Will businesses benefit from stadium upgrades?

We are always cheering for our home teams and appreciate the fans and visitors who support local businesses within walking distance of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium.

Pigtown’s breweries, restaurants, shops and homes are so close that we can hear the beloved “O” during the “Star-Spangled Banner” and cheers for a touchdown.

The new installations of a beer hall and more services at M&T and the rumors about development around Camden Yards are causing apprehension and excitement simultaneously to local businesses in the stadium area district (“Ravens’ $430M state-funded stadium upgrades to roll out in 2024, include 3 plazas, expanded concourses,” Dec. 12).

The state funding could be seen as creating more of an economic island that mostly benefits the teams and may harm local neighborhood economies. The agencies and developers involved in both stadium projects seem to not value or consider the impact on or seek to partner with local neighborhoods or businesses.

From the lack of outreach to the lack of intentional connection to local businesses, this is disappointing and frustrating, especially considering the amount of state dollars attached to the stadium projects.

While the state is spending over $430 million to fund installations like a beer hall, will it ensure local beer brewed in Baltimore will be served there without charging exorbitant vendor fees? How will hundreds of millions of state dollars provided to the Ravens’ stadium benefit local businesses and neighborhoods? Is there a local hiring requirement? Will Camden Yards and the Ravens help to promote local businesses?

The hope is that with the hundreds of millions of dollars of state funds going to support stadium upgrades, the occupants will support growth of local businesses and communities.

— Kim Lane, Baltimore

The writer is executive director of Pigtown Main Street.

In Baltimore, kindness is still alive — if you look for it

It’s hard to read a newspaper or watch the news. The stories in the media point out how we have lost our humanity.

We have no regard for the welfare of others, and often we are downright cruel or mean. Kindness is a vanishing sentiment that lives only in our memories of the good old days. But these thoughts simply aren’t true.

I have been struggling with serious back issues for the past two months and I’m now relegated to walking with a cane. Most people walking with a cane move with grace and seemingly without effort.

I, on the other hand, look like a toddler learning how to walk. I move with jerky balance and spastic movements, and people give me a wide berth. At the same time, these people are looking out for me and, if given the opportunity, they will help.

As I struggled to move down an aisle of people seated in the audience at a fabulous U.S. Army Field Band and Choir show at the Lyric, people popped out of their seats to make room for me to get by. When I dropped my cane at a medical reception desk, the woman behind me asked if she could pick it up for me. When I tried to pay for parking at a parking garage kiosk, as I left the man behind me said, “Excuse me, ma’am. You forgot to take your ticket.”

These small acts of kindness remind me that our community hasn’t lost its humanity after all. We’ve just lost our ability to see it.

— Linda Snyder, Glen Arm

Mayor’s housing rehab plan won’t work as city shrinks

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s plan to reduce vacant properties demonstrates that the city is chasing its tail (“Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott unveils $3B plan for vacant houses including new TIF,” Dec. 11). Or playing whack-a-mole. Choose your favorite description.

As long as Baltimore continues to lose its population, which is now down to 570,000, it will continue to have more vacant homes. To reverse this trend the city needs to attract more jobs and residents, which means it needs policies to do that.

As Baltimore Sun reporters Emily Opilo and Lorraine Mirabella noted in their article, this includes a dramatic decrease in the real estate tax rate over several years, like the one proposed by Renew Baltimore in its current ballot petition drive. Until then, throwing money at fixing up vacant homes — whether it be $1 million or $3 billion — is nothing more than pouring money down a black hole. One rehabilitated home will only be replaced with another vacant home.

— David F. Tufaro, Baltimore