| In today's column, Dan Rodricks argues for using the impending base realignment to pull the city of Baltimore out of its decades-long rut. As he puts it on his blog: Why getting Baltimore to a better place, finally breaking through the last remaining major problems and reaching the tipping point of social progress, is so important to the entire region. The expected growth from BRAC in the next five years points this up. We really need a new generation of public-spirited yuppies to take charge of the city and to get involved in county and state government and develop a whole new vision for how the city and surrounding areas interact. There used to be more talk about regionalism -- but the politicians who pushed that idea, over each jurisidiction remaining in wholly independent orbits, seem to have disappeared. The Baltimore metropolitan area really needs a resurgence of this kind of holistic thinking and planning, and Martin O'Malley has the grand opportunity to lead this effort. If he's worried about being seen as biased toward Baltimore, he should drop the concern and use his impressive political network to get the entire region believing that a greater Baltimore means a greater Baltimore region and a greater Maryland.
As a believer in urbanism, I agree with Rodricks that BRAC would be a golden opportunity to reverse the suburbanization trend in the Baltimore region, or at least show that, given the right incentives, a large number of people would want to live in cities, contrary to the assertions of sprawl advocates. The problem, of course, is the crime and the schools. Rodricks acknowledges this, but doesn't say enough. One could finesse the crime issue by saying that, so long as you're not in the drug trade, you're relatively safe. The schools, on the other hand, are a harder nut to crack -- especially if, as is likely for most BRAC immigrants, you're looking for a place to raise your kids. The situation is not unlike that of Washington, DC: the District has gentrified considerably, but the schools are still in a deplorable condition. Thus, while the District is awash in single childless professionals, it's unlikely that those among them looking to start a family would stay in the District to do so -- and the suburbanization trend in the DC area continues apace. |
