Outrage doesn't begin to describe my reaction to the recent revelations over Baltimore's failure to collect taxes that were due from commercial property owners ("City says it can't rebill," July 25) Hats off to reporters Luke Broadwater and Scott Calvert for exposing the inequity and hypocrisy of city collection processes and the city regulations that only benefit a few at the expense of the many.
On behalf of the tens of thousands of Baltimore City homeowners whose life-long residences have gone to tax sale over unpaid water bills, I ask where was the Bureau of Collection's fairness meter? For the thousands of elderly city residents who have to sell the houses they raised their families in because they can't afford the real estate taxes, I ask if you, City Council members, enjoyed resting in your home last night? As the discouraged voice of the tens of thousands of our young people who have no recreation center in their city neighborhoods this summer, I ask Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, are you really committed to invite all to live in the city, or only the well-healed who received the benefit of erroneous historic tax credits that, apparently, will never be recovered?
I ask all in city government, elected or appointed, am I living in a city that has misplaced its soul?
Ellen Marshall, Baltimore