For the Indypendent Reader, published February 11, 2012: On January 22, the Maryland Court of Appeals threw out the last remaining legal case brought against the planned development known as 25th Street Station. The Court of Appeals ruling upheld earlier judgments by lower courts that the plantiffs had no legal standing to try and halt the development. Like most previous attempts by critics of the project—a handful of community and business groups—the recent ruling never addressed the real issue behind the entire controversy: whether or…Continue Reading “At Least There Won't Be A Traffic Jam: 25th Street Station and the Failure of a Progressive Agenda”
For The Nation, originally published January 24, 2012:
When Bob Moses brought his Algebra Project to Baltimore in 1990, he could hardly have imagined the impact his mathematics curriculum would have on the city’s youth two decades later.
Convinced that inner-city kids should be prepared for honors-level high school math, Moses – a leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee – founded the Algebra Project, which uses mathematics as an organizing tool to ensure quality public school education.
In Baltimore, the group’s students established a safe source of income to maintain the program and to keep them off the streets during high school by creating a tutoring program in 2001, raising funds to pay older students to teach younger ones.
When their state funding was threatened, the students formed an Advocacy Committee, researched the issues behind the cuts, and, unconvinced of the necessity of the budget axe, met with community and faith leaders to successfully stop the cuts. Today, the Baltimore Algebra Project operates on a $500,000 budget from public and private sources, and is entirely run by young people under the age of 23.
For the Indypendent Reader with Michael Kaplan
Bulldozers stationed in lots slated for redevelopment in West Baltimore’s Poppelton neighborhood represent the first step forward in a long-delayed and underfunded plan to revive the historic area. A sign, surrounded by overgrown bushes and weeds, proudly displays a map of the neighborhood promised by a redevelopment zone. Now five years behind schedule, the underfunded and overly-ambitious urban renewal plan has left residents uncertain of their neighborhood’s fate. Like the sign, Poppeleton also suffers from neglect.
Continue Reading "Poppleton: A Neighborhood in Waiting"
For the Inypendent Reader
The proposed commercial development at 25th St. and Howard Ave in Remington is in its final stages of City approval, and the chances of a living wage for future employees there, along with any assistance to small businesses in the area that may effected by the development, seem bleak. The $65 million dollar development will be anchored by a Walmart and Lowes, part of the retailers giants’ national push into urban areas.
Continue Reading "25th St. Station likely to go ahead without stipulations for living wage, small business protection" The proposed commercial development at 25th St. and Howard Ave in Remington is in its final stages of City approval, and the chances of a living wage for future employees there, along with any assistance to small businesses in the area that may effected by the development, seem bleak. The $65 million dollar development will be anchored by a Walmart and Lowes, part of the retailers giants’ national push into urban areas.