Taps Coogan – June 20th, 2021
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First we looked at Chicago, then Philadelphia, Detroit, and Milwaukee, and now our tour of Rust-Belt cities takes us to Baltimore.
At the nation’s founding, Baltimore was the fifth most populous city in the nation and the city rose to the second most populous in the nation by the mid-1800s. Until the mid-20th century, Baltimore remained a global ship building and industrial powerhouse. It was responsible for constructing hundreds of naval ships in World War II and boasted the largest steel mill in the world until 1960, the Sparrow’s Point Shipyard.
The city’s population began to decline in the 1960s as the steel industry fell into decline. It’s famous Sparrow’s Point Shipyard and Steel Mill failed to modernize sufficiently quickly and couldn’t compete with other producers both domestic and foreign. It changed hands repeatedly over the decades, eventually ending in bankruptcy in 2012. It is now an Amazon fulfillment center.
The city now boasts the highest robbery rate in the nation by quite a margin and the second highest murder rate. The situation has become so dire that dozens of business are currently threatening a tax revolt unless basic public safety measures are re-established.
Not only has the city not had a Republican mayor since 1967, no Republican candidate has received more than 25% of the vote since then.
Next stop on our tour will be… St. Louis.
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As someone who lives in Baltimore, I can tell you that the political party of the mayor has sweet f**k-all to do with the population decline. I has to do with the total loss of living-wage, low-skill jobs (both blue- and white-collar) thanks to globalization (steel, shipbuilding, manufacturing), consolidation (banking, insurance) and technology (freight containerization). The economic implosion and follow-on effects from that is what has caused the exodus. I have not heard anything from any politician that would even begin to address it, and barring a solution that will restore those jobs the situation will not change. But I… Read more »
Not all cities have experienced Baltimore’s population and economic decline. This is not a particularly partisan site. Long time readers know don’t really do politics. But from time to time, when I see something stark like, like let’s say, all the large cities in the US that have declining populations share one notable political feature, I might just point it out, and then move on to other things. Here some things that we can apparently both agree about: Baltimore has seen the loss of living wages and industry, Baltimore never elects republicans, you’re from Baltimore, you’ve never heard a politician… Read more »