There’s mismanagement. There’s incompetence. And then there’s Baltimore City dropping nearly $4 million on a website that still isn’t live. I mean, come on. That’s not just a tech fail. That’s a masterclass in municipal clownery.
Let’s break this down like it’s freshman econ, shall we?
In 2022, Baltimore issued a request for proposals to redesign its aging website—six firms were invited to bid. Now, if you’re from a normal city, you’d expect at least half of them to jump at the chance. But in true Baltimore fashion, only two companies responded. Two. Out of six. That’s not a bidding process—that’s a group project where only two people show up, and one of them forgot to bring a pencil.
And of course, the city didn’t go with the lower bid. Because why would they? The lower bid was about $300,000, while the winning company, Fearless Solutions, pitched a slick PowerPoint and a $1.1 million price tag. Baltimore said, “Yes, please!” Faster than a junkie on The Wire. (Sorry, but if the city insists on living like a stereotype, I’m going to reference one.)
Now let’s talk about Fearless Solutions for a second. Great name—fearless in spending taxpayer dollars, maybe. The company is run by Delali Dzirasa, whose wife, Letitia Dzirasa, just happens to be the Deputy Mayor. Conflict of interest? Never! This is Baltimore, where insider deals are practically a rite of passage.
As the project dragged on, the city realized, oops, $1.1 million wasn’t nearly enough. So they tossed in another $887,000 for good measure. Then another $250,000 a few months later. And suddenly, we’re talking over $2.2 million paid out—with a new projected total of $3.9 million. For a website. Not a spaceship. Not a light rail system. A website.
Meanwhile, let’s talk about Cleveland, a city often mocked for burning rivers and LeBron leaving them twice. Yet somehow, they managed to redesign their entire city website for $568,000—launched it, too. Not only did they come in under budget, but they actually finished the thing. What a concept.
Philadelphia? The City of Brotherly Love redid its entire city platform for less than $700K. And if you’ve ever dealt with Philly bureaucracy, you know that’s nothing short of a miracle.
Even Washington, D.C., where money goes to die and acronyms live forever, pulled off their website revamp without going full Baltimore. The D.C. portal is sleek, secure, and responsive—and the city didn’t need to hire their mayor’s bestie’s cousin’s college roommate to do it. They used open procurement. Transparent RFPs. You know, the things normal cities do.
But Baltimore? Nope. They went with what’s called a “professional services contract,” which is code for “we didn’t feel like doing a real bid process.” This nifty trick allowed them to skip the usual checks and balances. You’d have more oversight at a high school bake sale.
So what did all this money actually buy? A website that’s still not launched. It was supposed to go live in August 2023. It’s now summer 2025, and we’re being told to maybe expect something by spring 2026—just in time for it to already be outdated.
According to the Inspector General—God bless her, trying to bring sanity to the land of broken promises—the project was riddled with chaos: no clear roadmap, poor staffing, missed deadlines, and “unnecessary coding.” That’s a new one. I thought coding was kind of, you know, necessary when building a website.
This isn’t a technical problem. It’s a civic embarrassment. There are kids in middle school who built better websites for their book reports. I had a classmate at NYU who built a fully functioning political data tracker during winter break—and he did it while drunk in a hostel in Prague.
Let’s also talk brass tacks. A Drupal 10 migration with a design refresh and some content migration doesn’t cost $3.9 million unless:
- You’re building it on top of gold-plated servers
- You’re flying in developers via private jet
- Or you’re padding contracts for your friends like it’s the opening scene of Goodfellas
And don’t give me that “But Baltimore’s different” line. Every city has challenges. Cleveland has brutal winters. Philly has potholes with their own ZIP codes. D.C. has Congress. But none of them treat taxpayer money like Monopoly cash.
Baltimore officials defended the ballooning cost by saying the city had “complex needs.” Complex needs? You’re not launching the Mars Rover. You’re posting trash pickup schedules and linking to permit forms. We’re not asking for ChatGPT integration and AI-powered rat tracking. Just a functional, searchable, mobile-friendly website. Like the ones literally every other city already has.
And here’s the kicker—Baltimore is reportedly not even sure the redesigned site will be compatible with newer browser standards by the time it launches. It’s like buying a new VHS player in 2025 and realizing Blockbuster’s been dead for two decades.
I’m from Manhattan. I’m not saying New York City is perfect—we spent a decade trying to get our subway countdown clocks to work—but at least when we screw up, it’s usually big and flashy and has something to show for it. Baltimore just lit a pile of cash on fire and didn’t even get a homepage out of it.
If this were a business deal, heads would roll. If this were a college class, the group project would get a big fat F and a note from the professor: “See me after class.” But because it’s government—and local government at that—there’s no accountability. Just more amendments, more delays, and more excuses.
Look, I don’t hate Baltimore. I actually like crab cakes. And Hairspray. And I’m a sucker for a good underdog story. But this isn’t underdog. It’s undertaker. If your city’s leadership can’t manage a website without tripping over a million-dollar banana peel, how are they supposed to manage housing, public safety, or schools?
Maybe next time Baltimore wants a website, they should put out a Craigslist ad: “Looking for competent developer. Must be able to build in under three years. Friends of the mayor need not apply.”
Or hey—hire a college intern. I’ve got a buddy at Columbia who’ll do it for a semester’s worth of burritos and a MetroCard. And unlike Fearless Solutions, he’ll actually finish the job.
Bottom line: Baltimore spent $3.9 million on a website. Cleveland spent $568K. Philly and D.C. came in under budget. And Baltimore? They’re still trying to figure out what a navigation bar is. Bravo, Charm City. You’ve officially built the most expensive “Under Construction” sign in America.
Jacob Silver is a Contributor for Direct Line News and can be contacted at Jacob.Silver@mcgopclub.com.
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
About The Author
