Commentary

Despite last week’s announcement of a one-year infusion of cash, Maryland is wrestling with a projected $3.15 billion dollar transportation budget shortfall, exacerbated by the end of federal COVID-era support for transportation operations, overreliance on gas tax when vehicles are becoming more efficient, inflation, and more. The Moore administration recently proposed to balance the six-year transportation budget with 8% across-the-board cuts to all the agencies within the Maryland Department of Transportation.

When it’s time to talk about Baltimore’s economic revival, the conversation often starts with the big. Take the proposed redevelopment of Harborplace, the ongoing efforts at Baltimore Peninsula and the continued growth of the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore: big buildings, big cranes, and big stacks of cargo containers like pancakes on a dinner plate (mmm, pancakes). These things are identifiable, often controversial and any one of them may involve hundreds of new jobs — a veritable buffet spread of economic opportunity. (And who doesn’t like a good buffet?) Yet too easily ignored may be another potential driver of opportunity that’s on the smaller side, the small business side.

You know your public meeting has gone horribly wrong when the assistant city attorney assigned to it starts yelling at the chair: “Stop!” “Hold up.” “Please stop!” The gathering of the Annapolis Art in Public Places Commission devolved into angry accusations, indignant interruptions — “don’t talk to me like that” — and finger-pointing over how members wound up on the hook for public art gone awry.

Whether you love Donald Trump or loathe him, Maryland Secretary of State Susan Lee made the correct decision to put his name on the May Republican primary ballot, rather than follow the lead of her counterpart in Maine in disqualifying the ex-president. Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will be on the primary ballot in Maryland, Lee informed election officials. In a letter to state elections officials Monday, Lee said Trump and Haley generally met the qualifications for candidates who “generally advocated or recognized in the news media throughout the United States or in Maryland.”

The Baltimore Police Department has drawn so much scrutiny in recent years for poor policing practices, that one might assume the department had taken a firm hand with the most basic of chores — the management of time sheets. While preventing, responding to and solving crime is both difficult and often dangerous, setting an employee’s hours and making sure supervisors signed off is a piece of cake. Every organization, from the small mom-and-pop store to the most massive bureaucracy, faces this same chore.

A recent article in The Baltimore Sun, “Baltimore ballot question financed by Sinclair Broadcast group chair slashing City Council size garners 25K+ signatures” (Jan. 18), reminds me of when I served as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia. During my tenure, I introduced legislation that would have actually expanded the size of the D.C. legislative body. I did this primarily because it was important for me to recognize that more direct representation for D.C. residents is an important way to ensure that every voter has a voice.

To paraphrase one of Taylor Swift’s songs back to her: Welcome to Baltimore! It’s been waiting for you! Well, let me clarify that. Our quirky and culturally and historically vibrant city has been waiting to be discovered by everyone, including the megastar, who will presumably be at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday to watch boyfriend Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs play the Ravens in the AFC championship game. Already, the internet is alive with hilarious GIFs of her “visiting” everything from lake trout spots to the Banner newsroom.

I agree with Josh Kurtz (Maryland Matters, Jan. 5) that the Maryland Department of the Environment’s climate plan is comprehensive but lacks a sound strategy. Strategy is long term, not short term. While the plan’s tactics are sound, it does not have a strategic vision of what a net-zero Maryland looks like. How do the key pieces fit together? The basic weakness here starts at the top with goals.