New Orleans, Meet Baltimore

Fellow Substacker Don Surber misspells "New Orleans" in a recent piece

Our morning reading often includes other writers on Substack, the brilliant platform delivering these words to you, the means to meet, connect, and share that has changed my life and, hopefully, improved yours a bit as a resident of New Orleans or as one among millions whose heart has been captured by this troubled and beguiling place.

Reading Don Surber this morning, I could not help but inject “New Orleans” into his piece. You’ll see why as you read it… and I encourage you to read other work by Mr Don Surber HERE.

The purpose of a newspaper editorial is to inform, entertain or persuade. In 26 years of writing them in my long-ago life, I cannot recall one time I persuaded anyone to do anything. My editor had a nasty habit of removing anything that wasn’t as dry as the Sahara. I tried my best to keep them factual.

In retirement, I do read them from time to time. Oh, not my old newspaper. It died nine months after my departure. I find most editorials to be unintentionally entertaining. One example is “Drop in downtown Baltimore real estate values not a crisis — yet” by the Baltimore Sun.

The editorial said, “the June sale of an office tower at One South Street for $24 million was shocking given the 30-story property last traded hands for $66 million just eight years ago. And if that was not enough, a nearby 10-story building at One East Pratt recently sold for $25 million— or about $55 million less than in 2018. The obvious worry is that these depressed prices are just the first rumblings of an earthquake that will have an impact far beyond the various private and public companies or even real estate investment trusts that hold title. At what point could a seismic devaluation prove disastrous for Baltimore’s real estate tax collections that fund a sizable share of schools, public safety, public works and other vital government functions?”

So the newspaper’s worries not about the millions in value vanishing from the owners of commercial real estate. The newspaper’s only concern is that city won’t collect as much from onerous property taxes as it used to.

One South Street lost 64% of its value in 8 short years.

Now what happened 8 years ago when the owners sold the 30-story building cashed in and pocketed $66 million for a building that is now worth $24 million?

The Freddie Gray riots.

When a career criminal died in the hospital from spinal cord injuries, the ignorant masses blamed the police. The city filed charges against 6 officers but none stuck because they were political prosecutions. Nevertheless, the city gave Gray’s family (spins dial) $6.4 million.

The real problem was Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake sided with the rioters. She ordered police to stand down and allow rioters to loot and destroy businesses.

She told the press, “I made it very clear that I work with the police and instructed them to do everything that they could to make sure that the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech.

“It's a very delicate balancing act. Because while we try to make sure that they were protected from the cars and other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well. And we worked very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to de-escalate.”

Rioting is free speech!

Destroying businesses is de-escalation!

Her claim to fame is she was Baltimore’s first woman mayor. I hate to say it gals, but if this is the best you can offer, I will stick with the men we have.

The riots happened in April 2015. By the year’s end, Baltimore’s murder rate shot up — um, rose — to a record 54 corpses per 100,000 Baltimorons. Between the order to stand down and the persecution of six officers, many police officers got the message and quit or retired.

Channel 3 in Baltimore reported, “The department claims BPD is currently short 532 officers based off their budget. However, the police union claims the shortage is closer to 700 officers based off the federal consent decree.”

That puts the force at 78% of its authorized strength.

To get officers to take assignments in high crime areas, the city is paying $5,000 bonuses.

In Baltimore, criminals fought the law and the law lost.

So what does the Baltimore Sun blame the dropping valuations on?

Covid.

The editorial said, “It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has been unkind to the commercial real estate industry as large numbers of workers opted to stay at home and perform their duties virtually. Even now, many white collar employees continue to that pattern — or split time at home or office by commuting only one or two days each week. And that impact has been felt keenly in downtown Baltimore, which faces an array of other issues to deal with, as well, including public worries about violent crime, a high property tax rate, underperforming transit systems and job losses.”

Crime is part of “an array of other issues” to the sad-sack editorial writer. Even then, the editorial downplayed the problem. Having a big-city homicide rate second only to Atlanta isn’t the problem to the Sun. It is “public worries about violent crime” that are. We have nothing to fear but fear itself — and teenagers playing the Knockout game.

The Baltimore Brew responded to the Sun editorial by sending a reporter to Harborplace, an upscale retail place that attracts tourists. It looked pretty good in As Good As It Gets when Jack Nicholson tells Helen Hunt, “You make me want to be a better man.” When she melts in front of his eyes, he says, “Well, maybe I overshot a little, because I was aiming at just enough to keep you from walking out.”

He should have won an Oscar for that performance. Oops, he did.

But he’s 86 and headed for the door. Harborplace is already there.

The Brew said, “At Baltimore’s Inner Harbor this week, the air was warm, the sky was blue and the water shimmered. But the foot traffic was sparse, and it was easy to see why.

“With the two Harborplace buildings at the heart of the tourist waterfront more than 90% vacant, there was little for visitors to do but enjoy the view and keep on walking.”

How bad off is Baltimore? It is a sanctuary city, but neither Governor Abbott nor Governor DeSantis was cruel enough to ship illegal aliens there.

Charm City, as it calls itself, is called the Stealers in Cleveland. The city’s NFL team originally was the Cleveland Browns and its baseball team was the St. Louis Browns.

When dog walker Scott Presler went to Baltimore to clean up the city, the Sun mocked him in an editorial titled, “We assume it was pure motives that led a Trump supporter to launch a cleanup in Cummings’ district, right?”

The editorial said, “Whatever he says his motives were, Mr. Presler’s presence in Baltimore reinforces the tired image of our failing urban cores. That the poor people in this dilapidated city can’t take care of their own neighborhoods and all the public officials around them have failed as well. The bureaucratic, all-talk Democrats strike again. If a crowd of volunteers could clean up 12 tons of trash in 12 hours, how incompetent and helpless must Baltimoreans be if they can’t manage it in decades, right?”

That’s an odd way of saying thank you.

But pigs like to wallow in their own filth. Let them.

The Baltimoring of American cities continues with mayors and prosecutors who side with criminals. Conservatives want to Make America Great Again.

Our enemies want to Make America Suffer.

Newspaper editorial writers haven’t a clue.

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Again, all credit to Don Surber. He’s written a piece that, quite sadly, could have been written about any city on the list of cities below…

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We are reminded of the campaign of Kim Klacik, who prominently featured “the real” Baltimore in this ad:

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