A fresh analysis of $670 million of budgeted capital projects in Baltimore found that predominantly white neighborhoods were slated for almost twice as much spending over the past five years as mostly minority parts of the city.
The findings exemplify how Baltimore continues to be shaped by a long legacy of racial segregation, according to the city Planning Department staffers who conducted the study. That legacy left Baltimore a divided city with largely black neighborhoods flanking a ribbon of largely white areas in the middle.
“This reflects what people feel, but it’s surprising to see it in numbers like this,” said Kristen Ahearn, one of the city planners involved in the project.
Money in the capital budget shapes the city’s public spaces — helping to renovate schools, libraries and museums, upgrade community centers, pave streets and overhaul sewer lines. This year, the city is budgeted to spend $1.1 billion on such projects.
Over the past five years, the budget allocated an average of $15 million for projects in Baltimore neighborhoods where more than 75 percent of residents are white. In areas where more than 75 percent of people are minorities, the figure was $8 million.
The Planning Department also compared parts of Baltimore with differing rates of poverty and found a similar pattern. The average neighborhood with more than 40 percent of residents below the poverty line was allocated $3.5 million in funding, while areas where fewer than 20 percent of residents lived in poverty received $14 million.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Ian Duncan over at the Baltimore Sun
