Within the last month or so, two opinion pieces have appeared in the Baltimore Sun that have advocated for a change in the physical boundaries of Baltimore City. The first opinion piece advocated for the marriage of Baltimore City and Baltimore County into one political subdivision. While in the second article, the author states that “political realities stand in the way of rectifying the city’s situation by expanding its borders again,” but the author states that the city is “too small in area and too politically isolated to adequately address its problems.” This is not a new argument. Prior to World War II there were three different annexations of land to expand Baltimore City, and each time part of the rationale was that the City needed more land, which brought a larger tax base, in order to remain viable in addressing its needs.
While I recognize that Baltimore City faces many problems, from crumbling infrastructure, to fractured neighborhoods cause by violence and other factors, to education problems, it’s not like the suburbs are free from problems. Baltimore County has infrastructure needs just like the city, we too have areas that are struggling to attract new investment to revitalize communities, and our taxpayers just experienced several increases in taxes in the last budget cycle. So, the county should not be looked at as the cure all for Baltimore City’s problems. There should be a metropolitan area wide discussion about how to help supplement Baltimore City’s needs. It should not be the simplistic solution of combining city and county into one jurisdiction.
We are fortunate that in 1948 a constitutional amendment was passed requiring that if the boundaries of any city or county were altered, it would require the approval of voters in the affected area. When this amendment was passed, County voters supported it by a ratio of 5 to 1. So, the possibility of a change in the County’s boundaries are remote. Let’s have some robust discussions about other ways of addressing the City’s needs, but please Sunpapers, drop the agenda of turning solely to Baltimore County to fix the City’s problems.
Eric Rockel
President, GTCC