Baltimore's Census Growth...

[millz58]

Yikes, what our leaders will do to make B'More's population count higher...

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-inmate-census-20100425,0,5378657.story

 

[edit: okay I'm having trouble posting links from Sun's website, I don't know what the deal is, but it's a story by Erica L. Green titled "Baltimore will gain residents in prison count shift" posted on Apr. 24th, Maryland section of site]

 

The best is this:

 

The decision has significant implications for Baltimore, which has been losing population for decades, and which produces as many as 6 in 10 of the state's 21,000 inmates.

 

Baltimore's official population could grow by 12,000 because of the new law, an increase that could help preserve the city's political clout when congressional and state legislative district lines are redrawn to reflect the 2010 census.

 

and then this:

 

"Baltimore City is trying to pad their numbers in the census, because they're scared they're going to lose representation," said Del. Kevin Kelly, a Democrat who represents Allegany County. "I don't see where the fairness is."

 

Kelly said the 4,500 state and federal inmates kept in Cumberland will cost the county money for years. The prisoners in his county are doing enough time to make them more a part of his communities than their hometowns, he said.

 

and then finally this:

 

In Somerset County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, officials hope the new rule leads to the election of the county's first-ever black county commissioner.

 

A prison built in the 1980s, they said, disrupted a settlement of a Voting Rights Act lawsuit intended to create a majority-minority county legislative district.

 

Though the county is 40 percent black, no black representative has ever been elected to office.

 

"It's been a long time coming. I believe that people in the county, both black and white, are ready for change," said Clarence Bell, who was the county's first black police chief.

 

Lawmakers said they were pleased that the new law could bring diversity to places like Somerset.

 

"I am so proud that Maryland did this, I think that it speaks highly of us," said Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk, a Prince George's County Democrat who was a lead sponsor of the House legislation.

 

"It's really a civil rights issue, a fairness issue and an equality issue plain and simple."

 

Give u$ back our Criminal$!!!