Thursday, November 28, 2024 | Baltimore, MD
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Want to solve Baltimore’s problems? Include residents in decision-making. They’re savvy negotiators.

When hired to teach negotiation at the University of Baltimore, I felt prepared. I had spent a decade negotiating in 12 countries and with big companies like the NFL, Bloomberg and Google. I’d studied negotiation at Harvard and had a Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution. Turns out, I was far from ready. The first year: One student asked how, as a 6-foot, 4-inch tall, 220-pound Black man, not to intimidate white people during a negotiation; A second wanted to get her kids back from the court; and A third wanted to know how to divorce her husband without losing the financial support from her parents.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Land Bank Authority crucial to Baltimore rebuild

The announcement by Greater Baltimore Committee CEO Mark Anthony Thomas and representatives of BUILD Baltimore that business and faith leaders will work together to reduce the staggering number of vacant and derelict houses in the city is one all of Baltimore should welcome. But any welcome must come with caveats. The first is that this latest initiative, cheered on by Mayor Brandon Scott to tackle an old problem, does not delay establishment of the Land Bank Authority of Baltimore City as proposed by Baltimore City Council Bill 23-0363. Anything that the coalition of business and faith leaders decides to do must complement the role of the Land Bank because it cannot replace it.

Biden is bringing federal workers back to the office. It’s about time.

Hooray for President Biden, who has finally set a deadline — next month — for federal workers to return to the office. It has been nearly four months since the president ended the national emergency to combat the coronavirus outbreak. His own staff at the White House has been working in person for two years. The rest of the federal government needs to follow suit. The benefits of bringing workers together in an office abound: easier communication, more ability to brainstorm, better mentorship and a heightened sense of mission, especially for new workers.

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Deaf customers should have sufficient film choices in Frederick County

Deaf residents of Frederick County are a vital, important pillar of our community, and when they ask something of local business owners, they should be given close attention. Many deaf children come to Frederick to study at Maryland School for the Deaf, and many graduates of the historic school stay on or return after college to begin their careers. For deaf people, Frederick is a welcoming community. They in turn have enriched our county.

To break out of your comfort zone, sometimes you have to go zip lining in Panama

“Are you ready to do this?” my friend Chrissy asked me as a guide clipped me onto a zipline high above Panama’s Gatun Lake. Cables, a helmet and the giant version of the carabiner I hook my keys into were the only things protecting me from gravity and hitting every crunchy branch in the tree line below. “Well,” I replied, wondering if Chrissy and our guides could hear my heart pounding like a Questlove beat. “I guess I better be!”

Modified or not, toll lane plan will cement inequity and worsen traffic for most

The public has been waiting for Gov. Wes Moore (D) to end the Hogan administration’s ill-conceived toll lane plan and choose better alternatives for the I-495/I-270 corridor. The project’s original private partner, Australian toll giant Transurban, has walked away. A Washington Post poll shows majorities in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties oppose the toll lanes. The inherent inequity of the project conflicts with Governor Moore’s stated values.

No surprise that Balt. Co. developers fear regulations

It was not surprising that the CEO of the trade association that represents builders and developers in Baltimore County pushed back on my opinion that the county’s ordinance supposedly ensuring that public schools have adequate capacity to accommodate new residential development (APFO) needs revision (”Building association: Development not cause of overcrowded Maryland schools,” July 28). It also was unsurprising that the CEO implied that the current law is responsible for a decline in single-family housing starts in the county, even though the decline is part of a national trend that has nothing to do with the school APFO.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Those new bathrooms at BWI are bright, pretty and mostly work

Here is the most important thing to know about the new bathrooms at BWI Thurgood Marshall International Airport. With a whoosh, the toilets give you a very satisfying flush. That’s important because, as with many things in life, you want a flush guaranteed to wash away your troubles. For men at least, it’s almost as important that the urinals don’t splash. There is nothing more annoying in a public bathroom — OK, maybe there are a few things — than being flecked with water or worse when the rinse flows with force down a urinal.

Dan Rodricks: Wrong once again, Andy Harris. This is not a ‘banana republic.’

Here’s how Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, the state’s lone Republican in Congress, reacted to the latest federal charges against the leader of his party: “Indicting political opponent candidates during a presidential election is what happens in banana republics and Third World countries.”nThis is typical Andy Harris, defending Donald Trump no matter what crimes the former president is alleged to have committed.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
In Harford County, rising tensions — and serious charges — among GOP leaders

In Harford County, home to horse farms and silt-filled waterways, a bit of mudslinging is not unknown. But what appears to have started with tensions between County Councilman Aaron Penman and County Executive Bob Cassilly, two Republicans elected to their positions last November, over funding for the sheriff’s office has escalated into a bitter internecine battle among members of the GOP.

Read More: Baltimore Sun

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