Downtown Baltimore is plagued with shootings, carjackings, muggings, and out-of-control packs of teenagers wreaking havoc. Baltimore residents can thank five decades of Democrat politicians for mismanaging this once-thriving town.
Earlier this month, the Inner Harbor district was overrun by hundreds of teenagers that resembled an apocalyptic scene from a Hollywood or Netflix movie. The video below might provide some insight into why people are shunning the area, which caused a plunge in foot traffic, making it difficult for retail stores to survive.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1645377339058970625
This leaves us with local media outlet Baltimore Brew's reporting about a mall situated on the waterfront, once popular with tourists and residents, had lots of activity, and is now nothing more than a ghost town.
"I knew this place had gone down. But I didn't know it was this bad!" exclaimed Patel, a California software engineer who recalled eating at a restaurant in the waterfront mall about a decade ago. He said, "I remember it being pretty nice back then."
All that's left of the mall is a Hooters restaurant. Baltimore Brew's pictures show almost every other store has moved out.
... and now, as the media outlet explains, what to do with this prized piece of commercial real estate?
That's the question before Mayor Brandon Scott and other city leaders, who yesterday gave Harborplace's new owner, MCB Real Estate, three years to figure out a plan.
Among the other terms of the amended lease that the Board of Estimates approved were three years of rent abatement and up to $1 million for future planning and other costs.
MCB co-founder P. David Bramble says he needs more time to devise a turnaround strategy. The board members who approved the deal did so without questions or comments. (Scott himself was absent from the meeting, attending an African American Mayors Association conference in Washington instead.)
"The entire downtown area is effectively dead," one person said who commented on Baltimore Brew's article. They pointed out:
"Who in their right mind would want to risk coming downtown when the news out of Baltimore is all about shootings, carjackings, mugging, and out-of-control packs of teenagers milling about on a semi-regular basis?"
Democrats and progressive leadership in the city have done a wonderful job of taking something nice and destroying it with terrible policy. The consequence is an exodus of businesses, and it's not just a Baltimore problem. Metro areas with progressive leadership, like Chicago, San Francisco, and Portland, are finding businesses are leaving in droves.