Commentary

With spring migration underway, Maryland’s state bird — the Baltimore oriole — is returning home to breed. But fewer of those blaze-orange birds are making the journey these days, as about one in three Baltimore orioles has been lost since 1970, amid the staggering loss of 3 billion birds from breeding populations in North America. Yet hope remains. America can take a strong step forward in bringing back our birds, and other wildlife, by enacting the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act.

When media outlets report that runaway pollution has resulted in dead fish and “volcanoes of black stuff,” it’s easy to point the finger at private companies up to no good. In reality, taxpayer-funded plants and utilities can degrade the ecosystem at significantly higher rates than their private sector counterparts. Maryland residents are just the latest victims of government entities’ blatant disregard for ecology. The state was recently forced to take charge of the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant (previously run by Baltimore City officials) after inspections revealed hazardous discharges, clogged tanks and filters, and “floating solids” infiltrating waterways.

The challenges facing Frederick County Public Schools are well known in this community — problems recruiting and retaining good teachers because of low pay, recovery from the lingering effects of the shutdowns forced by the coronavirus pandemic, the scandal in special education, the need to hire a new superintendent. The primary solution is also well known: more money. No, money is not the solution to every problem, but it is the solution for many of them. County Executive Jan Gardner, in the last year of her term in office, has included a significant increase in education spending in her final, $792 million proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

On Feb. 11, the Maryland Department of Transportation emailed to the public a communication, “HOT Lanes Can Improve Access and Options, Reduce Traffic Congestion in Maryland,” promoting the toll lane project on I-495/I-270. On April 8, MDOT sent another questionable public communication where it again in a section called “Choose to travel for free” misleadingly stated, “2. Don’t want to pay a toll? Here’s what you can do instead. … Use the existing general-purpose lanes that are there today. These lanes will remain free for everyone and will get you where you need to go with less delay once the new HOT lanes are added.”

I think it would be accurate and appropriate to call Pamela and Christian Wilson the most determined-to-do-good couple in Baltimore. They won’t say it. I just did. I might be wrong, but I doubt it. I first met them for coffee in their Charles Village home in 2017. At the time, the Wilsons had a singular charitable undertaking: They supplied the ingredients of “weekend survival kits” for the 110 homeless children who were then attending six of Baltimore’s elementary schools.

At a recent White House event, President Joe Biden joined his predecessor, Barack Obama, to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act ’s passage. So much has changed for the better thanks to the ACA: The country’s uninsured rate has dropped dramatically (by half in Maryland), people no longer struggle to get coverage due to preexisting medical conditions, and millions of Americans receive help paying their insurance premiums. But there’s still work to be done to get everybody covered and to ensure they have access to the care they need.

We are at a powerful inflection point in our city’s history. Baltimore has so much promise, and we are on a path to recovery from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, our recovery is far from over. We all know that Baltimore is the birthplace of racial redlining and neighborhood segregation. That legacy rears its ugly head in the stark inequalities and disparities in the quality of life afforded to residents in predominantly Black and brown communities. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare this brutal truth we have ignored for far too long: Too many of our residents live in poverty and navigate the lasting effects of structural inequality.