Parallels with post WWII San Francisco?

The paper argues Baltimore in the 1950s and 1960s was on the same downward trajectory as San Francisco in the post-World War II era. Both cities were losing population, as

well as manufacturing jobs, while grappling with increases in crime. Thanks to a statewide initiative in 1978, San Francisco cut its property tax rates about 60%. Instead of bankrupting San Francisco, the city flourished in the subsequent decades, spurred by new waves of redevelopment and repopulation.

Meanwhile, Baltimore has steadily lost more than 350,000 residents since its population peak in 1950, shrinking to an estimated 576,000 people last year, and frequently gives large tax breaks and public financing to lure projects in the city.

Walters said that in his research, he has seen residents of Sandtown-Winchester, a low-income predominantly Black neighborhood, paying a property tax rate 20 times higher than the effective tax rate of some major developments downtown. Walters called that “unconscionable.”

Lawrence Brown said he likes much of what Walters and Miserendino have written on “predatory taxes” and their effects on Black Baltimoreans. Brown wrote a book on segregation in Baltimore called “The Black Butterfly.”

Brown also finds San Francisco an instructive model, but for a different reason. “Although they did lower taxes overall,” he said, “they did not implement a racially equitable tax plan or equitable urban planning for Black San Francisco.”

“As a result, we see Black San Franciscans being uprooted and the Black population in rapid decline.”