Uncontrolled cars cause cities' decline
The city is in a fight for survival today. We all know that; we read the newspaper. What we don't seem to know is who our opponent is.
Not only that, our opponent doesn't even know there's a fight going on. In fact, our opponent is so stupid it only has two functions and one way of control. That opponent is the automobile.
Our cities were built to a human scale. Speeding was about 7 miles an hour. Ten miles per hour was reckless abandon. This was fine, and our streets were filled with people. Vehicles could be avoided with little effort, and although I'm sure there were complaints, from today's perspective they were minor.
But the automobile, to function well, needs to operate within a different and larger scale. Automobiles aren't built for or expected to be driven below 25 miles per hour.
But while they operate at that speed they command an area almost twice their width and five times as long as the vehicle itself.
We have allowed the automobile to hold sway since its inception. Speed limits in our cities now exceed the speed of reckless abandon and require our citizens to pay special and serious attention to danger whenever they're afoot in the city.
This leads our citizens to abandon the city for places like shopping malls, where the automobile is excluded totally. Let's correct this.
By placing restrictions on automobiles that reduce them to human scale within the confines of the city, we can eliminate the danger presently inherent within it. When this danger is eliminated, our cities will thrive.
I can see Charles Street with one narrow lane down the middle for travel, a narrow lane to each side restricted to a loading zone during pedestrian hours and pedestrian areas to either side some four feet wider than today's.
The speed limit is 15 mph, and the cars no longer own the street. And I can see people in droves, working, living and shopping there.
An almost-abandoned stretch of West Baltimore Street configured in that pattern will blossom.
If we take our city back from the automobile, it will add to the quality of life while not unduly restricting movement.
John Hagerhorst
Frederick
City dwellers
There is a movement afoot. Some of us have become city residents lately because of its convenience and interesting diversity.
Like Steven and Carol Beard (Letter, March 11) we became city dwellers three years ago. We tell people we retired to the city. We love walking to our library, stores and restaurants.
We love the vibrancy of the city. Here is another couple unwilling to pull the plug on Baltimore's life support system.
Dick and Pat Elliott
Baltimore
City Hall's spin
The Schmoke administration has found an easy method of getting its message across to the citizens of Baltimore City and beyond.
City officials are currently harnessing and exploiting taxpayer- and corporate-contributed dollars for free political advertising.
This form of subsidized propaganda includes newspaper advertising, billboards and various ad agency produced political "spin" which is free, flexible and given a quick government stamp of approval if it conforms to the political agenda at hand.
As the self-anointed giver of thanks and defender of the injustices of questioning government spending, Mayor Kurt Schmoke has made it clear that the taxpayer call for fiscal constraints will go unheeded by his administration.
Mayor Schmoke and his taxpayer-financed advertising machine have recently, in many people's minds, misused moneys to advertise the unheralded deeds of the city police department, rTC the misinterpreted results of the Housing Authority rehabilitation program and most recently future billboard advertising thanking President Clinton for the taxpayer-financed federal block grants disbursed for the Baltimore City business empowerment zones.
Not only is a taxpayer "thank you" billboard not under consideration, it is no longer a requirement that positive results of programs are determined before the advertisement word gets out about the good deeds of our political special interests. Under our present system, it takes only available taxpayer money budgeted for advertising and a program without a track record to lay the foundation for free political advertisements.
Michael Given
Baltimore
Young blacks have nowhere to turn
Today, when affirmative action policies are under attack around the country, the few opportunities afforded to blacks may be dramatically reduced.
Increasingly, it has become necessary for black civic organizations (NAACP, Urban League, fraternities and sororities, etc.) to become incubators for leadership, as they once were in the past.
In the early days of the civil rights struggle, these organizations gave birth to many of today's black leaders.
Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Barbara Jordan, Andrew Young, etc., owe much of their success to black civic organizations, which gave them the opportunity to hone the skills needed to become leaders.
Today, however, the opportunities to sharpen leadership skills do not exist for young people in black civic organizations.
Many black civic organizations are run by middle-aged adults who are established in both their careers and communities. Young people are often shut out of leadership roles because of their perceived lack of experience.
Take the highly contested election of the Baltimore City chapter of the NAACP, for example. The great lengths the chapter is taking to silence the young people in the organization is preposterous.
I am sure that Martin Luther King would be disgusted if he were here to witness the games being played by the chapter's leaders.
Black civic organizations must rethink their purpose and obligation to young people. If young people are being shut out of black civic organizations and affirmative action policies are being reversed, where are we to turn?
Theodore Wimberly
Baltimore
Why city living beats suburbia
Flight from the city is a tremendous waste of resources. There are many sound, attractive houses available in the city, as there is great office space.
We are making ill use of our land resources in the state if we allow uncontrolled growth in the counties. Natural resources should be preserved.
"But why should I buy in the city?" you ask. Look at the value. I purchased my home in the city five years ago. At that time, a comparable house in Baltimore County cost (conservatively) $30,000 more.
Add to that the additional closing costs, (approximately $2,000) and the additional interest to finance that $30,000 ($56,900 at 9 percent over 30 years) and on purely financial considerations you can see why I bought in the city.
Yes, auto insurance cost me $130 more a year, and real estate taxes cost $1,800 a year versus $1,175 a year in the county, but even so, I came way out ahead: $624 a year more tax and $130 a year more insurance times 30 years equals $22,620 in the city; $2,000 closing and $56,900 interest expense and the additional $30,000 principal equals $88,900 in the county; a saving over 30 years of $66,280.
This shows clearly that buying in the county due to lower tax rates can be false economy.
In addition, I saved 45 minutes a day in commuting time, not to mention the associated cost of gasoline and wear and tear on the car. I went from a 15-mile drive on I-83 to 0.6 mile drive through the city. I have a far slimmer chance of being in a serious accident than I did when living in Baltimore County.
I am only a few minutes from Herring Run Park, where I can walk my dog or ride my bicycle on the trails. I can also ride my bike safely on the bike lane around Lake Montebello.
I am 15 minutes from Theater Hopkins, 17 minutes from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Center Stage, and I can walk to local shopping areas if I desire.
If I want to go to a mall, there are several within a 20-minute drive. There are many convenient amenities nearby in the city.
Yes, I know crime is high, and education is far from what it should be, but I know the only way to change that is to have educated, involved people living and working in the city to improve it.
Fleeing the problem only makes the tax burden on the state even worse. Baltimore City is worth our efforts. Let us concentrate on turning around the emigration to the counties. This could well be our last chance.
Vikki A. Schick
Baltimore