What happened in the 1980s was the culmination of Baltimore's deindustrialization. Baltimore had the misfortune of having every single one of its major job-producing industries decimated by globalization and consolidation. Manufacturing, steel, automobiles, shipbuilding were all killed by globalization, containerization basically wiped out port jobs, and consolidation of the insurance and banking industries wiped out Baltimore's medium skill white-collar jobs (Baltimore used to be a regional insurance/banking center). What was left of banking and insurance after consolidation got wiped out by technology. I know a guy who got laid off consecutively by three different banks before he finally gave up on the banking industry in Baltimore.
And therein lies the solution to Baltimore's problems. If you were to somehow provide 30-50,000 low-skill living-wage jobs and maybe an additional 10-15,000 medium-skill white-collar jobs, you could start to "fix" Baltimore. Because the net effect of all those people having money to spend plus the halo effect adding another 10-15,000 jobs (providing new services for all those working people) would be so massive it would change the city. The problem is really just that simple -- total lack of economic opportunity for a large fraction of Baltimore's population who are lacking in skills or education.
Baltimore has "good bones" but intractable economic problems. And the root problem is, how would you provide those jobs? If I had that answer, I'd run for emperor of Baltimore.
And therein lies the solution to Baltimore's problems. If you were to somehow provide 30-50,000 low-skill living-wage jobs and maybe an additional 10-15,000 medium-skill white-collar jobs, you could start to "fix" Baltimore. Because the net effect of all those people having money to spend plus the halo effect adding another 10-15,000 jobs (providing new services for all those working people) would be so massive it would change the city. The problem is really just that simple -- total lack of economic opportunity for a large fraction of Baltimore's population who are lacking in skills or education.
Baltimore has "good bones" but intractable economic problems. And the root problem is, how would you provide those jobs? If I had that answer, I'd run for emperor of Baltimore.