Christmas, 2008 draws near. Recent history in Baltimore City strongly suggests that while many residents will be opening presents and sipping eggnog, the City will begin demolition of the wonderful office building in Mount Vernon, at the corner of Cathedral and Read Streets.

That's how Baltimore is run in this era. While residents are distracted, the City continues to essentially replace Baltimore's exemplary urban architecture with ultra-commercial entities. They're turning Baltimore into Laurel/Towson. They're making a strip-mall of it.

(Towson and Laurel are both areas with many shopping centers and strip malls. Both locations are particularly known for their social decay.)

The Ruling Elite that runs this town is poisoning the well for all of us. This movement in the direction of urban sprawl is sheer insanity. Here's a few reasons why:

1. That building is an excellent corner building. It elevates the charm of that part of Mount Vernon.

2. Surrounding real estate in Mount Vernon will plummet in value once that building is gone.

3. Struever, Eccles, et. al., cannot create buildings that will replace the value of that corner building.

4. Mount Vernon itself, the heart of Baltimore City, will be wounded with the loss of that building.

5. The introduction of urban sprawl in that location will be a disaster for Baltimore's long-term prospects of remaining Maryland's largest and coolest historical city.

6. Whatever entity the Mayor/Struever plan to bring into that location will be much better served in the long-run if the building was kept. Commentary:
http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/18117/index.php

7. Keeping the building means more profit to whatever entity is being slated to move into that location.

8. There are innumerable examples in Europe of cities retaining their architecture while allowing commercial entities to move into centrally located, historical buildings.







Why does Baltimore's Ruling Elite have to poison the well that all of us residents are relying upon by destroying that building? Why can't we let Mount Vernon remain Mount Vernon, and let Towson be Towson?







Can't the pigs that have taken over the Baltimore Farm recognize that their offspring (i.e., future pigs) will be much better off if there is a Baltimore City worth living in?

If the Taliban came in and took over Baltimore city we would probably see a more enlightened city government.