Rodricks is right: Bramble plan is wrong for Baltimore

Dan Rodricks has provided the most accurate, fair (non-biased) and complete report I have read regarding the Harborplace dilemma facing Baltimore voters in this election (“Dan Rodricks: Harborplace does not need 900 apartments to be a ‘great good place’ again,” Oct. 1).

As Dan said, the issue is not race. In fact, Baltimore could use more people like P. David Bramble — homegrown, dedicated, smart and a successful developer.

The issue is the plan. It was the Charles Center Inner Harbor Management Plan by a team of professionals in urban planning, real estate, finance and city government that created the opportunity for what became the Maryland Science Center, National Aquarium, World Trade Center, Rash Field, the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor, the redeveloped Power Plant, Harborplace and more. As important, it established the priority of public space on Baltimore’s waterfront. The sum of all these parts not only was solely claimed to have rejuvenated Baltimore, but the Inner Harbor became world-renowned.

Unfortunately, Bramble’s plan reduces the public space. Once those twin towers go up, that changes everything. Not only does it disrupt the scale of what the original plan intended, but it does nothing to bring locals and visitors to the waterfront other than the apartment dwellers and the lunch crowd that is already there. Take a look at some of the other great downtown waterfronts like Vancouver (check out www.pps.org for Project for Public Spaces “Great Waterfronts of the World”). The key to many of them is a generous promenade exclusive to the public with the office and residential set back from the waterfront and public space with great views of and easy access to their harbors.

In their enthusiasm for Bramble and justly so, Mayor Brandon Scott, Gov. Wes Moore and members of the Baltimore City Council rushed to an endorsement without seeking alternative plans. At least they could have interviewed other developers and architects that have had experiences similar to Baltimore’s waterfront. Nothing wrong with Gensler and BCT, both excellent architects. In fact it is very common for cities to conduct such forums in an effort to get the best plan.

Bramble should be rewarded for stepping up to the plate and purchasing Harborplace. However, in order to get the right plan, the city and state should step up financially with a PILOT, TIF or other forms of municipal financing to make Bramble and his investors whole with a plan that protects the public space. It’s the 900 apartments that is driving Bramble’s plan. Nothing new, nothing special. Limiting the height of the twin Harborplace buildings (the much-taller World Trade Center notwithstanding) is what made the Inner Harbor so inviting and so successful as a public space with spectacular views from the office and apartment buildings nearby.

I don’t think it is too late for the city and Bramble to seek a plan that fits into the Charles Center Inner Harbor plan and provides the necessary financing. At least give Baltimore and its residents the comfort of knowing they got an effort worthy of the Inner Harbor legacy developed by the likes of Walter Sondheim, Sandy Hillman, Jay Brodie, Theodore McKeldin, William Donald Schaefer, Jim Rouse, Martin Millspaugh Jr. and so many others.

— Michael Ewing, Baltimore

Trump’s tariffs would cause ‘fiscal calamity’

In every poll conducted during this year’s presidential campaign, voters have consistently indicated that their top priorities are the economy and the high cost of living.

In his feckless reach for a simplistic solution to our economic woes, former President Donald Trump plans to impose steep tariffs on nearly all imported goods manufactured abroad. This counterproductive proposal would have a devastating impact on our manufacturing and agricultural sectors, provoke retaliatory tariffs from other countries, decrease U.S. exports and increase regressive taxes on American consumers (“How a new Trump administration could impact Maryland,” Oct. 30).

Trump’s economic panacea would be a fiscal calamity.

— John R. Leopold, Stoney Beach

Don’t fault Israel for actions it didn’t take

George Liebmann blames the “terrorist atrocities” of Gaza on the “unsupportable conditions that have resulted from Israeli policy over the last 75 years” (“Biden administration’s foreign policy is playing with dynamite,” Oct. 28).

Seventy-five years ago, in 1949, Israel did not occupy either Gaza or the West Bank. If Liebmann wanted to prove the Israeli rights case that the Palestinians object to Israel’s existence, not to its conduct — and a sobering number of centrists, liberals and even leftists in and out of Israel who have observed what the Palestinians do and say agree — he’s done a good job.

It’s hard to tell in this case and many others where foolishness ends and malice begins.

— Jeffrey M. Landaw, Pikesville