Baltimore my Baltimore

As a Baltimore native, now a resident of the beautiful state of Maine, the biggest change I see in the city I grew up in is regarding cleanliness. Baltimore needs a clean up, the soap and water kind. When my mother joined other women with buckets filled with soap suds, to keep those East Baltimore white marble steps sparkling, this visible clenaliness was onec a bright reflection on the entire city. 

Baltimore was a city with trees, and the landscaped Patterson Park and Druid Hill Park.

                 Yet, today, some Baltimore city officials are quoted as saying, "We are in a state of emergency," said Calvin Young, a Harvard-trained engineer, citing the city's soaring murder rate and budget deficit. "We need new, fresh leadership." (Yup! In my opinion, the city also needs a fresh clean up.)

In my opinion, every Baltimore City Council civic leaders should be issued a bucket with soap suds to clean grafitti off the buildings in blighted neighborhoods. They also need personalized trash bags to fill with discarded paper trash and liquer bottles, often seen clogging the city's storm gutters.

Former Mayor Sheila Dixon is the early front-runner for re-election to her formerlly held office- in the Baltimore's City Hall. She speaks about Baltimore's crime. "It was my administration that began to reduce crime," said former Mayor Dixon. "I know what it takes. I have what it takes." (But crime has not declined.....I watched drug and prostitution  deals happen before my eyes, while pulling into a restaurant parking lot!) - In fact, Cahterine Pugh a Maryland State Senator, defeated Dixon in the Democratic primary's mayorial election.

Crime hides in flithy environments. In my opinion, Dixon ad her successors (like Pugh), should also focus on the concrete municipal appearances, especially cleanliness. Obviously, she doesn't see the city's decay because her office, if she becomes mayor again, will be inside this beautiful building: 

Baltimore City Hall is an impressive piece of archectiture. It's the official seat of government of the City of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland. The City Hall houses the offices of the Mayor and those of the City Council of Baltimore. Notice- there is no graffiti on the beautiful Baltimore City Hall.

The Rotunda in the Baltimore City Hall. It's difficult to imagine any trash laying around the floor inside the Baltimore City Hall or beneath the lovely Rotunda.

But in contrast......

A youth rides a bicycle past a blighted property that will be restored by Come Home Baltimore. The run-down unit is sandwiched between renovated properties on North Bond Street in Baltimore’s Oliver neighborhood.
THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT

Weary of worrisome dangers and destruction, the take-back-Baltimore movement has helped heal sections of the city wounded by caustic conditions. Nevertheless, I still do not see any pots of flowers or trees. Rather, many parts of Baltimore are bleak.

This one upon a time beautiful building on the city's Arlington Avenue was tragically left to decay. This is shameful! 

There's plenty of money in Baltimore and this once proud building should never have been allowed to fall into such ugly disrepair. Even if people in Baltimore are reluctant to invest municipal resources, they can at least buy soap and sponges to clean up these buildings.  

"I'm fed up with the way the city has been run," said Democrat Patrick Gutierrez,. "I'm fed up with the way people have been treated. I'm fed up with the way money has been wasted. ... Previous mayors have set a very low bar."

Although Maine has its fiscal problems, the people take pride in being the most tree populated state in the nation. Certainly, it would be very easy, and not expensive, to transplant a few Maine trees in downtown Baltimore. It would be wonderful to see the Rotary Club of Baltimore lead such a green-park development.

Meanwhile, I hope "Baltimore my Baltimore" will soon become aware of the inexpensive beauty in simple cleanliness. It doesn't take much money to scrub the city, just like my dearly departed mother took pride in keeping those white marble steps as clean as the walls of the city's beautiful city hall.