Commentary

As a speaker at the fall conference of the Municipal League of Maryland, I recently expressed a positive sense of the impact of technology on people with disabilities but also a clarion call that society must continue to improve its accessibility. Considering the continuous robust discussion in such fields of law and policy as administrative law and civil rights, I thought the National Disability Employment Month an opportune occasion for fostering dialogue.

In early 2020, tenant lobbyists began to warn of an imminent eviction tsunami that could cause as many as 100,000 evictions and decimate Maryland’s economy. That tsunami never arrived. Even as evictions remained at historical lows into 2021, predictions of an eviction tsunami reached a crescendo in Annapolis during the state legislative session. Stoking fears of a tsunami became the most popular method to push extreme and unprecedented housing policies that would have exponentially inflated rent prices and decimated affordable housing across the state.

Bob Kleinschmidt is a mild-mannered, self-employed management consultant and corporate leadership coach. He teaches managers how to be better managers, and all workers of the world know what a vital service that can be. Kleinschmidt has been doing this sort of work for 20 years, the last five trading as C3 Transformation. His clients are in health care and higher education, biotech and pharmaceuticals; they include managers in government agencies, companies and nonprofits.

In our high-risk pregnancy clinics there are three vaccine conversations that we have with patients regularly. First, there are patients who are vaccinated for COVID-19 and counting down the days until they can schedule a booster shot. Then there are patients who will accept vaccines for influenza and Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis), but not COVID-19. The third conversation is with expectant mothers who not only decline a COVID-19 vaccination but also other vaccines recommended in pregnancy.

The media have been awash in hand-wringing stories from reporters and columnists concerning 2020 census data showing a decline in the rate of population growth from 2010. A major newspaper editorial titled “A quickening U.S. baby bust” went so far as to opine that such “demographic stagnation” may lead to “diminished national stature.” The sky-is-falling nature of this coverage is faulty and unworthy of such distortions especially in the region in which we live.

There is ample data that makes the case for the value of diversity in corporate, education, private and public sector leadership. A quick internet search reveals that companies and organizations that embrace and value diversity in leadership outperform their peers. And the relationships that are formed and nurtured may even — someday — keep pace with the financial returns. The data about representation in leadership positions, however, is discouraging.

After five years of political, economic and social upheaval in America, this month has seen some hints of a return to normalcy. The question is whether the two political parties (and their rabid ideological bases) are willing to settle for the benefits of “normal” politics instead of going for the “transformative” variety — which is tempting but almost always destructive. Consider the events of November so far: Republicans won a gubernatorial race in Virginia by running an issues-based appeal to voters, particularly on education.

How well I remember Thanksgiving in mid-20th century Baltimore. We lived on Biltmore Avenue, a shady, almost bucolic street about a mile northwest of Pimlico. After breakfast my parents would load us four kids into an old Buick Roadmaster and head down Park Heights toward Charles Street (the Jones Falls Expressway wasn’t completed until 1990), and look for a parking space in the vicinity of Howard and Lexington. Sometimes we’d bring folding lawn chairs, but usually we’d just stand.

I grew up in Park Heights, the same neighborhood where Mayor Brandon Scott announced that Baltimore will use $50 million in federal COVID relief money to fund collaborative gun violence prevention initiatives. Mayor Scott’s announcement comes on the heels of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s 14-month study that found less than a 1% increase in violent crime and no threat to public safety as a result of Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s March 2020 decision to decline prosecution of drug possession and prostitution cases.

Today, more than any time in history, effective and business-centric IT is critical to success in a competitive, customer-centric market — no matter the industry. Small and midmarket firms need to keep pace with their larger competitors to stay relevant. The challenge for many organizations is budget, with leaders contemplating if they have the resources – budget, time, and talent – for innovation or digitalization.