Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon?s plan to lure relocating defense workers to the city is like a bun with no hamburger.
It offers lots of fancy condiments to make the city attractive to those coming to the area in the next decade because of the military?s Base Realignment and Closure process. But missing is the single most important idea for making Baltimore City a destination: Lowering property taxes.
Without adding that goal to the plan, the 2,552 potential households state officials estimate Baltimore will attract through BRAC will bypass the city like so many others in the region.
The latest Census figures show Baltimore still losing residents, a process that started in the 1950s.
Expanding MARC service to Aberdeen and developing detailed master plans for Westport, Middle Branch and Cherry Hill, communities anticipated to absorb newcomers, are well-intentioned ideas. So are partnering with BRAC employers to create job training programs and helping relocating spouses find work.
But they rank second in importance.
Cutting in half the city?s property tax should be the top priority. It remains twice as high as surrounding jurisdictions, despite a recent, symbolic, cut of a few pennies.
Housing prices are not low enough to make up the difference for those wanting homes comparable to the suburbs. Combined with a slew of failing schools and a dismal high school graduation rate the respected Education Week cites as 39 percent, only those families for whom private school is an option could consider the city a viable alternative to the counties.
We love the city. But improving sales and marketing is no substitute for substantive reform.
The 2000 census showed that 41,000 vacant housing units ? 32 percent of the vacant housing in Maryland ? were in Baltimore City. Lots of those homes are in the process of being redeveloped because of valiant efforts by the city, nonprofits and residents to reclaim the city.
To ensure those relocating families buy them, they need an incentive. Members of the City Council and the Mayor must roll out the welcome mat by halving property taxes. If they do it, Baltimore will blow away BRAC population estimates, start luring all area residents back to the city ? and fill tax coffers through healthy growth instead of extortionate rates.
