Councilman Carl Stokes of Baltimore’s 12th District walked out of the City Council hearing room as a 3-0 committee vote approved $107 million in city financing for the $1.8 billion development of Harbor Point.

But for those unable to be present as the vote was called last Wednesday night, they could’ve watched Stokes walk out via the City That Breeds livestream.

The City That Breeds, the local blog that combines equal parts irreverence and insight in commenting on matters from the political to the indigestion-inducing (Fritos and Doritos doused with melted cheese makes a “Walking Taco”), just started the livestream last week, and takes the scheduled programming from the City of Baltimore’s TV25 24-hour television channel and puts it online.

“I think it’s a game changer,” said City That Breeds founder Evan Siple. “The city should be ashamed for not doing this eons ago.”

Watch last Wednesday’s Harbor Point committee hearing via City That Breeds:

Siple received help from Mount Vernon resident Paul Gardner, a construction worker for a small custom home builder in Anne Arundel County. Here’s how the City That Breeds set up the livestream of the nearly three-hour-long City Council hearing:

From Comcast they got two cable boxes and a modem “so we’d have a good enough signal to stream,” Gardner said. The cable boxes were connected by cable and USB adapters to a desktop computer runnings Windows. Livestream software converts the programming streaming to the computer from the television into online video. The total cost, including the $400 to embed the video from Livestream onto the City That Breeds site, was around $460.

“The only tough part was learning Livestream software and figuring out what livestream service to go with,” Gardner said.


According to the City That Breeds, no more than around 30 people were watching last Wednesday’s City Council committee vote at any one time, but over the course of the hearing, around 150 had streamed some portion via the City That Breeds website.

The final, full City Council vote approving the city financing for the Harbor Point development is expected at tonight’s council meeting. The City That Breeds will be livestreaming that meeting here.

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