That doesn't cut it. A 1997 Calvert Institute comparative study of municipal employment in Baltimore, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Richmond and St. Louis, revealed the DPW to be bloated even in relation to these other Rustbelt cities' equivalent agencies. Under this scenario, Baltimore employs 80 workers per 10,000 residents, a figure 115 percent higher than the other cities' average of 37.2 per 10,000 residents. By any measure, Baltimore fails to make the grade. I also control for regional variations in purchasing power by converting all figures to dollar purchasing power in the average American city, as defined by the American Chamber of Commerce.
Pork is pork, whether expressed in dollars or, in Baltimore's case, in municipal employees.
The evacuation of middle-class Baltimoreans beyond the city limits has reached crisis point. With over 1,000 residents fleeing each month, the city must change course. In Baltimore, as elsewhere, urbanites are not charity workers duty-bound to endure high taxes accompanied by soaring crime and poor schools. Reluctant to instigate true change, many politicians alternately castigate the middle class for leaving and plead with it to acquiesce in exorbitant taxes. People may be willing to pay high taxes for extensive services, as some nations in Europe prove.