Elevated Voices, July 19, 2020
A curated list of Maryland's best political coverage and commentary
We had to postpone last week’s show, which means we’ll have a twofer this week! Tune in on Monday for our interview with Delegate Marc Korman as we discuss the General Assembly’s work during the pandemic and Maryland’s missing COVID-19 tests. Then, on Wednesday, we’ll have our rescheduled interview with Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership Executive Director Adria Crutchfield!
LINKS
National
Do Not Call John Lewis a “Hero” if You Stood in His Way (Slate)
The Essential and Enduring Strength of John Lewis (New Yorker Magazine)
Oregon attorney general sues federal agencies for allegedly violating protesters’ civil rights (Washington Post)
State
How Larry Hogan Kept Blacks in Baltimore Segregated and Poor (Politico)
In 2014, the Obama administration offered Maryland a selective “New Starts” grant of $900 million to finally build what was called the Red Line — a project that would not only have connected thousands of Black Marylanders to better jobs but would also create a comprehensive transit system that might restart the Baltimore region’s economy and improve race relations by building literal connections between communities.
Today, there’s no construction of rail in Baltimore. The $900 million has been returned to the federal government. The state of Maryland redirected $736 million of state funds originally set aside for the Red Line to building roads instead — in predominantly white areas. And the U.S. Department of Transportation, which was supposed to investigate whether that decision was illegal and discriminatory, quietly closed the case without making any public findings.
Dan Rodricks: Larry Hogan, ‘consoler-in-chief’ for West Baltimore? Please. (Baltimore Sun)
Local
Here’s what online learning could look like for Howard County students this fall (Jacob Calvin Meyer - Baltimore Sun)
Screaming Into a Pillow (HoCo Progress Report) - A week in review
We had County Council Chair Deb Jung muting Councilman Opel Jones in a council Zoom meeting, the technological equivalent of walking over and putting her hand over his mouth. I can’t say I’ve ever seen Board of Education Chair Mavis Ellis ever do that for one of Christina “DeVos” Small’s lengthy sighing diatribes. Next up, we had Councilwoman Liz Walsh discussing a pending zoning board case on Facebook, which constitutes illegal ex parte communication per county ordinance 2.115, just to poke at County Executive Calvin Ball. Interesting that Ms. Walsh and Ms. Jung felt that Dr. Jones was not qualified to chair the zoning board because he’s not an attorney like they are. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Main Street (Village Green/Town Squared)
Is it reasonable to want to protect Main Street while it is fragile and struggling, or is the concept of Main Street being the right and proper place for citizens to assemble serving a greater good?
This Week’s Birthdays:
July 20th - Howard Schwartz, Tunji Williams
July 21st - Steve Charing,
July 22nd - Jeff Braswell, Nick Frisone, Ananta Hejeebu
July 23rd - IAN KENNEDY, Christine Ulhorn, Stephanie Blades
July 24th - Kathy Macfarlane
July 25th - Perry Wheeler, Jim Kraft
July 26th - David Nitkin, Gary Ahrens, Susan Hobby