Under Armour on the Rise

Under Armour continues its steady rise as a major sports brand. A couple of recent articles from The Sun are interesting. One analyst sees them becoming the number two sports apparel behind Nike. The worst kept secret in town is that Kevin Plank is buying up land in the Port Covington area and fueling speculation of a second Under Armour campus on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco.
Locust Point has evolved into a company town for Under Armour. Occupying the  former Procter and Gamble plant where Tide and the like was once made, the transformation of this industrial waterfront community is remarkable. The loss of  solid working class jobs has been tough on Charm City, but this creative reuse of industrial property is a great story. The former soap plant now employs more people than it ever did and at higher wages as well. Maryland grad and Under Armur CEO is a bit of a local hero, and for good reason.

Popular Mechanics Lists Best Startup Cities in US - Baltimore is number 5

Popular Mechanics recently ranked best start-up cities and Charm City made the list at number 5. The growing entrepreneurial climate of GenXers and Millennials in this town has been a pleasure to observe the last number of years, and it seems some outsiders are taking notice.
From the article....

 Under Armour launched here in 1998 with a handful of employees—it now has more than 1,300. In 1999, Emerging Technology Centers opened in the historic Canton neighborhood in the 19th-century brick buildings formerly occupied by a can manufacturer. In 15 years the business incubator and accelerator has aided more than 350 companies that have attracted $1.6 billion in investments. In the past two years seven more accelerators have opened in Baltimore.

Port Discovery Children’s Museum Ranked Top 10 By Fodor’s Travel

Fodor's travel has ranked Port Discovery as a top ten children's museum. This place is kind of an under the radar Baltimore attraction. Located in the old Fish Market building, it replaced a poorly done "Nightclub Mall" called the Fishmarket that went bust in about a year back in the late 80's. The area now is quite lively with the Cordish Power Plant Live. Many of the exhibits were designed by a Disney subsidiary 20 or so years ago and the attraction has actually aged well and holds its own up against the better known National Aquarium and Maryland Science Center. My kids have fun here...lots of creative play and old fashioned fun.

Baltimore Ranks Fourth for African-American Economic Status

One of the best things about The Wire was the well-developed African-American characters on both sides of the law. The wonderfully fleshed out development of each character avoided so many of the awful stereotypes most of Hollywood's product usually spits out. The criminals were interesting people where the viewer gets to explore their humanity. Even more valuable was the many black characters on the right side of the law. Teachers, cops, politicians, lawyers, social workers, and so on are shown as complex working people in a way rarely seen.
Unfortunately, this aspect of the show is often lost in The Narrative that people use when they dis Baltimore...pretty much that it is full of scary black thugs. Props to The Wire for finally having a host of interesting and complex black characters...and shame on viewers who do not see them.
A recent article in Forbes magazine ranking African-American economic status by metro area has Baltimore coming in at number four. Yes, Baltimore has lots of poverty and it is disproportionally found among African-Americans. However there is a  large black middle class (and above) who are doing just fine (or at least  struggling along with rest of us).

We Are Doing Just Fine, Thank You

Baltimore often gets lumped in with rust belt cities such as Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, and the like. These cities have suffered the economic blow-back of the post industrial era. The Wire reinforces this image with its portrayal of devastated inner city neighborhoods (an accurate one for the most part) and a port in decline in season 2 ( not accurate at all). Baltimore City itself has plenty of struggles it is trying to overcome, but the Metro area as  a whole is doing way better than its supposed rust belt counterparts. The US Census Bureau data below shows just how well the overall area is doing. Baltimore Metro has the fourth highest median household income in the United States; hanging around with the likes of D.C., Boston, Seattle, and NYC. When one considers how much cheaper real estate is compared to these other cities denizens of the area get a bit more bang for their buck. Obviously the city proper lags behind the rest of the area but it bodes well for the future of the city as the re-urbanization trend continues and the region is so rich with resources.

Senator Theater is a North Baltimore Gem

The recent renovations by the Cusack family of the Senator have not gone unnoticed.  MSN Travel just named this North Baltimore gem a top ten historic theater. We prefer it to the megaplex because of the cool art deco vibe. We also like that in the decades old tradition of the Cusacks' other movie palace (The Charles) popcorn, soda, and snacks are reasonably sized and priced. The kids love it too.

The Wire in gentrifying Brooklyn

The Wire meets gentrifying Brooklyn....Hilarious

North Avenue Evolving

The slow but steady transformation of the Penn-North area over the years has been a pleasure to witness. Expert on all things Baltimore Jacques Kelly wrote a column profiling one of the people working tirelessly to bring about these changes. And here is an interview with Thomas Dolby who has come to Baltimore to head up Johns Hopkins' Program in Sound and Film at Station North. Unfortunately, he has had to deal with the uncharming part of Charm City already.
 The area around Charles Street and North Avenue  has a long way to go, but the idea of anyone even considering it a destination would have been laughable not so long ago. Some sort of award should be given to The Charles Theater, Depot Nightclub, and Club Charles for sticking it out all these years.
Having hung out in all three places "back in the day" (um...the 80s/90s) I am glad to see them still around.

A few years ago I was attending a conference in Toronto. During the usual small talk around the lunch table a typically nice and polite young Canadian gentleman asked where I was from. When I said "Baltimore" he looked at me like I had two heads, well as much as a polite Canadian could. "But, um, is it really like I see on The Wire?" Just about any traveling  Baltimorean has suffered this scenario.  
The Wire was fantastic television. I was one of the few people who actually watched every episode when they originally aired on HBO. The combination of great story telling and seeing local film-making talent shine made me look forward to every episode.
The show has become more popular since it went off the air, both here and abroad. As a result a narrative of Baltimore as some sort of post-modern hellscape has emerged in the ensuing years. Thoughtful consumers of The Wire certainly understand the show was commenting on America in general and Baltimore served well as a backdrop. For too many people, however, the despair and dysfunction has become The Narrative for Baltimore itself.
The stock answer Baltimoreans say,"It's really not that bad." We try not roll their eyes and our internal dialogue is something like, "You know that show wasn't a effin documentary, right?"
So, really it is not that bad here in Charm City. This blog will try to show some what's going right in these parts.