Amazing how many people want to blame Elijah Cummings for Baltimore's problems. His district also has million-plus dollar houses and some of the best schools in the state - so which is he responsible for? Baltimore needs to move beyond the corrupt political class, but we also need some actual sustained and realistic programs. I watched while the city emptied out. When you have block after block of empty houses, that signals that nobody cares and it's an obvious place for criminal activity. Baltimore built not one but TWO stadiums (before the football & baseball teams shared one older stadium) downtown - in prime real estate that could have been many things. Those two very expensive structures sit empty most of the time. The Ravens play only a few games per year in town. They don't train there either. The city has been a captive of shiny new thing policy and blindness to anything that doesn't fit that since I was a child. At 52, I've lived most of my life in Baltimore. It can be helped. It is a great city. The people are wonderful (in some of the "worst" neighborhoods, you find urban community gardens, book clubs, art projects, active citizens along with real problems. People drive through and throw trash out their windows. I watch it happen, then pick it up.) Baltimore needs to stop being a place "on the way to" or from DC/NY, and those of us here are happy to do whatever we can - but nobody tells us what to do that we're missing, only what we should be ashamed of.
2
Let’s keep in mind that Jerrod Kushner has a great deal to do with the low quality of housing in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun published a shocking series on the type of problems in Kushner’s properties and his proclivity to take tenants to court rather than repair mold, water and other damage. Woe to the tenant that tries to withhold rent payments to protest unlivable apartments owned by these real estate moguls like Kushner who gets rich by being predators
1
Cummings' congressional district that includes Baltimore has one of the highest median incomes in the country. Why not raise property taxes on the wealthy residents of the district and use those funds, rather than federal tax dollars, to repair the infrastructure, tear down the crumbling buildings and establish a vital city with less income and wealth disparity?
1
"Help Baltimore"?
Are you kidding?
Trump is a Narcissist, when means, he only helps himself.
Trump complains we wasted federal money on Baltimore and other cities that have large numbers of brown and black skinned Americans. Racism, anyone??
But, here is another question.
We wasted Billions of dollars of federal, state and local income and real estate tax write offs on Trump and his phony Income tax returns.
Was that Wasted, because he still took Russian and Billionaire dollars in bribes in order to destroy our American democracy.
1
Are the representatives of a very poor area responsible for it being poor?
@David J. Krupp
The congressional district of Cummings has one of the highest median salaries in the country. If wealthy neighbors are not responsible for the poverty of their neighbors, who is?
1
Excellent article with implications that extend way beyond the Trump administration. I would like to see this topic put to Democratic candidates in the next debate.
3
Dear Emily,
Trump doesn't want to help Baltimore. Trump may not even want to help Ivanka the favorite. He only cares about himself.
2
Where is Elijah Cummings? What has he been doing? Apparently nothing. What happened to the $2,500,000,000 given to that city? Ohh.. Elijah can't find it... hmmm.
The Mayor of Baltimore agrees that its Rat infested.
Why didn't Obama and Elijah and that gang do something in the 8 years he was President?
5
I'm surprised it isn't a Russian conspiracy.
President Trump obviously does not want to help Baltimore.
1
He's not going to help anyone.
2
Baltimore's big new problem is that Black Lives Matter won a massive political victory over the Baltimore Police Department in the Freddie Gray Riot of 4/27/2015 and the subsequent prosecution of six cops (none of them found guilty, of course). This launched a massive Ferguson Effect, which is visible simply in Baltimore's annual murder tolls:
2010 223
2011 196
2012 219
2013 235
2014 211
2015 344 (Freddie Gray riot 4/27/15)
2016 318
2017 343
2018 309
Just getting Baltimore's murder numbers down from the recent average of ~325 per year to the old normal of ~215 per year would be a huge improvement.
3
Presidential (federal) redlining began in the 30's under Pres. Edgar Hoover (Dem) and continued for 3-terms under Pres. FDR (also Dem). Due to keeping blacks and people of color out of the housing market w/these tactics, home ownership was limited to white neighborhoods. These black neighborhoods never recovered as limited resources were soaked up in salaries and perks for government workers in big cities - also Dem controlled. I lived through the Kwame Kilpatrick (Mayor of Detroit) regime, and I'll tell you - 75-85% of federal funding for homes in blighted neighborhoods were siphoned off into black (Dem) pocketbooks by the Mayor and his cronies.
For Trump to correct this injustice, he'd have to declare financial emergencies in all large cities and replace the mayor on down, as so many of those in power grab what they can while they can. I've seen it done in Detroit, and I doubt it will ever change in any large city, while Dems keep the black/people of color populations in dreary urban plantations.
1
@Snoocks2Do you mean President Herbert Hoover? He was a Republican President. Who is Edgar Hoover?
3
@janye
Herbert Hoover was a Republican president from 1929 to 1933. The stock market crashed during his first year in office.
The commenter is probably thinking about J. Edgar Hoover, who was director of the FBI from its inception in 1935 until he died during Nixon's presidency in 1972. He institutionalized federal law enforcement racism during his reign of which 25 years was Democrat and 12 years Republican.
He is the poster boy for dark state.
@Snoocks2
It is also useful to point out that red-lining took place exclusively in northern cities under Democrat control, not in the rural states.
The North may have fought the Civil War to eliminate slavery and increase the tax bills of the slave states, but they did not welcome freed slaves or their descendants to the North. Instead, they organized unions to keep black men from competing for the jobs of white men along with minimum wage laws.
That is the primary reason why Democrat leaning states are far more racist than red states.
1
Does Trump have a hotel or other properties in Baltimore? No? Well you can kiss off any thought of him helping Baltimore. Slumlord in-law Kushner wants to keep Baltimore as is, so he can keep overcharging rents to the poor.
5
"Some Very Specific Things the President Could Do to Help Baltimore"............
#1 on the list should be -----require his beloved 1%ers to live in Baltimore in order to get their egregious tax breaks.......would be no time before the city is America's best place to move and live.......
There, problem solved - next one please......
3
@RB
There are plenty of Democrat 1%ers living in Cummings' congressional district. Why aren't they helping their neighbors?
1
Add these things to the long list of other things Trump COULD do IF his word view wasn't limited to capitalizing on events for his own gain. Instead, Baltimore can only hope to retain this useful list for consideration by a future leader who seeks to improve the lives of all of its citizens.
Yes, Baltimore should share the blame for where it finds itself; however, there can be no doubt historical views of race, and resultant policies, is at the epicenter of this outcome. Individual cities cannot alone correct the resultant localized societal damage.
2
One of the first things Trump should do is get Kushner to address the code violations on his properties in Cummings’s district. But Trump will do nothing, Because it is not in his personal interest. Fixing a problem - any problem - would mean he could no longer point to the democrats as causing it. And he is sure not going to address any problem in a black dominated community, not when his base would desert him and when he himself has such a history of disparaging blacks. We have a very long history of presidents who detest black people. We have a very long history of enslaving and treading on black people and the white powerful presidents all the way back to Washington (maybe excluding Lincoln) have felt justified in making the lives of blacks more miserable and impossible for them to improve by themselves. You can’t pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you’ve never had any boots, and the reason blacks have no boots goes way back to the founding of our nation, built on kidnapping and enslaving blacks the whites have always treated as property,not people.
6
Rather than sending more federal money (the author’s first recommendation), how about investigating what happened to all the untold billions of taxpayer dollars the city is getting now? Does it all just evaporate into the webs of politically-connected contractors and subcontractors?
9
Let's ask the people of Baltimore what they need, instead of telling them what they need. Someone needs to move quickly, while the spotlight of shifting attention still shines on them.
Baltimore folks, speak up: Say what you need!
11
Baltimore is on track to have more than 300 murders this year—for the FIFTH year in a row.
The Baltimore Sun published an op-ed on Nov. 9, 2016 — the day Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2016 presidential election — which called for Baltimore to be declared a disaster and rebuilt.
I am pretty sure most commenters are not rushing to move there or open businesses there.
Cummings has represented his Baltimore district in Congress since 1996, including 8 years while Barack Obama was President, so why is Baltimore still such a mess?
I think Trump’s twitter comments on Baltimore are entirely warranted, and they have nothing to do with race.
17
It is not the job of any US President to focus on the needs and problems of a single city. That is the job of the district’s US representative(s), the US senators and the cities’ mayors.
Baltimore has been in dire straits for decades; so what have those responsible been doing about it? Not much from what I can see.
17
One thing that could be done that would be of immense help would be to provide federal law enforcement resources to support investigations aimed at identifying , confronting, and prosecuting the relatively small number of people who are responsible for many of the drug-related murders. Another thing would be to support, not quash, the consent decree with the Baltimore Police Department to identify, confront, and prosecute the very small number of police in Baltimore who are criminals with a badge. Both of these actions take significant resources, applied over a sustained period of time.
20
@David
The violent crime rate increased after the Obama Justice Department crammed down federal rule over local law enforcement through the consent decree.
1
Don't you think that a top priority of the Congressman from Baltimore should be be work with the President to see that these things are implemented. Certainly, the Congressman should have a better sense of his district that the president does,
But rather that develop a constructive relationship with the president Mr Cummings has focused on partisan attacks.
9
@Amy Respect runs both ways -- shouldn't a newly-elected President consult with a city's long-time Congressman before interfering with a long studied, much needed DoJ consent decree? And how about that light rail funding -- it's not too big a stretch to assume that Rep. Cummings worked closely with President Obama or one of his appointees to secure those funds for Baltimore. But we all know about President Trump's mania about reversing anything President Obama accomplished (or could accomplish with Moscow Mitch in charge of legislative constipation in the Senate) -- why would Rep. Cummings expect anything different for Baltimore? Especially given President Trump's extreme partisanship, signaled from Day 1 of his Presidency? Especially given President Trump's hatred of cities (most of which are run by... Democrats! And most of which voted heavily against him). Especially given President Trump's disdain for poor people, working people, people who are not filthy rich and could never afford to stay a single night at his resorts... see for example his proposal just this week to cut funding for food stamps to fill the hole he blasted in the Federal government's finances to give a tax cut to wealthy investors and corporate CEOs...
Neither you nor I know if Rep. Cummings approached President Trump early on with the idea of working together for Baltimore's benefit, but we've all seen enough of how President Trump operates to know how such an overture would have been met.
10
@Amy
Cummings is fine. He's doing his job. Trump started this whole line of attack because, in his investigations, Cummings hit a very sensitive nerve, and Trump wanted to distract our attention.
That's his modus operandi: anytime Trump says, "Oooo, look over that, at the bad thing / person," is your signal to NOT look away, but keep your focus on what Trump is doing, and who is investigating Trump, for what.
Trump in this way signals exactly what it is that most freaks him out.
17
He is not interested in fixing anything. He only wanted to run his mouth, to vent his anger that Cummings is pushing back.
15
1. Resign!
5
I can buy lots in this article. However I ask as a question how were the special 1.8 billion dollars in aid sent by Obama to Baltimore used or not to help these issues? or were they never sent and that is a fabrication?
19
Trump is a loud mouth who has done nothing for Baltimore, and who now proposes to do nothing.
That makes it a lot like Detroit, and Pontiac, and Flint, and Bay City, and more in Michigan.
If Trump could have, then so could earlier Presidents. None did. Not Reagan or either Bush of course, but not Bill Clinton or Obama either.
If the Feds could have, it was the responsibility of the Congressional delegations to seek that for its Districts. They represent them and push for them. That is a large part of what the House does.
The Defense Department knows that, as it spreads its spending across as many Districts as possible in order to gain support. It works in DC. It is the way of DC.
But the delegations of these many cities don't. Why?
Why does it take an attack by Trump to put this on the front page?
So Trump is bad. This is bad too. It got no attention until it was centered on attacking Trump.
Rat bites are a major problem, and have been for decades.
Lead paint is still a problem after decades. How long does it take to repaint?
There is a bigger problem here. There is nothing to be proud of.
8
@Mark Thomason
Regarding lead paint, repainting covers the problem for only a few years; it needs to be stripped and removed. That process releases lead dust into the air, so it needs to be done in a specific way to avoid health dangers -- that is what makes it so expensive.
2
50 years ago lead paint was used around the world . So why is it a " Baltimore " issue any more than San Diego or London ?
3
@Mark Thomason
If my property in Dayton, Ohio has lead paint, it is my responsibility as the property owner to resolve the issue. Similarly, it is the owners of property in Baltimore that are responsible to resolve their issue. It seems that the Trump in-laws (the Kushners) need to either fix or sell their properties.
1
How about Trump acknowledging that the people of Baltimore are human beings and Americans, and that Baltimore is part of the United States of America? How about Trump admit that as president of the United States, he's responsible for helping every American, including the people of Baltimore?
How about we start with those "very specific things" Trump could do?
20
The thing Trump could do is stop inciting division and start finding common ground. Pointing out flaws of people & elected leaders leads to what exactly except inflame more division, harden positions and cause more anger?? Trump knows this. It's not really about if is or is not a racist. From day one he's demonstrated a continuous inablility to bring consensus, bridge problems and find workable solutions. On that very basic level--aside from the fact that he hasn't accomplished one piece of legislation (the trillion $$ tax cut was McConnell/ Ryan) the man is dodging his responsibility. If for no other reason than that he deserves to be kicked to the curb in 2020.
14
Much hay is made about integration, but why can't a majority black city or neighborhood be successful? There are plenty of successful majority white or majority asian areas, and no one looks at struggling majority white areas and prescribes that they need more black people to become successful. To add to that, when white people do move in to majority black areas they are accused of gentrification.
It seems these neighborhoods really want white people's money, and not their presence, but the city has not shown that it can spend that money well. Baltimore schools have very high per-pupil funding already, yet the results are dismal.
One day, perhaps, the communities will learn that they need to look inwards to solve their real problems. Until that day, expect people of other races who value their skins to stay away.
17
@KM
Did you read the article? Do you know anything about the history of cities and federal, state and local policies for decades upon decades that specifically drained resources from black neighborhoods, blocked black WWII veterans from education that other GIs received, neglected schools, and infrastructure, made banks and grocery stores scarce, etc? You do understand that these policies that favored and poured money and resources into white neighborhoods, right? These policies did not even allow white people to move into black neighborhoods as defined by redlined districts.
Your ignorance is stunning and yet you make comments about others' lack of education.
Baltimore schools have aging buildings to contend with and myriad other problems that other districts don't face. So the "per-pupil" spending is meaningless in this context.
By the way, how about the "majority white" failed schools, communities etc. of Appalachia--and rural Maryland, for that matter? Riddled with opiod addiction and violence and bad schools.
"white people's money" indeed. Democrats--including black and hispanic majorities--spend more of our tax payer money on failed "red" states full of poor, uneducated white people who know little of their own history but don't let that get in the way of acting superior.
2
Strange. During the campaign Trump promised we would all be "sick of winning" and later he said we would all be living it up after the "rocket fuel for the economy" tax cuts. I wonder what happened.
12
Nobody is saying that Cummings did a bad job because he is black. They're just saying he did a bad job.
21
@99percent But Trump is only picking on government officials of color. He only refers to the poorer neighborhoods when he deems them rat infested, not the rest of Cummings district. The reason: his base eats it up.
Racism is a little more subtle than you let on.
7
@Susan
Trump has "picked" on Pelosi, Schumer, Shifty Schiff, Nadler, Crooked Comes, McCabe, Strzok, Mueller . . . the list goes on and on
8
@99percent Rep. Cummings did not create Baltimore’s problems and has fought hard to fix them. Try reading the article.
5
I generally feel the Upshot articles are poor.
This one I give an “A” to.
Thanks.
3
The Feds could help older cities like Baltimore where poverty is hyperconcentrated by artificial political boundaries (MD has the highest US median household income) by creating incentives to stimulate economic integration in the city better reflecting the whole state. The gerrymandered 7th reflects it was white and families of color with economic choice who left the beautiful older city. There is a direct path from the vacants of west Baltimore to the vinyl boxes of Rouse's Columbia. Color blind economic integration and creating conditions for wealth building thru housing/choice are strategies that even R's might get. Now we have a R governor who develops greenfields in his "real" business, blind to the economic potential for wealth building in Balto by MD families. The phenomenon of our vacants was exacerbated by decades of HUD policies/investments biased against rehab creating thousands of new housing units in a shrinking marketplace- what did they think would happen? Great local, state and federal rehab tax incentives since the 70's have helped Balto avert disaster. We just marked the billionth $ of city historic preservation tax incentive generated private investment. Here's to the next generation of smart elected managers in all levels of government of any political party who understand color blind economics of sustaining and building America's great inheritance in older and historic communities- putting the physical and economic welfare of families first.
8
Trump is a racist and bigot. However, he is not responsible for Baltimore. Where was the responsibility of the past Presidents? I live in the state of Maryland and residents of this state pay income tax for the state and local county tax. Some counties pay as much as 3.20% per pay. What is the state of Maryland doing with all those tax dollars? Baltimore needs to get real and realize their community is a mess and has been for decades.
8
The very first thing Trump can, and should, do is acknowledge that the people of Baltimore are human beings and Americans, and that as president he is responsible for the wellbeing of all Americans.
But don't hold your breath. Trump has made clear that he only cares about White people, especially the "very fine people" among the white supremacist movement.
Remember Charlottesville.
11
We need to change Mr. T's title from "President of the United States" to "President of the Red States of America". The president's words and actions consistently demonstrate his profound disinterest in all those who fail to pay homage and express loyalty to our chieftain of the heartland tribes.
16
Baltimorians -- the Federal government isn't the solution, you are the solution. Hercules isn't coming down to clean the Augean Stables, you have to do it yourself.
8
Baltimore needs to wake up and realize that their civil cights crusader hero has basked long enough in the glory of Selma. They need an ACTUAL leader who can push for substantial changes. Just money from D.C. hasn't helped the murder rate at all.
The public schools of Baltimore are so bad that in most states, the state education department would have taken the schools over.
The garbage situation is an emergency. Whether it is worker safety, pay, union interference, or whatever, the state government is probably going to have to intervene in this public safety disaster, too.
What is it about Democratic cities and RATS, for crying out loud? Even a recent mayor is on tape talking about rats and the smell of dead animals.
But someone mentioned getting a new transit system. Let's get basics fixed while there are still people living there. If we have a repeat of Detroit in Baltimore, trasit money would just be wasted.
16
@The Observer wait a minute. Are you referring to John Lewis when you write about Selma? You can’t tell the difference between John Lewis and Elijah Cunningham?
12
@The Observer
Revolting post - it smells like rats and dead animals.
Had no idea there was such a good view of Baltimore from Verona.
3
Were these problems also not the responsibility of Pres. Obama and was Mr. Cummings not responsible to work on these problems since being elected in 1996?
20
@Joshua Schwartz
The article takes pains to point out that these political shortcomings have existed for decades now. But Obama didn't publicly castigate Baltimore and wash his hands of responsibility, did he? Your post suggests since Baltimore's problems weren't solved by Obama - or Bush - the current president can't be held to account for his own lack of initiative and ability. It's an excuse commonly offered by Trump apologists in NYT comments sections. Not very ingenious, Joshua.
12
@James No it means that others are not given a free pass for what they should have fixed.
7
@Joshua Schwartz Any problems that existed before Trump should have been fixed by his predecessors.
Any problems that now exist were due to his predecessors.
And any positives, like the economy and unemployment which have continued to trend as they did during the Obama administration are due only to Trump. That about right?
3
One thing Trump could do right away is encourage Jared to stop abusing the tenants in his Baltimore properties, stop the sewage flowing through the place, fix the windows and walls.
Maybe J-man could take a break from saving the Middle East, spend a few nights in his place, see what's cooking... It should be safe, there's not a human being around, according to Poppy Don.
37
Everything that Ms. Badger proposes here should be done. But we should also acknowledge that throwing money at a problem (eg, under-performing schools) does not help without having policies in place that establish the accountability of officials (and Representatives) and local communities. If the neighborhood refuses to identify killers, killings will continue. If it continues to blame others for its misfortunes and refuses to accept any responsibility, it will only get worse.
It would help if people started to pick up their trash, and make more effort in ensuring the safety of their streets. Not everything has to be done from the outside. Yet no Democrats has the courage and resolve to get accountability. I wonder why.
30
@Kai
I suggest you check out the work of the Kirwan Commission in Maryland, which has a state charter to formulate a plan for improving education. One of its pillars is accountability -- for use of resources, for educational outcomes, etc.
5
@Kai I agree that accountability is critical. But the problem is circular here and requires more resources than an individual or neighborhood can muster. With significant evidence of shakedowns, people getting framed for crimes they didn't commit, and murders by the police who will feel safe reporting a killer? At times the killer is in the police force. The solutions must be multi-faceted, wide-ranging, implemented by all levels of government, funded for a long-term, and yes, include accountability.
Help the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
5
Federal money has a mixed history in Baltimore and its peers. Without local buy in, effort and responsibility, it does little. An examination of the stimulus package provided Baltimore by the Obama administration is worthy of examination. Where did it go? Any tangible results? That would be an interesting article.
29
If Maryland and Baltimore would fire all teaches and administrators and hire new ones who were smart, wise, dedicated and professional, it would increase the number of kids who would take advantage of free public educations.
That would solve a huge percentage of the city's problems. But the NEA doesn't want reforms. Teachers unions want dues that they can pour into the campaigns of politicians who do all they can to protect the incomes and careers of incompetent educators and union leaders.
Nothing mentioned in the above article makes much sense when it comes to helping Baltimore people.
8
@Donald Johnson
"All" the teachers and administrators? Did each one contribute to the problem? Or is this just "identity politics", where people are lumped into groups and not treated as individuals?
7
@Charlesbalpha I think the idea of firing everyone doesn't preclude rehiring those among the fired who can make a positive contribution. What one wants to avoid is the idea that just because teachers and administrators were once hired, they have a right to continued employment regardless of performance. Existing rules make it essentially impossible to fire an teacher simply because the teacher doesn't teach provided the teacher fills out all the required paperwork and shows up for work.
3
@Donald Johnson Much like in Detroit, administrators in the school district have been stealing money from underprivileged children for decades.
3
I lived in Baltimore earlier this decade, and was struck by how diverse and vibrant a city it was. Yes, areas of it are run down, as are parts of most cities, but other areas were strikingly beautiful and historic. The people of Bmore were friendly and outgoing, and all races and socioeconomic classes lived near one another.
To throw away Baltimore is to throw away our own history, from Fells Point and Edgar Allen Poe to Mt. Vernon and the Walters Art Gallery to Inner Harbor/Canton and AVAM to The Avenue and Honfest. Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, and all the American cities that are facing hard times now are the very engines of redevelopment and reinvention that will push America fully into the 21st century, hon. (And go Ravens!)
27
@ProfessorC The 3 cities you mention suffer greatly from having a corrupt political class.
5
@Kohl
If you review the last 50 years, Baltimore County has more political corruption than Baltimore City.
3
I always thought that once a candidate for president wins that office, (s)he’s expected to become president of ALL United States citizens? Even the ones who MAY not have voted for him. I always thought the purpose of the secret ballot was that when the election was over, we could all go back to the real world where we have to work together—even with people who might not have the same political opinions as ours. When does this president plan to take on that part of his responsibilities? It’s not his job to cast off entire American cities without first making an effort to understand their hopes, dreams, problems and plans for the future. It is not his job to pick fights with elected officials who have a legitimate expectation to get HELP and SUPPORT—maybe a little sympathy?—when they are in the type of distress he claims has overtaken Baltimore? How can he claim to be “President of the United States” when he is only interested in brutalizing people who already have enough to deal with? It’s such a shame that he chooses to neglect this significant aspect of the job he fought so hard to get. Winning was the easy part.
22
@pugsley He HAS helped all Black and Latino Americans find jobs. Unemployment figures are the best ever,
Befoe Trump saidanything, was ANYONE in D.C. even thinking about the poor people in Baltimore? I rest my case.
So what did you think of Bernie Sanders saying pretty much the same thing?
9
@The Observer
" He HAS helped all Black and Latino Americans find jobs. Unemployment figures are the best ever,"
That was Obama's accomplishment, pulling the economy out of the disastrous crash caused by the Republicans in 2008. Trump didn't do anything.
10
Philadelphia and it's suburbs had a light rail planned near my suburban area. It was killed by the Suburban Republicans. I had planned to reeducate myself as an older adult at one of the city's wonderful colleges and universities of which there are several.
10 years later nothing has happened and now everyone is stuck in the rush hour traffic. Great planning isn't it ?
14
Past presidents have recognized that the welfare of every American is, to some degree, ultimately his charge. Not so with Blaming Donald. Every moment of his day seems occupied with making people look away from his incompetence and corruption.
16
I lived in Baltimore for a dozen years in the 1990s and early 2000s. I have about the same level of disdain for the place as I do Trump (lots)
I find it amazing that Cummings and the rest of the delegation manage to get the federal funding this article seems to think that Trump and other Presidents should somehow supply. Flint received funding for lead but not Baltimore. No mention of the failure of the delegation to put together the votes to get something done.
The residents of the city deserve better.
19
@Sendero Caribe Good point. My sense is that with President Reagan, aid to black communities was redirected from the federal government to majority white state controlled Block Grants. Then there was the political cultural belief of welfare queens getting too much. That was certainly racist. Congress has its own history of racism. Maybe the delegation still needs to overcome the discrimination the article points at.
6