Greetings!
 
The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) is pleased to provide the Greater Baltimore business community with resources to inform participation in the upcoming Baltimore City elections.
 
The campaign highlights responses of leading candidates in the races for Mayor and City Council President to the policy priorities that we believe will help advance the City at a challenging time in its history.
 
This week’s edition of In Their Words highlights the policy priority of inclusive economic development and specifically asks the candidates to outline the policies or programs they would implement to attract new residents and businesses to Baltimore and also to retain existing businesses and residents. Because successful economic development in the City will require both new growth and retention and expansion, this week’s edition features a two-part response.
 
The GBC does not endorse candidates; however, we are committed to informing voters about the upcoming election and encouraging all city voters to vote in the June 2 election. 
 
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at donaldf@gbc.org .
 
Be safe, stay healthy and positive.
 
Sincerely,
Donald C. Fry
Donald C. Fry
President & CEO
Policy Priority

Implement strategic and inclusive economic development strategies to attract and retain businesses and residents.

Questions

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage businesses and residents to move to Baltimore City?
 
What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage existing businesses and residents to stay and expand in Baltimore City?

*Some of the following responses have been excerpted due to length. Please visit the  candidate questionnaires  at GBC.org to see full responses.


What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage businesses and residents to move to Baltimore City?
 
"Over the past few years, our population has steadily declined from over 1 million residents to just over 600,000. We are losing residents to the surrounding counties due to the sharp rise in crime, and the decline in the quality of our schools. We have to stabilize our population by first providing the basic city services that every resident can appreciate such as safer and cleaner streets. We have to use tools such as TIFs and PLAs in responsible ways to replenish our communities in ways that work for the citizens as well as attracts businesses to our city."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage existing businesses and residents to stay and expand in Baltimore City?
 
"We must support and retain businesses that reflect our communities. I will remove barriers for minority and small business development By first merging the Minority and Women's Business Opportunity Office and the Mayor's Office of Minority and Women business development to better support minority businesses and connect them to procurement opportunities. I would also expand access to city contracts – making city process and contracts more transparent and accessible. Included in this, I would establish an independent review of bids and greater due process. I would also Increase opportunities with the Housing Authority by bringing that bidding process under the Board of Estimates. I would also work to make the process equitable by require all firms with city contracts of $5million or more to report on their M/WBE participation."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage businesses and residents to move to Baltimore City?
               
"We will not be successful in attracting new businesses and residents to move to Baltimore if we don’t solve the crime problem. That has to be top of list. However, as Mayor I would concurrently develop a strong economic development plan that includes industry sector workforce development, maintaining a ready inventory of properties and sites available for occupancy or development, creating a more robust Small Business Resource Center to offer comprehensive services to start ups, and leveraging pubic dollars for more significant private sector investment. These ideas are part of a bigger plan I will unveil called 'Inclusive Growth.' As Mayor I would never miss the chance to welcome a new employer to our city."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage existing businesses and residents to stay and expand in Baltimore City?

"As Mayor, I would reach out to existing employers and residents with regular updates on our progress reducing crime and ask them what the City can do better to serve their needs and remove barriers to growth. The economic development plan described above should also address existing businesses and residents, with a particular focus on reaching underinvested areas of the city and residents who have not prospered. As Mayor I would focus on equitable and efficient delivery of city services to improve the quality of life in the City. We need to make our city government much more hospitable to growth."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage businesses and residents to move to Baltimore City?
               
"As Mayor, I am committed to implementing strategies that encourage businesses and residents to move to Baltimore City. My first priority is to invest in programs and policies that will radically transform and rapidly improve the quality of basic city services. We are not going to be able to attract new businesses or residents if core city services are not reliably provided, or if people do not trust our elected officials and institutions. Businesses and residents will be more inclined to relocate to the City if they can be sure that the streets are paved, trash is picked up on time, and constituent issues are handled in an efficient and equitable manner. We must start with the basics.
 
We must also consider the transportation crisis this City faces. Too many residents are left without a car, nor a reliable public transportation system to get them to and from work. It will be a top priority in my administration to rapidly increase funding for shared mobility options by leveraging local dollars to increase state and federal funding. On this front, I look forward to standing with GBC as it advocates for improved transit and transportation options for Baltimore City and the region."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage existing businesses and residents to stay and expand in Baltimore City?
 
"As mayor, I am committed to exploring as many viable policy and program options as possible to encourage existing businesses and residents to stay and expand in Baltimore City. Some of these proposals include: a second location business grant, expanding BDC’s small business incubator - including expanding seed funding options, and expedited permitting opportunities for good faith business owners. Additionally, I am committed to establishing a formal workgroup that maintains an open dialogue across Baltimore’s businesses to better understand their role in our local economy and what they need to support sustainable economic development in our communities.
 
Every Baltimorean deserves to live in a competently functioning City, where they can have faith in their local elected officials and the delivery of basic services. Crime and the condition of our neighborhoods go hand-in-hand. Vacant buildings, empty lots, and businesses that operate as fronts for illegal activity create an atmosphere that gives way to drug use, dumping, and violence in our neighborhoods. As a city, we can better coordinate our efforts to provide housing stability, make our code enforcement system more responsive, hold absentee landlords accountable, better maintain vacant lots, and end lead poisoning in the City of Baltimore once and for all. We have our work cut out for us, but I believe we can make great progress when we acknowledge our challenges honestly and set out to move the needle."

Read full responses to both questions  here .

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage businesses and residents to move to Baltimore City?
               
"My administration will work with the Baltimore City Schools’ superintendent to help create pathways for graduates to develop skills that align with the workforce needs. By creating a more replete pool of qualified candidates Baltimore will be more desirable to potential businesses looking to invest in the city. 
 
In addition I will invest in existing and new industries by simplifying the process for businesses and developers to build, open new businesses, or reinvest in existing ones. We will appeal to private-sector investment by convening a work group to determine their respective needs and outline a plan to expedite implementation. This effort will be intentional so that communities that have long been underserved will benefit from an infusion of capital investments. It’s important to make the investment in opportunity zones so that those become the anchor communities that begin Baltimore’s renaissance. As Mayor I will also be intentional in using Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) as a tool to create investment opportunities in neglected communities."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage existing businesses and residents to stay and expand in Baltimore City?
 
"Under my administration, I will meet with business owners in Baltimore to hear their concerns. This is a partnership and we must ensure we treat the relationship as such. I will direct my administration to conduct a full review of existing projects as well as dormant ones and devise strategies to aggressively focus on redevelopment and revitalization. For instance, the area surrounding Lexington Market should not only be a safe place for visitors and residents to patronize, but it should be expanded with a focus on foot/bike traffic with new development and a new vision. To borrow a term from education, I will use the Individual Development Plan to focus on areas surrounding redevelopment to ensure we are offering a sustainable path to the greater community and the investors. We will invest in small businesses and support them through key initiatives that will allow the small business sector to grow while ensuring larger companies have a place in Baltimore.
 
My administration will also prioritize vacant dwellings and offer comprehensive incentive packages to offload these properties. We will be aggressive and creative with revitalization. We also want to focus on new business and not simply business that will move from one part of the city to another, hence creating another vacancy."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage businesses and residents to move to Baltimore City?
 
"There is no better measure of a city’s healthy than whether people are coming or going, and right now people are leaving Baltimore City in droves. This should come as no surprise: we expect families to pay twice as much in taxes for their children to have a higher chance of getting shot on their way to a failing school with no heat or air conditioning.
 
We will fundamentally alter this calculus by cutting property taxes in half over ten years; by dramatically reducing violent crime across the city; by guaranteeing universal pre-K for every three- and four-year-old child; and by providing debt-free higher education to all graduates of Baltimore City public schools."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage existing businesses and residents to stay and expand in Baltimore City?

"As we have said above, we will reduce property taxes, cut violent crime and improve education to encourage existing residents and businesses to remain. In addition, we will alter the rhetoric around business. Too many city politicians have cast business as the enemy of Baltimore, when in fact they are key to its future. Business leaders will not be asked to foot the bill for squeegee boys; they will not be expected to rely on private security to keep their offices and employees safe; and it will not be assumed that they will send their children somewhere besides Baltimore City public schools for a quality education."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage businesses and residents to move to Baltimore City?
 
"Flourishing communities start with our small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy and hire local residents. Creating jobs and connecting people with jobs is the stepping stone to so many other improvements in our communities, whether that’s reducing crime or keeping kids in schools.
 
We want to drive development into neighborhoods that haven’t seen it. We are doing major development across the city, including mixed income and affordable unit developments.
 
I don’t believe in tearing everything down, nor do I believe in standing in the way of community redevelopment. Development in our neighborhoods creates jobs and rebuilds our communities."

What strategies or programs would you put into place to encourage existing businesses and residents to stay and expand in Baltimore City?
 
"Lowering crime is the number one thing we can do to retain businesses and residents in our city.
 
I am working every day to implement my crime plan and make Baltimore a safer city.
 
We also need to fully fund the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations in order to invest in and improve our K-12 education, so that business owners and entrepreneurs do not feel the need to leave our city to give their children a quality education and so our children are ready to compete in the 21-st century job market.
 
As well, I continue to work with the business community to create public-private partnerships that will continue to advance Baltimore, leveraging our local institutions to invest in our citizens."
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