Three times a week, on average, a police car pulls up to a school in Wicomico County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. A student is brought out, handcuffed and placed inside for transport to a hospital emergency room for a psychiatric evaluation. Over the past eight years, the process has been used at least 750 times on students. Some are as young as 5 years old.

On Thursday, I attended a public hearing of Baltimore’s Planning Commission on three bills connected to the proposed overhaul of the city’s Inner Harbor and Harborplace. I fully expected to be testifying with some design comments on the current proposal by developer P. David Bramble’s MCB Real Estate. To my surprise Sean Davis, chair of the commission, announced at the start of the hearing that no comments on the design would be allowed, as this was a hearing on land use issues only.

After a nearly two-year campaign cheered on by housing advocates and policy experts, the Baltimore City Council on Monday night approved an inclusionary housing bill that would compel all major developments to reserve a portion of the units to be rented at reduced prices. Meant to bolster diversity in neighborhoods and increase the stock of affordable units in affluent communities, inclusionary housing policies have been passed in cities and jurisdictions across the country — including in Baltimore, which approved a similar measure in 2005.

In the end, Shannon Moyer McNeil could do nothing to save her children. The Northern Virginia mother lost her daughter Waverly just after she turned 12 and her son Oliver three years later, just before his 12th birthday. Both children were diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Sanfilippo syndrome. “November and December are challenging times for my family,” McNeil, who lives in Alexandria, told me recently. Within those months, she explained, fall the dates of her children’s births and deaths.

When the Maryland General Assembly meets in 2024, legislators will have the opportunity to enhance language proficiency, education and immigrant justice. They can do so in a cost-effective manner by passing the Credit for All Language Learning Act to ensure higher education institutions in our state value our students’ and colleagues’ hard work in English language learning classes equally with comparable work in college world languages classes.

Developers of Baltimore’s newest apartment project, a 500-unit development called Allied | Harbor Point, will begin preleasing in April 2024, with Kettler as the residential property manager. The development team, a joint venture of Armada Hoffler and Beatty Development Group, this week unveiled a new website and renderings for the project, which is nearing completion at 1402 Point Street. The website is www.alliedharborpoint.com.

 

A Baltimore County startup has raised $5.3 million to use wood normally destined for the landfill to create tables, floors and other construction products. Cambium Carbon takes wood from trees that fall down during a storm or are cut down at construction sites and repurposes them for new uses. CEO Ben Christensen plans to use the latest round of funding led by MaC Venture Capital to add new products, launch a nationwide expansion and enhance the software side of the business.

“Whatever mode you like or whatever part of the state you’re in, it’s obviously cause for concern,” says Del. Marc Korman, chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, about proposed cuts to transportation projects and services. Maryland state lawmakers on Monday were hesitant to accept plans from Gov. Wes Moore’s administration to manage a multibillion-dollar shortfall by drastically trimming budgets for all modes of transportation.

Mayor Brandon Scott on Monday signed a bill that requires Baltimore City’s vehicle fleet to be 100% electric by the year 2030. Scott was joined by other city leaders at the Central Garage on East Biddle Street in Baltimore. “It shows here our shared commitment to making Baltimore a leader as a climate conscious and sustainable government,” Scott said. “We are working to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases entering our environment and doing everything to ensure that city government is taking steps to modernize along side those goals.”

New fees for electric vehicle owners and increases in tolls are on the table as part of a set of interim recommendations due later this year from a blue-ribbon transportation panel. The Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs Commission will meet later this month. During that meeting — the final one of the year — the panel will consider at least three recommendations made by the commission’s chair, Frank Principe.