The Big Dig of Baltimore

According to the urban dictionary, one of the definitions of potholes(among a dozen more hilarious definitions) is:

forgetting what you're doing while you're doing it, or losing one's train of thought mid-sentence due to excessive marijuana consumption.

 

I think that is exactly what has led to the formation of the Big Dig of Baltimore. This is what I am calling the sink hole that has formed in the road next to a metro station. It is even carving out a portion under the Metro station, scarily enough.

 

Now this may not be the BIGGEST pothole you will ever see in  your life. What is astounding to me is two things: 1) It has been here over a year. 2) There are no safety concerns whatsoever.

 

I pass by this deliberately to see how its doing. I also want to check for any homeless people that may have fallen in and can't get out, or don't want too.

 

It is actually looking a little better as someone decided to use it to dispose of excess concrete.  There have been all sorts of interesting things showing up in there, other than the usual litter. Hair weaves, clothes,and rats.... And someone decided that a caution cone served a better purpose inside the Big Dig than out of it.

 

I also check it for Mini Coopers, Fiestas, Fiats,and Smart Cars. I pretend it is a trap. Actually, more than one poor soul has had their car jacked up by it.

 

Only in Somalia, Haiti, and South America, and now Baltimore, can you find sink holes in the road that are left there to trap cars so they can be used in the police force. Clever method, but dangerous.

 

How does Godzilla's toilet bowl miss the attention of the city?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take my city...please

Seriously, if anyone wants to comment, contriubute, add their story, either comment or send it to me and post it.

If you see material that you think should be added, feel free to add that too.

Thanks!

The tax hike...on water.

Baltimore City is on the edge of bankruptcy, like Detroit. The taxes are legally maxed out. So what do you do when you can't raise them? You create new ones.

Talk about squeezing blood from a turnip.

"Upset at the latest move to increase area water bills that would add another $21 to customers over the next three years, after recently passing a 'rain tax' and approving a Stormwater fee in last year's election; residents appeared fed up with their local officials and gave them a piece of their mind, to say the least. One local resident presented a water bill that totaled $634.17 for 84-days of usage – more than her insurance and car note combined she says. Another submitted over 600 letters of protest from her neighborhood residents, many of whom couldn't make it to the 9AM hearing."

Citizens protest tax hikes

Now a rain tax is also being implemented across Maryland, the city doesn't suck its tax love out of its thumb, considering the current governor is the former mayor.

But the rain tax is supposed to help clean the bay, but apparently the current mayor has other plans for it.

"Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has proposed to use a substantial portion of stormwater fee revenues — the "rain tax" — to lower the city's overwhelmingly high property tax."

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-05-10/news/bs-ed-rain-tax-20130509_1_rain-tax-stormwater-runoff-property-tax

Remember how I said that the city is already obscenely taxed? So instead of taking money, that is meant to manage storm water and keep pollution out of the Bay, and use it to lower property taxes, why don't you lower property taxes?

" Property tax rates in Baltimore County (outside the city) are less than half of those inside the city (1.1% versus 2.268%). The suburbs are thriving even with the center city decaying."

Blame Taxes for Baltimore's Rot

While I am making a blog, I might as well go into this week's corruption charge.

City Jail Probe Widens