Baltimore Residents

I REMEMBER, when I was a child, looking one night across the meadow next to our home and noticing an orange glow that started at the horizon and diffused upwards into space. ''That's the city,'' my father said.I remember being not quite sure whether to believe him, partly because of his penchant for teasing, partly because it just seemed so impossible that you could actually see Baltimore -- or a reflection of it -- from our house in northeastern Carroll County. So far away. That was how the city seemed, literally and figuratively.

On the face of it, City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young's local hiring bill sounds eminently reasonable. When Baltimore spends its residents' tax dollars, why shouldn't it do so in a way that supports hiring city residents, particularly considering the high rate of unemployment here? That common-sense appeal, perhaps, explains why the measure got preliminary approval on a unanimous vote Monday night. Indeed, it sounds like such a good idea that one might wonder: Why doesn't every city and county do the same thing?

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's inauguration speech last year laid out an ambitious goal of growing the city's population by 10,000 families over the next decade. Where are those approximately 22,000 new residents to come from? Clearly, the mayor hopes some suburban residents can be lured back by the attractions of city life. Others could be people from out of state who are moving to Maryland for the first time. But if the experience of other cities is any guide, it seems almost certain that a substantial proportion of potential new Baltimore residents - as much 40 percent - will be immigrants.

Dan Rodricks ' advice that "complaining CEOs need to take a hike" (May 9) comes a bit late. For the first time anyone can recall, this year's Fortune 500 includes zero Baltimore-based companies. We are now the largest U.S. city without a single corporate headquarters, and there are only four left in the state - down from 11 as recently as 2007. Clearly, those who decide where to create local job opportunities (and, let's not forget, lead many philanthropic efforts) have been taking a hike for many years, just as over 300,000 Baltimore residents voted with their feet over the decades and fled the city's high property taxes, incredible shrinking economy and dismal provision of public services.

Baltimore residents are less satisfied with city services than they were last year, but see progress in the city's long-standing fight against violent crime and illegal drugs. Those are some of the mixed findings in the annual Baltimore Citizen Survey, which the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy completed in October and the Rawlings-Blake administration released Friday. In a statement, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she's committed to improving Baltimore through "responsible budgeting and focusing on the top priorities of current city residents.

About one in four Baltimore residents is living in poverty, a one-year increase of more than 20 percent, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Although the recession officially ended in June 2009, a federal survey conducted last year shows that the downturn's enduring effects have led poverty rates to skyrocket over a short period. The uptick is straining government and charitable resources and leaving Baltimore leaders scrambling for solutions. "People who were managing have now dropped into poverty," said Susan J. Roll, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

You might not think a reality TV series titled "Hillbilly Handfishin'" would have much to do with Baltimore and East Coast urban living. But that's not the case. The series that premieres Sunday  at 10 p.m. on Animal Planet will feature at least three couples from the area during its 12-episode run, according to John Jones, post-production supervising producer on the series and resident of Federal Hill. Here's how Animal Planet describes the series (and you can see a video below)

I enjoyed your article about the gifts given to Baltimore's elected officials by people the city does business with ("Tickets and city ethics law," Feb. 12). Here's my question: How is it not raising major red flags that the city's second most powerful elected official conducts himself in this manner? City Council PresidentBernard C. "Jack" Youngobviously knows what the rules are. He's been in the game long enough. Yet "oral approval" and "cash" (with no receipt) are obvious causes for concern in terms of the excuses and explanations he has provided.

What do you love about your neighborhood? A nonprofit group that promotes Baltimore living is asking city residents to sum it up in a few words and snap a photo. Live Baltimore's " What We Love " effort is a "bit more guerrilla" than previous ad campaigns, said executive director Steve Gondol. It's essentially crowdsourcing -- and reminiscent of " We Are The 99 Percent " photos, except here the people are smiling and clutching notepads with happy anecdotes. "I (heart)

Four Baltimore residents were arrested after Westminster police said they were seen searching vehicles on the Gill parking lot at Western Maryland College about 2 p.m. Wednesday.Two 15-year-olds, who had a pair of pliers and a screwdriver, lTC were charged with one count each of theft and being a rogue and vagabond by city police. The charges likely will be shifted to juvenile court. One was released to his parents and the other was held at the Charles H. Hickey school in Baltimore County.

Two Baltimore-area residents were killed in a small plane crash in Virginia on Saturday, the Virginia State Police said Sunday. The men were identified as Berry Raymond Newgent, 73, of Davidsonville, and Thomas Berry Newgent, 51, of Westminster. Berry Raymond Newgent was the pilot and owner of the experimental plane, and Thomas Berry Newgent the passenger, police said. The plane attempted to land several times, likely at a nearby airstrip, and crashed in a field in Suffolk, police said.

Here we go again: City leaders want to invest more public dollars in the Inner Harbor ("Improving the city's 'playground,"' April 24). One would have thought had learned from the mistakes of the past. The Inner Harbor long has symbolized the wrong turn our city took in its economic development strategy. We have invested in high-profile projects that benefit a small segment of the population while neglecting ordinary residents and their neighborhoods. In 1970, before the Inner Harbor was redeveloped with enormous infusions of public money, 5.3 percent of Baltimore's housing units were vacant.

Ryan McGrath and other Baltimore-area runners were relaxing after the Boston Marathon, refueling with some burritos, when they heard the blasts. "I thought maybe it's one of those boat-type things that just shoots off a cannon every day," said McGrath, a Highlandtown resident who organizes a running group through Falls Road Running Store in Mount Washington. "One of my friends was like, 'Man, that didn't sound like a cannon.'" Police and emergency vehicles quickly flooded the area, and marathoners and spectators ran by crying, McGrath said.

College basketball Benimon, Hawkins, Thomas get AP honors Towson junior forward Jerrelle Benimon was selected as an honorable-mention All-American by the Associated Press on Tuesday after ranking second in the nation with 20 double doubles. The 6-foot-8 transfer from Georgetown was the fourth-leading scorer in the Colonial Athletic Association with 17.1 points per game, and he reached double figures in 27 of 31 outings. Women's honors: Maryland junior Alyssa Thomas was named to the AP All-America second team, and senior Tianna Hawkins earned honorable mention.

Baltimore residents are less satisfied with city services than they were last year, but see progress in the city's long-standing fight against violent crime and illegal drugs. Those are some of the mixed findings in the annual Baltimore Citizen Survey, which the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy completed in October and the Rawlings-Blake administration released Friday. In a statement, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she's committed to improving Baltimore through "responsible budgeting and focusing on the top priorities of current city residents.

The following is compiled from police reports. It is the Baltimore Messenger's policy to include descriptions only when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have any information about these crimes, call the Baltimore City Police Department's Northern District at 410-396-2455. North Calvert Street 2800 block, between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. March 18. Razor, cash stolen from package delivered to apartment building. North Charles Street 2400 block, between 9 p.m. March 19 and 9 a.m. March 20. 62-inch TV stolen from Natural Textures.

Leaders of Baltimore's municipal unions -- whose future rank and file members will come under a new residency requirement effective July 1 -- are "appalled" and "upset" that Marlyn J. Perritt, director of recreation and parks, was seen last week commuting to her job from Prince George's County.Union officials say that Ms. Perritt's conduct demonstrates the hypocrisy of residency requirements. Some say it demonstrates the need for even-handed enforcement of residency rules, while others contend it shows that such rules are unnecessary and unenforceable.

Community leaders urged East Baltimore residents to ask their elected officials to preserve funding for family services programs yesterday. Meeting at Casey Family Services on North Caroline Street, they said they worried that funding to the programs will be cut to help reduce the state's projected $1.8 billion budget deficit. "We recognize the importance and difficulty of this task. But don't balance the budget on the backs of our children," Traci McLemore, director of the East Baltimore Collaborative, told the crowd of nearly three dozen adults, many with small children.

Abe Bortz, the Social Security Administration's first historian and a voracious book collector and reviewer, died Tuesday of lymphoma at his home in Pikesville. He was 93. Dr. Bortz grew up in Cincinnati, graduating from high school there in 1937 and earning a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Cincinnati in 1941. He was drafted into the Army the next year and served first as a lieutenant and then as a captain in the military-supply Quartermaster Corps. He saw Buchenwald, one of the German concentration camps, soon after the Army liberated it in 1945.

Richard Bell hardly had time to look up during the first hour of ladling rich cream of crab soup into bowl after bowl at a fundraiser to benefit Baltimore residents struggling with homelessness, hunger and poverty. In that time, the general manager of Squire's Restaurant spooned out about half the 30 gallons of soup his restaurant donated to St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore's biggest fundraiser of the year. The nonprofit's event, "Empty Bowls," drew 2,000 guests for lunch and dinner seatings Saturday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.