HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Harbor Point and Baltimore's Taxpayer-Funded Edifice Complex

Views:1024
@ReasonVids

In Baltimore, a small, toxic spit of land that juts out into the Patapsco River is the latest battleground between the free market and government subsidies.

For 20 years, Harbor Point, a 27-acre site of an abandoned chromium factory, has been a dream in the eyes of developers. It's the last big unbuilt site on the city's waterfront and arguably the most sought-after real estate in all of Maryland.

Yes, developers have lusted after the site, but they just didn't want to have pay the full cost of, well, developing it.

In a city as desperate for growth as Baltimore, they don't have to. Baltimore's political class has committed $400 million in public subsidies to a controversial plan that supporters claim will generate 6,000 jobs and build a complex of skyscrapers, residences, and public parks that will forever transform the character of the city.

City officials believe the $1.8 billion-dollar project will spark an economic turnaround. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake considers Harbor Point a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to reverse the half-century-long exodus of residents and businesses that have hollowed out Baltimore. Rawlings-Blake and developer Michael Beatty have campaigned relentlessly for the plan, offering promises of urban renewal and jobs in a city with 10.3 percent unemployment.

Yet Baltimore's citizens aren't convinced. The public hearings and frequent street demonstrations outside City Hall have revealed a tale of two cities: sweetheart deals for the well-connected along the waterfront and decades of neglect for the majority of its blue collar residents. The subsidies are a major sticking point, as is the use of an Enterprise Zone for the benefit of wealthy residents. Tax increment financing, known as TIF, will exempt the developer from taxation for a decade. To many residents, Harbor Point is just the latest example of socializing risk and privatizing gain.

Why are the public coffers wide open to wealthy developers? That's the way business has always been done, in Baltimore and elsewhere. Just upriver from Harbor Point, the city's famed Inner Harbor is the result of similar top-down, heavily subsidized development. Decades ago, city politicians spent billions to sweep away Baltimore's crumbling industrial-age infrastructure, replacing it with office towers, popular chain restaurants, museums, and an aquarium, all of which attracts millions of tourists, year after year.

More than just creating a pleasure for daytrippers, the development of the Inner Harbor set a precedent for the nation, as other cities rushed to make their own versions of the scene. In Baltimore, developers lobby politicians for special deals. If they don't get what they want, they give themselves a tax cut by moving their business to the surrounding county, where property taxes are much lower than in Baltimore proper. It's a dynamic that's left large sections of the city abandoned, with only a few tax-exempt institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and the Catholic Church continuing to thrive.

Even the widely praised Inner Harbor has failed to stanch the flow of 300,000 residents who've left Baltimore since 1960. Instead of revitalizing the city's fortunes, the rise of the waterfront has paralleled the decline of basic city functions. Violent crime remains high, public schools underperform, and the cityscape is blighted by the presence of tens of thousands of vacant buildings.

Ironically, the Harbor Point project has overcorme every political obstacle in its way, only to be put on hold pending an environmental review of hexavalent chromium in the soil. Despite that delay, developers and their friends in City Hall remain confident that the project will soon be moving forward and that it will both revive Baltimore's fortunes and the reputation of planners who push corporate welfare. It will likely take a decade before the project is up and running and the rest of us learn whether Harbor Point is just another tax-aided mega-project that fails to provide the economic stimulus its backers promise.

Runs about 6 minutes.

Produced, shot, edited, written, and narrated by Todd Krainin.

Go to http://reason.com/reasontv/2014/01/08/baltimores-edifice-complex for downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's YouTube Channel to receive notifications when new material goes live.

baltimore (city/town/village)
,
harbor point
,
inner harbor (neighborhood)
,
stephanie rawlings-blake (lawyer)
,
antero pietila
,
tax increment financing
,
michael beatty
,
taxation in the united states (literature subject)
,
urban planning (literary genre)
,
maryland (us state)
,
harbor east (neighborhood)
    Thumbnail for The Dumbest New Ban in 2014: Incandescent Light Bulbs2:30
    The Dumbest New Ban in 2014: Incandescent Light Bulbs
    ReasonVids
    978 views
    Thumbnail for Slavic girls > kike1:13
    Slavic girls > kike
    bestofhdlunited
    1099 views
    Thumbnail for Will the Supreme Court Limit Police Power to “Stop and Frisk”?39:03
    Will the Supreme Court Limit Police Power to “Stop and Frisk”?
    IJvids
    1004 views
    Thumbnail for Greg Gutfeld: The Joy of Hate, Liberal Speech Police, & Conservative Punks10:18
    Greg Gutfeld: The Joy of Hate, Liberal Speech Police, & Conservative Punks
    ReasonVids
    1031 views
    Thumbnail for Trunks (Super Saiyan 3) vs Majin Vegeta - MUGEN (Gameplay) S2 • E252:03
    Trunks (Super Saiyan 3) vs Majin Vegeta - MUGEN (Gameplay) S2 • E25
    memology101
    1302 views
    Thumbnail for How to Stop the Incoming Dystopia!  FIGHT WITH ME FAM! 2:35
    How to Stop the Incoming Dystopia! FIGHT WITH ME FAM!
    bestofvoatxyz
    781 views
    Thumbnail for How The Week is Transforming News Mags for the 21st Century9:34
    How The Week is Transforming News Mags for the 21st Century
    ReasonVids
    867 views
    Thumbnail for Jon Favreau Defends Obama's Record on Surveillance and Transparency3:48
    Jon Favreau Defends Obama's Record on Surveillance and Transparency
    ReasonVids
    995 views
    Thumbnail for Obama's French Toast: Just Say Non3:03
    Obama's French Toast: Just Say Non
    ReasonVids
    818 views
    Thumbnail for Niggers are killing themselves in France0:05
    Niggers are killing themselves in France
    bestofvoatxyz
    831 views
    Thumbnail for Adam Bellow on The New Threats to Freedom4:44
    Adam Bellow on The New Threats to Freedom
    ReasonVids
    821 views
    Thumbnail for Who is John Galt? Behind the Scenes of Atlas Shrugged3:01
    Who is John Galt? Behind the Scenes of Atlas Shrugged
    ReasonVids
    836 views
    Thumbnail for The Rooster Is Too Big | Grunt Speak Highlights5:30
    The Rooster Is Too Big | Grunt Speak Highlights
    Terrence Popp
    1140 views
    Thumbnail for Woke Best Buy refuses to allow Christian employees to display crosses while requiring them to attend LGBTQ workshops.7:40
    Woke Best Buy refuses to allow Christian employees to display crosses while requiring them to attend LGBTQ workshops.
    AOUisgay
    443 views
    Thumbnail for Real Man of Genius: Joe Biden1:29
    Real Man of Genius: Joe Biden
    ReasonVids
    1016 views
    Thumbnail for Robert L. Bradley, Jr.: Obama's Enron Problem9:49
    Robert L. Bradley, Jr.: Obama's Enron Problem
    ReasonVids
    849 views
    Thumbnail for Nigger claims Italian food is blande and Italians don't season their food0:49
    Nigger claims Italian food is blande and Italians don't season their food
    AOUisgay
    508 views
    Thumbnail for Interview 1763 - Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink - #NewWorldNextWeek20:54
    Interview 1763 - Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink - #NewWorldNextWeek
    corbettreport_uo
    720 views
    Thumbnail for Cheer up, wagie! Only 30 more years to go! 1:00
    Cheer up, wagie! Only 30 more years to go!
    bestofupgoat
    417 views
    Thumbnail for Adolf Hitler Speech on Freemasonry, Jews6:46
    Adolf Hitler Speech on Freemasonry, Jews
    NachtWaffen
    940 views
    Thumbnail for NFL Week 11 Betting Predictions & BETS for EVERY NFL Game! NFL Expert Picks | The Favorites Podcast1:14:35
    NFL Week 11 Betting Predictions & BETS for EVERY NFL Game! NFL Expert Picks | The Favorites Podcast
    invidious
    146 views
    Thumbnail for PIRANJAT/ Me Florian Binaj dhe Dojna Memën (21.03.2025) | SYRI TV2:00:58
    PIRANJAT/ Me Florian Binaj dhe Dojna Memën (21.03.2025) | SYRI TV
    invidious
    99 views
    Thumbnail for Instability:  The Future of Drones? | Think Flight13:09
    Instability: The Future of Drones? | Think Flight
    invidious
    3 views
    Thumbnail for Are Fake Prescription Drugs Killing Us?7:03
    Are Fake Prescription Drugs Killing Us?
    ReasonVids
    795 views
    Thumbnail for #ThanksObama: 5 Scary Powers Trump Will Take Over as President4:22
    #ThanksObama: 5 Scary Powers Trump Will Take Over as President
    ReasonVids
    965 views

points

Permalink
Reply
baltimore (city/town/village)
,
harbor point
,
inner harbor (neighborhood)
,
stephanie rawlings-blake (lawyer)
,
antero pietila
,
tax increment financing
,
michael beatty
,
taxation in the united states (literature subject)
,
urban planning (literary genre)
,
maryland (us state)
,
harbor east (neighborhood)
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle