Joe Weisenthal

A real hardship posting.

Yeah.

So there are mayors from all over the world here, all talking about the challenges and opportunities facing cities.

And we're about to speak to one of them in particular.

And it's actually a really interesting test case of, I think, a lot of themes that kind of touch on the odd lots oeuvre, let's say.

Right.

So the city we're going to be talking about today is Baltimore.

And in Baltimore, one of the issues with housing is this vacant housing problem.

And I got to say, I actually feel really bad about this.

My dad was a pilot, as you know, and he flew out of BWI for many, many years.

But he lives in Annapolis, so I never actually spent that much time in Baltimore except to get the Greyhound bus and go to the Baltimore bus terminal.

And I would not want to judge any city based on the Greyhound terminal, but I definitely saw a lot of vacant houses around the area.

Exactly.

So we do, in fact, have the perfect guest.

We're going to be speaking with Mayor Brandon Scott, who is, of course, the mayor of Baltimore.

So Mayor Scott, thank you so much for coming on All Thoughts.

So when you became mayor of Baltimore, I'm really curious, how did the vacant housing problem actually show up on your radar?

And why did it become a priority for you?

Well, so on this note, I want to back up for a second and ask what is potentially a very basic question, but how do the houses actually become vacant?

What is the typical process by which a house becomes vacant?