The population of the City of Baltimore has been in decline for the last 70 years. In 1950, over 975,000 people lived in the city limits. Now the city population is 575, 000. Currently, the per capita murder rate is twice that of the City of Chicago. The city population is poor and getting poorer and over 20% live below the poverty level.

In 1950, Bethlehem Steel employed over 40,000 people at its Sparrows Point plant and many of the 40,000 were Baltimore city residents earning steel worker union pay. Today there is no Sparrows Point Steel plant and, indeed, there is no longer a company known as Bethlehem Steel. Union wages are mostly a fond memory.

Murders have now exceeded 300 in each of the last seven years. Fewer people are coming into the city because of the crime. The property tax rate in Baltimore is twice that of the surrounding counties and the local school system ‒ with the exception of a few excellent elementary and high schools ‒ is pretty much a mess despite record funding levels. The public schools are avoided by anybody with any means which translates into a student body that is poor and poorer, making the job of teachers hard and harder.

Baltimore, however, is not without considerable attractions. Its once industrial waterfront is now occupied by expensive and attractive housing. The newest waterfront entry is called Port Covington where the Under Armor headquarters will be located along with extensive housing and retail locations.

Its port is bustling as it is the East Coast port which is closest to the Midwest markets. And the port jobs are high paying union jobs although certainly not as many as Bethlehem Steel once provided.

It has world-class health facilities including Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland.

For a small city (31st largest in the United States), it has exceptional cultural and museum facilities and a breathtakingly good Symphony.

Its professional sports teams (Orioles and Ravens) play in downtown state of the art facilities located within a stone’s throw of the dazzling Inner Harbor. It hosts the Preakness, the second jewel of the Triple Crown, and the aging Pimlico track is undergoing a major redevelopment which should rival the finest tracks in the country and promises to stabilize and, hopefully improve, the surrounding area. All these sports facilities have been almost entirely paid for by the State of Maryland in recognition of the importance of the city.

And, if you are a foodie, Baltimore is your kind of town. 

But the everyday story is about the number of murders. In April 2015, a man named Freddie Gray was arrested and placed in a paddy wagon and upon arrival at its destination, Gray was dead. Riots ensued and State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby calmed the waters by indicting six policemen as being responsible for Gray’s death. 

Mosby was lionized for her decision which she played to the hilt but, in fact, it was one awful decision. All six policemen were acquitted or the charges against them were dropped. In 2014, there were 40,000 arrests but that number plummeted to about 18,000 in 2017. And the murders took off from 211 in 2014 to well over 300 for the last 7 years.

As David Simon, the creator of the acclaimed TV show, The Wire, a former police reporter and city resident observed:  “So officers figured it out: ‘I can go to jail for making the wrong arrest, so I’m not getting out of my car to clear a corner’ and that’s exactly what happened post-Freddie Gray.”

Bad decisions are in Mosby’s DNA. In 2020, she decided not to prosecute low level offenses such as drug possession, prostitution, and public defecation. She has since bragged that violent crimes decreased because of this decision (except, oops, the increases in homicides, carjackings, bank robberies and assaults) and defended it as being the “progressive” position. This should be of small solace to the poor black neighborhoods where drug possession and drug sales are an everyday occurrence and where moms keep their children safe inside and to local shopkeepers who have to put up with the mess. Drug overdose deaths have spiked so sharply under her new policies that a specific Federal initiative was announced in October 2021 to address Baltimore’s “overdose” problem.

So what to make of Baltimore? The braying voices of talk radio claim that it is a “hellhole.” The most “pro-city” columnist in The Baltimore Sun weakly replies that it is not really a “hellhole” but it’s also not a “model city.” My friend Lorna Collins may have hit the nail on the head when she said that the city was “rudderless.” The last mayor is still in prison; the current mayor is a deer in the headlights. Competent political leadership has been AWOL for the last 10 years.

It seems clear that the current political leadership is not up to the task. Besides Marilyn Mosby, the President of the City Council is her husband and their political ally is the current mayor who has just announced his “five-year plan” to reduce the violence which, like all “five year” plans, is very likely to amount to a whole lot of nothing. At this point, one has to look to other places for relief.

But, then, amidst all the gloom and doom, there are points of light. The first President Bush was pretty roundly mocked when he called for a “Thousand Points of Light” to address problems in the country. The criticism was that “volunteer” and charitable activities were not a realistic substitute for government programs. Whatever the value of that criticism, the American experience has shown that volunteer and charitable activities are extremely important. Each of these activities can be a light shining in the darkness.

One of the first places to start is education. Public education has not fulfilled its promise in many large metropolitan areas with an impoverished population, including Baltimore. Experimentation is necessary. So, for example, Michael Bloomberg has just pledged $750 million for the charter school movement.

The intersection of 22nd St. and Greenmount Ave. is not the most desirable place to live in Baltimore. However, it is the site of Mother Seton Academy, a tuition free coed middle school for grades 6 through 8. It is supported by private donations, the most significant having been made by Renee and Steve Biscotti, the owner of the Baltimore Ravens. Students wear uniforms with the boys wearing ties, all under the watchful eye of Principal Sr. Peggy Juskelis, SSND. They are taught to look at adults directly, to extend their hands for handshakes and introduce themselves. They are successful academically and are admitted to excellent high schools.

So you say “that’s great, but it’s really a drop in the bucket” and, indeed, it is. But it is also a point of light in a dark place and for the students at Mother Seton Academy, a chance at a rewarding and purposeful life.

And Mother Seton is not the only point of light. A remarkable priest, Father William “Bill” Watters, S.J., started a middle school for boys known as Loyola Academy, founded Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and started a pre-school known as the Loyola Early Learning Center, all three in the city limits.

Last Sunday’s paper announced a $75 million program from Catholic Charities to assist the city. Those efforts will include:

• An inter-generational center in West Baltimore to support children, adults and seniors, and help 3 to 5 year olds to become ready for school and provide workforce development and behavioral health support.

• Programs for intellectually and developmentally disabled people.

• The redevelopment of the Cherry Hill Town Center in South Baltimore with a full 4,400 square-foot facility to include the first full service bank in the area, a hub for local entrepreneurs and for fresh food purveyors.

In the northern hemisphere, we are fast approaching the time when the days are darkest and there is little light. A Leonard Cohen lyric reads “there is a crack in everything and that’s how the light gets in.” In Baltimore and in many other places, we need to celebrate the lights amongst us, for “[t]he light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).