BDC wants Baltimore to be like Philadelphia, Boston or Oakland

When Baltimore grows up, the Baltimore Development Corporation has a few cities it wants The City That Reads to look like.
Specifically, the Baltimore Business Journal reports, officials there want Baltimore’s economic development strategies to be modeled after Philadelphia, Boston and Oakland, Calif.
Those selections aren’t random.

Those three cities were selected because, like Baltimore, they have active seaports, major health care and higher education institutions and large minority and blue-collar populations. BDC President William H. Cole IV said in an interview that the cities can also provide tangible examples of programs and approaches not yet attempted in Baltimore.
“It’s always good to take a look at your peers and make sure you’re actually keeping up and remaining competitive,” Cole said. “Whether you’re in tourism or banking, or doing what we’re doing in trying to grow the economy, you have to look around and say, ‘Are we a competitive environment for our businesses to grow and thrive?'”

The recommendation of the three “benchmark cities” is included in this BDC report now open for public comment.
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