I had the pleasure of serving on Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's transition team in February of this year. Recommendation nine of my 10 recommendations, as a member of the Public Safety and Essential Services Committee was, "Downtown Businesses that have been accorded and afforded financial benefits (e.g., financial inducements, tax waivers, and/or deductions, etc.) of various sorts, should, during this financially challenging time, pull their weight as all of us are having to do." One would think that entities such as the Downtown Partnership and the Baltimore Development Corporation would have suggested something similar to this themselves. When money is short coming into a household, to pay the bills, everyone residing in the household must be of some financial assistance.

Bill Barry has a point in his op-ed ("PILOTs are crashing Baltimore's budget," June 17) when he states: "the council is renegotiating almost every other financial agreement — with police and fire pensions, for example — so why not go after the most lucrative targets."

Marvin L. Cheatham Sr., Baltimore