If you missed this weekend’s Baltimore Book Festival, spread all around the Inner Harbor, then shame on you. All who despair over conditions in the city of Baltimore, it would have made your hearts swell just to stroll about.
Of course, there’s also that business of the city’s homicide rate, but …
But listen, there were tens upon tens of thousands of people packing the festival, and the vibe was wonderful, and so was the food and so were the scores of authors with their books, and the young people over on Rash Field playing games of volleyball, and children romping about.
Of course, there’s also that business of the city’s failing public schools, but …
But listen, you’d have enjoyed listening to all the writers who descended on the festival for the glad weekend, who waxed eloquently about their books and their thoughts about life. It almost made you recall the hopeful municipal slogan of the Kurt Schmoke mayoral years: The City That Reads.
Of course, there’s also that business about Harborplace itself, but …
But you haven’t been to Harborplace for a while, have you? A few decades back, it was the symbol of a new day in downtown Baltimore, and a new pride in the city, and it drew millions of tourists and their money here.
Now the Harborplace pavilions are symbols of municipal neglect, of something that once felt like a year-round World’s Fair that inexplicably shut down before its time. Oh, Harborplace is still there – at least, what’s left of it. But the two pavilions are pitiful shadows of their former selves. Venture inside only if you wish to feel lonely.
And that business of crime in the city? Well, yeah, there was that report last week that Baltimore had the worst homicide rate among the nation’s 50 largest cities last year and the second-highest violent crime rate.
And that business of the failing public schools? Well, yeah, over the weekend The Sun reported there are so many aging roofs, rusted pipes, cracking steps and broken elevators that the schools have a maintenance backlog of nearly $3 billion – which is more than double the system’s annual operating budget.
And yet, and yet …
There were the big weekend crowds at the festival. And just west of those crowds, there were about 25,000 who gathered to watch the hapless Orioles close out their season. And, just east of the festival, at Harbor East and in Fells Point, there were thousands more, and it felt like glad times were here.
All of which is a reminder: like any big city, Baltimore is more than one city. There are places to lift your heart, and places to avoid. Its problems are no secret, but its virtues aren’t either, if we just pause to enjoy them.
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A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books. His most recent, “Front Stoops in the Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come of Age,” published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, is now in paperback.
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