Written by admin on October 24th, 2009
On Thursday, Oct. 22, Ignite Baltimore #4 moved from its former home at the Windup Space on North Avenue to the Walters Art Museum in Mount Vernon. Though the event had moved to a larger venue, the space was filled with attendees eager to hear from an eclectic collection of speakers. Tracy Gosson, former head of Live Baltimore and now head of marketing firm Sagesse, Inc., delivered a presentation on fear. Adam Meister delivered a fiery speech on “breaking free from the Machine” of consumerism and how Baltimore is a prime place to do just that. Ignite co-founder Mike Subelsky stood in the wings with a smile on his face as his event unfolded.
Ryan Boddy (at right) discusses the synthesis of brewing beer and creativity.
One piece of constructive criticism. At times, the event was in danger of veering off into a podium for forwarding political agendas or indulging personal hobbies. I think it’s great that certain artists are into surprising or unexpected media, or that we’re trying to amend the arcane wine and beer shipping laws in Maryland. But when Baltimore is a city facing monumental social problems like crime, youth violence, and drug abuse, filling a room with the city’s young and creative types to talk about surviving a zombie attack can ring a bit hollow.
That said, I applaud what Mike Subelsky and his co-founder, Patti Chan are doing. I hope that Ignite continues, and that future presenters bring a bit more gravitas to this worthy event. Let’s harness the community brought together by this event to affect change where it’s really needed. Ignite #5 is March 4, 2010.
Posted in Baltimore, Blogging | 2 Responses »
Written by admin on October 20th, 2009
There is a large credibility gap between many of the citizens of Baltimore City and the Baltimore City Police Department, and the problem continues to persist, due to actions that are entirely within the department’s control.
Many will remember the controversial decision made by department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi back in March to stop releasing the names of officers involved in the shootings of civilians, putting an end to a practice that had been in place for the life of the department. When challenged, Guglielmi claimed that officers involved in shootings were at risk for retaliation, citing 23 threats against officers in 2008. What he failed to mention, and what former Baltimore Sun crime reporter and Wire creator David Simon revealed in a remarkable Washington Post story on the new policy back on March 1, was that none of these threats was in response to a police-involved shooting. Inconsistencies plagued the department’s stance, and deepened its adversarial relationship with the same citizens it is tasked with protecting.
Perhaps more importantly, the policy comes at a time when detectives cannot convince a witness to take the stand because of the city’s entrenched witness intimidation culture. ”Do as we say, not as we do” doesn’t exactly motivate a kid on a bike who just saw a drive-by and knows that if he wants to live, he’ll keep his mouth shut.
And today, Justin Fenton at the Sun has done a follow-up story on the mysterious death and disappearance of 16 year old Annie McCann one year after her death. The family is claiming that the BCPD has botched the investigation, and has written letters to the Mayor’s office in the hopes of re-opening the investigation. Perhaps most interesting is how Annie’s father was pushing to prosecute the teens that claimed to have moved Annie’s body to take her car for a joyride, but that the BCPD talked him out of it, saying that they and the State Attorney’s office would take another look at charging the teens, or at least interrogating them, which never happened. The teens have not been charged or questioned yet.
Even if the BCPD cannot charge these teens in the murder of Annie McCann, or even determine that she was indeed killed and didn’t take her own life, they’ve failed to fully convince the teen’s parents, and more importantly, the public, that this case was handled as professionally and thoroughly as possible. By intervening in the family’s attempt to press charges against the teens for auto theft in the hopes of learning more about their daughter’s death, the department now must face questions on its motives. Was this an attempt to prevent another unsolved murder in the stat column? An attempt to cover the botched investigation?
The department only has itself to blame for its failure to earn the people’s trust in Baltimore City, and the situation isn’t improving.
Posted in Baltimore, Baltimore City Police Department, Crime | No Responses »
Written by admin on October 19th, 2009
George Pelacanos, DC crime novelist and former HBO’s The Wire writer, and Vincent Schiraldi, head of D.C.’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services appeared on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU 88.5 fm DC radio today to discuss youth violence, its protrayal in the media, and some of the myths associated with the problem.
Schiraldi was convinced that more juveniles are committing crimes than are caught or documented, and that we should look at the causes rather than focus all attention on the punishment end. He indicated that good parenting is crucial to give kids the opportunity to succeed.
Pelacanos stressed the importance of male role models, and how the offenders he has visited in juvenile justice facilities have had this missing in their lives. Schiraldi mentioned the importance of opportunities, and how kids in rougher neighborhoods aren’t afforded the same ones.
A caller who came from broken home contested the guests, and said that despite his disadvantage background he had acheived in life and that we are making too many excuses for this generation’s juvenile offenders.
Pelacanos said that once a juvenile offender is locked up, rehabilitation needs to begin and that further punishment while incarcarated is counterproductive. He was impressed with what Schiraldi is doing to keep juveniles from becoming life-long wards of the criminal justice system.
Another caller had a great point – there are many successful rehabilitation stories that are never told. I’d say this is especially true in Baltimore City -Can you remember a story of a juvenile offender who had turned his life around?
I’m not one to focus on happy feel-good stories when there are glaring social problems affecting the city, but it sometimes can seem that there are more avenues for lamenting the failures of our young people than for celebrating their victories.
Listen to the segment here.
Posted in Crime, DC, Youth Violence | No Responses »
Written by admin on October 17th, 2009
According to a survey of 1800 Baltimore residents by the Schaefer Center of Public Policy at the University of Baltimore taken earlier this year, there is a disconnect between declining crime stats, and how safe city residents feel about crime in the city.
The Mayor’s office has decided that people’s perception of Baltimore as an unsafe city is incorrect, citing declining numbers of violent crime, down 7 percent. In the Sun story, Mayor Dixon also offers the obligatory and ill-informed slam against the media, blaming them for the city’s image problem.
This story is an example of a breakdown in the Mayor’s office, and a refusal to handle the city’s biggest problem in an honest way. Instead of fighting to change the perception with any number of measures (increased visible police presence, comprehensive cime prevention campaigns, frequent press conferences to keep the public informed on progress in their neighborhoods, etc.), Mayor Dixon is clinging to any statistic that shows numerical progress. What the Dixon administration chooses to ignore is that people in Baltimore have been hearing how safe their city is for years from politicians, in the meantime they are getting mugged on their way home from work, having their cars broken into in a regular basis, and living with the spectre of crime every day. People don’t want more statistics.
In this case, perception is reality. Baltimore City leaders would be wise to traffic in it more often.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Written by admin on October 15th, 2009
After an online voting process, The Mobbies held their first award party last night in Metro Gallery in Station North.
Very cool step for the Baltimore blogging cognoscenti. I hope to be there next year.
Posted in Baltimore, Blogging | No Responses »
Written by admin on October 13th, 2009
Annie Linskey has picked up an interesting story in Baltimore this morning. The Maryland chapter of the NAACP has asked state legislators to remove Governor O’Malley’s power to appoint a success to Mayor Sheila Dixon who is facing corruption charges.
Several things going on here. This shows that the black community in Baltimore has no faith in O’Malley, Dixon’s predecessor as former Mayor of Baltimore. Marvin Cheatham, president of the Baltimore NAACP chapter, even goes as far as saying:
“Here you have a predominantly African-American city. What if the governor appointed somebody white? … Would he appoint someone Irish to be the mayor?”
This reveals how black leaders view O’Malley in Baltimore City: an opportunist who made plenty of promises to their community while running for Mayor, and, once elected, began plotting his campaign for governor. I can’t say I blame them.
Nevertheless, to make this statement now adds a little more to the already considerable racial chasm in Baltimore. The fact is, this move is unecessary. As Linskey reports, the city’s charter overrides the state constitution on this matter, and the city council president would be appointed Mayor in case of Dixon’s removal.
More racially-charged politicking in Baltimore City.
Posted in Baltimore, Politics, Uncategorized | No Responses »
Written by admin on October 12th, 2009
- Sheila is not amused by corruption charges.
The Baltimore Marathon took place this past weekend. Leading up to the event, the Baltimore Sun’s crime reporter Peter Hermann did a story on the various crimes that have taken place along the route.
Mayor Sheila Dixon took offense, and sent Hermann an email scolding him for the article. Hermann defends the piece here, noting that someone was indeed shot a block from the marathon route on the day of the race.
Perhaps Sheila was angry about the upcoming corruption trials that she’ll be subject to soon. Seems to me she has more important matters than telling crime reporters to whitewash city problems.
Posted in Baltimore, Crime, Politics, Sheila Dixon, Uncategorized | No Responses »
