in the background at the 8:44 mark in the following video (although you get a good feel of the surrounding area):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jubilee developed the nearby City Arts building.  You can see the City Arts building at the 7:52 mark in the following video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bolton Hill legend Charlie Duff is one of the people behind Jubilee Baltimore.

Some stories from around Baltimore from all sorts of different sources on this final day of Charm City Current:

• Mobtown Shank’s view of 2011.
• Rodney Foxworth- Should Baltimore be a “social services” city?
• Yakov Shafranovich’s letter to the Maryland General Assembly Regarding the Proposed Budget Bill.
• Streetsblog- College Presidents Kill Baltimore Bike Lane.
• North Baltimore Patch- Charles Street Stretch To Close for 2 Years.

The table also shows that six Allegany County residents work for Baltimore City, three Worcester County residents work for Baltimore City, and one Somerset County resident works for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office.

Some random water bill information for you:

My last city water bill included a page informing me of an “URBAN/SUBURBAN MYTH”- “Reality: The actual amount paid by customers in both jurisdictions is about the same, with Baltimore County paying slightly more under current rates”.

The city provides information about the “myth” here. The page that came along with my bill goes on to say:

“While each jurisdiction sets its own rates, City residents receive a quarterly bill for all water and sewer charges. County residents receive quarterly bills for water usage only AND are billed separately on their annual tax bill for additional water costs and all of their sewer fees. Baltimore City is then reimbursed by Baltimore County for all water and sewer costs owed”.

It is in Baltimore’s best interest to mail out its water bills quarterly. If a yearly bill was combined with Baltimore’s already super high property tax bill then many more residents would wake up and be outraged. A one time combined bill also is less likely to be paid in a timely fashion than one that is spaced out over four quarters.

Thank you Charm City Current for allowing me to speak my mind. On August 1, 2011 Examiner.com stifled my freedom of speech when the prevented me from posting this. I said if they did not allow me to post that on my Examiner blog then I would never write for them again. They did not give in and I did not give in. I never wrote for them again.

This is not my final Charm City Current post. I will have at least one more news story today and hopefully a few more on Friday.

Thanks for your support!

Adam

There should be no shock about people in the mayor’s office (or any other city employee) living outside of Baltimore. Two weeks ago I posted about the numerous city employees who live outside of Baltimore and Maryland.  Yakov Shafranovich posted specific numbers at his blog:

• 38.43% of Baltimore City’s 14,559 employees live outside of the city in Maryland.
• 5.1% of Baltimore City employees live outside of Maryland.
• The Mayor’s Office  has 111 employees and 30 of them live outside of Baltimore in Maryland and 16 of them live outside of Maryland.

Imagine if the 6,338 Baltimore employees who live outside of Baltimore were forced to live in Baltimore or quit their jobs.  The mayor wants to add 10,000 new families to Baltimore over the next decade. If the city told every city employee today that they have until the start of 2017 to move to Baltimore or they will have no job with the city then within five years Baltimore would be well on its way to attaining the 10,000 new families goal. Most of the city employees who quit because of this SHOULD NOT BE REPLACED in order to save money. Money that used to be spent on these employees can be allocated to improving services that will help retain and attract residents. In the perfect world this money would be used to lower property taxes.

A 100% city employee residency requirement will help shrink our bloated local government and help bring families to Baltimore. Two respectable accomplishments will be attained because of one policy change that is sure to make current city residents feel less frustrated. Instead of having a Woodlawn resident tell you that you deserve a fine because your grass is too high, you will now have to deal with a fellow city resident who will better understand the situation and empathize with you.  Jobs are not easy things to come by these days so if for some odd reason a large percentage (over 80%)  of current non-Baltimore residing city employees decide to quit then there will be plenty of people who want to live in Baltimore who will gladly fill the necessary jobs that were left empty.

Back to politics….

Anyone else notice the many online ads for the “Support the ‘Wireless Tax Fairness Act“? What is that all about?

In other local news…. Bill would amend constitution to force out convicted officials. That one sounds good to me!

It appears that Mary Conaway has been forced to play by the rules by the cash strapped city of Baltimore.  Her updated previous three tax bills for her Cross Country house can now be looked up here. She is no longer receiving the credit retroactively and now owes the city $9362.32 in back taxes and late fees!  This blog played a major role in forcing the Conaway family to finally play by the rules.

Below are links to copies of the updated property tax bills:

2012= $1492.16 owed

2011= $2106.56 owed

2010= $5763.60 owed