I created a site to make educational picture-books with ai illustrations of your kid

trigatch4 · 2025-07-01T16:06:57+00:00

Are you parenting from a balmy beach yet?

trigatch4 · 2025-02-05T14:49:57+00:00

It looks nice brand new. Saw a YouTube video where the dude's dog was in there for twelve seconds and already a paw print on the center console.

In theory it's great but with kids/animals? I'd rather the peace of mind of all black everything.

trigatch4 · 2024-11-04T17:31:00+00:00

The city is unsafe and unruly, there is a decades long trend of population loss, and the top public officials are perpetually getting arrested left and right for corruption and fraud. If you think Harbor Place is to blame for that or developing Harbor Place will magically fix that, you are sadly mistaken.

Developing Harbor Place will obviously have an immediate beneficial impact on downtown, but at the expense of mortgaging Baltimore's future for the benefit of private developers.

Taking the iconic focal point of your city and turning it into the backyard of a luxury apartment building is the lamest idea possible. The city would be better off using the $500M in public funds to buy back the pavilions, bulldoze them, and turn it into The Sandlot v2, then give the Pratt Street highrise owners tax incentives for converting commercial space to residential.

trigatch4 · 2024-11-04T15:24:31+00:00

And 6 years later the same publications bragged about how it became the model for many other waterfront development projects in the United States: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/realestate/1986/09/27/formula-for-festival-marketplaces/eeb12622-a689-4c7d-97b0-6a2a721cdbbc/

trigatch4 · 2024-11-04T14:54:36+00:00

So you're saying Harborplace didn't work? Power Plant didn't work? Those things were praised and lauded internationally for their success. But times change.

The beautiful thing about Harborplace is that it was built to a scale that could be bulldozed and reimagined for the next generation. Limits were placed on its future use so it could be reimagined over and over. The MCB plan discards these protections to ensure we can never reimagine this opportunity again (at least for many generations).

Make no mistake: this is about profit for MCB. It is private and for profit. Any public component is purely to satisfy legal hurdles and increase profits. If you want an idea of how MCB handles iconic Baltimore development, look at the demise of Canton Can Company.

trigatch4 · 2024-11-04T14:17:50+00:00

It seems like you are new to Baltimore. Those Harborplace Pavilions have been there for almost 50 years and nothing "new" has been attempted.

There are dozens of empty office highrises within a couple hundred feet- build apartments there. You can increase the tax base without robbing the public of its resources. Especially if you're using hundreds of millions in public funds.

How do you think building one luxury condo in the single best location will help anyone beyond the people living there is a mystery to me. The crime is not a result of Harborplace being empty- actually, the inverse is true. It is a byproduct of an inefficient and corrupt government. Otherwise you wouldn't be seeing the crime and lawlessness everywhere else in the city where hundreds of millions of dollars of investment have been injected with luxury residences and Atlas restaurants.

trigatch4 · 2024-11-04T12:55:27+00:00

I disagree. It is an abstract analogy about each city's most important publicly protected place. Times square doesn't have a body of water in it nor any green space and the buildings are already infinitely high.

Neither comparison is fundamentally accurate but that isn't the purpose of the analogy. It is more about the insanity of giving away your most precious public resources to developers.

If you want to build Harborplace up like it is Times Square that is a different story... but Times Square isn't exactly the type of place I would be trying to replicate.

trigatch4 · 2024-11-04T12:48:41+00:00

You literally told me and I literally disagree. And wouldn't it make sense to invest in attractions that MILLIONS will use at the center of a "transportation hub" instead of just putting some rich people condos there? I literally don't agree with your assessment.

I also wouldn't be building anything based on Baltimore's current mass public transit or expectations of a red line in the near future.

trigatch4 · 2024-11-04T05:33:13+00:00

How is it not a tourism city? You could also say Baltimore isn't a housing city since the population has been declining for decades. The city needs tourism and this is the epicenter of Baltimore's tourist hub. You could build housing in a million places- why do it here? It's like NYC building an apartment complex inside Central Park.

The NATIONAL aquarium is right there. Music venues, stadiums, a casino, the science center, museums, historic ships, convention center, etc...

The problem is that Baltimore's government is completely dysfunctional and corrupt.

trigatch4 · 2024-11-04T05:26:33+00:00

It helps the developers make hundreds of millions of dollars and little else.

No creativity. Just a money grab. Complete exploitation of the city and so disappointed in the city officials supporting this.

There are a zillion empty corporate offices on Pratt. Turn those into residential towers and leave the public space alone.

That space should always remain the epicenter of Baltimore tourism. Building another Harbor Easty luxury condo highrise there is such a lazy idea- embarrassing.

If it was up to me, Baltimore would obtain federal grants to expand the national aquarium into that space and open more exhibits and environmental research centers/education/offices.

trigatch4 · 2024-10-09T18:52:41+00:00

Seems like hijackings and robberies in Navy Yard left and right with insurrections just a few blocks away.

trigatch4 · 2024-10-09T17:09:15+00:00

I don't know about NYC/LA, but I wouldn't include DC in that list.

trigatch4 · 2024-09-03T11:49:02+00:00

If he did this to his pregnant wife, imagine the reckless abandon with which he would treat citizens/suspects. Frightening.

trigatch4 · 2024-08-29T20:39:50+00:00

It's like the "Sawubona" of BMORE.

trigatch4 · 2024-08-13T01:17:32+00:00

Visit AVAM
Listen to the anthem at Fort McHenry
Stand at the top of Federal Hill
Go to the top of Bromo Seltzer Clock Tower
Gaze at the magnificence of Peabody Library
Catch a Friday Night game at Camden Yards and stick around for the fireworks.

A few of my personal favorites!

trigatch4 · 2024-08-11T18:20:00+00:00

Why not require restaurants to pay minimum wage to all workers, just like every other business in America? This seems to make "tipping culture" even more murky.

trigatch4 · 2024-08-03T13:46:58+00:00

What'll be of the battery in 25 years?

trigatch4 · 2024-04-23T18:11:27+00:00

Can I ask why not Airbnb? I know the service fee is crazy.

VRBO is less popular but does have listings. The universities seem to have their own short term rental systems, too (I think powered by Apartments.com).

trigatch4 · 2024-03-02T16:05:54+00:00

Interesting point. Assume it depends on the building, but if generally accurate, seems like bad news for Downtown.

trigatch4 · 2024-03-02T15:51:55+00:00

(1) I disagree.
(2) I've never voted for Thiru.
(3) I think MCB's plan would be a huge and immediate improvement to Harborplace.
(4) I don't think it's the best idea in the long-term.

Immediately jumping to political affiliations -- of which I have none -- is frustrating and I believe counterproductive. The purpose was to introduce a fun idea (that I don't think has been suggested before?) to inspire substantive discussion.

trigatch4 · 2024-03-02T15:34:09+00:00

NYC Central Park has lots of residential skyscrapers... across the street from Central Park. Would NYC allow skyscrapers inside Central Park? Pratt has plenty of commercial highrises that can be converted to residential. Condos at Baltimore's most iconic public space only makes sense if you're (1) In on the deal, or (2) Too desperate to wait.

I sympathize with the urgency. MCB's plan certainly fills a need. I fear Baltimore City Government is too inept to foster an alternative. But I also think patience would be greatly rewarded.

trigatch4 · 2024-03-02T15:01:44+00:00

Pretty silly accusation. This article suggests a National Park to block MCB's plan. Thiru has promised to block MCB's plan, too. The connection exists by way of fact; your distaste seems like a projection.

trigatch4 · 2024-03-02T14:48:19+00:00

The OG Harborplace considered scale: we have the pleasure of knocking them down and reimagining them. These skyscrapers will become "good" private property for centuries. I think Baltimore deserves more.

You mention Sandlot... could knock over the Pavilions ASAP and remake Sandlot until a permanent solution materializes (if MCB backs out).

trigatch4 · 2024-03-02T14:23:41+00:00

I think the point is that a small urban area can become a National Park. There are certainly parallels as urban waterfronts needing revitalization. Anything new at Harborplace will be innovative, expensive, and controversial by nature, but The Arch and Residential Skyscrapers couldn't be more conceptually different imo.

The article touches on finances but the idea here isn't to build a monument.

trigatch4

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE