Since this is mostly an opinion piece, it's difficult to compare its fairness and sourcing with more hard hitting news stories. However, a great majority of this article includes interesting facts about issues important to neighborhoods' success. The spotlight on local businesses, schools, and programs provide some great ideas of where to develop new stories.
While this story included a lot of meaningful facts and figures, its lack of sources hurt its credibility. Since this is an older story, it's interesting to note the changes that have taken place since its publication. Overall, I think the author could have involved himself more in the action of the neighborhood to find more interesting information.
This was an interesting article to review, in that much of the article's content was contained in the linked photo show. Looking at the two pieces together, the author was able to point out interesting themes in city's transformation. Written by a real estate reporter, this article clearly slated towards information about property values, etc.
While I was pleased to see a meeting such as this covered, I didn't feel the article provided enough background on Living Well to make it relevant. The inclusion of names of prestigious attendees shed light on the meeting's importance. However, the fact that it's currently campaign season took away some from the political relevance. Overall, I was left with many questions of what this meeting actually was and felt unsatisfied by the reporting.
I felt this story did a good job of going in depth on the issue of Baltimore City schools and the efforts of Dr. Alanso—more so than many others with a broader focus. The spotlight on principal Cindy Harcum was handled well. I was interested to read the many numbers and stats related to City, and as a neighbor of the school, noe feel much more enlightened on what goes on within its walls.
I think this author did a good job of portraying what is an extremely complex issue in a digestible and interesting format. I thought Dr. Alanso was paiting as a reformer without being put too high on a pedastal. While in the end, I think this article weighed heavily in Dr. Alanso's favor, overall it presented two sides to the story.
As a city resident, living in a row house, this topic is of special interest. While I am lucky enough to live on a street with reliable neighbors and houses in good condition, many blocks in my surrounding area are not so lucky. I recall moving in and hearing a neighbor tell me that she used to pray every morning for our block, during the years it was made up of mostly rentals. Stories like this help put that fear into perspecitve.