Are they gonna have Virginia plates too?

cc @mta.maryland.gov

can’t be any worse than Actual Baltimore Drivers tbf

I was visited by a pair of raccoons last night and then a dang possum!

Frog knocked at Toad’s door. “Toad, wake up,” he cried. “Come out and see how wonderful the winter is!” “I will not,” said Toad. “I am in my warm bed.”

This one is even more brazen, because this time they put their words in the mouth of an AI character who claims to be a specific person: "Zoe Billings, a Baltimore native and correspondent" Needless to say, this person does not exist.

the anti-HOOA folks have made something wonderful

Thank you. It should go w/o saying but needs to be said, over & over. Neither the market nor the gov’t have capacity to meet the full spectrum of housing needs & incomes.

like, of course new things cost more than old things. new cars cost more than used cars do. but if you stopped making any new cars, all the used cars would quickly get very expensive both to lease or buy

Interesting new working paper that studies chains of movers after the construction of a new apartment building in Honolulu. Paper finds that the project resulted in the opening up other, lower cost, housing on the island, benefiting the housing market overall.

“The rally is a last-ditch effort by bill opponents to make their case, up against social media–conversant bill supporters who have the weight of City Hall and the Cockeysville-based advocacy group BaltPOP on their side.” lmao but how do you REALLY feel?

if you ever rt’d Justice for Becky when Yitzy and Costello were bullying her for doing her job, hear her out now too

Great piece on how density restrictions in zoning are essentially BS.

it appears the number of households in Baltimore City are coming back

"Baltimore now faces a choice: Do we want a city that adapts, welcomes new residents and gives longtime neighbors more options to stay? Or do we cling to a past shaped by exclusion and scarcity?" 🔥 from @ohamza.bsky.social

I planted this pepper cultivar ‘Armaggedon’ on a whim this year, thinking maybe I’d get one or two novelty peppers. But it did so well, I have dozens of these 1.3 million scoville things to deal with. I’ve nibbled off a couple of them and they’re hilarious hot. No idea what to do with them.

Homes barely appreciate, if at all. Owners struggle to maintain old homes while houses on their block go vacant. They (or heirs) too often lose the home or just leave if conditions get too bad, creating another vacant. The choice to add an income unit could help some people buy —or save—a home. 2/2

Harsh reality is SF homeownership in Black n-hoods of segregated, Rust Belt cities like Baltimore & Detroit do not built wealth. Just the opposite. As even City admits, many of these areas do not have “functioning housing market.” Baltimore is not high demand Brooklyn, SF, LA. What happens…1/

This man’s out here playing the populist talking about Roland Park et al, while living in Wyndhurst.

MY left-YIMBY millennial Mayor has been signing every zoning reform bill that comes across his desk, is asking for even more to he sent his way, and is now playing Subway Builder on stream. What is your mayor getting into these days?

‘Truly disappointing’ to see @bmorerenters.bsky.social shut down comments on this post just because it was being pointed out that actual Affordable housing groups like Habitat for Humanity and Healthcare for the Homeless testified in support of these bills. It’s a matter of record - why hide it?

Illinois will becoming the 5th state to eliminate local parking requirements for new development projects near transit, after: —California (assembly bill 2097, 2022) —Colorado (house bill 24–1304, 2024) —Oregon (Land Conservation and Development Commission, 2022) —Washington (house bill 1491, 2025)

Jermaine Jones explaining vote to abolish parking mins: "What I will say when protecting our neighborhoods against gentrification [...], they deserve more than just parking requirements to protect them. And if that's the only thing that we have in order to protect those residents, then shame on us."

One of my mantras is that neighborhoods are part of a community but neighbors don't want the community in their neighborhood.

um excuse me

Yeah, let’s see if all of the passionate transit advocates and the like keep up that momentum when it comes to advocating for those issues directly, not just to oppose something unrelated.

1 Million Baltimoreans

Amplifying this, the council could—why haven’t they—enact anti-displacement laws, promote community land trusts, and give up pet projects to bolster code enforcement.

Baltimore City Council passes zoning bills removing mandatory off street parking requirements, lot and bulk regulations. Jones states using parking req. to protect legacy residents is wrongheaded and wants intentional tools to protect them. Impressive. @Zeke_Cohen

It is unequivocally not true.

3rd Reader time, starting with the passage of @odetteramos.bsky.social's bill to ban "unauthorized persons" (ie unscrupulous contractors trying to prey on homeowners) from emergency scenes, @electryandorsey.bsky.social's single-staircase reform bill, & a rezoning on Edmondson Ave. from John Bullock

Conway "likes the idea" of the bill but still sounds like a no ostensibly because of "insufficient transit." I suspect neighborhood association concerns are really the motivator here, which good luck getting transit through in that case.

257 S DURHAM ST, BALTIMORE, MD, 21231

This Fox article today might belong in the hall of fame of bad faith use of statistics. The headline cites a "spike in car thefts in some Baltimore districts" and the body goes on to point out some crazy increases: 62% in Northwest! 30% in Central! Sounds like a real City in Crisis, right? A 🧵:

Free story idea for someone to look into: what the heck is happening with shoplifting in Southeast District? It's had 262 extra reports, for a 72% increase YOY, way out of line with the other districts. SED alone tips the whole citywide stat into an increase (by 119 incidents).🧵

The bills up in committee this week are big. 25-0064 increases the building space flexibility in all residential zones. 25-0065 eliminates ALL parking minimums citywide. Please, if you haven't yet, smash that link and tell the council: support these bills. secure.everyaction.com/81AL1uY6R0a7...

but we need *more* car access to OTM

Change at Perkins Homes, May 2021 to March 2025

I was thrilled to see @electryandorsey.bsky.social cut to the point about the pernicious social function of restrictive housing laws, especially here in Baltimore

It's often insisted that the city's improvement in homicides has only come at the expense of its neighbors in the metro area - that the violence has been displaced. Is there any truth to this? In a word: No.

Through April for the year, there have been 39 homicides in Baltimore. This is by far the fewest recorded for that period in the past 55 years, with the previous fewest through April being 49 homicides in 1977. After that, it's 56 in 2010 and 2014

Homicides in Baltimore City in the first four months of this year have: Declined over 32% from the same period last year. Declined over 65% from their peak in 2022.

First butterfly of the year. Yeah it’s a cabbage white, but I’ll take it.

shout out to an excellent vine, now memorialized on youtube youtu.be/FYtd7Z60ncw?...

🚨SCOOP: Multiple sources tell me ICE is illegally holding migrants in the George Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore, Maryland. /1

With 9 reported homicides for February, the city is at 22 homicides for the year, down about 30% from 2024 YTD or more than 60% down from the peak in 2022. Not sure when the last time there was a single digit month either, but you'd likely have to go pretty far back.

Someone tell Jim Palmer Pratt St has fallen and pitchers are worse third time through the order