Commentary

Nobody asked me, but, with graffiti out of control in parts of Baltimore, why not round up the vandals, exchange their spray paint for paint brushes and put them to work on murals? It could be a collaborative effort led by the mayor’s staff, similar to the effective approach taken with squeegee guys. Maybe graffitists could be convinced that their contributions to murals — new ones, such as Saba Hamidi’s amazing “corridor of color” along the Maryland Avenue overpass of the Jones Falls Expressway, and touch-ups of old ones — would be more lasting than graffiti and certainly more appreciated.

I’m not a spiritual person. There is no heaven above, no hell below. We make our own right here, right now. I’ve come to think of life on Albert Einstein’s terms, or at least those he expressed in his theory of energy conservation. Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It forever changes from one form to another and another.

The Maryland legislature passed a bill to create a “water regionalization” workgroup. So, what does this mean for Baltimore residents? Regionalization is not just a matter of administrative restructuring. It is a pressing concern that will impact every Baltimorean. Therefore, before the state makes any decision, conducting a thorough study of the challenges facing Baltimore residents through a racial and economic equity analysis is crucial.

The departure of the Dali, the enormous 984-foot-long container ship that slammed into a critical support column of the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse, marked a pivotal coming and going for Baltimore’s waterfront. Gone as of last Monday was the errant vessel that generated so much misery and destruction on March 26, including the deaths of six road workers, the collapsed span choking off marine traffic on the Patapsco and leaving thousands of port-related workers temporarily without a livelihood.

As boomers continue to age, commercial real estate (CRE) developers are adapting to a new, younger group of financiers who are relatively new to investing, more risk adverse and potentially hesitant to provide large sums. But is it any wonder? Given current interest rates, many big box stores going out of business, and general economic uncertainty, a cautious approach is understandable.

Perhaps the next time Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo share a field will be in Baltimore, where their slugging should supplement the Orioles’ playoff push later this summer. If so, Kjerstad’s recent assessment of Mayo may help explain why. The pair have spent much of the last two years hitting together, both breaking out at Double-A Bowie early last season and spending a majority of the time since mashing at Triple-A Norfolk (though Kjerstad was recalled Monday and had two hits in a loss to the Guardians).

Four long years ago, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby halted prosecution of low-level quality-of-life crimes in hopes of containing the COVID-19 pandemic by diminishing the number of jailed inmates. After the COVID rationale disappeared with vaccines, she made permanent the non-prosecution of quality-of-life offenses, insisting such crimes are not a gateway to serious felonies.