The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Baltimore:
The Wall Is Falling and What Else?

Jan 7, 2019

Four years ago, part of East 26th Street gave way when the retaining wall on one side fell apart. Parked cars fell into a trench along the railroad tracks. Home foundations cracked; some people living there had to move into hotels for weeks.

Now, on the same street, two blocks over, another wall of the railroad trench is collapsing. CSX railroad and the City of Baltimore, using our taxes, paid the cost of fixing 26th Street’s problems four years ago. But last week shows the extent to which the railroad company and city inspections have failed to maintain railroads through the city.

And how about the sinkholes that showed up on North Howard & Lexington Streets in downtown just days after this latest railroad wall collapse? All kinds of maintenance has been neglected.

What have politicians, in one administration after another, been doing with our taxes, if not maintaining roads, bridges, and tunnels? Who got the money? Developers and big business!