Here's a fix for rescuing Baltimore from its cycle of poverty

Cities like Baltimore are trapped by their budgets. It's time to give them a lifeline.

The neighborhood in Baltimore where Freddie Gray was arrested.

Over in The New Republic last week, Suzy Khimm had a rather poignant article about the fiscal bind the state government of Maryland and the city government of Baltimore find themselves in.

While the riots that rocked the city were sparked by the brutal death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, they also shined a light on the economic neglect of many of Baltimore's poorer areas. In Gray's community of Sandtown-Winchester and other neighborhoods in West Baltimore, four community recreation centers have been shut down since 2010, and another 10 have been handed over to the private sector, all thanks to budget constraints. Baltimore officials have coalesced around the idea of expanding a summer jobs program to take in 3,000 young people. But even the modest $4.5 million required for that idea does not appear to be in the offering of the city's budget.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.