Trip to Washington DC and Baltimore

Municipalities Washington DC, Baltimore MD

United States

From: 01 Jan 1991 - To - 01 Jan 1991

Description: Best Practices trip in 1991 to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore MD

Event Notes, PostTrip Comments

Washington, D.C.

• The purpose of the Portland delegation’s trip to Washington, D.C. was mostly to visit the Oregon/Portland delegation to Congress;
• The delegation also visited the U.S. Dept. of Transportation;
• The delegation also visited the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development about local priorities.

Baltimore

The Baltimore itinerary stressed urban revitalization

The group visited:

• Camden Yards (baseball and football teams);
• Harbor Place and Inner Harbor (along water with mixed use)

Both projects were successful but did very little to the rest of the city

They stressed importance of revitalization of old buildings, not necessarily new construction

Compared to Portland, Baltimore has far more serious issues regarding poverty, poor education, lack of talent and good jobs

Lesson for Portland: Prevent an economic slide - and urban deterioration – before it gets too serious (same lesson for Portland as the BP delegation saw in Detroit)