We are a week away from the Baltimore Spectator trial and prison news and updates are floating all over the place

Frank James MacArthur AKA the Baltimore Spectator is scheduled to have his day in court on May 8th.  A few weeks ago I received a letter from MacArthur. The Spectator is keeping his spirits up despite some prison conditions that he assures me that I could not even imagine. MacArthur has been able to write quite a few friends from what I can gather. Two of his letters have been posted here and here. Take some time to read them. The Afro also posted a Spectator update.

By now you have read about the disgraceful situation at the Baltimore City Detention Center. You can read an insiders interesting view of the situation here.

Page Croyder is not letting this situation slide. She talks about corruption, lack of accountability, and Governor O’Malley in her must read critique of the situation.

I do have some good law and order news for you this week.  The Baltimore City Police Department now has an online tool where you can file non-emergency police reports. This will come in handy the next time I see a guy dumping bulk trash in my alley. Use it wisely.

Why are Baltimore taxpayers now paying $2.2 million for new speed cameras that will steal even more money from them?

The Baltimore Brew is reporting that Baltimore’s board of estimates has agreed to pay half the cost of 72 new city speed cameras. The new provider (the original cameras were faulty and sent out tickets to numerous people who did not speed) originally won the contract and said they would install the new cameras for free. Like so many projects within our bureaucracy “free” has turned into $2.2 million. The taxpayers of Baltimore must fund a system that will take more money from many of them. That sounds fun.

Joan Pratt was the only member of the board of estimates to vote against this travesty. Pratt seems to like to vote against the mayor on issues like these that will get her name into the paper.

Jack Young supplied the most ridiculous reasoning for his yes vote according to the Baltimore Brew:

“Young said he was approving the amended contract because it allowed Calmi Electrical, Inc., a minority contractor, to participate in the program.”

Rip off the taxpayers of Baltimore so some minority contractor (whose president lives in the county according to SDAT) can benefit! Wow!  Now that sounds pretty horrible and I am fully against such an action, but Young’s reported reasoning might just be a simplification of the situation…

Contribution Date	Contributor Name	Contributor Address	Contribution Type	Contribution Amount	Receiving Committee	Filing Period
11/12/2010	CALMIC ELECTRICAL COMPANY	220 N FRANDINTOWN ROAD, BALTIMORE, MD 21223-	Check	$200	Young, Bernard C. Friends Of	2010 Gubernatorial Post-General
6/30/2010	CALMIC ELECTRICAL COMPANY	220 N FRANDINTOWN ROAD, BALTIMORE, MD 21223-	Ticket Purchases Check	$250	Young, Bernard C. Friends Of	2010 Gubernatorial Pre-Primary1
6/4/2011	CALMIC ELECTRICAL COMPANY	220 N FRANDINTOWN ROAD, BALTIMORE, MD 21223-	Check	$250	Young, Bernard C. Friends Of	2011 Baltimore City Pre-Primary1
6/18/2012	CALMIC ELECTRICAL COMPANY	220 N FRANDINTOWN ROAD, BALTIMORE, MD 21223-	Check	$250	Young, Bernard C. Friends Of	2013 Annual

Johns Hopkins distances itself from Ben Carson and welcomes Jeremiah Wright

The mainstream media is having a field day with Dr. Ben Carson. In a city where “former” drug dealers are lionized by all sorts of media members (who live in the county), an accomplished brain surgeon and a desperately needed role model for inner city youth is clearly a hateful idiot whose past accomplishments should not save him from the wrath of the frenzied media. You may strongly disagree with Carson’s comments, but portraying this man as some sort of mindless nut in a city filled with truly moronic (and extremely violent) individuals who have no value for life is taking things to a surreal level of political correctness.

The biggest hypocrite amongst all the Carson haters is Johns Hopkins. The Hopkins monolith does not tolerate bad press and it will do just about anything to avoid it or cover it up from within. It is not a shock that Hopkins has not tossed a life preserver toward the sinking Carson. When one takes a few steps back and looks at the bigger picture the institutional bias that trickles through Hopkins has been revealed by how they handled Dr. Carson compared to how they welcomed the so-called “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright. You did not know that Johns Hopkins invited Jeremiah Wright to speak within its sacred walls on February 16. 2013?

See the PDF flyer here.

“The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute is hosting a panel discussion, Transforming Urban Communities: Building Equity and Equality, featuring Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright. The event will take place Saturday, February 16, 2013 from 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm in Sommer Auditorium, located in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The discussion will include political, community, and Johns Hopkins leaders. The event is free but space is limited.

To RSVP visit http://www.urbanhealth.jhu.edu/events/Wright_form.html or call 443-287-2708. “

Wright was also the honored guest at the church where Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and former Mayor Kurt Schmoke belong.

So we have a city filled with all sorts of insane social ills and danger where a brain surgeon is destroyed by the media and the prevailing establishment institutions for his controversial comments while a so-called “Reverend” with a long history of controversial comments and sermons is welcomed, honored, and celebrated by Johns Hopkins and all sorts of political players. Is it any wonder why Baltimore is in the shape that it is in?  Don’t worry though it must be the right wingers’ fault even though this is a one party city.  If we bring up non-Democrats enough and blame them for everything I am sure this will solve everything. It has been working quite well for Baltimore since about 1968 or so.

The St. Paul street development

The St. Paul street development that might have a food store as an anchor now has a site you can view here.
“Armada Hoffler and Beatty Development Group have been selected to lead the mixed-use development of land at St. Paul and 33rd streets. The project in Charles Village near the heart of Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus will add amenities to an already vibrant and established community. It also will create jobs, contribute revenue to the city, and reinforce Charles Village as one of Baltimore’s premier neighborhoods.”

Web presence comparison of the Baltimore and Milwaukee police departments

Take a look at this Milwaukee police department page.  The average citizen can easily find useful statistics and news. The page allows citizens to easily share their own information with the police. The page looks modern.  Compare it to the Baltimore police department’s page. The two cities are similar in size, but it appears Milwaukee is way ahead of us in terms of its police department’s web presence.  The Milwaukee Youtube page on its own destroys the Baltimore department’s entire web presence.

A cool liquor license map and a Baltimore native on MSNBC

The liquor stores on this map of Baltimore are probably doomed. Read more about the fate of the non-conforming class A liquor licenses here.

In totally unrelated news a Baltimore native and fellow Friends School graduate named Ryan Anderson appeared on CNN and MSNBC today. He was part of the “marriage debate” discussion. You can watch the MSNBC clip here. I expect other local media outlets will eventually realize that Anderson is from Baltimore, but for now you heard it here first!

Liquor license renewal protest in Mount Vernon

Through the years I have written about problem liquor establishments in Baltimore. Usually these establishments are liquor stores located in rough areas or they are clubs where outrageous violence has emanated from. A few months ago I was told about a problem liquor establishment that is different from the ones I usually write about. In the middle of Mount Vernon on Charles street there is an establishment called “Museum”…

In an email I was told by a Mount Vernon resident the following information:

“They have a class B restaurant liquor license. NOT an entertainment license. However, they have DJ, DJ promoter groups hosting nights there, bands have played there, and they have a dance floor, and the music is SO loud..the bass booms through my entire apartment because they turn it up so much ..their “state of the art sound system” as they have advertised.”

Museum is clearly clashing with more than a few residents in Mount Vernon. There is an online petition circulating that you can read here. The first comment left on the petition was quite interesting:

“I lived at 922 N. Charles Street for 13 years! Six months of living a nightmare next door to this place, after it opened, I was forced to move because the music, bass, and crowds were so loud and disruptive, I could no longer live peacefully in my home. Nor did I feel safe due to the operators of this establishment, who kept a Bull Mastiff guarding the building 24/7, along with the chaos and drug exchanges by the clientele taking place at my front door.”

The 11/10/2012 Yelp comments is pretty hilarious.

So is Museum a bar, a restaurant, an East Baltimore style club, or some combination of all three? It appears the liquor board will decide if they are operating the way their liquor license permits them to. Stay tuned…

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Edit: I have been told that the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association will be filing an official liquor license renewal protest soon.