Baltimore's Harbor-Front Development at the Expense of City Infrastructure and Schools

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The Baltimore Sun's Luke Broadwater says Baltimore's push to give tax-breaks and incentives to developers has Baltimore City's schools losing tens of millions of dollars in state funding - March 2, 2015


Transcript:

snip* It was a who's who of the Baltimore development world at the groundbreaking of the controversial billion-dollar development Harbor Point on Baltimore City's waterfront. It's been billed by supporters as a job creator and an economic engine that will ensure the city's financial success for years to come, where critics say the Harbor Point deal was enshrined in secrecy, gives hundreds of millions of dollars to developers, while property tax breaks may result in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in state education funding.

This is Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake addressing supporters.

STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, MAYOR OF BALTIMORE: Harbor point for me is an example of the kinds of projects that positively impact residents for today and for tomorrow, while positioning Baltimore to become a premier city that thousands of residents will want to flock to in the future.

Harbor Point means jobs. As was stated, it means new tax revenue, as well as hope and opportunity on once-vacant land.

NOOR: Now joining us to discuss Harbor Point and a host of other issues is a journalist for The Baltimore Sun, Luke Broadwater. Luke got his start in journalism at the age of nine when he scored an interview with Colts great Johnny Unitas. Since then, he's won more than a dozen journalism awards, including for investigative reporting, government reporting, and feature writing. He currently covers City Hall and local politics for The Baltimore Sun.

Thanks so much for joining us, Luke.

LUKE BROADWATER: Thanks for having me.

NOOR: So, before we get into all the details and the history of Harbor Point, let's talk about how that relates to the recent story you've been working on about how these type of developments like Harbor Point have resulted in a loss of a tremendous amount of money for city schools from the state government.

BROADWATER: Sure. Well, one thing that happened in the last year was that Baltimore's wealth grew tremendously. Baltimore gained about $1.3 billion in wealth. And a lot of that is attributable to new projects that came online, from the Horseshoe Casino to Canton Crossing to different developments around town.

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