Under Mayor Kurt Schmoke, Baltimore used the slogan “The City That Reads”. This would have been in the late 1980s and/or 1990s. When Baltimore was #1 in teen pregnancy at some point during this time, cynics called it “The City That Breeds”.
I don’t recall the year this happened but I went to Washington, DC to see Elmore Leonard at a bookstore and get books signed by him. I rushed there after work in Baltimore, it was hot and I was sweaty and I got there just before the event was over.
I explained this to him and we had a conversation that went something like this.
Me: I am sorry to be late but I came here from Baltimore
Leonard: Baltimore? We needed you there earlier today (They had a poorly attended book signing in Baltimore at a store – I was not aware of it.)
Me: They call it “The City That Reads”
Leonard: That must be a new slogan.
I saw him again a year or two later and gave him a “The City That Reads” bookmark.
Sad! 