Baltimore Skyline

Well something triggered a mass juvenile disturbance in downtown near the Inner Harbor tonight that the police are still trying to clear up. Following @Justin_Fenton to see what's going on, but apparently there were masses of young people out causing a mess downtown. While this is going on a few blocks away the man who spearheaded the revitilization of the harbor, and was mourned by thousands today, William Donald Schaefer, lies in state beneath the Baltimore City Hall dome. One must wonder what he would think (or do) about this.

In the next move in social networking, many transit systems have begun Facebook pages to post information, news, comments, etc direct to anyone on Facebook. The Maryland Transit Administration is no different. They have had a page for sometime now, and having viewed the posts and especially the comments you can see the good and the bad of utilizing this technology. It's definitely a plus because the information is very accessible. MTA does not have a mobile version of its website, so it's difficult to access it from a smartphone when you need to know if your bus is detoured or the light rail is running late. Facebook on the other hand is mobile, so riders can see the information if it's updated. So far, MTA has been on top of reliably adding information on delays and changes to its Facebook page. Facebook also lets the MTA cross list events or posts from other pages that may relate to information they are sharing. Being on Facebook also lends itself to serving as a publ...

Welcome Back to the Yard! Orioles enter opening day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards with a 3-0 record , their best since 1997, and the only team to sweep the first series of the year on the road. Here's to another season!

The Month of March ridership figures were released today and wow. The total ridership for the Charmulator in March was 188,409 or a 54% increase in ridership over February. This also exceeds the highest ridership set during the peak of last summer. The second news is that the average headways for March are the closest they have been to the 10 minute mark that is advertised. The average for the Orange Route was 11:16 and the Purple Route was 10:49. With the addition of 5 VanHool buses in mid February, service has been a lot more reliable across the route. Additionally, much of the downtown construction that plagued the buses over the course of the past months has mostly ended. If ridership continues at this level throughout the height of the summer tourist and vacation season, I would say that the Charm City Circulator was a successful plan by Baltimore. http://charmcitycirculator.com/news/2011/apr/month-march-ridership-stats In related news: have yo...

Sweat Equity: Hollywood Diner gets new owner, vision from Maryland Daily Record on Vimeo . If you hadn't noticed, the Hollywood Diner at 400 E Saratoga St. reopened this month, and not a moment too soon since the Baltimore Farmer's Market returns on Sunday April 3rd. I've always thought this was a prime location with residents and workers nearby, and market traffic on the weekends. Their angle is good, affordable, comfort-style food. Best of luck to new Hollywood Diner presents: Red Springs Cafe. Hours: Monday-Thursday: 8am to 5pm Friday: 8am to 7pm Saturday and Sunday: (during Farmer's Market Season) Where: 400 E. Saratoga Street

Men's Health has now ranked Baltimore the 58th most socially networked town in the US. I'm starting to think Men's Health has a vendetta on Charm City. Men's Health based their rankings on each city's users of Facebook and LinkedIn per capita, amount of Twitter traffic from members in the city, and other networking sites and blogs (are we not writing enough here?) to get the final tally. With all the calculations that puts us at 58 out of 100, and a C letter grade. Well below Washington, DC (1), Boston (9), Wilmington, DE (22), and Los Angeles (33), but closer to Philadelphia (49), and New York City (53). In our contemporary times when tweets, likes, and status updates lets us know everything that is going on in the world, and judges popularity from everything to celebrities, retail items, and what makes national news, is it that bad to be disconnected? Rather, do we here in Baltimore still just favor the original social network, face-to-face verb...

Apparently, Baltimore is the 2nd Angriest City in the US , who knew! Well, this is according to Men's Health Magazine, which isn't exactly filled with empirical data and peer-reviewed articles. Weren't we listed recently as one of the top least-friendly places, ugliest, dirtiest, and rudest over the past few years? Is there any truth behind these claims, or does the rest of the country just not like us all that much. IMO, I think the people that write these articles and make these surveys haven't spent enough time living in the areas they rank. They base their models off of national statistics, but don't understand the local culture because they haven't been immersed in it. Sure we have a lot of aggravated assaults, but that isn't indicative of the major of the population of Baltimore, so are we all really that angry? No. So next time you magazine writers want to rank Baltimore, how about you actually take some time to get to know us.  Then  you c...