Posts Tagged ‘Maryland’

The gas tax and owners of Baltimore’s vacant properties

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

I receive daily emails from the Maryland Public Policy Institute. Today’s email contained the following information:

“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:

Largest Vacant Property Owners in Baltimore, Grouped by Name

Owner #  Vacants
Baltimore City 1407
UP# BUSINESS TRUST 38
SS# BUSINESS TRUST 25
JAMES E. CANN 24
NB# Business Trust 24
State of Maryland 19
2008 DRR-ETS, LLC 18
BALTIMORE RETURN FUND, LLC 18
EAST BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT LLC 18
COMPOUND YIELD PLAY, LLC 17
CE REALTY, LLC. & EPHRAIM WEINGARTEN 16
KONA PROPERTIES, LLC 16
CE REALTY, LLC 15
J.A.M. numbered corporations 15
BALTIMORE PREFERRED PROPERTIES LLC 14
DRUID HEIGHTS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 14
HOLABIRD INVESTMENTS, LLC 14
NEW HORIZON DEVELOPMENT, LLC 14
DOMINION PROPERTIES LLC 13
COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS, LLC 12
M&S JOINT VENTURE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 12
MAHS-BE HOLDINGS, LLC 12
BALDWIN TRUSTEE, LEROY 11
HARRISON DEVELOPMENT, LLC 11
HUD 11
CHESAPEAKE HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC 10
KGB numbered corporations 10
University of Maryland 10
L.A.M.B., INC. 9
REBUILD AMERICA, INC 9
CARTER, NATHAN 8
EQUITY TRUST COMPANY 8
KREISLER, SANFORD 8
LAMB, DERRICK 8
N-#, INC. 8
OAKMONT DESIGN LLC 8
SANDTOWN HABITAT FOR HUMANITY 8
DOMINION RENTALS, LLC 7
GREEN, CARL 7
HARBOUR PORTFOLIO 7
LEO, CAROLINE G. 7
N10 BUSINESS TRUST 7
NEIGHBORHOOD PROPERTIES-4, INC 7
SAUNDERS TERRAINE 7
EAST BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT, INC 6
APP CONSULTING GROUP, LLC 6
DJ LAND CO, LLC & WODA GROUP LLC 6
EMERALD BAY DEVELOPMENT GROUP & ONE, INC. 6
FIRST NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, LLC 6
JOHNSON, MARTIN 6

You can also download the entire list of non-owner-occupied vacant building owners in Baltimore.

Largest Vacant Lot Owners in Baltimore, Grouped by Name

Baltimore City 2926
B&D PHASE III, LLC 64
METRO II OLDHAM, LLC & SUNNYS ASSOCIATES, LLC 42
CAMDEN ASSOCIATES, LLC. 40
HARBORVIEW LIMITED PARTNERSHIP NO. # 35
State of Maryland 32
LOWMAN ST.,LLC 31
Oblate Sisters of Providence 27
BG&E 23
COMPANY, LLC & FEDERAL HILL HOLDING & SCC CANYON II, LLC 23
ATLAS MD I SPE, LLC & BB&T BANK (CREO), ATTN: T. GEORG 19
J & J PARTNERSHIP, INC. 19
Baptist Church 18
SANDTOWN HABITAT FOR HUMANITY 18
NANTICOKE INVESTMENT CO., LLC 17
L.A.M.B., INC. 15
CSX TRANSPORTATION, INC. & TAX DEPARTMENT 13
DRUID HEIGHTS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 13
SINGER PARK & PLAY, INCORPORATED 13
STATION PLACE LLC 13
TRIMARK MANAGEMENT 13
ASSOCIATION, INC & MCHENRY POINTE HOMEOWNERS 12
Benedictine Society of Baltimore 12
CHESAPEAKE HABITAT FOR HUMANITY & INC 12
JUBB JR, WALTER H & JUBB, EDWARD H 12
CASTLEWOOD COMMUNITIES, LLC 11
MOUNT SINAI BAPTIST CHURCH & OF BALTIMORE CITY 11
MARYLAND JOCKEY CL 10
CONVENTION AND AUXILIARIES & OF BALTIMORE, INC. & UNITED BAPTIST MISSIONARY 9
DUNN, GREG 9
RIVERSIDE WORK FORCE LLC 9
BALTIMORE URBAN LEAGUE, & INC.,THE 8
C&P TELEPHONE COMP 8
CORPORATE SECRETARY, AMTRAK & NATIONAL RAILROAD & PASSENGER CORPORATION 8
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION & DRUID HEIGHTS COMMUNITY & JACQUELYN D CORNISH 8
FRP HOLLANDER 95, LLC 8
HOLABIRD PARK APTS. INC 8
MUELLER HOMES, INC. 8
NEWSTAR DEVELOPMENT AT CANTON & PEAKS, LLC 8
SCARFIELD SR, FRANK D 8
THE KCR DEVELOPMENT GROUP & SPICER’S RUN HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION
BALTIMORE SCRAP CORP. 7
BRIGHTON DEVELOPMENT GROUP & LLC 7
CHURCH, THE & VESTRY OF MOUNT CALVARY 7
FLAG HOUSE RENTAL I, L.P. & METRO PLAZA II 7
FOWLKES, ROBIN 7
PARADIGM BUILDERS, LLC & RICHARD MIRSKY – OFFIT KURMAN 7
URBAN HEALTH INSTITUTE OF & WASHINGTON, THE 7
CANN JAMES E 6
CHURCH OF THE REDEEMED OF THE & LORD, INC, THE 6

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Last post here- Where to find me and some cool links

Posted by ameister on Friday, January 27th, 2012

I will continue to cover local politics like no other person out there at the No Conaways In 2014 blog. Save this URL: http://noconawaysin2014.wordpress.com/ or just bookmark BaltimoreHourly.com, TechBalt.com, or AdamMeister.com. Feel free to email me at Adam at AdamMeister dot com.  I hope to get the real BaltimoreHourly.com online newspaper off the ground later this year. I need to find time for it and quite a few other ideas of mine.

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

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State Senator Brian Frosh proposes a stronger SLAPP suit law

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Check out State Senate Bill 221. State Senator Brian Frosh is proposing a  stronger SLAPP suit law.  A SLAPP suit is a strategic lawsuit against public participation. Many people think that FORMER Councilwoman Belinda Conaway filed a SLAPP suit against me when she filed her ridiculous $21million lawsuit in May. We can thank Belinda Conaway for making the general public aware of what a SLAPP lawsuit is. It is no coincidence that this bill is being proposed after her infamous lawsuit. I wonder if Frank Conaway Jr. will vote for it?

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I am in a rush and have no time for a full post

Posted by ameister on Monday, January 23rd, 2012

What a disappointing ending!  The Jeffrey Maier game was worse.

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!

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Occupy Baltimore exposes police inefficiencies

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

You don’t have to be a fan of what Occupy Baltimore was protesting to see that members of Baltimore’s bureaucracy can easily be made to look like overreacting fools.  Yesterday’s Occupy Baltimore protest that was broken up by state troopers and police in riot gear is just another example of the paranoid and ignorant paper tiger that governs us. One can only wonder what would happen if protesters finally got really specific and targeted one corrupt leader at a time.

The Sun covers the story here and the the Baltimore Brew has an excellent recap of events here. Below this post is a video from the scene.  Here is one hilarious quote from the Sun article:

“State police spokesman Greg Shipley said the six individuals were told they were entering private property, which is owned by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.”

How can property that is owned by the state of Maryland be private?  We pay for the property, but we can not go on it?

I was shocked to see state troopers in the photos. For years I have been told that Maryland State Police are not allowed to “police” Baltimore. There is some bureaucratic battle between the city and state police forces that prevents troopers from helping out in Baltimore.  These people are supposed to protect and serve, but can not figure out a way to compromise and allow troopers to help maintain peace on the streets of Baltimore. Our city police leaders are always saying how they need more cops on the streets.  I have no idea what the state troopers involved in this action usually do, but if they just had their cars parked at some of the worst drug corners in Baltimore it would make a difference.  It is embarrassing and shameful to finally see Maryland State Police in Baltimore used for such a ridiculous purpose.  At least the police can no longer talk about how it is impossible to have State Troopers enter Baltimore.  We need leaders who will use this episode to allocate Maryland State Troopers to the streets of Baltimore for useful purposes. It appears our state leaders are more interested in ratifying a 100 year old constitutional amendment (to get their names into the paper) instead of dealing with current issues.

The Schools not Jails people say they were run off site this morning.

YouTube Preview Image

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Links to think about

Posted by ameister on Monday, January 16th, 2012

The legislative redistricting map has been altered by the governor. Here is the final draft of his legislative redistricting map.

Baltimore is not the only city to fall into the new convention center/hotel trap. Down in the Virginia Beach area they are getting duped into the battle for the shrinking convention pie. Make sure you read some of the reader comments about the use of taxpayer money on this proposed project.

Check out this pretty funny satirical piece that pokes fun at Baltimore politics.

These real life Baltimore Central Booking stories are scary!  Some cops are only trying to cover their own butts and do not give a darn about why people are really walking (or in some cases jogging) in certain neighborhoods so they jump to conclusions and make up their own stories. We should all be thankful that we do not end up in central booking because of such “mistakes”.

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I predicted the 7% sales tax three years ago

Posted by ameister on Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Our governor brought up the possibility of a 7% sales tax in Maryland. The Sun covers the story here and the Washington Post covers it here. Most of the comments left under those are articles are not in favor of the increase. Many people seemed shocked. I wonder if these are some of the same people who in 2008 criticized me for bringing up the possibility of a sales tax increase to pay for our out of control spending (check out some of the comments left under that article)?

Three years ago in this article I warned all of you that a 7% sales tax was very possible in the future. It appears we are getting very close to the future. There are two paths we can take, we can either cut spending and have state workers, people dependent on the state, and state pensioners “suffer” or we can continue to spend and waste and the tax payers can keep paying for it with new fees and tax increases. No matter what, the longer we wait to address the real issues (government spending and waste)the bigger the crash will be when things finally do blow up in our faces.

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The power of incumbency- Pete Hammen’s holiday greetings

Posted by ameister on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

In honor of the Maryland General Assembly being back in session I decided to write an article about Delegate Pete Hammen of the 46th district of Baltimore City.

A reader informed me that around the holidays he received a letter from Delegate Hammen. There was no postage on the letter and it was placed directly into the reader’s mailbox by someone other than a USPS employee. There was no authority line on the letter so it was not an official campaign piece. You can decided if this is the kind of thing our leaders should be worrying about. If his campaign did not pay for this then who paid for it? Did the taxpayers pay for this blatant political promotion? Incumbency has its benefits:

“As a resident of District 46, I was shocked to receive an office-like envelope in my mailbox today. The front said “MERRY CHRISTMAS.” I opened the envelope, and inside was a certificate from Delegate Pete Hammen, recognizing my house for holiday decorations. Also inside, was a letter, printed on his Annapolis letter head, explaining the certificate.

Isn’t this considered subliminal campaigning? I also received a birthday card from him this past July..but I’ve never met him nor campaigned for him”

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Followups to two recent posts

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

In my post entitled A coalition focused on moving Baltimore elections to 2014 I said that the Baltimore Election Change Coalition (BECC) needed to do a better marketing job. It turns out that they did send out a press release. A woman from the ACLU forwarded me the informative press release today and you can read it below. It looks like they are reading this blog.

A few people thought my idea to cut every single city employee’s pay by 10% was harsh.  Why should someone making $50,000 a year suddenly make $45,000 a year. In reality if the city was run efficiently and our politicians were not in bed with the unions such a drastic move would not have to be made. Instead of having three people doing the work of one we would only have one person doing the work of one person. Pension/insurance reform should have happened a long time ago.  We did not take our medicine ten years ago so now it is going to hurt much more than it would have then. Even though this all seems harsh, it is better than what is happening in the private sector.  Some people with manufacturing jobs were fired and were out of work for long periods of time. After months to years of no job these people were hired at similar jobs for 75% or less of their former pay. They gladly took these jobs.

I strongly feel that the middle to upper managers in the city bureaucracy who have gamed the system and now earn over $80,000 a year should feel the pain (fired or major salary cut) before the custodian who actually works hard and does his low paying job efficiently.

I will leave you with this reader comment from a Washington Post article about the proposed Metro fare hike:

“Where’s the 5% drop in crazy pension entitlements then?
Seriously, publicize your P&L and let the taxpayers decide if you are running a transportation company or a customer-funded retirement scheme. FYI, there IS a problem when over one-third+++ of your costs are retiree entitlements!“

MEDIA ADVISORY

New Baltimore Coalition to Hold Press Conference Calling for Moving City Elections to Match Gubernatorial Cycle

ADVISORY FOR                                  CONTACT:

January 9, 2012                                 Millie Tyssowski, LWV, milliety@earthlink.net, 410-448-2650

BALTIMORE, MD – On Monday, January 9, a newly-formed group, the Baltimore Election Change Coalition (BECC), will hold a press conference to build support and discuss its goal of changing the year of city elections to coincide with the gubernatorial cycle. Members of the coalition include the League of Women Voters of Baltimore City, American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP, Citizens Planning and Housing Association, National Action Network of Greater Baltimore, Baltimore’s Safe and Sound Campaign, and Teaching Our Own Understanding and Responsibility.
In 2011, voter participation in the Baltimore City primary and general elections was at an all time low. Less than 12% of eligible voters participated in the primary; only 22% of registered voters voted. General election turnout was even worse. The BECC believes that having our City officials selected by so few voters with the expenditure of monies that the City needs in the current budget crisis calls for action now.
The BECC proposes that Baltimore City join all other major jurisdictions in the State and hold its elections at the same time as the gubernatorial election – beginning with the gubernatorial election of 2014. With more officials and issues on the ballot, more voters will turn out and democracy in Baltimore City will be strengthened. In addition, the City could potentially save several million dollars.
WHAT: Press conference to announce the Baltimore Election Change Coalition and discuss the benefits of changing the year of city elections to coincide with the gubernatorial cycle.
WHO: Representatives of the Coalition and Maryland General Assembly Legislators
WHEN: Monday, January 9, 2012 at 10 AM
WHERE: 417 E. Fayette St., Baltimore, MD

###

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A coalition focused on moving Baltimore elections to 2014

Posted by ameister on Monday, January 9th, 2012

It is always nice to see one of my ideas move from this blog into the real world. In October I suggested that we combine state and city elections. There were many good comments left under that entry. Today I found out about something called “The Baltimore Election Change Coalition”.  I first read about them in this article on the ABC 2 site.  I was shocked to read that our current mayor supports resetting the election cycle. The Maryland Daily Record also posted a story about this same topic.

I wish the coalition good luck. I have not received any emails from them and they do not have a website.  I hope that they work on their marketing strategy because there are a lot of people out there who have no clue about the coalition who would gladly support the election change if they were informed about the coalition.

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