Comment by dgfitz
1 year ago
The gov. of maryland at the time of the freddy gray riots had the national guard on standby for HOURS before the mayor finally permitted the state to assist.
It is a horribly fucked up city, corrupt from top to bottom, rampant crime, murder, fraud, etc.
But no worries, residents of the city pay an ADDITIONAL tax beoyo9nd federal and state taxes to ensure things stay exactly the way they are. Baltimore city could triple their tax rates and nothing would change.
This is a microchasm of the entire US. One of if not the wealthiest country in the world cannot figure out that throwing money at problems DOESN'T FIX THEM. It is a rich-person way of thinking: "something broke, I'll pay someone to fix it" but thr "someone" lines their pockets, pays lip service, does the least costly "fix" possible, and laughs all the way to the corvette store.
1950-1975 property taxes in Baltimore increased 19 times. It's double the rate in neighboring Baltimore county. In the 2010's Baltimore was losing 500 residents per month. The city is in a death spiral.
1950-1975 San Francisco was in a similar situation, losing population. In 1978 prop. 13 passed and placed a cap of 1% on the property tax. Reducing it by 2/3's. A huge boom started. The overall revenue increased by 80% after a few years as the property values increased.
Two Baltimore residents talk about it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrNjUCmTURg
Respectfully, SF is known for a handful of things, wealth, tech, and people shitting on the sidewalk prominent among them.
So tell me, who won? I have a guess.