Find a facility that hasn’t had a string of safety and mismanagement issues?

It literally exploded the other day, if I’m not mistaken?

Don’t even get me started about how much damage was done to EPA under the previous administration. Do I expect them to maintain rigorous licensing standards? It strikes me that the plant should be on a watch list at this point, if anything.

Tbh, it kind of seems like Norfolk Southern was trying to get this stuff into others' hands as fast as possible, ideally without local communities becoming aware of it.

One article I read says the water is/was slated to come in as early as this Thursday. This is a very real-time situation.

I am glad Scott took this action today, but honestly I would have preferred to see this happen in an even more preemptive way. We all know that Back River is a... wait for it...

Shit show.

I spent around an hour calling various elected officials' offices today. It sounds like a lot of people did same. I'm very happy to see this response from the Mayor.

I simply do not trust the local processing plant involved, period. I don't trust that they will make a full, safe and proper evaluation of the "treated" water coming from Clean Harbors.

They need to find a top-notch facility to work with, not one that is already experiencing a bevy of issues when it comes to their day-to-day operations.

It's also extremely concerning to hear about the major contamination of latex chemicals into a Delaware River tributary that happened just north of us, affecting a huge portion of the Philadelphia area and millions of residents. The "buy water, don't buy water, buy water, don't buy water" messaging from local officials is god damn ridiculous.

We need to push back on corporations in a big way in this country. I've made a career of selling and doing business, with essentially every type of organization across the spectrum of affiliations, politics, interest groups, brands, etc.

I have no inherent problems with capitalism and a market economy, coupled with using the proceeds of that efficient system to make investments in society (for the sake of the citizenry) and broad-based social welfare programs. What we live in today is not even close to a properly-functioning version of that. It's much closer to oligarchical corporate fascism.

Please engage with your officials. It's so easy to call their offices and take 2 minutes to speak to an aid, or leave a quick voicemail. It really does work, if enough people do it. We really do run things – corruption and malfeasance thrive when we are convinced that this isn't the case. But we really do have the numbers.

Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Constituent Services: 410-396-4900

Maryland Rep Lookup: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Members/District

Senator Chris Van Hollen Contact: https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/contact/office-locations

Senator Ben Cardin Contact: https://www.cardin.senate.gov/contact/

US House Rep Lookup: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

The EPA was eviscerated during the Trump admin, and was literally turned into an anti-environmental regulation agency.

It's not as easy to put something back together as it is to break it. We have no real reason to trust the viability of the EPA in carrying out its mission at this point.

Call your reps, call the Mayor’s office, call the Governor’s office, and tell them this is INSANE.

Sending hazardous waste to be processed by a plant that has a string of major problems, what the FUCK.

Call your reps, the mayor’s office, and the governor’s office. This is insane. There’s no reason to believe this company can manage this job safely based on the track record. My god.

This: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/starbucks-los-angeles-philadelphia-accused-of-racism/

They opened the bathrooms, but it looks like they’ve changed the policy since: https://www.inquirer.com/news/starbucks-bathroom-policy-philadelphia-20220713.html?outputType=amp

Curious what these are in your estimation? I just started going, after learning that Ceremony had a location there.

With them and Firefly leaving, I don't think I'll have a reason to make it a destination moving forward.

I just discovered them recently, dang it.

Oh well. The only constant is change, as they say.

I'm glad that The Wine Source carries Ceremony, but sometimes they are out of fresher bags, and it takes me a while to go through them, so I don't buy them if they were roasted more than 7-10 days previously.

Doesn't Starbucks have a policy nationwide as of a few years ago after that situation that got some coverage, where they now give the bathroom access code to anyone who asks for it?

Or did this change?

The spy gear butt capsules may have been my favorite element.

I'll say this -- compared to a few of the last Mayors we've had, he seems like a major improvement, at least based on him not being involved with literal crimes (that I know of?)

I would vote for him again at the current rate, just to give him some more time to move things forward. Like you, I don't think expecting miracles in one term is terribly realistic.

With that said, I'd still be interested to learn what things he's done that some folks find genuinely incompetent.

Can you give a few examples of his policies you find to be incompetent? I don't feel I have a great read on what he's actually been up to while in office, frankly.

I do generally find him to be thoughtful when speaking on complex issues. But that's not policy.

We're going to need cameras in bathrooms to look out for people who are installing cameras in bathrooms! Oy vey. Not pleasant all around.

Like we need our AIs to be any more douchey and racist, FFS.

He's probably going to train it exclusively on Dilbert comics.

I wouldn’t want to do it, and I’m a middle-aged male for what it’s worth.

If you do have to do it, maintain situational awareness at all times.

After dark, though? Thanks but no thanks.

Honestly, if you compare the price of what you're getting (not looking at the location for a second) to the prices for places in DC, Boston, Philly, NYC, or other 1st and 2nd-tier cities around the country? $200K all in is not really too bad at all. The same physical setup would easily be a million plus in NYC (maybe closer to 2), as a frame of reference, and that's BK or Queens or the Bronx.

Baltimore punches above its weight in many ways, in terms of what you get access to. You're in the NE sprawl, one of the most vibrant economic hubs on the planet. You're a cheap MARC ride to DC, and on the Amtrak NE corridor. You're on 95. Baltimore metro region is not small in the scheme of things, plenty of local opportunities.

Is a $200K investment in a small home in a pretty significant metro area a better option than in some other places, from an economic perspective? Absolutely, in some circumstances, IMHO. Just know what your schools are like if you have kids, and add private school to the bill if you don't want to tolerate what may be a really challenging learning environment in the public system.

My gut (no pun intended) says you're definitely getting close to $150K said and done, and it's a 6-9 month project. This is if you don't do any work yourself, and have a general contractor.

My frame of reference is having my row home (looks similar in size, something like 1100 square feet) about half-gutted and redone maybe 7ish years ago, and this included replacing most of the kitchen including appliances, floor, and cabinets, moving my main bathroom (so a total re-do), and then adding a half bath/powder room.

I didn't do my flooring and a couple rooms, which I kind of regret in retrospect. I didn't have to do a furnace and water heater (although I have replaced my water heater, and that's not cheap).

Prices have gone up a ton since then, with building materials and such pretty heavily impacted from what I understand.

All in all, my biggest takeaway is that she sounds like a terrific person who values service. We need more like her, as well as to recognize more people with such a spirit!

Glad to see her be recognized. :)

My experience has been that residents of the USA often like to simplify and "cartoonize" things.

As you said, there is a ton of diversity across the Americas, ranging from indigenous peoples to the descendants of European immigrants, not to mention more recent immigrants (from around the world), people with mixed heritages, etc.

It's nuanced, and country of origin does not tell the whole story, obviously. Just like here in the US.

They don't call it Charm City for nothin'! Quite chill socially, I'd say.

Yeah, but that's the speed drop for people who are issued warnings or citations, not everyone driving by. Quite obviously, average speeds have slowed down considerably where the cameras are installed.

More power to you! :-) And thanks for the fantastic broadcasting over the years, you've been a great presence at WYPR, from a listener-member's perspective.

One way to look at this is serious validation for your approach. Now, I'm not an academic myself – I know how it works, and that "first" is important, in that realm.

As others have said, acknowledging the concurrent research and mutual citations seems a reasonable approach forward.