Commentary

On Oct. 23, President Joe Biden announced that the Baltimore region had been federally designated as a national tech hub, qualifying much of the state for hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and a potentially bright future in emerging technologies. Local leaders were quick to praise this potentially transformative step that could generate as many as 52,000 jobs, according to the Greater Baltimore Committee.

On the first day of October, Matt Williams, the co-founder and sales director of Mount Royal Soaps in Baltimore, asked me why the Ravens and Orioles needed $600 million each to improve the stadiums where the teams play. “What is wrong with how the stadiums are now?” Williams wondered in an email. “I go to games at both stadiums all year, and the experience is always amazing.”

When I served as Maryland’s secretary of commerce, I had the privilege of participating in the remarkable transformation of Bethlehem Steel, an abandoned industrial site in Baltimore County, into a 21st-century logistics hub known as Tradepoint Atlantic. Thanks to consensus building between county officials, residents, and the business community, developers put the 3,300-acre site back on the tax rolls, supporting thousands of jobs for Maryland workers, and attracting major employers like Harley-Davidson, Home Depot, and FedEx.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. should lead the effort to gain approval of the zoning necessary for the proposed Lutherville Station transit-oriented development (TOD). It is time for him to demonstrate that his professed commitments to fostering environmentally sustainable and inclusive communities, and to a regional approach to economic and transportation issues, are more than hollow political rhetoric.

As the afterglow from the Baltimore Orioles’ marvelous season subsides and scrutiny of the proposed stadium deal between the Orioles and the state intensifies, one thing is clear: In the staring contest between Orioles owner John Angelos and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), Moore blinked first. Moore’s overeagerness to sign the Orioles to a long-term lease produced a non binding “memorandum of understanding” between the Orioles and the state that has drawn heavy criticism from multiple sources. For example, the editorial advisory board of the The Daily Record pulled no punches, labelling it a “bad deal.”