<p>Thanks for posting the update, greenwitch. I’m sad every time another beautiful bit of Maryland open space falls to unneccessary development. There are plenty of blighted areas in and around Baltimore where JHU could serve the public and the community by buying and developing. </p>
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The “I know what’s best for you” school of thought… </p>
<p>GMT, let me add another mantra that we could hear from JHU supporters; ‘I’m from the government (or major philanthropic or corporate institution etc. that dominates a community), I’m here to help you.’</p>
<p>I’ll make a guess, based on what I’ve read briefly, that JHU came to this lady and enticed her to believe that her wishes and JHU’s plans were a perfect fit.</p>
<p>I read of other cases of dissatisfied donors and for the life of me and I can’t understand why institutions take (sometimes beg for) peoples’ money, make promises and then look for ways to dismiss the deal but keep the money once the donor is dead. This isn’t a case of the donor’s wishes being against public policy or that it promotes some kind of improper discrimination (I’m thinking of the park land cases wherein the deceased ceded the land on the condition that the new park be racially segregated). Clearly it’s too late for JHU to return the money but the bad press could be just as costly.</p>
<p>Meant to say that it’s too late to return the land.</p>
<p>Sad, sad, disappointed and sad. One more reason to leave MoCo as far as I am concerned.</p>
<p>eastcoastcrazy - I agree with your sentiment about Baltimore. Every time I hear about some “environmentally sensitive” development that’s out in the boonies and cuts down hundreds of trees, I don’t really care about how “smart growth” the particular planning is. I just wonder why they don’t pick Baltimore, which already has all the infrastructure in place, to redevelop. It’s often closer to where the commuters are going and there’s also the MARC train. </p>
<p>I heard that the county “tech corridor”, once the JHU land is developed, will have 4 times as many workers as the Pentagon! And not one Metro station on the grounds. </p>