Adolescents in Baltimore don’t get enough sleep, and school schedules should be adjusted to support their health, say researchers who are examining the impacts of later school start times on wellness and performance.

But Baltimore City went in the opposite direction at the start of the 2022-23 school year, moving the start time for many schools earlier. That decision shaved sleep time from teens, and contradicted well-established science and the experiences of other large districts.

In the aftermath of the move, the Abell Foundation commissioned a comprehensive new report that reinforces the links between sleep and health, describes how adolescent sleep patterns are different, and recommends steps that Baltimore and Maryland officials should take to help kids thrive.

Baltimore students face a unique set of challenges. There are no zoned high schools, so students and familes can select the school they want. But they rely on public transporation to get there — averaging 45 minutes, many with a bus transfer.

And in many neighborhoods, noise, light pollution and unstructured time exacerbate disadvantages and disparities. Many parts of the city just aren’t conducive to a good night’s sleep.

According to the CDC, more than 8 out of 10 high school students in Baltimore get less than 8 hours of sleep a night, below the recommended amount.

And in the last school year, 81 percent of high schools started earlier than 8:30 a.m. , up from 51 percent the prior year.

Baltimore Fishbowl spoke with a lead author of the study — Amy Wolfson, a Loyola professor who also teaches at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health — about the report and its findings.

BFB: I feel like looking at this, the science is very clear on why adolescents need sleep, and what it means if they don’t get sleep. Is there any doubt right now about that?

Amy Wolfson: There’s no doubt. And it’s not just a sleep need either, as we talk about in the report. We’re talking 30, if not 40, years of knowledge. I’ve been at this a long time, along with many of my colleagues, including the preeminent Mary Carskadon, who’s at Brown University. It’s the sleep need, but it’s also the biological circadian phase delay that, in combination with the sleep need, that creates this clear reason that we need later school start time so that adolescents can get the amount of sleep that they need.

BFB: Can you explain the circadian issue for a lay person?

AW: There’s really three clocks out there. There’s the clock of light and dark, our big external clock. There’s the clock that’s human-made — that we created, going back centuries, this 24 hour clock that we live on, with the schedules that we live by.

And then all humans and all animals have a biological clock. In humans, we have a clock called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, referred to as the SCN, And our actual biological clock works a little longer than 24 hours. And there is research that shows that it is a biological marker for puberty for this clock to shift. In other words, the ideal time for an adolescent to fall asleep, that is to say, when the clock’s going to be ready to fall asleep, is later in the evening, and hence, later in the morning to wake up — compared to a peer who may be just pre adolescent and hasn’t entered puberty. There’s this shift, and we say in the report, the shift for some teenagers can be as much as two to three hours. So in other words, you’re not going to be ready to fall asleep. And so the problem that ensues as a result of this is there’s a mismatch between what the biological clock is telling the teenager and what the school schedule, or other schedules are telling you, and it creates what what colleagues of mine in the field have come to call ‘social jet lag.’

We all understand jet lag with travel. Either we’ve read about or we’ve experienced it ourselves. For a teenager, it’s as if they’re traveling back from, say, California to Baltimore every day, and you’re being forced, basically, to get up when your body is telling you to still sleep, to be in school, to be ready to participate in the day. … That’s what makes these early school start times so so treacherous. And yes, we’ve understood this now for 30 years, at least.

BFB: And it feels like a lot is pushing in the opposite direction of addressing this, between unstructured time, screen time and social media. Plus moving some schools earlier in 2022-23.

AW: That’s sort of the point, and why Abell reached out to us, and I got a group together to do this report, is that we already knew the science. And yet a decision was made [in Baltimore] that really goes against everything we know about adolescence and sleep. It’s not to say there aren’t hurdles that have to be overcome, and there could be one-time costs, but it advantages everybody, if we think about this, which is not true for an individual intervention. This helps all boats rise equally if we pay attention to the starting time of school.

BFB: The report has specific sections on disparities and social determinants of health and how lack of sleep and the school start time issue relates to that. Could you address those points?

AW: Baltimore is complicated city with a lot of youth who are disadvantaged for a range of different reasons, historically disadvantaged and currently disadvantaged. And I felt that there had not been a report that really attended to the particular needs of a city like Baltimore.

Both for children, adolescents and adults, there are sleep health disparities. In addition to the other health disparities we know that minority populations face and those living at or below the poverty line face, sleep is another one of these. We talk about the research in this report that adolescents, Black adolescents, minority adolescents, adolescents who are lacking financial resources or who live in perhaps crowded environments, environments with too much noise and light, get insufficient sleep as it is, or irregular sleep because of these other factors. And so we advantage them by minimally helping them have a school start time that fits with their biological clock, and so that’s the reason that we spend this time in the report setting the stage for understanding sleep health disparities, because it’s so relevant to what we’re concerned about here in our own city.

BFB: Let’s get into the recommendations in the report, because really anybody as a researcher and an academic would get great satisfaction if the research gets turned into reality.

Recommendation 1: A guardrail that suggests a 9:00 a.m. start time

AW: That’s what we’re all about. As you said at the beginning of our conversation, we know what the science tells us. The next step is really the implementation of changes and helping districts make these changes. So the first recommendation is to set guardrails. No middle school or high school should start before 8:30 in the morning. And the reason we came up with that time, it’s not rocket science. If adolescents need eight and a half to nine and a half hours of sleep, what time on average are adolescents most likely to fall asleep?Probably around 11 o’clock at night. How do we ensure that they get sufficient sleep? What we add in this report is that it is crucial to think about commute time, and that’s where we say there may be a reason in Baltimore City that the guardrail needs to be nine o’clock and not 8:30. In Baltimore City, students have school choice, but that also means that students in Baltimore are needing to rely on public transportation to get to and from school, and many students need to take two busses to get to school. And if you back that up and think about the average commute time, which ranges from 45 minutes to as much as 60 minutes, you really need to think about 9 o’clock, possibly as the guardrail, and not 8:30.

Recommendation 2: Raising awareness

AW: The second recommendation has to do with education. We know from other school districts, and one example is Seattle, another large urban school district that has delayed school start times, that you have to educate the community. You need several years to help a community value sleep health, not just for these teenagers, but for everyone in the district. And so we recommend sleep health education for the city of Baltimore, specifically, adolescents, their parents, teachers, administrators, but really the community at large.

Recommendation 3: Rethinking unsupervised time

AW: One of the writers of the report is my colleague, Dylan Jackson, who’s a criminologist and is at the Bloomberg School, and he and others in his field have have been arguing that unsupervised time leads challenges. Adolescents like to socialize, and they’re more likely to get involved in conduct problems when unsupervised. The earlier school gets out, we know you’re leaving more time for unsupervised time. And so we think that that is another key reason that later school start times are going to benefit the youth in Baltimore.

Recommendation 4: A statewide standard through legislation

We strongly support legislation that’s already been written that is very similar to California’s legislation and Florida’s legislation, which are the only two states that have legislated school start times at no earlier than 8 for middle schools and 8:30 for high schools. I think Baltimore City has some other considerations to take into account, but we really want to encourage Maryland to follow California and Florida and pass legislation. Yes, there are individual situations with each school district, but we’d like to see kind of a mandate around what time school should start, and that sort of takes that question out of the formula, so to speak. So we’re hopeful that Maryland can can move forward and pass similar legislation.

Wolfson and other top researchers will be speaking at the National Conference on Adolescent Sleep and School Start Times, to be held in Baltimore on Oct. 18-19.

After campus visits, deep-dive web searches and hours of discussions with friends and neighbors, it’s time for the big decision. Selecting the right independent school for your children and family can rank among life’s most consequential choices.

School is where children spend a huge portion of their time during formative years, forging lifelong friendships and discovering new interests and mentors.

Campus features, athletics, class sizes, culture and education philosophy all come into play when deciding among independent schools.

This year, the Guide to Baltimore Independent Schools reached out to several families who discussed the factors that went into their decisions and offered guidance to those approaching a pivotal moment. Here are their stories.

Finding the ‘heartbeat’ of the St. Paul’s Schools

Corey and Ric Weible wanted a faith-based school for their three children, and also one that had a strong academic reputation and relatively small class sizes.

While Ric is a public-school graduate, Corey had attended Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, which was much larger than what she now envisioned for her kids.

On their first tour of St. Paul’s, the Weibles were struck by the beauty of the campus they traversed via golf cart. They soon realized St. Paul’s Schools fit all the criteria they had set.

“We did our homework in terms of reputation,” said Corey. “Everyone was talking about what I’ve now seen, which is the way teachers care about students, and the relationships between teachers and students that extends beyond the classroom.”

Their two oldest children, Gracie and Colton, started at St. Paul’s in the same year – a decision precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing a year of online learning in public schools in Howard County, where they live, they opted for an independent school that was holding classes on campus.

Their youngest child, Ridgely, followed a year later.

“They’re happy, they’re challenged; and that’s what you want for your kids,” said Ric, who appreciates what he calls the “heartbeat” of St. Paul’s, built on its motto of ‘small school, big opportunities.’

Ric and Corey were impressed with a New York City experiential learning trip that Gracie and classmates took to meet with St. Paul’s alumni and to understand and explore career opportunities. The group heard presentations in the offices of Google, Elektra Entertainment, J.P. Morgan Chase and the United Nations.

“Part of the reason they are thriving,” Corey said, is that “after we narrowed the search process to three good choices, we gave them ownership of the decision. They chose where they felt most comfortable and they take pride in their school and community as a result.”

The Weibles quickly became enmeshed on campus. Ric, an investments trading and technology executive at a Baltimore[1]based investments firm, is now a member of the board of trustees.

“Some schools are really big on athletics, some people want their kids to go to a school because they play a particular sport. Some pride themselves on having the most rigorous academics,” he said. “To me, the most important thing is the people, because you are going to be surrounded by that community.”

The power of brotherhood at Gilman School

As a former teacher at a Baltimore charter school, Lisa Nochumowitz approached the decision process with the eye of an educator.

During classroom visits for prospective families, she said, “I’m looking at the kids to see, are they engaged? Are they enjoying what they’re doing? Are there smiles on their faces?”

When they got to Gilman, “just everything was checked off. These kids are loving being at school. They’re smiling, they’re happy, they’re interacting, they’re collaborating with each other.”

The classroom visit was just one part of an extensive research process for Lisa and her husband, Ross Nochumowitz, an entrepreneur and business owner.

“I went on every website of every private school,” Lisa said. “We went to Gilman three or four times. We had pros and cons lists – lots of lists and lots of questions. It’s a very expensive decision we’re making. And I wanted all of my questions answered.”

Ross and Lisa, who live in Phoenix, are products of Baltimore independent schools. Ross attended the Park School, where he still coaches lacrosse. Lisa went to Garrison Forest, where they sent their sons, Hank and Mack, for preschool. Lisa’s Garrison Forest experience made the family open to a single-sex education.

“It’s a better fit at an all-boys school, because our boys are truly all boys,” said Ross. “They’re all sports – they love watching it; they love playing it. They just love being active.” Gilman offers several recesses a day, they said, for boys to unwind.

Their older child, Hank, completed second grade in the 2023-24 school year, and was “friends with every single kid in every single second-grade class in some way, shape or form,” Lisa said, marveling at the absence of cliques.

“There’s a sense of brotherhood that forms at these all-boys schools, and it’s amazing to see,” she said. Whether it’s playing chess or soccer or a musical instrument, “they can just be themselves…they’re just all friends and they all look out for each other. This sense of caring and nurturement that the school gives them is very evident.” Lisa has become a Gilman volunteer, leading tours for the admissions office and devoting time in the library, as well as serving on the parent association and even substitute teaching in classrooms. All that time on campus has bolstered her view that her family made the right decision.

Preparing for life’s transitions at the Calvert School

After several years in New York City, Jenny and Lomax Boyd moved to Baltimore and faced a decision on where to send their two children. Location was a prime factor; they wanted to minimize the logistical stress of drop-offs and pickups and activities.

“I was particularly drawn to the location of the Calvert School, feeling that it was really in a niche location within the city that’s very convenient to us,” said Jenny. “But also just feeling that the pocket of the city is one that just feels safe and has a community feel to it.”

Also important, say the Boyds, is that Calvert is a K-8 school – something they specifically sought so their children would have leadership opportunities and be well prepared for the major life transition to high school.

The family is looking ahead and know that their children will soon make choices about where they want to go to high school. “How do you want to start to shape your own journey and your own story?” said Lomax, a neuroethics professor at Johns Hopkins University. A K-8 school, he said, “introduces them to the real-world stakes of making decisions that have an impact on you as an individual.”

Jenny Boyd has a deep background in education, as a middle school teacher through the Teach for America program, followed by high-level positions with Leadership with Educational Equity, and now with New Tech Network. The equity focus at the Calvert School is much appreciated, she said.

Because they are not Baltimore natives, the Boyds sought advice from neighbors and new friends. Running through their decision matrix, which included academic rigor, a K-8 environment and location, there was one school that met all criteria. And as a bonus, “none of the other great options in Baltimore are off the table because they’re going to transition in eighth grade to one of those schools,” Lomax said.

Raising strong, independent women at Bryn Mawr

There are three girls in the Wolpaw family, and they all started at the Bryn Mawr Little School as toddlers.

Their parents, Jed Wolpaw and Betty Abebe-Wolpaw, said that because they are a multiracial family, they were looking for a school with strong diversity in both the faculty and the student body.

They also wanted a school that was well balanced while still being rigorous academically. Their two older girls, Ava and Liya, stayed with Bryn Mawr for elementary school. The youngest, Grace, has completed kindergarten.

Single-sex education was attractive to them, because they wanted their three girls to develop into “strong, confident and accomplished” women.

“We talked to lots of people who sent their kids, or had sent their kids, to independent schools in the area,” said Jed Wolpaw, an anesthesiologist and residency director at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “We visited the four schools we were looking at, took tours, and met with their representatives.”

Betty, a Greater Baltimore Medical Center pediatrician, grew up in Manhattan and attended a co-ed independent school. “I had such a great experience at my school that if we lived in Manhattan, I’d send my kids there in a heartbeat,” she said. “So when I spoke with parents who had attended Bryn Mawr and had a great experience and chose to send their kids to Bryn Mawr, that really stuck with me.”

Reducing stress and growing people at the Waldorf School

Nets and Jakir Manela wanted an educational approach that matched their philosophy: growing a whole person, allowing play and independence, and limiting rigorous academics until kids are ready.

At the Waldorf School, they found that philosophy, with a school that emphasizes nature- and play-based education.

The Waldorf School was the right choice for the Manela family after their four children had been homeschooled for many years, said Nets, who attended Quaker schools in Philadelphia and the District of Columbia.

Nets said she valued a series of books and podcasts called “Simplicity Parenting,” which espouses that “today’s ‘too much, too soon’ culture takes the fun out of parenting and keeps children from having the kind of childhood that helps them thrive and be happy.”

Nets, a home-birth midwife, said Waldorf aligned with that approach. “They really focus on the whole child; it’s not just intellectual development,” she said.

During her school research process, Nets said she “noticed that the two days that my eldest visited – he came home peaceful and not exhausted.”

Nets said she is confident that her four children will emerge from the Waldorf School “absolutely academically on par with peers,” and able to solve problems and balance their lives.

The school, she said, is providing “a foundation for whole-being health” and the time and money her family is spending is “a beautiful investment in our children’s present.”

All the factors

Experts say the main factors to review when choosing among independent schools are academic curriculum, extracurricular activities, location and accessibility, school culture and atmosphere, and tuition and other costs.

As these stories show, families also consider their children’s individual strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles, and their own gut feelings about whether the school feels like a good fit.

This article is part of the 2024-2025 Guide to Baltimore Independent Schools.

It’s the stuff of kid dreams: A half-mile-long Go Kart track outside your front door where you can practice your passion and become the envy of friends.

But the dad who built it for a son who wants to become a race car driver is now fighting to keep the $100,000-plus investment from being torn up, since he undertook the project without required permits from Howard County and the Maryland Department of the Environment.

With neighbors complaining about property value impact, wetland destruction, noise and the need to follow rules, Howard County has halted all work and issued violations.

The family is now trying to make things right – and going through the process of seeking permission after the fact. If not successful, they might have to tear the whole thing up.

The drama is unfolding in the rural Western Howard County community of Highland – a mix of mini-mansions, horse farms and the occasional Trump sign.

The track was built at 6717 Mink Hollow Road, on a portion of an 11-acre piece of agricultural land owned by Charles Siperko and Sarah Troxel. Aerial images of the track posted online show an enticing combination of straightaways, S-turns and even a 360-degree circle in the middle – all created out of asphalt.

“My ten-year-old son eat[s], breathes and sleeps motorsports,” say a change.org online petition started by Siperko (but which appears to be written by Troxel). “His passion holds the seeds of a future car-racing career, but it’s not an easy journey.”  

“We didn’t know that we needed to pull permits or obviously we would have,” says Siperko in the petition to stop the removal of the track, which was started on Aug. 28 and has more than 800 signatures. “We were perhaps naively or stupidly not aware of the permitting requirements and believed the asphalt company when they told us that paving that doesn’t adjoin a public road doesn’t require permits.”

The family has now engaged prominent land use attorney Sang Oh as it seeks to save the track. Oh acknowledges that his client followed bad advice but says they are now committed to making things right.

“There’s a right way to do it,” Oh says, pointing out that county rules require that any paving of more than 5,000 square feet receive a grading permit. And any use of wetlands requires sign-off by the Maryland Department of the Environment. But Siperko wants that now, Oh says: “He’s not going to cut corners.”

Here’s what they are promising: there won’t be lights or night use; the track won’t be open to the public; only electric carts will be used, which are quieter than gas-powered versions.

After the county issued its violation, Siperko, who owns a roofing company, is now going through a process to get a “conditional use” permit – meaning the track would be allowed.

An early step was a community meeting in late July, where Oh, the attorney, and engineer Rob Vogel said creation of replacement wetlands is possible and that the family is willing to discuss a noise barrier. A decision would be made first by a county hearing examiner, followed possibly by an appeals board.

The story has caught the attention of some racing afficionados; James Gilboy wrote about it (and linked to documents) on the website thedrive.com, and there are extensive comments on Howard County Facebook groups. Many commenters praise Siperko and call him a model of a dad, and say that on private land, owners can do what they want.

While the track is not near Mink Hollow Road, it is close to neighbors, and it is unclear whether Siperko consulted with them.

Karina Fisher, a director of the Howard County Citizens Association, wrote on Facebook: “This is like developers razing the land and then saying oopsies to the County. They pay the small fines because the profit is much greater. In this case, this homeowner doesn’t care about wetlands or their community, and wants to do the same. They don’t play by the rules and then pay their way out of it to get what they want. If that track never was supposed to be there, than it should go! People should not be able to buy their way out of destruction.”

Siperko and Troxel say their main goal is to foster the passion of their son.

“Go-karting is recognized as the traditional starting point for professional car racers, and a private track will provide an accessible and safe environment for practice and development,” the petition says.

As one online commenter said after reading about the case: “This is why there are no Formula 1 drivers in the U.S.”

The name might not say it all, but the Baltimore Museum of Industry is much more about people than machines. According to it’s mission statement, the museum “interprets the diverse and significant human stories behind labor and innovation in Baltimore,” with a goal of “inspiring visitors to think critically about the intersection of work and society.” Anita Kassof has led the museum as its executive director since 2015, and is now steering it through a process of growth and reflection: over the past two years, the Museum of Industry has completed a new strategic plan, and has engaged an Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Panel to provide guidance on everything from exhibits to use of the Inner Harbor promenade that is part of the museum property on Key Highway.

After the collapse of the Key Bridge, journalists looked to the museum to help explain to the nation the significance of the Port of Baltimore and its workers to the city — an opportunity that Kassof embraced. Kassof spoke with Baltimore Fishbowl about the opportunities and challenges facing the Baltimore Museum of Industry in a post-pandemic environment. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Baltimore Fishbowl: How would you describe this moment right now in the museum’s lifespan — and where you want to go?

Anita Kassof: I think that we are at an inflection point. I think that coming out of the strategic plan and with the ULI TAP [Technical Advisory Panel] under our belts as well, we’re at a moment when we’re poised for growth around revisioning our campus and really sharpening our mission and the delivery of our services in a way that is very relevant and timely. You probably saw our mission statement and in the strategic plan, and I am absolutely convinced that we have the most relevant mission of any museum in town, or I’d say perhaps in the country, because we’re a museum about work, and everybody can relate to that. They work, they want to work, they don’t want to work. Their work has changed. The changing nature of work frightens them or intrigues them. So our subject matter is something that everyone can relate to in some way or another.

BFB: One of the interesting recommendations was regarding exhibits, and in particular temporary exhibits, bringing them in, making them more relevant and building a buzz around that. Have you been thinking about that and moving in that direction yet?

AK: Naturally, we have been thinking about that a lot. And even before the strategic plan, we were heading down that path of engaging more with contemporary topics. So our most recent exhibition is called ‘Collective Action,’ which is a look at the contemporary labor movement. And that grew out of a question that we felt that people were asking, based on a lot of the coverage that we’ve all seen in the news. People from Starbucks employees to university workers are organizing and forming unions at their workplaces at a rate that they hadn’t been in the recent past. So we set out simply to answer the question why? Why are people organizing now? But what the exhibition also does, and what the museum is really singularly positioned to do, is to both answer those questions, but then put them into historical context. So after we opened that exhibition, for example, we held a public program where we invited some of the younger employees who are organizing in places like Starbucks, together with Bethlehem Steel retirees who were members of the unions that people more traditionally associate with the labor movement. And we got them in conversation, and it was really interesting to see this kind of intergenerational dialog about issues that are important to both generations, to figure out where the similarities and differences were

A couple of years ago we opened a terrific exhibition called ‘Food for Thought,’ which honored the frontline food service workers in Baltimore City Public Schools who prepare and serve about 80,000 meals a day to Baltimore students, and who, importantly, kept working through the pandemic. So while the school teachers and many of the administrators and the students went shifted to remote learning, the food service workers had to keep coming to work. About 25% of kids in Baltimore City are food insecure, and these folks needed to keep coming to work to feed the children, so we created a really wonderful exhibition honoring them.

Part of the public conciousness

BFB: I think of industry in Baltimore, and a lot of it is waterfront facing, so that if you’re not interacting with the harbor or the water you don’t quite see it a lot. But then we get these tragic events, like a Domino Sugar fire or a Key Bridge collapse. How do these big-scale events affect industry in Baltimore and interest in the museum?

AK: Well, for starters, you made a good point, which is that the port is hidden in plain sight, and that sort of relates to what I’m about to say with regard to the tragedies. Take the Key Bridge tragedy. I think that’s very important for the museum and our role, but I think primarily not because of the tragedy per se, but in helping people make sense of what happened, and again, how that fits into the context of larger questions about work and industrial history.

Very soon after the bridge collapsed, we started getting inquiries from news outlets and from others asking for comment. I think that people naturally saw us as a resource. And then we very quickly announced a collecting initiative. We announced that we would be receiving materials from people who had connections to the Key Bridge, whether it’s photographs or something else. We’re actually going to get a piece of steel from the Key Bridge and create a memorial artwork. And we very quickly got some seed funding to create an oral history project to record the experiences of people whose work and livelihoods have been impacted by the Key Bridge. So I think people see us as a natural resource and source of information when things like that happen. And where appropriate, we’re really gratified to be able to step in. I think that with the Key Bridge in particular, you alluded to something when you first asked the question about about the port really not being typically in the public consciousness, but the Key Bridge collapse changed that. The eyes of the world were on Baltimore for a period of time, acknowledging the importance of us as a connector when it comes to trade, import, export, kind of taking stock of how many jobs are impacted when the bridge collapsed. And I think that the museum has a role to play in making sure that those stories remain in the public consciousness. Because I have always maintained that as a museum about industry in Baltimore, we have opportunities to do more to tell the story of the port and the jobs that impact it. So I think that the Key Bridge disaster, in some sense, provides us that opportunity, while the world is looking at us.

BFB: Your location is phenomenal and is one of the truly great locations in the city of Baltimore. And the Urban Land Institute pointed out that maybe there’s even more to be done — being outward facing — and what the entrance should be like off of Key Highway. How much of that is feasible?

AK: The Urban Land Institute hit on something important, which is that, especially given everything that’s going on in the Inner Harbor, and the city’s refocus on revitalizing the Inner Harbor overall, I think our challenge and opportunity is to demonstrate to people that we are a key part of that chain. The museum has always been envisioned as the terminus of the promenade when it’s finally completed, and we have a significant property because it is itself the site of former industry; we’re in an oyster cannery. So I think that looking holistically at everything that’s going on in the Inner Harbor, we have tremendous opportunities there. That’s more of a long term thing, but you asked about the short term.

And in the short term, what we’re doing with both the Urban Land Institute plan and our strategic plan is to activate the campus more fully. So just in the last few months, we’ve engaged in some amazing partnerships. In April, we partnered with the Baltimore Old Time Music Festival, and we had well over 1,000 people on the campus for a weekend of music and celebration. We had a fantastic Juneteenth celebration here in partnership with tbe BLK ASS FLEA MKT. Again, well over 1,000 people inside and outside all afternoon for music and creative activities and a flea market. And then, most recently, our 4th of July celebration. People watch fireworks from our campus, the best spot in the city, and that was our biggest one to date. So people really appreciate the campus, and I think it just reinforces our role as a community amenity. We want the campus to be lively and hopping.

A beautiful location

BFB: I did see that the number of events you host each year is huge. It’s maybe 150 or more. Is there a enough of a nexus between people coming and wanting to use the space first and then coming back to experience all that the museum has to offer? Or is there an opportunity there?

AK: Both. I think it’s interesting when I’m when I’m out and about and talking about the museum, oftentimes what people will say is, ‘I know the museum. I love the museum. I’ve been to an event there.’ So it’s an opportunity, for sure, because we have so many corporate events, weddings, other kinds of events, they’re positive experiences for people, people come in, they’re in a beautiful space, they have a good time, and they begin to understand that the museum is an exciting place to be outside of their event. So they do come back. They’re familiar with us. And I think that one thing that people realize when you hear Museum of Industry, the first thought might be, we are a museum about machines, but really the more interesting story is, and that we tell is the people who built the machines, the people who use the machines, and sort of what that means for communities.

BFB: Have you thought about a renaming? Has that ever been on the table?

AK: It’s been bandied about over the years. A lot of things are on the table. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Baltimore’s history museum

BFB: Industry and work evolves so much. So how do you approach the challenge of connecting the past and the present and then the future of industry, particularly in the Baltimore region?

AK: The first thing is just to acknowledge the rapid change of work today, to provide the historic context, because I think people can better understand what’s going on today if they understand what its predecessors were and how things came about, rather than looking at things in a vacuum. The idea of looking to the future is a little trickier, but one of the things that we’re doing is to develop new kinds of public programs. Not necessarily exhibitions, but public programs that engage people that are doing really interesting things in the world of work today. Whether that’s networking events or panel discussions or films, we’ve got a very exciting lineup. And I think that a lot of those conversations that we’ve got planned for the coming year will address questions about how work is evolving and how it might continue to be reshaped in the future.

BFB: Have you reacted or responded to the part of the analysis about how your revenue structure might be inverse compared to other other institutions, with less revenue from membership and endowment to even on-site gift shop sales?

AK: There are definitely ways to change that, and we are atypical of many museums in that we rely heavily on our events rental income, and we are regularly strategizing, using data more intelligently to help us increase our philanthropic income and also increase visitation. Our challenge is to continue to demonstrate to people that we are an essential community asset that is worthy of support. But we’re not alone in these challenges. It is a tough time to be a museum. As we come out of the pandemic, by some estimates, visitation on average, is depressed by about 20% in museums across the country, and so it’s a steeper hill to climb than it was before the pandemic. We made it through the pandemic pretty strong. We used it as an opportunity to reinvent. We’re small enough that we could be very nimble and change the way we delivered services. We competed successfully for the various sources of federal relief funds. But I know from talking to colleagues in the museum community that we’re not alone in feeling the struggle now.

BFB: Do you see visitors to Baltimore who do a ‘museum tour’ — come from out of town and go to the Lewis Museum, the Visionary Arts Museum, the Walters? Do you become part of that?

AK: Absolutely. Over the years, Visit Baltimore has engaged in a lot of different initiatives to try and get people to extend their stays in Baltimore, to come for more than one attraction or event – maybe to come to a sporting event and then go to museums. And we absolutely have a lot of out-of-town visitors. And I maintain that if you want to get to know Baltimore City from a museum experience, we are the most appropriate place to come visit. Because in a lot of ways, we are Baltimore City’s history museum.

Jason Woody has been leading B’More Clubhouse as its executive director for 11 years. The program – now housed in a historic Mount Vernon firehouse at the intersection of Calvert and Read streets – is the only one of its kind in Maryland. The Clubhouse model began in New York in 1948, and has now expanded across the country and the globe, providing community-based psychosocial rehabilitation for people with severe depression, schizophrenia, severe bipolar disorder and other serious mental illnesses.

Clubhouse helps its members rejoin society and maintain their place in it. It builds on people’s strengths and provides mutual support, along with professional staff support, for people to receive work training, educational opportunities, and social support while offering people living with mental illness opportunities for friendship, employment, housing and more. Advocates say that social and economic inclusion reverses trends of higher suicide, hospitalization and incarceration rates associated with mental illness.

Woody sees potential for the B’More Clubhouse model to be replicated throughout the state. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Baltimore Fishbowl: What do you find valuable about the Clubhouse concept?

Jason Woody: The concept is valuable because, simply put it, it works. It’s driven by research. I think a lot of people that participate in our clubhouse – and around the country and around the world – get stuck in a situation where they’re  labeled as a lifelong patient, …as a consumer, someone that just has to go to various places and receive services.

The Clubhouse turns that upside down. We’re not an alternative to traditional treatment, and we’re certainly in support of traditional forms of treatment, but it’s a place where people can focus on their personhood rather than the patienthood aspect. It is a place where people are empowered to utilize the skills that they already have and to gain new skills, if that makes sense. It’s one thing to go get therapy and to take medication and manage your symptoms, which is obviously very important. But it’s another thing to have a reason to be healthy and to maintain your health, because you have things that you want to do in your life. Most people want to work, have friends and gain an education and have quality housing, and so the Clubhouse is a place where people can really be themselves and focus on the things that they want to do in their lives, rather than just going somewhere and talking about what’s wrong with them.

BFB: Are there a set of expectations for and accountability for Clubhouse members?

JW: We don’t set goals for people. People set their own goals, and once you join as a member, membership is free and as far as we’re concerned, and this is true in any Clubhouse, it’s a lifetime membership. That doesn’t mean that you have to keep coming here for the rest of your life, and most people don’t. But if you join, you can choose to come and go as you please, and to interact with the clubhouse in the way that you see fit for yourself at that given time.

So some people are coming here primarily to socialize. Some people are coming here primarily to have a daily purpose like work to do every day, to be involved and be productive. Some people are coming here to get support for their return to work or school or with housing or other things like that. Most people are coming for some combination of those things…We do help people complete goal plans, but we don’t set that expectation for people. People set that for themselves. We ask folks like what they want to do, and how can we help them?

BFB: What’s the staffing like for the clubhouse? Who are the professionals that are there?

JW: The staffing at our Clubhouse and all Clubhouses is intentionally small, because one of the things that makes the Clubhouse model effective is that the members are truly needed to actually run the organization.

And the heart of the program is what we call our work-ordered day, where members are doing everything from answering the phones to cooking lunch to tracking data to cleaning and anything you can really imagine that would go into running a nonprofit organization.

But we currently have seven full-time staff and about 40 members that are coming each day. In terms of the professional background of our staff, it’s not a requirement to have a mental health or behavioral health background. We do have a program director who’s a licensed social worker, but most of our staff are really just coming from varied backgrounds – not from the mental health field. We’re not clinicians here, and we’re not trying to be. We’re looking for staff that are dynamic, that can engage people, that are humble, and that can accept help from members. …It’s more of we’re colleagues with each other in running the organization.

BFB: If I came inside as a visitor, what would it look like to me? What does the space look like?

JW: We’re in a really neat building….this old firehouse in Mount Vernon, the corner of Calvert and Read Street. It very briefly was a brew pub. The clubhouse is set up into different work teams, or work units.

When you come in, the floors are very open  — downstairs, on our first floor, we have our membership and our culinary teams. The membership would come in and see the reception desk, people are answering the phone, people working on the computer, tracking attendance, people doing reach out calls to members that haven’t come in for a while. And then you would see, you know beyond that, our kitchen people prepare breakfast and lunch every day and dinner a couple times a week.

Upstairs, we have what we now call our ‘bizcom’ team, or business and communications team. So that’s folks that are working on our monthly newsletter social media, keeping our social media sites updated, planning our social events, which we do on evenings and weekends and holidays, and then working to develop partners. We have folks in the business area working to develop partnerships with employers to help members come back to work, obviously supporting members who are already currently working, and doing the same for people who are in school or want to go to school.

BFB: If you’re a member, can you show up whenever you want? Are you supposed to show up daily?

JW: You can go whenever you want. We have probably about 15 or 20 people that are here, a core group that comes just about every day that we’re open. And then we have a lot of people who come more sporadically, maybe once or twice a week. Some people we might not see more than once or twice a month, because people are doing different things. Some people are working full time, and pop in every once in a while, and again, some people need something to do every single day, so they’re here working and helping to run a Clubhouse.

BFB: Can you explain to me the analysis and studies that have been done about the financial benefits that the Clubhouse program provides to the overall health system?

JW: Several years ago, we did a study with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health that looked at public mental health costs of B’More Clubhouse members compared to a control group of adults living with mental illness in Baltimore who are not members of the Clubhouse. That study found that the B’More Clubhouse members had a 50% lower cost to Maryland public mental health system compared to the control group. There wasn’t anything conclusive in the study about exactly why, but we are pretty sure it’s because it’s far less likely for our members to be hospitalized, because they’re way less likely to become isolated, which helps to reduce some of the negative impacts of people’s illness. If someone’s involved, and they have a community and they feel needed, and they have opportunities to do other things in their lives, they’re less likely to isolate and to become more ill.

The other study was from Fountain House, in New York City. It opened in 1948 and we are not directly affiliated with it but they are part of the Clubhouse network, and they did a recent study…for people living with serious mental illness … they estimated savings of at least $682 million and there’s about 190 to 200 clubhouses in the US. And they had projected in that study that if, if only 5% of people living with serious mental illness in the United States had access to a clubhouse that could produce annual savings of $8.5 billion

BFB: It looks like you’re you’re getting some public funding to do some improvements. Can you talk to me about that?

JW: Well, we did just get a $50,000 capital grant award from the state to support the construction of an elevator….A couple of years ago we got a $500,000 grant from the Baltimore Mayor’s Office — American Rescue Plan Act funding that was really a one-time gift to help sustain our program during the pandemic and to build up our capacity to serve more people. So that was a huge; that was our largest grant that we’ve ever gotten, and really helped us get through some tough times and been able to pick our heads up and kind of think about the future and how we can sustain B’More Clubhouse but also kind of lead the way in helping to expand Clubhouses around the state. We’re the only one in the state of Maryland. Pennsylvania, for example, has about 20 clubhouses. Michigan has 40 clubhouses. There’s a lot of need and opportunity, I think, in Maryland, to replicate this model. So we’re currently in some conversations with people in the Department of Health about ways that we can sustain B’More Clubhouse, but also lead the way in helping to bring the Clubhouse model to other parts of the state.

BFB: How do you receive money? Are you able to bill Medicaid?

JW: Yes, it is a reimbursement for services….We get about a third of our funding for Medicaid, and then the other two thirds from grants and donations.

BFB: How do neighbors geographically respond and relate? There’s a lot of NIMBYism in the world. Has B’More Clubhouse experienced that?

JW: I’ve been really pleased, to be honest. We’ve been in Mount Vernon since we opened in 2009, and the building we’re in now, we purchased it right at the end of 2020. We were kind of worried that there might we might be treated a little bit differently as buyers versus renters. I’ve been here basically since the organization started, and I think the entire time, our neighbors have treated us really well, and I think people have become more curious since we’ve been in this really prominent and cool building. We have people that just wander in, like, thinking that we’re still a restaurant or something like that all the time… pretty much universally, the response has been very positive.

After serving two terms as Maryland’s lieutenant governor and as a loyal partner to Larry Hogan, Boyd K. Rutherford is on break from public service – and is using his legal and business expertise to help companies navigate government contracting as a partner with the Columbia-based firm of Davis, Agnor, Rapaport and Skalny.

He previously served as an associate administrator in the General Services Administration under President George W. Bush, as Department of General Services Secretary in Annapolis, and as Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But now, with no Republican in the White House or the State House, Rutherford, 67, has no agencies to run, and no government problems to solve.

But he is still in touch with Hogan, and is supportive of the former governor’s campaign for Senate. Rutherford and Hogan are aligned on their views of Donald Trump, and Rutherford gives good marks to some of the early moves of the Moore-Miller administration. He spoke with Baltimore Fishbowl recently about these issues and more, in a conversation below that has been edited for length and clarity.

Baltimore Fishbowl: Explain your current role, which is your new role, and what you’re hoping to do with it, and what made it attractive to you as your next step out of the State House?

Boyd Rutherford: I have joined the Davis, Agnor, Rappaport and Skalny law firm here in Columbia. I’ve known Jeff [Agnor] and Mike Davis for a number of years, and I actually worked with Jeff Agnor on some legal matters a couple of years before going into the Lieutenant Governor’s office. When thinking about what’s going to be next, coming out of the state government, I ran into Mike Davis. Mike said, ‘Hey, think about us when that time comes.’ I gave it some thought, and I had looked at some of the other firms, and the larger firms in Baltimore. I knew I didn’t want to be at one of the big mega firms, national firms, and even looking at some of the firms in Baltimore, I just didn’t feel there was a good fit for where I am at this point in my life and what I want to do. … I’ve been here a little more than a year now, and I work in the business transactional unit, and I have a couple of business transactional clients, but a lot of what I do is kind of government affairs type of work. I’ve done some lobbying on the local level, and doing a small amount of state [lobbying] now that I’ve passed that [one-year] blackout period…A lot of it is just advising folks how to get through the process.

BFB: Why were you interested in government affairs and legal work, versus either continuing in public service outside of elected office, which you’ve done for a long portion of your career, or even seeking another elected office?

BR: I thought about running for another office, but my wife didn’t want me to. I thought it was more important at this point to stay married than to pursue something that really, really as she expressed herself strongly, that she did not want me to run. I was thinking about running for governor, but when she expressed herself strongly that she did not support that idea, it made me really think about whether this is something I really want to do. Because I never set out to be an elected politician….With her objections, I realized it wasn’t something that I wanted to do, particularly at this point in my life.

BFB: You you have a reputation as someone who runs big, complex agencies and can get the job done both at the state level and at the federal level, and maybe doesn’t need the glory but is willing to do the work. Why not public service apart from elected office?

BR: Well, I mean, no one has asked me…That wasn’t something I had to consider, because it wasn’t there presented to me. I don’t know if I’d go back into state or federal government. I mean, I’d have to see what the situation is, but it was something that I did enjoy doing, like you said, just really the operational aspects of government. I thought, I still believe there’s a lot that can be done, there’s a lot that should be done. And I think most of the challenges that we all have with government operations, aside from the political games that are taking place, but just getting things done on time, is really a question of leadership and making sure that the people who are doing the work are appreciated, but also more importantly, their supervisors understand what their jobs are, what their roles are, and that they are actually working. I found it both challenging, but also something that I enjoyed doing, because I felt that you’re getting something done, you’re actually improving the operations of government, and that means improving the way you’re able to deliver services to the public.

BFB: You’ve been a Howard County resident for a long time, and as best I know there’s not a lieutenant governor’s mansion in Annapolis, is there?

BR: And I’m quite sure Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller is living in the house where she pays the mortgage. So same thing with me. I was commuting from Columbia to Annapolis, or wherever you know I needed to be that day.

In November 2023, Rutherford and Hogan shared a stage together to discuss how to bridge political divides at a major event hosted by Rutherford’s new firm, attracting an audience of hundreds to the main auditorium at Howard Community College. It was several weeks before Hogan announced his Senate run.

BFB: A couple months ago, I saw you on stage, when your firm put on an event that had your former political partner, Governor Hogan, talking about bridging the [political] divide and bringing people together. Is this the kind of visibility you were looking for?

BR: I did not know that side of Paul [Skalny] when I came here, that he wanted to do these kind of events. Once coming over, Gov. Hogan said “If there’s anything you need, if you want to have something at the firm, kind of a meet and greet, I’m willing to do that.” All of this is before the Senate run. He did say he was willing to come and do a question and answer…As we started getting information out about it, and people started signing up, it got larger than we were anticipating. It kind of grew – and even the governor said ‘I thought it would just be at the firm with maybe 15 or 20 people; sitting around and talking.’

Supporting Hogan, bypassing Trump

BFB: Do you have any involvement in the Senate race, beyond being a supporter of the former governor?

BR: I’m helpful. I’m definitely not on the paid side of it. I had lunch with him today as a matter of fact. He was here in Howard County. We had lunch over in Elkridge at a place called Rathskeller….I had never been. The guy who owns it went to Hammond High School, and was there the same time my middle child was there. I’m helping where I can.

BFB: Larry Hogan got a lot of national attention recently with his comments after the Donald Trump criminal conviction.

BR: He actually issued his comment before the jury verdict, saying no matter how it goes, we should respect the process. The RNC and Laura Trump, she came out blazing…But I heard Sununu of New Hampshire saying her comments were ridiculous, and that Larry’s a good guy, and the governor did a great job in Maryland and will be a great senator. I saw that one of the Texas senators, Cornyn, was also supportive. So it’s just Trump, and Trump world.

BFB: Do you and Larry Hogan hold the same opinion about Donald Trump?

BR: We are both pretty much in the same place. You know, the press doesn’t pay much attention to what the lieutenant governor says, unless you say something really crazy, but I was quoted in one of the papers before [Hogan] had come out against Trump saying that I’m not supporting Trump. But this was all during that first primary [in 2016]. Larry was very strongly supporting Chris Christie. I like Chris Christie. I kind of stayed out of the primary because I’m also a Bush kind of person.

BFB: But a lot of people who were opposed to Trump at the beginning have changed their support.

BR: Yeah, that’s true. I do know people who were opposed to Trump, and I know a couple of people who have said they would never invite him to dinner with their family; they would not want to entertain with him; they don’t want him around their grandkids; but they’ll vote for him. They just felt that for particular issues, they were more in line with his issues than they are with him as a person, and they would vote for him. I have a hard time making that separation.

BFB: So you would not vote for him, based on what you’re saying?

BR: I don’t plan to vote for him. I don’t know what I want to do, because I don’t care for Biden either. I think Biden is well past his prime, and I’ll just say it, I don’t think he was ever the sharpest knife in the drawer when he was a senator. And so I just don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ll probably skip that line.

BFB:  So what I hear you saying is, if circumstances change, you might not rule out a return to public service?

BR: I mean, you never say never.

Communicating during emergencies

BFB: What’s your thoughts on the trial by fire that Wes Moore and Aruna Miller had to deal with with the Key Bridge collapse, and how they handled that?

BR:  I think he’s done a good job. In those situations, the state has a role, but it’s really a secondary role, because you’re not really doing the cleanup. But in terms of getting information to the public, that is probably the biggest thing and the best thing that he has been able to do. And being able to offer assistance to those displaced workers was something that was good and timely, so that the folks who were going to be out of work for a period of time, or at least reduced work, that they can know that they’re not having to sacrifice too much during that period of time. So I would say it was a good, particularly as it relates to informing the public and letting the public know what’s going on.

BFB: So is your wife happy right now? Has she been happy for the past year with the current setup?

BR: I’d say she’s been pleased. I joke that she doesn’t treat me any better, given that I decided to follow her wishes and not run. But I don’t get any better treatment out of it. But I think she’s she’s pleased, and we are just completing a kitchen renovation, so she’s pleased that she convinced me to cough up the money for that.

Longtime Baltimore Sun editor to retire; replacement from within – The Sun

Officials hope to have main channel at Key Bridge collapse site open this weekend – WBAL Radio News

Gov. signs executive order increasing climate goals – WMAR-TV

Marylanders may see health insurance rate hike on state marketplace – WYPR News

Uncertainty looms over Brooklyn Day a year after mass shooting – FOX Baltimore/WBFF-TV

Baltimore Community Foundation to release first round of Key Bridge relief grants – The Daily Record

Baltimore woke up feeling pretty good about itself, brushing off naysayers and poised to tackle what lies ahead.

A city and region that can be the butt of insults and an example of failed systems is showing that its residents generally support a way forward as championed by a crop of new leaders.

Voters in this week’s primary embraced a positive view in re-electing Mayor Brandon Scott, a 40-year-old who received criticism for much of his term for being a good-hearted guy who was overmatched by the job. But in the past year, Scott found his footing – developing a strategy for squeegee workers on corners and being a forceful voice after the collapse of the Key Bridge.

Scott’s near 10-point victory in what was long seen as a tight primary race against former mayor Sheila Dixon was foreshadowed in polling that improbably captured a surging optimism about Baltimore.

In a recent survey for the Baltimore Banner, 64 percent of voters said they were either “optimistic” or “very optimistic” about the future of Baltimore, compared with 31 percent who said they felt pessimistic. The percentage of voters who said the city was on the “right track” grew by 75 percent in six months.

The Baltimore Sun captured similar sentiments, calling the growth in the number of people who now say Baltimore is on the “right track” a “marked shift” from four years ago. Pollsters say those figures meant that incumbents in charge largely had an electoral edge.

“At their hearts, people want the city to do better,” said Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Center for Politics at Goucher College which runs the Banner’s poll. “The desire for things to get better is what drives their accountability. Nobody is giving up, even in the darkest days.”

Scott is a Democrat, and it’s a near certainty that Democrats prevail in Baltimore’s general elections.

Terrell Boston Smith, a Baltimore entrepreneur and business owner who has long been involved in politics, said that at a recent event he hosted for Scott, friends told him the mayor seemed more confident and poised than ever.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that there is a direction for the city, and a plan,” Boston Smith said. It now appears, he said, that in Baltimore “we can do more than one thing at once,” balancing priorities in taking on crime, youth recreation, and growth and development.

For those looking at Baltimore from the outside – as a place for investment, “the reward is outweighing the risk,” Boston Smith said. “And you can sense that.”

What is driving this buoyancy? Four years ago, two out of three voters told The Sun’s pollsters that crime and safety was their number one concern. That proportion has dropped, nearly by half.

Few statistics grab the public consciousness like homicides, which dropped below 300 in 2023 for the first time in 15 years. Crime is “less of a pulsating concern,” said Steve Raabe, head of OpinionWorks, who has been involved in polling for the Sun for years.

“Other issues are starting to emerge,” Raabe said, like infrastructure and education. Raabe called it “signs of a healthier city.”

The story of Baltimore won’t be re-written in one election. To be sure, the issues that Raabe mentions are challenging: the public schools graduation rate is abysmal; roads are crumbling throughout a city where property taxes are high and population losses continue. But it’s possible that more good news is seeping into the public consciousness.

The Greater Baltimore Committee, the organization of private-sector groups “dedicated to fostering the prosperity of the Greater Baltimore region,” is in the process of hiring a nationally known marketing firm to create “a new narrative around the region’s civic progress.”

In its solicitation, it noted that Baltimore “was designated by the Economic Development Administration as one of 31 regional tech hubs, positioning the region for a share of $10 billion in federal investment. Last year, more than 106 startups received more than $1.3 billion in venture capital funding. The Baltimore Region’s Downtown core is also slated for an unprecedented level of commercial development, with more than $6.5 billion in planned projects aimed at reimagining the waterfront, revitalizing development assets, and strengthening manufacturing and industrial activity.”

Not far from the pending Inner Harbor waterfront project, Baltimore is embracing the new majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles, private equity billionaire David Rubenstein, who is winning over fans with his low-key and mirthful appearances at Camden Yards as the team keeps winning on the field.

Washington music fans are lamenting that the best acts are now bypassing the nation’s capital, and choosing to play at the newly renovated CFG Bank Arena, in a downtown area filled with bright new display signs. Axios wrote last week about how Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam and The Black Keys are “all skipping D.C. for Charm City.”

Near the arena, Elle Odoi is a business owner who recently told the Baltimore Beat of her confidence in becoming the first commercial tenant on a long-abandoned block of North Howard Street, with support from a program that boosts Black-owned businesses. “We grew up in Baltimore, and so I remember how amazing that space used to be and how many businesses were there,” Odoi told the Beat. “It would be just a blessing if we are one of the impacts that allows it to come back.”   

Baltimore’s supporters have been searching for this type of storyline – something to push aside “The Wire” and the Gun Trace Task Force and Freddie Gray and mayors marred by scandal.

At City Hall, voters have decided that Scott has played enough of a role in these developments to warrant another four years. [They felt differently about incumbent City Council President Nick Mosby, who suffered a major defeat and was bested by two candidates, including election winner Zeke Cohen.]

On the day after the election, Scott and others will keep working to keep the story – and the city – on the right track.

P. David Bramble has become the public face of the Inner Harbor, and, along with it, the future Downtown Baltimore. He assumed this consequential position himself, but it’s not quite clear how much he relishes the role.

Bramble, 47, is co-founder and managing partner of Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate, a growing firm with extensive assets in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida and Massachusetts — spanning residential, retail, mixed use, office and industrial properties. His firm grew its Baltimore holdings in a big way by purchasing Harborplace through a court-governed process after a previous owner declared bankruptcy.

In one breath, Bramble — raised in West Baltimore before attending Princeton and University of Pennsylvania law school — says he and his firm need the Harborplace project “like a hole in the head.” But in the next, he says he is committed to replicating and eclipsing the excitement that Harborplace generated as a landmark waterfront destination in the 1980s and making the Inner Harbor a place for all of Baltimore to spend time, and just as attractive as The Wharf in DC. or similar projects in Singapore and Copenhagen.

After the receivership purchase, MCB hired architects and planners, solicited input in community settings and unveiled its vision in a master plan released in late 2023. Features include a new park, amphitheater, a resilient waterfront promenade with garden islands, a distinctive commercial building called the Sail, and twin residential towers of 32 and 25 stories apiece with up to 900 apartments. The plan will cost close to $1 billion to execute, with $400 million in public money for the public portions. The concept has been embraced by Mayor Brandon Scott, Gov. Wes Moore, and members of the City Council and General Assembly. In November, Baltimore voters will be asked to approve a charter amendment that lets the residential towers get built.

But other reviews have been mixed, particularly from established developers and architects. Critics say the design process was rushed, and the results are not special enough. Some have asked for a reboot. In an interview with Baltimore Fishbowl executive editor David Nitkin, Bramble embraced and defended the plan, even as he said some elements could change as community discussions continue. Fishbowl is presenting this Big Fish discussion in two parts. [Part I can be found here.] This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Baltimore Fishbowl: Looking across the country, or even across the globe, what are your favorite or your inspirations for successful waterfronts in other cities? [The Harborplace master plan lists the Research and Development District in San Diego, HafenCity in Hamburg, Germany and Copenhagen Harbor in Denmark as successful models, among others.]

David Bramble: Baltimore is so unique because a lot of those are riverfronts. So that you basically have one straight line, a lot of them don’t have as much waterfront capacity as we have. And think about it, we have one connected park that goes all the way around the water. I don’t think any of those districts match that; maybe Singapore, which I think is probably the most similar in size. What you’ll see is that we took a lot of different concepts from a lot of different places. And look, there were some things that people really leaned into, right? Like when we did the communication process, we would put pictures up of these different things, and have people come and say, ‘I want to see something that looks more like this.’ And that helped us sort of think about what would be interesting. And I’ll note that all of these are mixed-use. There isn’t anything that’s just one big old park for the reasons that we just talked about in terms of it doesn’t create enough economic activity, which is what we’re most in need of in Baltimore City.

Singapore’s very interesting. When Singapore was redoing its waterfront, they actually sent their delegation here to Baltimore to understand what we did. Obviously, this was years ago … and their harbor actually is very similar now. Their development density is on a whole other scale.

BFB: How many of these have you been to yourself? And I see that The Wharf in D.C. is on your list of models or templates.

DB: I have been to most of the U.S. ones on the list. I was literally at The Wharf a couple of weeks ago… It’s great. It’s lovely. I mean, there’s some elements to it that don’t make it as cool as what we can do because you can’t go as high. You have the fish market, which is kind of cool. But the rest of it is a little fancier. Or really, someplace where everyone feels like they should be there, not just people who are going to buy $100-a-plate dinners. So when you look at the entrance to the Sail building on Pratt Street, to us, that embodies how we’re thinking about this big old entrance archway, framing the [U.S.S.] Constellation. Guess what? I don’t care where you’re from in Baltimore. If you’re walking down the street, and you see that entrance, you’d say, ‘Oh, I’m supposed to go in there and see what’s going on.’ And that’s what we’re going for. The Wharf is a little bit more enclosed but still awesome. It’s absolutely beautiful, and there are elements from that I think we want in terms of the entertainment – and the retail is critical.

Walkability as a driver of retail success

BFB: Let’s talk a little bit more about retail. Retail hasn’t been all that successful in the existing pavilions already on the street. What are the elements of making retail successful right now?

DB: There are multiple issues. One is these were originally built as festival marketplaces [with small vendors]. That concept has waned. The original plan was that, and that worked great. Then, over time, as this went from being 100 percent Rouse to becoming a part of a mall company, effectively, they just filled it up with mall retailers, and…those businesses changed dramatically and a lot of them don’t even exist anymore. And the ones that do have realized that they don’t need waterfront real estate with paid parking. So if you’re going to buy a T-shirt from a standard retailer, you’re not going to go down to the harbor to do that. Really that doesn’t make any sense…One of the big issues that you have now is you have no walkability. And that’s one of the things that makes Pratt Street challenging — it’s basically a highway, and people are mostly using it to speed through downtown. There’s no attraction to walking on the street. It’s hard to cross the street, or it’s like taking your life into your own hands. So we think in order to make this successful, you’ve got to — and this goes beyond our plan for Harborplace and is talking to the larger plans that we want — we’re hoping that the city and other stakeholders will buy into this idea of making Pratt Street a more pedestrian-friendly street. Light Street goes to as many as nine lanes. That’s silly; you don’t need nine lanes. You can still move the traffic through relatively easily [with a smaller number]. What you want is streets that people can walk on. The real idea is what we call double-loaded retail on both sides of the street. It’s clear that this is a place that you’re not supposed to speed through. You’re supposed to park someplace and you’re supposed to walk.

BFB: So what you’re saying is you need the infrastructure; that the design for the retail is maybe even more important than what the actual retail is?

DB: Yeah, the retailers will change. The one thing about retail is it always changes. As I say, there was a time when the largest retailer in the world was A&P grocery stores. When I was a kid I never heard of Target. Target was something random in the Midwest. Now, it’s the most important retailer. People’s tastes change and things change. But I think that this retail, well done, will stand the test of time because we do plan on going back to the idea of markets, vendors, cool, unique things that you can only find in Baltimore. And there will be national retailers, hopefully, because they help pay the bills. But we don’t want this thing to turn back into what it was before — with Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory. That’s not what we’re looking for. The vibe is definitely much cooler, much more local, much more interactive.

Negotiating games

BFB: David, do developers ask for more than they want? Is it a negotiating game? Does the plan say, alright, we’re at 22 stories because we know we’re gonna get 19 or 18 at the end of the day?

DB: That happens all the time. I can tell you we’re not doing that here. I will tell you it’s a classic developer thing to go in and ask for nine times what you need and settle for less. We’re not doing that here. Because we didn’t start by asking for anything. We started by listening. And honestly, I want more. If I had my way, there would be even more.

BFB: I’ve looked at the plan. I see that you pay attention to — and it’s a term of art — your ‘massing’ studies [that analyze the overall mass of buildings] and then the views of the waterfront that you can access from various points. But are people talking about that and recognizing that you’ve gone in a certain direction for masses of buildings and views of water?

DB: They don’t know. But look, there’s only so much we can do. The thing I can tell you is there’s so much transparency here. It’s all on our website. You can see exactly if you want to read hundreds of pages of documents. It’s all there; you can see how we got from point A to point B to point C; this is how we did it, and you may come to your own conclusions. And I think that if we continue to allow people who have the loudest voices to dominate, then people won’t get to the details. But I will tell you this: I’ve done a lot of these community meetings, and nine times out of 10 at the end, actually, every time at the end, people come up to me and say, ‘I didn’t understand that. Now I do. And I get it.’ And some of them will say ‘I don’t like this,’ or ‘I don’t like that.’ But the large majority of them get it because what’s important to regular people is the ground plane — the ground plane walking along around the ground. To me, if I were still a kid and was brought there, that’s what I care about — what is my experience on the ground plane. And if you see this ground plane plan, if you spend any time with it, you love it. There’s a couple of slides, which I think are awesome, which show sort of the before and after, where you’re looking at loading docks and trash compactors or water. The videos, when you see this stuff, it’s a game changer. You’re like, ‘Holy shit, you can see the Power Plant right from the ground.’ That’s all purposeful. It’s all intentional to make your experience on the ground fabulous. And listen, that’s not to win votes. That’s to make a successful project because what’s going to make this successful is people coming and enjoying it and loving it.

Memories of cracking crabs

BFB: As a young kid, what’s your best Harborplace memory growing up? And do you have any not-so-great memories?

DB: I actually didn’t have not-so-great ones. My best ones were any time family came, our place was Phillips. If any time family or friends came from out of town, that’s where my dad and mom would take everybody. So many memories of going there, and then as kids running upstairs to eat fried dough while the grownups are eating crabs and drinking. So that’s my memory of it. And then other memories are, of course, I think everyone our age has this memory, is that the damn Fudgery. A lot of those guys went to our high school. And they were great.

BFB: You want people still at the end of the day, 10 years from now, to be able to come and eat crabs somewhere at Harborplace?

DB: Crabs are Baltimore’s thing. Yeah, there’s got to be good crabs there. But in the curse of curses for a guy who loves Baltimore, I’m allergic to shellfish now.

BFB: In the development world, people criticize, sometimes, unspecial buildings that are just built to maximize revenue. And some of the criticism out there — this has to be more special than Houston… Houston has massive, big commercial buildings. Have you hit the spot yet where you are convinced this is more special than a traditional downtown development project?

DB: We think so. But look, architecture is like art, right? There’s the practical side of it. And then there’s the side of taste. And so that’s what we have to make those choices. And we love it. Some people like it, some people love it. Some people don’t love it. And then that’s typical.

BF: Do you feel a responsibility, as a Baltimorean, about changing the skyline of the city?

DB: Absolutely. I feel that responsibility. It’s got to be fabulous. Remember, I’ve lived here my whole life. So I will tell you that … the weight of responsibility is massive. We definitely feel it. We are leaning into it. And look, I mean, I think the community engagement process that we started is evidence of that. Right? It’s a recognition of how important the voices of the community are. And my fellow developer friends are definitely not happy with the level of engagement that we’ve done, because it’s expensive, and it takes them all this time. And I’ll tell you what, name another project in the city of Baltimore that had signs on the sides of city buses asking people to come and talk to the developer… I think that’s a first. I bet that hadn’t been done in Miami, done in the country.

BFB: We’re in an election year, you acknowledged. As the charter amendment that’s gonna be on the ballot, what is the campaign going to look like to make sure that that passes?

DB: I actually don’t know… I’m not gonna be talking to people and pushing. But I’m not in the politics business. Obviously, we’re gonna lean into it. We’re gonna provide resources to it. We want this to be successful. Listen, we are a huge investor in the city. And I do mean huge. We are all over the city — in all the big parts of the city. MCB is from the east side all the way around to the west side. We believe that this project is critical for the city. I don’t think there are very many people who have expended the resources that MCB has in neighborhoods and in really hard projects that are community-oriented, as well as big fancy projects by the water. We are, I think, a pretty unique animal in our willingness to engage across the board. So we see this as protecting our investment as Baltimoreans. So we’re really leaning into it.

Part I of the Baltimore Fishbowl Big Fish interview with P. David Bramble can be found here.

P. David Bramble has become the public face of the Inner Harbor, and, along with it, the future Downtown Baltimore. He assumed this consequential position himself, but it’s not quite clear how much he relishes the role.

Bramble, 47, is co-founder and managing partner of Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate, a growing firm with extensive assets in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida and Massachusetts — spanning residential, retail, mixed use, office and industrial properties. His firm grew its Baltimore holdings in a big way by purchasing Harborplace through a court-governed process after a previous owner declared bankruptcy.

In one breath, Bramble — raised in West Baltimore before attending Princeton and University of Pennsylvania law school — says he and his firm need the Harborplace project “like a hole in the head.” But in the next, he says he is committed to replicating and eclipsing the excitement that Harborplace generated as a landmark waterfront destination in the 1980s and making the Inner Harbor a place for all of Baltimore to spend time, and just as attractive as The Wharf in DC. or similar projects in Singapore and Copenhagen.

After the receivership purchase, MCB hired architects and planners, solicited input in community settings and unveiled their vision in a masterplan released in late 2023. Features include a new park, amphitheater, a resilient waterfront promenade with garden islands, a distinctive commercial building called the Sail, and twin residential towers of 32 and 25 stories apiece with up to 900 apartments. The plan will cost close to $1 billion to execute, with $400 million in public money for the public portions. The concept has been embraced by Mayor Brandon Scott, Gov. Wes Moore, and members of the City Council and General Assembly. In November, Baltimore voters will be asked to approve a charter amendment that lets the residential towers get built.

But other reviews have been mixed, particularly from established developers and architects. Critics say the design process was rushed, and the results are not special enough. Some have asked for a reboot. In an interview with Baltimore Fishbowl executive editor David Nitkin, Bramble embraced and defended the plan, even as he said some elements could change as community discussions continue. Fishbowl is presenting this Big Fish discussion in two parts. [Part II can be found here.] This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Baltimore Fishbowl: Talk to me about your overall vision for the core of Baltimore, what it can be, what it should be, and how Harborplace fits into that?

David Bramble: I think that we are incredibly optimistic about the core of Baltimore, which has sort of been abandoned in some ways. But it’s still the heart of the city and still a key, a cornerstone to the success for the entire city. A lot of people feel or are concerned that Baltimore can’t grow. And I think they’re dead wrong. And the reason we think they’re dead wrong is because Baltimore is the beneficiary of amazing assets that are unique to Baltimore, that can’t move. Its geography is the number one thing — location, location, location, as we say in real estate all the time. And what you have is a city that’s close to Washington D.C., not far from New York, major transportation, trains and airports. You have the only law schools in the state; you’ve got the only medical schools in the state. You have all of this happening here in Baltimore, and massive GDP growth, by the way, for a very small working population.

There’s huge potential here, huge opportunity. And Downtown Baltimore, in our mind, is the key to unlocking it. People haven’t been willing to invest in Downtown Baltimore. And I think there’s been this theory that if you build something here, people will just move from over there. But that, in my mind, is the thinking we have to get away from. We’ve got to lean into growth. And we can grow. We just have to want it. We’ve got to lean into it. And we’ve got to push away all the folks who are constantly saying, ‘Don’t build this here; don’t build taller; don’t build more.’ We’ve got to combat that.

BFB: So as a developer, have things like Harbor East and Port Covington and the Peninsula detracted from Downtown Baltimore? Or was that a sort of natural process to go through to develop other areas?

DB: I think the answer is both. I mean, the reality is that Harbor East and the Peninsula are amazing projects. And what you’ve seen, particularly with Harbor East, is that the people who were in the [Central Business District] moved over to Harbor East.

And that hasn’t necessarily happened at the Peninsula yet. But…if you’ve been there, it’s stunning. They’ve done a fabulous job building an amazing space. And it’s got a bright future. However, the reality is there’s room for all of it. If we believe in growth, this is a city designed for well over a million people, with a half a million or so [residents now], and declining. The reality is this city could be filled with two million people if we really wanted it. The question is, as a city, as a state, as a region, are we going to lean into our economic engine, which is Baltimore? And the thing is, all the assets are here, we just have to say we’re going to leverage it. And we’re not going to focus on things that stand in the way of growth, particularly because the best way to help the people who have been here for all these years, and people like me who have lived in these neighborhoods, is to grow. It’s not to shrink.

‘The place you want to go’

BFB: When I’m looking at the media, since the plan was released, critics have come out. It’s easier to criticize things than to propose things, but how do you respond to the criticisms that have come out or the critiquing of the project?

DB: I have no problem with criticism. I think it’s good. And I think it’s part of the process. I think people didn’t really understand the process. The process was first, listening. That’s all we did. We listened to people all over the city, and not just fancy people, who generally get to decide everything. We listened to everybody. We went to people in ZIP codes that were shocked that someone talking about downtown Baltimore and the waterfront wanted to talk to them about what they wanted to see. And I think there were people who felt, ‘Why are you including so many people in the process of doing it?’ We’re doing it for a lot of reasons. One, we were doing it because, obviously, it’s just the right thing to do, considering that this project belongs to the whole city, not just the wealthy neighborhoods that border it. And for it to be successful, we need the entire city to buy into it. For this to work, everyone in Baltimore has to be ‘That’s the place you want to go.’ And that’s the feeling we want to create. And part of that process is getting people excited by including them in the visioning. So that’s just step one. That’s listening. Step two, is okay, we heard you, here’s what we think, based on what you said, and based on our opinions, too, because guess what? We listened to you. But at the end of the day, we’re the ones who have to deliver the project. We own the project, right? We paid for it with our own money. This wasn’t a gift from the city. We had to buy the project from another private entity. So it’s a combination of what we heard from people plus what we thought made sense.

Now we are listening. So now it is time for people to say, ‘I don’t like this. I don’t like that.’ That’s the process… Now’s the time to tell us what you don’t like so that we can incorporate things that make sense. And look, we’re not going to do everything. I said from the beginning, we’re not building a Ferris wheel, right? And I probably got a gazillion people saying you should build a Ferris wheel. I mean, people sent me Ferris wheel books and all kinds of stuff. And we said no. But what it does mean is we listen, we incorporate things, we’re talking to people, and the conversation continues. It didn’t end with us presenting the plan. We still are going to community meetings, we’re still presenting the plans. We’re still continuing, modifying the plans. This will go on for some time. So it’s always interesting to me that the critics attack and say, ‘Oh, it’s a sham.’ That’s complete nonsense. This is the process… I could have drawn something first, and then fought with you. But then, when would I be listening? So what we did here is, I think, the way any large-scale private project that includes a public component should be done, which is listen, then present, then we listen again. That’s what we’re doing now. And then ultimately, we hope that the final plans will incorporate the best of our ideas, the best ideas that we think make sense and can work. And then we get a project out of it.

BFB: I think there’s some education component, too, isn’t there? Because I think people think — maybe even I thought — that the Inner Harbor is like a park; it’s public open space.

DB: This is important, because I think this is where everything gets lost. People keep saying, ‘You’re privatizing the harbor.’ The promenade, according to the law, will always be public. All we’re doing is taking private property that we already own and adding more to it. That’s all we’re doing. And I think that that gets lost. Because it’s so easy to say, ‘privatizing the park for rich people.’ And I just want to say that’s not what we’re doing. I understand that people have a visceral reaction. But this is too important for that. People who care about Baltimore really need to peel back the onion. And if you have specific concerns about the project, guess what? We’re right here. Anybody can find us. Like, I got grandmas calling me and talking to me. So we’ll talk to anybody. But I think what people need to understand is that this project is so important. We cannot fall victim to the normal ‘NIMBY, traffic’ hype. Let’s focus on what is really going to create an excellent world-class waterfront.

BFB: When you hear and when you see the writings and thoughts of people who have criticized the project, is there a generational or even a racial component to the opposition or criticism of what’s been presented so far? Of like, ‘Well, hey, we were the people who did it back in the 70s and 80s. And the William Donald Schaefer days were the right way to do things, with the right people doing them.’

DB: I’m not going to speak to what’s in those people’s hearts, because I don’t know. But I can tell you this. I didn’t see any of them at the community meetings. The only critic of the program who came to any community meetings was Ted Rouse [son of original Harborplace developer Jim Rouse]. And I will tell you, the other thing that you should maybe think about too, or we should all be thinking about is, it’s basically the same people over and over again, complaining with massive amplification. Most people that I talked to, even if they don’t love the entire plan, they’re supportive of what we’re doing because they understand how critical this is. People will say to me, ‘Oh, could you make this a little bit different?’ Or ‘Would you do that?’ Or ‘Would you add this?’ And the truth is sometimes yes. And sometimes no, because there’s a practical component to all this, which is weaving economic sustainability with creating this world-class project. We have to weave them all together to execute, and you can’t get everything you want. And no, we’re not going to turn it into one big park. Because it’s private. We paid for it, we own it. And I think that the most laughable thing I hear all the time is you should do an RFP. And I said, ‘People, we did do an RFP. We did a private RFP for our private property.’ I want to ask people if you want me to come to your house and just do an RFP for your house and tell you what you should do with it? That’s not how this works. So I think that there are certainly people who are more resistant to change than others. And I don’t know what the full sources of that are. But I can tell you, from our experiences and the people we’ve talked to, which is tens of thousands of people we’ve heard from, it’s generally positive.

BFB: And cities like Baltimore should be concerned about taking properties off the tax rolls?

DB: Well, it’s even worse because here’s the problem. And I’ve tried to explain to people. Cities all over the country, and indeed all over the world, are in an existential crisis post-COVID, and downtowns in particular. And we need to reimagine our downtown. And valuations are already falling through the floor. No one wants to be down there. And if you really want to create an exciting, vibrant place, you need mixes of uses. Big, empty office buildings really do nothing for anybody. And so we think Harborplace and redeveloping in this massive and internationally amazing way will then drive value for all the surrounding assets, many of which we own, and which will then create more tax revenue for the city. So in our mind, this billion dollars that we spend here between the public and the private pieces will then drive billions more in investment in downtown Baltimore.

Signature elements

BFB: You said, ‘I’m not building a Ferris wheel.’ I get that. Is there a signature or landmark that will be part of Harborplace? Is it the gondola that you see crossing the harbor on a drawing? Is it the “Sail” building? Is it those floating islands – the sundecks?

DB: We think there are multiple things that are signature. We think, number one, that the Waterfront Partnership and its partners have done an amazing job advancing cleaning up the harbor. The waters are the anchor, and we expect that this water will ultimately be usable and swimmable, so we’re excited about that. We think some of the floating wetlands are going to be amazing and cool and sort of integrate with what the aquarium is doing. We think that, obviously, the Sail building that we had designed — the architect that put that together was designated, I think, the most innovative architect in the world in 2022…The concept is a marketplace and an outdoor park, because you’re able to use the exterior of the building… There’s definitely some signature moments.

BFB: I feel like that Sail building hasn’t gotten enough attention. People talk about Pratt Street and the 900 residential units … but people aren’t talking about that building. Do you agree, or no?

DB: It gets a lot of attention, okay? It just doesn’t get attention in the newspaper because the negative stuff gets the attention in the newspaper. But I hear all the time, ‘I love this.’ Many people even call me and say, ‘I don’t want the apartments, but I love the Sail building.’ And to get the Sail building, I’ll live with the apartments.’ But the funny thing about the apartments, in particular, is it really doesn’t impact anybody on the ground. Most people in Baltimore, unless you live in those apartments, you’ll be walking along the ground. You’re not going to be looking up to see that there’s apartments above. And the apartments above create all the people who will help support all the things below and keep it alive and vibrant. That’s sort of how to think about it. And I’ll tell you, I think the feedback on the Sail building has been absolutely incredible. You know, there’s always critics, and there’s a couple of people who have said, ‘Oh, it’s facing the wrong way,’ or ‘Do this’ or ‘Do that.’ And there’s lots of stuff that will happen between now and when the buildings go vertical. But I would say to you that the feedback on that has been incredible.

BFB: And the Sail building gets built with private funds?

DB: The parks and the public space will be public and be financed publicly, and go through a public process. The buildings will all be private.

BFB: 301 Light Street with the sort of cool mushroom structure?

DB: Yes, that’s a public park. And that we’re calling that the Park at Freedom’s Point. And that is especially meaningful. And I’ve said, many times, I grew up here in Baltimore City, went to city public schools, never heard once until I got involved in this project that Baltimore was a huge port for shipping slaves in the Deep South… But then on our team, we had our Sulton Campbell Britt & Associates, which is one of the oldest Black architecture firms. Their role was the historical context. And the thing that they revealed to us, which I think is kind of part of Baltimore’s comeback story, is that Baltimore once had the largest population of free Black slaves in the country… I didn’t know that; no one taught me that. And it’s something you should lean into, right? There’s all these opportunities around African American tourism. You’ve got first shots in the Civil War. You have the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. You have this amazing history of civil rights. I mean, Thurgood Marshall went to the church that I grew up going to. And you have Parren Mitchell, who lived across the street from me when I was growing up. So you have the Mitchell family, you have all these things in Baltimore that we should lean into… It’s exciting stuff, we got to lean into it. People will come here, they’ll come downtown… And then we’re saying, hey, while you’re here at this place that is built in memoriam for all of the freed slaves that lived around Baltimore, check out the restaurants, the Lewis museum, go to West Baltimore. You know, learn about the first shots in the Civil War, learn about when Lincoln ran through Baltimore, like learn about those things. And, you know, add more to your trip besides grabbing some delicious crabs and beer. So we’re excited about that.

BFB: How long does it take to build out this vision? 20 or 25 years?

DB: Dear Lord, no. We have a referendum in November. And then it will take us 12 to 18 months from then to go from design, which is what we have now, to actual construction drawings that somebody can build for us. So we’ll start construction in a couple of years, and then it’ll the build out will take another four or five years after that.

It all needs to happen at once

BFB: What’s the best way to stage this?

DB: The construction [order and timing] will depend on a lot of things that aren’t finalized yet. But generally, you know, on a project like this, you want to deliver as much as you can at one time. Because you want to encourage the use of the assets as quickly as possible. However, there’s lots of different factors that go beyond, it’s mostly technical stuff.

BFB: Let me rephrase the question: Is it better to build something like the amphitheater first and get the program running, so people say ‘Hey, this is awesome,’ and the community says ‘I can enjoy this space,’ versus what you need to do to get the revenue streams going?

DB: Well, they both need to happen. If they’re not both committed and financed, we won’t do it. So there’s not going to be a ‘Hey, we build this, and then maybe we’ll move forward.’ … It won’t work unless it all happens. Now, the timing of what goes first and when, that will be determined by technical factors about staging construction equipment and timing of unions, etc.

BFB: What you’re saying is you will not build this unless you have a commitment to do everything. The parks, the public spaces, the realigning of the Pratt Street corridors?

DB: Correct. So we have a lot of work to do. Listen, I gotta tell you something. Deals of this scale don’t get done by pussyfooting. You’re either going to go all in, and you’re going to bring resources to the table, and you’re going to do what’s necessary, or you’re not. And this requires scale. It requires a lot of expertise. And so it’s one of the reasons, when I hear people say, ‘Slow down, do this,’ I want to say to them, the process is already slow. It’s going to take all this time and we are spending a ton of money, right? Those designs, they don’t just show up for free. The community engagement process, that doesn’t happen for free… And remember, the buildings were empty when we bought them. Now they’re filled with small entrepreneurs that can’t really pay us any rent. So most of them are getting significantly discounted rent deals to try to live in the place up in the interim and who is footing the bill for that? MCB.

BFB: You call your document a master plan, yes? Typically master plans are kind of a public process driven by government – the city planning department or county planning department says we’re gonna do a master plan for this. Was this really a master plan? How does the private sector do a master plan? And was it the right process to go through?

DB: To be clear, we do master plans all the time for private properties. Cities will typically do master plans for entire regions or areas or huge swaths, and this is a master plan for a small area, which private developers do all the time

BFB: I guess Jim Rouse did a master plan for Columbia.

DB: That’s even bigger and I’m not even talking about that. So our Yard 56 project, before we did that 20-acre site [near Johns Hopkins Bayview in Greektown], we had to do a master plan. You go through the master plan approval process, you get that approved through the planning process, then you have to come back and you have to get each individual building a project. And that’s important. I think there’s a sense of confusion that we’re planning the whole city. And I think that’s just another way for people to sort of try to insinuate there’s something nefarious going on. And honestly, it’s just dumb. …I don’t know how much you know about us. But we need this deal like we need a hole in the head. We want this to happen because it’s the best thing that could happen for Baltimore City. And of all the developers that could step up — this was a public process, everything was public, it was in the courts. The court, even after we agreed to a deal, the court published something that said, ‘Anyone else can come if you want, and challenge the deal.’ Went through that entire process. And now, people say, ‘Do a master plan.’ It doesn’t make any sense. And I think we, as a city, need to get past that and lean into growth. You don’t get everything you want in the deal. I don’t get everything I want… We’ve got to make trade-offs.

Part II of the Baltimore Fishbowl Big Fish interview with P. David Bramble can be found here.

A new chapter has been uncorked at Spirits of Mount Vernon, where a next generation of ownership is taking over a beloved neighborhood wine shop and bar that has improbably served as a community anchor for two decades.

Victoria Schassler, the owner who has toiled to maintain and grow the venue since building out the space beginning in 2003, has decided to sell her interest and move on to her next venture.

A partnership group with experience at the location will be taking over, promising a continuation of welcoming hospitality along with an employee profit-sharing plan.

“To hand the keys over, it will be positive for the team and the neighborhood,” Schassler, 58, said during a recent visit. “The talent that exists in the new team is such that they can take it to a level that I can’t.”  

Spirits of Mount Vernon has been open since 2005, evolving from a store selling bottles to a full-service gathering spot where bartenders mix cocktails behind a counter. It’s known for clean, inviting spaces and large windows that overlook Charles and Read streets.

Terrell Boston Smith, 42, began frequenting as a customer more than a decade ago, and in 2018 started working there. He sensed that Schassler was reaching a transition, and told her that when she was ready, he would help take over.

She recently accepted the offer. Boston Smith joined with two partners – Octavius E. Smith and Jeffry Stevenson – to create a management, transition and growth plan. Each has a background in finance and management, as well as experience at the shop. They submitted an application to transfer the liquor license to the new ownership group this month.

The goal, he said, is to continue the legacy of hospitality and create a joyful environment as the shop thrives as a “modern main street retailer” and community space. The new team hopes to grow sales and make administrative functions smoother, while establishing an employee ownership trust that will distribute an estimated 40 percent of profits to employees.

“It’s a community space; it’s important for the community,” Boston Smith said. “It’s continuing the legacy, and the opportunity for growth.”

The building at 900 N. Charles St. boasts a remarkable history. Construction dates to the 1860s, and the storefront was long the site of MacGillivray’s Pharmacy. Apartments were added to the rear of the four-story brick building around 1900.

Since its earliest days, the pharmacy had a license to dispense controlled substances, said Schassler, because of codeine then legally sold there. But MacGillivray’s became a shabby liquor store by the later part of the 20^th century, and the building fell into disrepair. Its exterior wall was leaning, and it was placed up for auction, a candidate for a teardown.

Instead, community members banded together, pooled $400,000 of their own money and got some additional financing, and bought it themselves, said Charles Duff, the president of Jubilee Baltimore and developer who has been involved with more than 300 properties in Baltimore.

The redevelopment effort – which involved Schassler – was the first of its kind in the nation, said Duff, and received support from the National Trust and HGTV. He recalls an invitation to speak at the nearby Emmanuel Episcopal Church as construction was taking place. He told the congregation that the best way to help neighborhood redevelopment was to “drink more – but buy your hooch across the street.”

The quip, he said, resulted in a standing ovation.

Since then, the building has remained well-maintained, but has not produced a windfall through either a sale to a new owner, or by condo-izing the apartments – both of which had been part of the vision. “I don’t think any of us thought we’d still be involved,” Duff said. “None of us have made a penny out of this.”

Schassler has been a continuing presence since 2005, putting her training as a former Marriott executive to use as she builds connections with patrons and welcomes their dogs into the shop. In fact, the walls of Spirits of Mount Vernon are covered with artist paintings of 35 neighborhood pooches – including her own French mastiffs, Bear and Wilma.

Reviews on Yelp and Google are exceedingly positive, noting the friendly and helpful staff, cozy vibe and good variety. About 18-20 self-managed team members work there, mostly within walking distance. Clientele include graduate students and local residents, and every night has a different feel, patrons say.

Schassler is proud of what she has built, but time passes, and muscles grow weary. Hours of lifting cases and washing glasses have taken their toll. Schassler is ready for her next gig, but is not yet sure what that looks like. The new management team is ready to take up the challenge, and turn their fresh ideas into reality.

One bottle at a time.

The new owners of The Sun summoned the paper’s staff for an all-hands meeting on Monday that produced few fireworks and some mixed messages.

Owners David D. Smith, the executive chairman of Hunt Valley-based broadcasting giant Sinclair Inc., and conservative commentator Armstrong Williams used the noon meeting to reinforce the types of coverage they believe is popular.

But there were no announcements about staff or other changes, according to those present.

Stories about schools, crime and corruption, Smith told the Sun’s journalists, are what readers are looking for. And staff shouldn’t rely on comments or interviews from government officials for their stories, he said. Instead they should be filing frequent Freedom of Information Act requests — a common tool of journalists.

Some who attended said they found the remarks condescending.

During one exchange, Smith downplayed the role that lead poisoning may be playing in cognitive abilities of some city school children, indicating that studies that show the effects were not trustworthy.

But while Smith told the things he wanted to see different coverage priorities, Williams countered with a different message: The Sun’s journalists are doing well, he said, and things already seemed to be heading in a good direction.

The dueling messages left some scratching their heads.

Williams’ commentaries have been appearing regularly on The Sun’s op ed pages since he and Smith announced they had purchased the storied paper from investment firm and former hedge fund Alden Global Capital in mid-January. During an NPR segment on The Sun that aired for the first time on Monday, former Sun reporter David Folkenflik asked Williams what his role would be at the paper going forward. His answer: “Any role that I want, that’s the role it will be.”

Smith’s Sinclair stations have received intense scrutiny for their promotion of conservative causes and candidates, and Smith and his family have been significant contributors to Republican politicians and groups.

Smith first met with the Sun staff shortly after the purchase announcement, and the meeting was recorded and leaked to competing news outlets. Sun publisher Trif Alatzas warned his reporters at the start of Monday’s meeting that non-consensual recording was illegal in Maryland, and the gathering was a private business meeting, not a public event.

Gulp a combination of hops, barley and water, and you’ll likely become a little friendlier and a bit louder, and — at least in your own mind — a better dancer.

But if you soak in that mixture?

Expect smoother skin, fewer wrinkles and relaxation, say proponents of beer spas who tout the health benefits of the main ingredients of beer – including exfoliation and anti-oxidant properties.  

Baltimore-area residents can now find out for themselves if that’s true. A new beer spa and alehouse, BierBath, is opening in Sykesville in Caroll County this weekend.

According to owners and founders Hector Enriquez and Greg Baran, there are only three such spas in the United States – in Denver, Chicago and Orlando – and none offer the same kind of alehouse experience at the front of the house.

“This business model is unique,” Baran said. “There is no competition.”

Beer spas are popular in Europe, and particularly in Prague, a city perhaps most identified by beer. (The Budweiser name has its origins in the Czech Republic, where brewing dates to the 13^th century.) Enriquez was introduced to the concept in Iceland in 2017. A professional photographer, he was on a job taking shots of Iceland’s beer spa and was enthralled.

Back home in Sykesville, he and wife Patricia began discussing the concept and introducing it to friends who they would invite to their home for beer tastings and games.

Among the group was Greg and Katie Baran. The couples have 10-year-olds at Linton Springs Elementary School who are best friends. The Barans were in.

The new partners put together financing and began looking for spaces. They realized that the D.C. and Frederick markets would be too expensive for real estate, and because they intended to run the operation themselves, they wanted something closer to home.

BierBath is located in the renovated space of a former bowling alley on the rear side of a strip of stores and restaurants near the intersection of Liberty Road and Route 32.

After more than a year of build-out and inspections, the grand opening is here. At the rear of the 4,200-square-foot space are three spa rooms – one with double tubs, plus an infrared sauna, and a shower area with dispensers filled with beer shampoo and beer conditioner. “We basically built seven bathrooms,” said Baran, describing the extensive construction process.

At the front is a large bar, and plenty of space to enjoy a beer from one of ten taps, plus canned options. There are also wine offerings.

The alehouse sports a striking yellow and black color scheme, with an area for darts, and spots for live music. There are some limited food options – mainly charcuterie.

Patrons who sign up for the spa experience – priced at $100 for an individual or $180 for two people for an hour — head past the bar and into a separate space designed to provide a taste of Scandinavia in Sykesville.

Tubs are made from planks of oak and sourced from France. A call button next to each tub summons a server to bring bathers another beverage. (Unlimited beer is included in the spa soak, but servers will make sure that patrons don’t get overly intoxicated.)

Carroll County is known for its generally conservative views, and the owners of BierBath have had to face a few questions. Signs on the spa room wall note that nudity is not allowed. And there are no cameras in the spa area.

“It’s a new concept and people in this county are very traditional,” said Patricia Enriquez, Hector’s wife. “The number one question is ‘How do you clean the tubs.’”

The tub water is decidedly not for drinking, and contains no alcohol. The spa water is infused with hops and barley; it’s not a fermented beverage poured from a tap. Tubs are drained after each use, then cleaned and refilled.

The founders’ spouses Katie Baran and Patricia Enriquiez are pitching in with promotion and events. The opening announcement sent out after Thanksgiving received immediate attention from Washington-area publications and news stations. BierBath now has bookings into April.

Clientele are coming from D.C. and Virginia, and it’s couples and groups. Despite the heavy beer focus, the vibe, noted Greg, is “not a fraternity.”

BierBath is located at 1213 Liberty Rd. B-4 in Sykesville, and has scheduled its grand opening for Saturday, Dec. 9.

Baltimore’s Black churches have held a prominent place in the community for decades, and the intersection of these houses of worship, their leaders and local politicians have shaped the course of Maryland history.

Kevin Slayton, a Maryland public affairs professional and ordained minister, explores the importance of these connections in his new book, Politically Preaching, a self-published work that casts a critical eye on the role of today’s Black pastors and urges them to reclaim their role as sounders of trumpets for justice.

Politically Preaching is informed by Slayton’s educational and life experiences. Through his book, we are reminded that Baltimore has long produced Black leaders who have turned their experience in the pulpit and in leading their communities into political platforms. Hiram R. Revels was a pastor at an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore at the outset of the Civil War, before moving to Mississippi to become the first Black person elected to the U.S. Senate during Reconstruction. A century and a half later, Rafael Warnock was preaching at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore before being tapped to lead historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and then going on to become a Georgia Senator.

In between, generations of pastors spoke out on issues of the day and lent their support to politicians seeking office.

“The preacher was expected to negotiate the landscape of politics in the local community,” Slayton writes. “The preacher was to speak cogently to the powers that be without fear or intimidation…The preacher possessed the power to influence his congregation in matters related to issues of public policy. And yes, the preacher held a certain level of influence on the local political scene.”

Slayton explains how Black churches are a vehicle for both pastors and politicians to reach thousands. But he also shows that they are not all-powerful. In Baltimore, he posits, community organizations are the most influential local groups and the first stop for politicians and candidates. But churches come second.

Additionally, pastors aren’t always as involved and as activist as they once were, he said, and the communities around Black churches don’t exemplify the benefits of the social programs that the politicians who visit them often extol.

Slayton comes from the world of social justice, working as public policy director for the Public Justice Center, as a program officer with Associated Black Charities and now with the Maryland Center on Economic Policy. He has guided politicians such as Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, former State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby and U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume.

Along the way, he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Howard University in Washington, DC and a doctorate from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York. Slayton offers critiques of Black churches and the politicians who visit them, but also sees great value in the relationships. He wrote Politically Preaching, he said, because he wants to continue to be a guide to that world.

David Nitkin: Let’s talk about the evolution and status of the Black church in politics.

Kevin A. Slayton Sr.: There has historically been – from post-Reconstruction, and moving through to the late 60s to present time – this intimate relationship between the African American church and electoral politics.

In the preface of the book, I introduced the reader to the Sunday morning, two weeks after the shooting of the nine people at Emanuel AME in Charleston, South Carolina… And the idea that there’s a white guy in this worship service, and the white guy is Joe Biden. Obama doesn’t go; he sends Joe Biden. And you know how news changes so fast. What we saw here and in Baltimore and around the world of that worship experience, which was very emotional, was about 15 to 30 seconds of film, just a snippet, for a day or maybe two.

But citizens and residents of the state of South Carolina, they saw those loops for possibly an entire month. And so politically speaking, you fast forward: Who loses New Hampshire and Iowa and the Democratic primary and keeps moving forward? Most folks would have bowed out. But I think Biden knew, ‘If I could just get to the church in South Carolina, they may very well save my political career.’ And how it evolves is we hear Jim Clyburn sort of testify to this: “Joe knows South Carolina. But South Carolina knows Joe.”

And that is sort of like the entry I want folks to get. There has been this salvific space for the Black church, uniquely positioned for electoral politics. You have these cyclical visits by political leaders that don’t occur in mosques, temples or synagogues. But they routinely happen throughout Protestant African American congregations.

DN: Much of your focus is on Baltimore, but you talk about how this Black church influence extends into the White House.

KS: John DiLulio is the first person to serve, as we know, in this capacity as a sort of a faith-based liaison for a political office. And he does that for George H.W, Bush. In 1988, he is the first person to serve in that role. And moving forward, you have a number of politicians who recognize the influence of the Black church, and of voter turnout, etc. But there is still this desire to have what I would call ‘the nod’ from local leadership. The way I sort of approach it there is I argue that there’s no way you get to a President Barack Obama without the influence of the local black preacher, who is Jeremiah Wright.

Politics is local, and no one comes from the outside, into east or west Baltimore, certainly not the southside of Chicago, unless someone validates them on the inside. And we can watch this engagement, this dance, as politicians will enter those sacred spaces. And the pastor, recognizing the laws that prevent them from endorsing will say something like this: ‘I can’t tell you who to vote for. But this is who I’m voting for.’ And that signals to the congregation that this is our person.

And so many politicians go there seeking that. But what we’ve seen in Maryland, over the years, there have been different clergy-led groups who would make official endorsements, and folks will wait to see who they’re endorsing.

DN: This can’t come naturally to all politicians.

KS: I left the Rawlings-Blake administration because I wanted to go into ministry after lobbying. I spent years in Annapolis lobbying, and trying to merge the two worlds. So I worked with different politicians. And one of the first I worked with was Peter Franchot around the Stop Slots campaign. Peter is Catholic, and entering this atmosphere was uniquely different for him. So there were some conversations we had to have about how do you engage this space? How do you make yourself look authentically present in that moment? I think more so now, regardless of race, they have to sort of do that work and do that calculation.

DN: But Baltimore is at the heart of it all for you.

KS: In the book, I talk about how Baltimore sort of uniquely created this relationship. You go back to 1968 and the election of Judge Joe Howard [a former federal judge who became the first Black judge elected to what is now the Circuit Court of Baltimore.] What I found most fascinating about it was [law professor and political advisor] Larry Gibson, who is just an amazing individual, and he was maybe 26 or 27 at the time. And Larry still has in his possession the hand cards they gave out for that campaign. And what they did was they put them in every single African-American church on the east and the west side, with a bull’s eye on it. And they told them to single shot [or vote for just one person out of a group.] So Judge Joe Howard comes out at the top of the voting list. And there’s a guy sitting at the table with these clergy who are doing this by the name of Parren Mitchell. And Parren says, ‘Well, hell, you did it so well for him do it for me next year.’ [Mitchell was then elected to Congress in 1970]. And ever since they have run that same playbook, that that level of influence on electoral politics, I think it’s still evident. And it’s evident in the fact that, as we see in this cycle, candidates will still flock to Black congregations.

DN: How does the concept of the separation of church and state come into play here?

I propose in my book that post-Reconstruction is the first time we hear the language of separation of church and state, not so much as a legal term, but as literally one of the first dog whistles. And it basically says preachers need to stay in their lane….

During the Clinton administration, language was created, known as charitable choice. And the goal, in a nutshell, was to sort of unblur the line of what we know as separation of church and state. A lot of faith communities were afraid of violating or crossing that line. What charitable choice language basically said was that you can now engage with government agencies and reap financial benefit through grants, as long as you are willing to not do two things: proselytize and try to recruit folks to your faith, or to discriminate about how the resources were used.

But charitable choice created this unintended competition: the church down the street gets a grant to do that type of work. And so it sort of silences, that prophetic voice within that faith community.

DN: In the book you talk about preaching as an art form. Can you talk more about that?

KS: There is no other place where we tend to get our information for politics. For our community in particular, it has been the way information was disseminated. So for the Black preacher, who emerges through slavery, who’s been provided this theology, they have to find a way to take these stories and make them useful for their audience. So you’ve got to find a way to tell the Exodus story in a way that folks see themselves. One of my professors, Joseph Evans, always said that the Black preacher preaching is either blues, or jazz.

And what the Black preacher has been able to do is to take the blues, which was the reality of segregation, oppression, etc, and then somehow make its way through the blues, in order to get to a place where it will be reflected in what we know as jazz. Jazz was nothing more than improvisation. So we took what was handed us, and then we were able to improvise in a way that each person recognized they had to get a piece and do their own piece, you know, to make it better. But in the end, they had to come together.

So preaching had to do every week, it had to be a place to sort of lift the spirits of people who had who had been feeling the blues all week. It did beyond just the preaching; it also did it in the gathering, because for many of those folks, outside of that space, they were ‘boy,’ or ‘girl’ or disrespected in other ways. But when they came into that place, they had position and authority. They were chair of the deacon board, they were president of the choir. They became somebody in those spaces.

And so preaching had to embody the scriptures in a way that allowed folks to see themselves in the text. And the best ones at it, they’re able to do it and to make folks for at least a brief moment escape their realities and sort of see a place where there was justice, there was fairness, the crooked places were made straight. They saw a better day through through effective preaching.

Editor’s note: This column won first place (Division C) and Best of Show overall in the Online Blog Commentary category of the Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. Press Association’s 2023 Contest. Read our other award-winning pieces here.

A cross-country drive is a form of escapism. It is also a form of comparison.

Even as you seek out the unexpected, at every stop you evaluate – consciously or not — how another place stacks up against your own.

Karen and I traveled 6,978 miles across the country this fall, driving to the Pacific Ocean and back. We traversed 16 states and spent time in dozens of cities and towns. We aspired to learn what was distinctive about every place. Through it all, I was comparing each place to Baltimore.

This was our third major driving journey of several thousand miles. The first came more than 30 years ago. We were unmarried, and set out in a hatchback packed with a never-used tent, stiff hiking boots, and a copy of “Roadfood” by Jane and Michael Stern, an eater’s guide to local dives and hotspots. (The book is now in its 10^th edition; I’m guessing we carried the first.) We were young reporters taking a break before graduate school. We put nearly 10,000 miles on Karen’s Acura Integra, and AM radio was our guide to what people were talking about in 1992.

Our second major journey came in 2007, in an RV borrowed from a friend in Los Angeles. There were four of us then – two parents and two kids, ages 10 and 7. We looped counterclockwise for 4,200 miles and visited must-see national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite, but also cities like Boise, Idaho.

This year’s trip was different. For the first time, we had the internet and smartphones and apps that made it easy to find a scenic camping spot or the best local beer. We never turned on AM radio. We didn’t play Jenga.

In the past 30 years, our nation has – at least superficially – become more homogenized. The same style of development abounds in every exurb, with the same nets of fancy golf driving ranges, the same billboards for lawyers, and the same big box stores lining every highway.

Our western destination was Los Angeles, where we picked up a little lightweight fiberglass travel trailer that was to become our transportable home and remote office for the next month, and for hopefully many months in the years ahead.

On this journey, we sought to explore every place on foot – often by running, which is what we do.

Running around a new city has so many benefits. You savor the flavor of neighborhoods and development patterns. You absorb architecture and find pocket parks and tucked-away blocks. You can follow a main boulevard from the oldest buildings to the newest. You see art in public places, and learn about the philanthropists who funded it.

And in every city, you encounter the unhoused and neglected buildings; you reach the end of one thriving block and cross onto another that is struggling. The ravages of addiction, of an uneven economy, and of systemic racism and redlining are everywhere.

Spend time in any city – any place that grew organically over the last century or two with thousands of people living together near each other – and you observe that Baltimore is not unique.

The very real problems that consume us here are felt everywhere.

This sense of commonality hit me for the first time in St. Louis, after we left the soaring Gateway Arch and tried to find a Riverfront Trail that a map showed us stretched north along the Mississippi River. We never got there, thwarted by detours and roadblocks around decrepit warehouses and homeless encampments. The whole stretch of industrial waterfront north of a downtown casino is tremendously blighted.

At one point, I saw a few cars parked around a building and thought that the signs of life indicated the point where we could get on the trail. Instead, I watched people shooting needles in their arms.

Within an hour, we saw the best of what St. Louis has to offer a visitor, and the tremendous challenges facing any American city grappling with economic woes, racism and social ills. It was a scene repeated in Los Angeles, and Oklahoma City, and Lexington, Kentucky.

I found myself imagining about a doppelganger from any of these places who lands in Baltimore and heads out on foot. They would explore the Inner Harbor and Harbor East, and travel up Charles Street. Maybe they would explore the Howard Street corridor to experience an arts district, and quickly find abandoned buildings and pan-handlers.

They would see the beauty of Baltimore, the good bones. They would feel the challenges.

We often focus on the worst in Baltimore, the violent crime, car thefts, underperforming schools, stagnant jobs. We obsess over numbers and rankings, and shake our heads when Baltimore tops the nation in some depressing statistic.

Those figures represent real lives and real futures built or squandered. We shouldn’t ignore them.

But everything we lament here is lamentable somewhere else, whether it’s the third worst city on some list or the third best. We saw this ourselves in Columbus, Ohio; and Kansas City, Missouri; and Salina, Kansas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Boulder, Colorado; and Los Angeles.

And in every place, we saw the grandeur of both the natural environment and the built one, and the spirit of the people. Just like in Baltimore.

Every year, a group of Baltimore leaders under the auspices of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council travel to a different city to get an inside perspective on the strengths and struggles of a peer metropolitan area. They’ve visited Cleveland; New Orleans; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; Detroit; and the twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Each of those places has, at one time or another, been the butt of national jokes or source negative headlines. They have also been a source of innovation, and our leaders are learning from them.

The policy and political solutions that evade us in Baltimore are elusive everywhere. The benefits of clean water, good transportation, thriving arts and social connections are also everywhere – and they are here.

We are all dealing with the same stuff. If you look to escape it with a long drive, you probably won’t. And it’s OK to compare. You’ll see that we are all closer than we might imagine.