And how much did the developers pay to the mayor? Just wondering what the going price is for selling out these days!

MichaelW - what are you talking about? The city NEEDS this project to go forward, how is that selling out? She is trying to fix the city. This project was a start.

A lunch shop sit-in? who cares. Develop it into something that creates jobs and increases tax base. For once I agree with Mayor RB.

The Read's drugstore folks are admittedly johnny-come-latelys here. However, the real issue was the historic trust and the City's decision to move forward with the project despite the the projects design being contrary to the MOU to save certain other buildings that if not more historically significant than Read's, at least more architecturally significant and in better shape.

This could be a way to gain more attention and political support among a broader to community to stop this bad BDC project and get the other buildings that should be saved, saved so we can move on with a better project.

The so called "protest", was a couple of students who went into the drugstore to get out of the elements and decided to sit at the counter. It wasnt organized' pre-planned, or intentional. When they werent served, they got up and left. I believe in preserving history, but if it was so important, then why was it left to rot and decay for all those years? The mayor is trying to revitalize the city, and she seems to be sensitive to all concerned.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, Read's Drugstore. How about worrying about the drugstore that's on every corner?

It's one thing to remember and honor the past. It's quite another thing to hang on so tightly to the past that one can't embrace the future.

Not to sound like I'm being unsympathetic, and don't get me wrong, I love Baltimore's architectural history, but honestly we cannot save every building.

First of all, the Read's of 1955 is gone and has been for a long time. Why not preserve a piece of it and move on.

Secondly, we can't slap historic status on every pre-20th century building in the city. If we never knocked anything down we'd never have the city we live in now. Buildings replace older buildings all the time. The buildings on the superblock replaced 18th and early 19th century buildings that stood there before them.

This is what happens, cities are dynamic places and change over time. Either we adapt them or demolish them now for something better and useful, or they'll collapse from their own neglect.

who are these idiots in the city's preservation committee....what a bunch of losers.

Jus another black politician
trying to get their way
yea thats right I said
it how's it feel coming from a
white girl!

The mayor is right on this one.

why would anyone with any common sense at all would want to go back downtown...doesn't matter how much monies are invested..you still have all
the crime and elements living right around the corner..descent people don;t
even go to the malls..just look what has
happened to owings mills mall

There you go again people with your apathy and racist references in code.

See the following names:
MichaelW, anon, NATE, SANDRA, ruth, and john (if name appears in caps -shame on you more).

What has happen to you (above mentioned)? I wonder how many of you worked the Reads counter or your parents in the 1950's and 60's?

I love the revelation that these types of blog's allow the world to see the hate that is spewing from Baltimore City and surrounding areas.

Baltimore - so much hate, equals so much crime.

There you go again people with your apathy and racist references in code.

See the following names:
MichaelW, anon, NATE, SANDRA, ruth, and john (if name appears in caps -shame on you more).

What has happen to you (above mentioned)? I wonder how many of you worked the Reads counter or your parents in the 1950's and 60's?

I love the revelation that these types of blog's allow the world to see the hate that is spewing from Baltimore City and surrounding areas.

Baltimore - so much hate, equals so much crime.

The memory of people and events do not live in the buildings they live in us and as long as they remembered they will live forever. After all, each new generation must create its own history otherwise there will never be any progress, so unless we are talking about Pyramids of Giza lets build and create new memories and history. If some things in that building absolutely must be preserved we have museums for that. Change or seize to exist!

It's telling that the haters can't spell or use proper punctuation.

Obviously the city commission has never seen the Superblock. I am all for preserving history, but it is a joke now. Why do so many people want to halt great plans in Baltimore for some store that has been left to rot for many decades now. Where where they the past 50 years??? They just let it rot. It is quite sad that many Marylanders are looking for jobs and this opportunity comes up, but the city commission would rather let this junk rot for another 6 months.

I've seen photos, the inside of the building is GUTTED. There is nothing to preserve. NOTHING. It's GONE. Move along people there is nothing to see here GONE.

The commission and Stokes and Clarke just went waaaaaay down in my estimation. The city needs reinvestment, not pointless political grabs for attention by appealing to history that is already gone, ripped out, sold for scrap, GONE

You think this decision is bad, wait 6 months when the commission grants it permanent landmark status. When this happens the prospective developers will throw in the towel and abandon the project. Good job commissioners (sic).

Isn't it a shame that Read's Drugstore turned into the corner drug market, and it only took a few decades? The sit-in became a stand-in, with the legacy of the brave people who stood up for human rights being trampled by a drug culture that would have horrified any one of the original protestors.

The original protestors stood up for idealism, hope for a better future, change to the status quo. As buildings crumble and collapse around Read's and the area is slowly ceded to thuggery and disinvestment, which side would the protestors have chosen? "Preserve" an abandoned shell and hold up a project to bring new opportunities to hard hit African American communities? To block change for the better for the sake of people who would rather keep it the way it was? Something to think about. What would they have done? Which would they have chosen?

Hey John (the white girl), don't white politicians try to get their way? What's your point?

Beautifully put BP , its a dam shame that folks who live in the best neighborhoods in Baltimore have decided that they know whats best for an area they wouldnt be caught dead in . This area is a largely urban poor area that desperately needs investment and infrastucture updates but alas the overseers would rather leave it a blighted mess , what a shame .

Read’s and the “superblock” buildings are the very heart of historic downtown Baltimore. History is not something to be thrown away in order to progress. There is something very wrong when a city has to sell its architectural heritage to have economic development. Other cities have preserved their historic downtowns while creating viable retail and housing. Why can’t Baltimore? Take a very close look at the stunning architectural details on the buildings along Lexington. Consider that the Read’s sit-in led the chain to desegregate all its lunch counters – an exemplary step in the civil rights struggle. Read’s and the buildings that are its historic and architectural context should be preserved.

Today is yesterday's tomorrow. History is best honored by building upon it to serve the people who are living today. Isn't the whole point to help people, not just to idolize buildings?