Baltimore’s mayor goes missing on taxes, crime and schools

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announces a $3 billion plan to eliminate 13,000 vacant homes but opposes a ballot initiative supported by over 23,000 voters that would lead to a reduction in real estate taxes to align the city with the surrounding counties (“Special financing to rehab Baltimore vacants to be introduced to City Council,” Sept. 29). Trying to eliminate vacant homes is like playing Whac-A-Mole while you are losing 500 people a month in population. It will not work. There will always be more vacant homes as the population declines (at least 1,500 more each year). The $3 billion plan will only serve to line the pockets of those who are given the funds to demolish, rehabilitate or replace the 13,000 homes.

A 66-year-old man is brutally attacked by a 15-year-old who is then released to his parents’ custody. Who doesn’t think this makes our city less safe? So, why aren’t our elected leaders clamoring for fixing this fixable problem immediately? Simply calling this a tragedy does absolutely nothing.

Our public schools continue to fail our students on a daily basis with falling proficiency scores and students being allowed to graduate who are unprepared for what follows. Yet there is no outrage or insistence that change happen now. This has been going on for decades.

Baltimore’s leaders show no sense of urgency to improve our city in all the areas that really matter: high taxes, high levels of random violent juvenile crime in our neighborhoods and consistently poor performing public schools. Shouldn’t we all be asking why?

— David F. Tufaro, Baltimore

More solar parking lots, fewer solar farms

Lately, much has been written about building solar farms on agricultural land. There is no doubt that we are in serious need of providing more of our energy needs from sustainable sources rather than relying on fossil fuels. However, replacing productive farmland with solar “farms” is not a good solution, as this will inevitably change the rural landscape, and not for the better (“Maryland farmers have well-grounded concerns about solar,” Aug. 11).

Instead, it would make much more sense to utilize the thousands of acres of asphalt parking lots all over the state, many of which are seriously underused or deserted entirely due to the change in working and shopping habits post-pandemic. These lots reflect a massive amount of the sun’s heat back into the atmosphere. The presence of solar structures above the parking areas would absorb this wasted energy and convert it into a usable and sustainable source.

It would also have the benefit of keeping the vehicles parked beneath the structures cool and out of the heat of the sun. There are several of these solar parking areas including the Maryland Science Center downtown. I am sure the solar companies will complain that the placing of these structures is more expensive than rural solar installations, but we must consider the beauty and functionality of our Maryland countryside as well as corporate profits.

— Patricia B. Pineau, Reisterstown

The good and the bad of Pete Rose

I consider myself to be a lower-level baseball historian and could not be more ambivalent about Pete Rose’s passing (“Pete Rose, baseball’s banned hits leader, has died at age 83,” Sept. 30).

I occasionally wonder what Rose’s world would have been had he not played baseball at the highest level. Let me be blunt: Rose certainly was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I believe that became evident when he was caught gambling on Major League Baseball teams (although he reportedly never bet against his own team). So let’s close the door on the stellar baseball career of Pete Rose.

As for betting on baseball games and whether it influenced his decisions on the field, Rose will have to address that with a Higher Authority.

— Patrick R. Lynch, Towson

Abortions a matter of personal choice under Harris

In a recent letter to the editor, Ed Whitesell questions whether Vice President Kamala Harris could serve as a president for all Americans including those who oppose abortion. The answer is a qualified “yes” (“Can Harris be a president to Americans who oppose abortion?” Sept. 28).

If abortion rights are codified into law, those who oppose abortion still retain the freedom to make their own choices in the event of a pregnancy. “Pro-choice” respects the rights of everyone, as it allows individuals to follow their own beliefs.

Simply put, if you don’t want an abortion, you don’t have to get one.

— Paul Winston, Baltimore