By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com
A charter amendment question seeking to halt MCB Real Estate’s $900-million redevelopment of Harborplace will not be on Baltimore ballots this fall. The Protect Our Parks petition, spearheaded by former mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah, failed to garner enough signatures to meet the Baltimore City Board of Election’s 4:30 p.m. deadline on July 29.
The initiative sought to create a system of city parks dedicated to public use that would prohibit private and commercial development. The proposed system included the 34-acre Inner Harbor Park, the site of Harborplace’s transformation. It required 10,000 signatures to make the ballot.
“It’s gratifying that Baltimoreans were unwilling to get behind Thiru’s effort to stop the redevelopment of Harborplace, even with his campaign misleading them by saying it was about saving parks,” wrote John Laria, chair of the Baltimore for a New Harborplace ballot issue committee, in a statement to the AFRO. “Ironically, the MCB plan for Harborplace will add more public open space than exists today, for everyone to appreciate and enjoy. We’ll be telling the true story as we promote the City-approved ballot question that will help bring Harborplace back to life.”
Critics of the failed petition believe it was deceptively marketed as an effort to safeguard Baltimore’s parks rather than a blatant attack on the development plan for Harborplace.
If the ballot question passed, it would have barred residential development, private office space and buildings taller than 100 feet. The limitations would have interfered with multiple components of the Harborplace proposal, led by MCB Real Estate co-founder P. David Bramble.
His plan calls for the demolition of the current pavilions to develop a waterfront park, two-tiered promenade, amphitheater, mixed-used commercial buildings and two high-rise residential towers.
In March, Mayor Brandon Scott signed legislation to alter zoning regulations, the city charter and urban renewal plan for the Harborplace overhaul. In November, Baltimore City voters will choose whether to approve the charter amendment, which would permit residential development and parking in the Inner Harbor. The Protect Our Park petition would have countered that if it made the ballot.
Maryland State Senator Antonio Hayes (D-40) expressed his disapproval of Vignarajah’s petition drive in a July 21 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I am told people are out at the downtown farmers market lying. Getting people to sign a petition to protect city parks from development, and it’s really about stopping progress at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor,” wrote Hayes. “Beware of these imposters.”
The Inner Harbor Coalition, a group dedicated to preserving the waterfront hub for public use, has also opposed Bramble’s redevelopment. Leader Michael Brassert said the organization will continue its campaign urging Baltimoreans to vote no on the Harborplace ballot question.
“We maintain that there should be a holistic master plan that includes downtown, the convention center, the stadiums and the Inner Harbor,” wrote Brassert in a statement to the AFRO. “There should be an open concept competition for Harborplace and the city should consult with economists, urban planners and architects to find an appropriate and affordable plan. We should not have to settle on one mediocre plan that was cooked up in a backroom deal that privatizes our public land.”Vignarajah did not respond to the AFRO’s request for comment.
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