Just What The City Doesn’t Need

A published report this week tells of the state’s plan to build two more detention facilities in the prison complex that’s become such a landmark in Baltimore. And that’s the point. The goal should be to break up the concentration of prison facilities in the heart of the city—not pile on more.

As it stands now, one of the most prominent features of the JFX is Central Booking. It serves as the first building of any note to visitors who use the expressway to get to a game or the harbor or a museum or a show at the Hippodrome. What a lovely first impression of the city.

And if traffic’s at all congested, they have plenty of time to see the rest of the Central booking neighborhood—with the old penitentiary, Supermax, and the juvenile facility nearby.

The argument goes the state wants to build the new facilities there because it already owns the land. That’s understandable. But certainly there’s plenty of vacant space in other areas of Baltimore that could use the boost new construction might provide.

Two city council members are concerned about the plan, complaining the area’s already prisoner’s row and, because of that, it hinders nearby development.

For sure, it’s become quite a barrier between the central part of the city and Johns Hopkins—one of Baltimore’s biggest anchors.

Town Hall Tempests

If the recent town halls around the country are any gauge, the effort to reform health care is nothing short of a mess.

Confusion, distortion, and misinformation rule the day.

Most have turned into shouting matches. Respect is in short supply.

The elected officials holding the events get credit for simply showing up and taking the abuse—whether or not they actually get a chance to field any questions.

One problem is that it’s August and, short of anything else exciting going on, the rowdy gatherings have become great fodder for the cable news networks.

Analysts think the issue has also become a convenient vehicle for the venting of a variety of complaints, most centered on a simmering anti-government sentiment.

The question is what happens next?

Does Congress return to work in a few weeks with its tail between its legs—scared off by the venom of the critics—too afraid to continue to work on a plan?

Does health care reform become yet another “third rail” in politics? Too charged up to touch?

Remember the calendar. We’re heading fast to 2011—when the first wave of baby boomers hits Medicare.

Health Care Reform

The 2009 version of the debate over health care reform is feeling an awful like Groundhog Day. Been here, done that.

Today, a Louisiana Congressman asked: “what’s the rush?”

Oh, nothing really Congressman….except the costs keep skyrocketing and more and more folks keep losing insurance. (14,000 a day)
I guess it’s hard for the folks on Capitol Hill to understand that. They’ve got insurance guaranteed, with one of those “Cadillac” plans.

We’ve only been talking about the need to do something for some 40 years. But reform proposals failed in the 1970’s and again in the 1990’s.

We really should be ashamed. We spend more on health care than any other nation of any size, by about $6500 per year per household. And what do we have to show for it? An uneven system that puts some within reach of the best care in the world (those of us in Baltimore) and others begging for a primary care physician within 50 miles (those in many rural areas).
Worst of all, we certainly aren’t the healthiest nation on earth, despite all those billions we spend.

Politics is now on full display. And the clock is ticking.

Sachs’ Record Profits

The champagne must be popping in the Wall Street digs of Goldman Sachs.

Never mind that the rest of the country (and world, for that matter) is still struggling with the worst economy since the Great Depression. Never mind that the unemployment rate continues to rise and now threatens to hit 10 percent.

Goldman has just posted its biggest quarterly profit ever. And, regardless of all that bad news everywhere else, it’s also put out the word that it’s already set aside $11 billion in bonus money for its employees.

I have a better idea.

Goldman took bailout money last fall to help it survive the crashing economy (which it later paid back). It also laid off thousand of workers.

Taxpayers did their part to restore Goldman to financial health. Now, Goldman needs to do its part.

Take the profits—and put people back to work.

Accountability

The silence this week has been deafening from those involved with the juvenile justice system—and 17-year-old Lamont Davis.
Davis is accused of shooting a 5-year-old girl who was caught in crossfire.
Here’s what we’ve reported about Davis.

Prior to the shooting, he was arrested 13 times for crimes such as carjacking, robbery, and assaulting his teenaged girlfriend.
Just before the shooting, he had clipped off the device he was supposed to wear at all times so the juvenile system could supervise him at home.
Last year, he had been sent to a group home in Prince George’s County by juvenile authorities for residential treatment. He didn’t finish—he went home one weekend on a pass and didn’t return.
Because of that, he was put in a second group home for residential treatment in Baltimore. He didn’t finish that either—the state closed the home six weeks into his stay.

Had the home remained open, or had Davis been moved to another residential facility, he might still be there. The typical length of stay for kids like him was 9 to 12 months.

Instead, Davis ended up back home, only to get arrested again a short time later.
At the end of May, he was charged with robbery and assault. That’s the case that put him on electronic monitoring—and permitted him to be on street—allegedly to settle a fight with a gun.

The questions we’ve raised are glaring. How is it that a kid with his history—a kid deemed so troubled he needed group home placement twice–gets to go back home after yet another arrest?
At no time was Davis sent to secure detention—why not?

If confidentiality laws are keeping juvenile authorities silent, they need to change.
This case demands public accountability.

Palin’s Next Step

Think of what regular old milk chocolate tastes like after you’ve had the really good stuff. Or a fast food burger compared to one at a glitzy steak house.

Does that explain what’s going on with Sarah Palin?

Her candidacy as a VP candidate last fall rocketed her to national fame; exposed her to adoring followers; and put nearly every conservative cause in hot pursuit.

Perhaps, after Ms. Palin got a taste of the big stage, the smaller stage—all the way up there in Alaska—no longer seems so appealing.

Everybody’s guessing.

Is Palin preparing a run for the presidency? A run at Rush Limbaugh’s perch as talk radio king? Or simply a retreat to a quieter life as a private citizen?

A Free Press?

Troubling questions face the venerable Washington Post.

A front page New York Times story exposes a plan (first reported by Politico) concocted to raise money at the Post—by charging up to $250,000 to lobbyists and the like to have “off the record” dinners with lawmakers and administration officials. The dinners were to be hosted by Post executives.

Talk about pay to play–I could hardly believe my eyes as I read the story. Everybody knows the newspaper business is bleeding money but how could the Post ever think it could pull off such a plan without seriously compromising its credibility.

Not surprisingly, the paper’s newsroom apparently threw a fit. The idea has been scrapped.

But it still leaves a terrible taste in the mouth of any of us who remember the Post’s glory days during Watergate.

Michael Jackson’s Legacy

Some are wondering how Michael Jackson will be remembered. For his music as the true “King of Pop”? Or as the entertainer whose success was overcome by lawsuits, sordid accusations and bizarre behavior?

I suspect the question’s being answered loud and clear by the way the world is reacting to his sudden death.

How many of us went home last night and played his music? (I must confess I actually got out of bed, turned all the TV coverage off and cranked up the CD player.)

It’s been noted that Jackson set the entertainment standard that so many who followed have tried to emulate. That alone leaves his bold fingerprint on our culture.

He also blazed a new trail by combining R & B and pop and, in the process, became hugely popular with both black and white fans. He helped erase the color line. Today, both hard rock radio stations and urban contemporary stations are playing his music.

I grew up a huge Motown fan. I was terribly saddened in 1984, with the sudden death of Marvin Gaye. But today, 25 years later, I still have his music.

Dixon’s Dilemma Now

When Sheila Dixon got involved in a personal relationship with a developer five or six years ago, she probably never imagined it would lead to the spot she’s in today—under indictment, under (extra) scrutiny, and now left to wonder what the ex-boyfriend will say.

Even before Ron Lipscomb took the plea bargain, the effect of the pending criminal case against Dixon was starting to show.

Just look at what happened during the budget process. For the first time in years, the City Council rose up and challenged a mayor. Think that would have happened if she wasn’t burdened by the pending case—and the possibility of a felony jail sentence?

Now, with the Lipscomb deal in place, she’s got a whole new worry. He’s now a cooperating witness for prosecutors.

His testimony could make it a whole lot easier for prosecutors to go back to a grand jury and get perjury charges against Dixon reinstated. They could even try to go after whole new charges, such as bribery. Wouldn’t everyone love to hear what Lipscomb would say if asked what he thought all those gifts he gave Dixon were for?

Prosecutors have been relying on ex’s to make their case since the beginning of time.

It seems they’ve now got the mayor’s ex right where they want him.

The Museum Shooting

If we’re lucky, we never have to encounter the deep level of hate harbored by someone like James von Brunn. Long before his alleged act of violence at the Holocaust Museum, he made no secret of his grudge against Jews and blacks. He was so obsessed in his racism, his ex-wife left him years ago because it consumed his life. He is, it seems, the pure definition of extremist.

The FBI has set out to learn what provoked von Brunn at this particular moment.
It may provide useful clues, not just to what happened at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, but to what might be brewing among other hate groups.

It’s hard to ignore that the museum shooting happened within two weeks of the murder of
George Tiller, the Kansas doctor who performed late term abortions. Tiller had long been the target of protest. But only now did deadly violence prevail.

Hate is nothing new. But what tips it to something beyond words? Who’s most likely to allow their beliefs to form the intent to harm someone else? And, who among us is so intolerant, so prejudiced, that violence is possible?