Future City

In this hour, Wes turns a critical eye toward public transit. He speaks with transportation expert and Harvard Business School Professor, Rosabeth Kanter. He then talks with Alex Fischer of the Columbus Partnership about how the private sector can be vital to developing Smart transit systems. Turning back to to Baltimore – he speaks with Jimmy Rouse of the Baltimore Transit Campaign and with Samuel Jordan of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition. Finally, he'll talk with Liz Cornish of Bikemore about how biking connects diverse communities. Baltimore has notoriously poor public transit - what does the future of transportation look like for our city?  

Guests on this program include: 

Wes looks to Boston, where a clean harbor and a growing urban agriculture initiative are turning the city into a prime example of what a Green City can look like. The first half of the show focuses on urban agriculture; Wes talks with Green City Growers, the company responsible for implementing a vegetable garden on top of Fenway Park. Back in Baltimore, Wes talks with the Farm Alliance of Baltimore and The Baltimore Orchard Project. Wes addresses some of the dark sides of urban agriculture, speaking with the International Research Center on Sustainability in Paris. Finally, Wes looks to our city’s harbors – speaking with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, and then with Blue Water Baltimore. Urban agriculture is not without challenges – so when it comes to sustainability, what can we learn from the other city by the bay? 

In this episode, Wes explores how Baltimore is working to keep pace with the burgeoning Maker Movement, a lifestyle and philosophy based on the idea that a do-it-yourself attitude changes lives for the better. Is the movement really all its proponents say it’s cracked up to be?  Or is it leaving women and the disadvantaged on the sidelines? 

Wes explores nationwide struggles over sanctuary city status and the relationship between local police agencies and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.  What can Baltimore learn from San Francisco, a city that is suing the Trump administration over the issue?

Guests on this episode include:

In this episode, Wes looks into the issue of pretrial justice in Baltimore and the problem of money bail. Wes looks to the examples of bail-reform models in Washington, DC, and Louisville, Kentucky, two cities that have radically changed how they deal with people awaiting trial.

In this episode, Wes explores initiatives that are helping to improve how police respond to people in mental distress. Across the country, a growing number of cities are investing in ‘Crisis Intervention Team’ training for law enforcement officers and other first responders. This month, Wes looks to San Antonio, Texas, which grew that idea into an innovative collaboration that's made a huge difference over the past decade.

Despite a White House initiative, and major reductions in cities across the nation, veteran homelessness is still a problem in Baltimore. Wes looks at what we might learn from Riverside, California, a city that effectively eliminated veteran homelessness two years ago – and is well on its way to reaching “net zero” homelessness overall. 

Guests on this episode include:

America's relationship with pot today is a lot like it was with alcohol at the end of Prohibition: Awkward, and enshrined in a patchwork of changing laws that contradict each other. At the federal level, pot is illegal and a major focus of the War on Drugs. At the same time, states and cities across the U.S. are making it legal for medical use, and increasingly, for recreational use as well. Denver did that two years ago, and much has changed in that city as a result. Wes looks at what Baltimore (where the drug is still mostly illegal) can learn from Denver's path to marijuana legalization.

In the 1990's, Cincinnati's schools were so bad that Ohio's Supreme Court deemed them unconstitutional and demanded a radical overhaul.  The city answered the call with a remarkable innovation:  They   converted the schools into community learning centers, where healthcare, dental care and daycare could all happen in the building, right alongside academics.  Wes looks at how community schools changed life in Cincinnati, and how Baltimore has begun to embrace the trend, as well.