Author Archives: Sean Yoes

From the time the first campaign fundraising reports were released in January – which showed what seemed like an insurmountable cash lead by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake over her declared rivals – there was an air of inevitability connected to the 2011 Democratic Primary for mayor. That inevitability manifested in a resounding victory this week […]

What could be a more perfect metaphor for the end of the 2011 campaign for Mayor of Baltimore than the completion of the inaugural running of the Baltimore Grand Prix? I agree with the analysis of most who argued Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake took a huge risk scheduling an international road race a little more than […]

Baltimore mayoral candidate Otis Rolley came up with a rather curious strategy aimed at deterring gun violence: a dollar tax on each bullet sold in the city. “This is not a revenue enhancement tool,” Rolley said when he announced the plan. “It’s a `make it difficult to buy bullets in the city’ tool.” Rolley’s “bullet […]

There have been several mayoral forums over the summer, but perhaps none has been more high-profile, or well-attended than the one hosted this week by the Empowerment Temple AME Church and its influential pastor, Jamal Harrison-Bryant. But, like all of the previous mayoral election events, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake did not participate, and her absence […]

Caroline Moore, leader of the team behind the pending 28-acre State Center Project, made an announcement about the massive development via e-mail recently. “Join us as we celebrate the signing of the ‘Economic Inclusion Plan,’ on Saturday, July 9th 11 am,” Moore’s message read. “This agreement between the project developer, the State Center Neighborhood Alliance […]

State Center, as it stands today, can be a very foreboding place, especially at night after thousands of state employees have vanished at the end of a work day. After hours, the sprawling complex is like a ghost town except for a sporadic trickle of people who ride the subway at night. And during the […]

As the Baltimore City mayor’s race heated up last week, the sense of urgency among those who want to take the title from current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake seemed to rise. During last week’s second mayoral forum sponsored by the Baltimore chapters of the NAACP and the Urban League at Coppin State University in West Baltimore, […]

The State Center Project – placed in limbo by a lawsuit filed by some of the city’s most well-connected (see Orioles owner Peter Angelos) business persons – has generated more hype, anticipation, hope, fear and loathing than any other Baltimore development deal in many years. Yet, there is no clear indication if and/or when its […]