PLATFORM
"I will streamline the city's government so it's easier for citizens to find the services they need. I will improve interagency communication and transparency. I will revitalize the inner harbor and downtown so more jobs and people will come to the city."
ISSUES
Crime
We all know our beloved city has seen an increase in crime over the last several years. While there has been a lot of debate and different tactics used, none of these solutions address the fact that increased funding and visibility of police is merely a bandage on a gaping wound. That wound is poverty, homelessness, and a lack of opportunities to make an honest living in a stable career. In addition to plans to address these issues, I also plan to establish a wide range of outreach workers not only to help resolve conflicts before they escalate to gun violence but also to connect victims and neighbors with services and support after these incidents. Studies have shown that reducing urban blight by cleaning up vacant properties can significantly reduce gun violence, theft, illegal dumping, and noise complaints. I intend to perform a thorough audit of police data from the last several years to identify hot spots in the city where we can focus these efforts to improve things on the street level for the people of Baltimore.
Education
Baltimore City has one of the best funded public school systems in the country and what do we have to show for it. Clearly, money is not the issue. I intend to change the way our city distributes funding to our schools by providing teachers with a purchasing card every semester with an allotment of funds that will allow them to buy much needed classroom supplies without spending their own money or negotiating with the administration for it.
Truancy is a huge issue in our schools and I have a multi-faceted approach to deal with this. Every semester we will reward public school students with a stipend for not being truant and for having acceptable passing grades and in addition, high school studnets that graduate on time will receive a monetary reward to continue their education.
I do not believe in having armed police patrolling our schools as this turns places of learning into prisons and makes our students feel like criminals early in life. Studies have shown that having armed police in schools either has no effect or in several studies, it has a negative effect meaning that crime is higher in schools with them than those without. Under my administration we will work to make sure we are no longer stealing the childhoods from our babies. We will stop criminalizing our youth for the mistakes that adults make.
Education is a key factor in poverty reduction and financial independence. Far too often, the graduates of Baltimore’s universities find our job market lacking and leave for better opportunities elsewhere. I plan to implement programs that help local entrepreneurs start new businesses and hire locally, and education grants that provide funding dependent on keeping jobs in the city. Our students and all our residents deserve the opportunity to find well paying careers in our city.
Housing
The eviction rate in Baltimore is twice as high as the national average and the Eviction Prevention Program is not doing enough. I’m well aware how backed up and understaffed these programs are. I have a plan to create housing communities that provide safe housing, healthcare, job placement, and education opportunities in a safe and comfortable place that allows individuals facing homelessness to successfully integrate back into society.
This program is based on the Kauhale Initiative in Hawaii and the extremely promising strategy Finland has used to create communities to address the needs of the unhoused in a way that does not require one to navigate the city to receive these needed services or pass a barrier of entry to enjoy the benefits. While building these new housing communities we will also hire, train, and build infrastructure needed to support this venture. Studies have shown that providing housing and income to the houseless WORKS.
We will also create opportunities for developers to build more affordable housing throughout the city to make up for the supply shortage caused by rampant vacant properties, and those purchased by wealthy outsiders left to sit and rot or flipped and turned into airbnbs or luxury homes unaffordable to locals.
Bring back employee pride
I plan to perform a review of each city agency and mayor’s office to consolidate them and streamline the processes required for constituents to access the help they need. I plan to bring the wages of all city employees up to par with the cost of living. It is unjust that the people who work FOR the city don’t earn enough to live IN the city. This commitment to fair and generous compensation and benefits for our staff will help build an energized, dedicated workforce that prioritizes communication, efficiency, and a commitment to improving our city for everyone.
Environment
I, like every other city resident, have felt the summers growing warmer and warmer every year as our city bakes under extreme heat. The iconic red brick, asphalt, steel, and concrete that covers so much of Baltimore's neighborhoods absorbs and then radiates so much sunlight and heat that this is no longer an issue of comfort- it is an emergency. Every heat-related death that happens in our city is one that may have been avoided if our officials dedicated the resources necessary to combat the issue of climate change. I plan to implement an expansive effort to reduce the urban heat island effect in our city by expanding existing green spaces, creating safe, shaded sidewalk and biking areas, and introducing legislation that would require new buildings to install cool roofs and create programs offering reduced-cost cool roofs to city homeowners.
A walkable inner harbor
Our harbor has been the lifeblood of our city from its founding to today and to neglect it is to neglect the heart of our city. For too many years, it has been neglected by the city. I plan to restore the harbor to a green, walkable area that locals congregate in and tourists want to visit. The first step is to reduce the amount of traffic that splits the harborfront in half, requiring families and tourists to navigate four lanes of traffic to walk from the National Aquarium and the World Trade Center to local restaurants and parking garages. The inner harbor and downtown areas suffer greatly from the lack of parking and mass transit. I have a unique and ambitious plan to eliminate both by returning historic streetcars to Baltimore, the routes of which would travel through the heart of downtown and the inner harbor and extend further out into the city where we would build new park-and-ride facilities, allowing visitors to enjoy Baltimore’s historic and iconic streetcars while avoiding expensive and overfilled downtown parking garages.