Nearly Half of City Employees Have 'Critical or Chronic' Illness, Mayor Says

[DaggerJohn]

Do you have a link for that report?

I'd like to see the stats too. I thought that more than 20% were on welfare. Also how many are drug addicts and how many have STDs? The bottom line to Baltimore's problems is that the City lacks human capital.

[bmore_ken]

Driving eastward into the City on Edmondson Ave...turning north onto N. Carey Street...and then east onto North Ave...to Druid Hill Park...yeah, I'd say it's wasteland. Visually very disturbing, and over time, depressing.

This is probably the only post you've ever written that I agree with

[Marshan Man]

Her efforts in passing the buck to those with jobs and own homes in the city?

No, her efforts in commissioning this study before it became a crisis anda judge or something required her to do it...like what's happened in countless other jurisdictions around the nation...including DC.

[Marshan Man]

Driving eastward into the City on Edmondson Ave...turning north onto N. Carey Street...and then east onto North Ave...to Druid Hill Park...yeah, I'd say it's wasteland. Visually very disturbing, and over time, depressing.

I'd agree on that one...I'm sure you mean Druid Hioll avenue, as N. avebnue doesn't cross Druid Hill Park.

Druid Hill Park is actually quite the nice bustling park now... I can't recall any other period in my lifetime where I've seen it used as much as it currently is.

[Marshan Man]

I'd like to see the stats too. I thought that more than 20% were on welfare. Also how many are drug addicts and how many have STDs? The bottom line to Baltimore's problems is that the City lacks human capital.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/24/24510.html

I don't know about welfare, but it's a 20-25% poverty level... The Maryland around 9%... the U. S. around 14%...

[demopublican]

I think she mean that half are smoking chronic and the other half are illin'.

Or maybe half are smoking ill chronic.

[dialtone]

Does any one know what is considered a chronic illness? And I wonder how many of these employees actually live in Baltimore?

Yeah I wonder how many live in the city also.

[The Astute Reader(tm)]

There are a lot of chronic illnesses out there. I happen to have chronic pancreatitus, which does not prevent me from working in the slightest degree. That is, as long as I watch my diet. If I don't, I'm in for a hospital stay.

So the question is not so much how many have chronic illnesses, but rather how many of them have chronic illnesses that affect their job performance.

[Omaha Beach]

Nothing surprising about retirees having chronic illnesses considering the majority of them are in their sixties and older. The body is just a machine that breaks down sooner or later no matter how well you take care of it.

[musicmd]

Does any one know what is considered a chronic illness? And I wonder how many of these employees actually live in Baltimore?

Based on the haters around here, they all live in the city.

[musicmd]

As would Marlboros and Buds...

He is only talking about black folks.

[overtaxed]

Are these current employees or retirees? If current, does it mean that about half are off sick or on light duty?

[Marshan Man]

Are these current employees or retirees? If current, does it mean that about half are off sick or on light duty?

Nearly half of Baltimore's municipal employees and retirees have a "critical or chronic" illness — a distinction that contributes to the high cost of providing their health insurance, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday.

She makes it sound like it's both... I gess it's safe to say we don't have the actual percentages...

[DaggerJohn]

This is probably the only post you've ever written that I agree with

We don't often agree, but I respect your intelligence and objectivity.

[demopublican]

They be illin'

[Omaha Beach]

She makes it sound like it's both... I gess it's safe to say we don't have the actual percentages...

Would not most of the health care costs of city retirees over 65 be paid for by Medicare and not the City?

[Brohan]

Driving eastward into the City on Edmondson Ave...turning north onto N. Carey Street...and then east onto North Ave...to Druid Hill Park...yeah, I'd say it's wasteland. Visually very disturbing, and over time, depressing.

No too many employers, let alone any that pay a living wage, in that area.

Shame, some real nice houses and parks in that area.

If the city would stop taxing out opportunity.........

[jessup270]

A top notch city planner from outside of Baltimore, needs to come up with plan for using the massive land in Baltimore City, where 40,000 vacant homes sit.

Forget about trying to rehab them. Many of the vacant houses are just falling down on a daily basis.

They need to condemn several blocks of vacant houses at a time and package the land.

GIVE the land to a developer who is willing to put a structure on the land, be it houses, raising fish in warehouses, industrial complexes and so forth.

[bmore_ken]

A top notch city planner from outside of Baltimore, needs to come up with plan for using the massive land in Baltimore City, where 40,000 vacant homes sit.

Forget about trying to rehab them. Many of the vacant houses are just falling down on a daily basis.

They need to condemn several blocks of vacant houses at a time and package the land.

GIVE the land to a developer who is willing to put a structure on the land, be it houses, raising fish in warehouses, industrial complexes and so forth.

The problem with that plan is good luck in getting a developer who wants to spend the money to do that. Those vacant houses aren't exactly in Roland Park

[jessup270]

The problem with that plan is good luck in getting a developer who wants to spend the money to do that. Those vacant houses aren't exactly in Roland Park

Unfortunately you are correct.

So whats does that really mean?

40,000 vacant houses that no body wants for free. 40,000 parcels of land under the houses, that nobody wants for free.

I guess the best words to describe the situation is waste land.