The Issues

A Bold Blueprint for A Better Baltimore

 1.  #BmoreSafe: Promoting Safe Communities
  • Pass legislation following the Oakland Ceasefire Partnership model - (1) Analyze and determine who are the people at risk and who are responsible for the violence; (2) effectively communicate with those individuals; (3) provide life-saving services for those individuals; (4) narrowly focus law enforcement on the criminal element; (5) regular communication and collaboration with faith leaders, community leaders and groups; See Giffords Law Center Case Study 
  • Organize peace summit between all of the rival gangs in Baltimore
  • Launch and/or provide financial assistance to various social programs, job programs, youth programs, education programs and rehabilitation programs to address the root causes of the violence as specified 
  • Improve re-entry programs; lobby to prohibit discrimination in housing, student financial assistance and employment; support legislation to make it easier for ex-offenders to have their criminal records expunged 
  • Improve police-community relations - As long as the public distrusts and fears the police, the community will not report crimes or provide vital information to the police. 
  • Increased funding for Baltimore witness protection program
  • Establish, strengthen and aid neighborhood watch programs
  • Encourage and demand that Baltimore City Police increase foot patrols, enforce anti-loitering ordinances, target and shut down open-air drug markets on other high crime areas
  • Increase funding and support for grassroots organizations making a difference in Baltimore 
  • Impose harsher sentences for gun traffickers 
  • Lobby the state legislature and the federal government for stricter gun control laws to end gun show loopholes and straw gun purchases 
2.  #BeautifulBaltimore Campaign
  • Increase fines and penalties for business owners who allow drug traffickers to operate on their premises
  • Increase fines and penalties for business owners who fail to clean trash outside of their establishments 
  • Increase fines and penalties for illegal dumping and littering
  • Double the number of trash cans in problem areas
  • Launch #BeautifulBaltimore media campaign to encourage proper disposal of trash and reporting illegal dumpers
  • Increased demolition of dilapidated buildings; transform vacant lots into urban farms, parks and recreational centers
  • Support Baltimore City Councilman Kristerfer Burnett's bill requiring owners of certain vacant properties to post their name and contact information outside their buildings See WMAR report 
  • Support and pass legislation holding the Baltimore City accountable for failing to comply with its own housing code regulations
  • Increase efforts to clean the harbor
3.  #OneBaltimore Initiative: Racial and Economic Justice 
  • End police brutality by holding the Baltimore City Police Department accountable as specified in Point 4 below
  • Living wage and benefits for all Baltimore employees 
  • Lobby state legislature and U.S. Congressional representatives for a Marshall Plan for Baltimore
  • Free four-year public college education for all eligible high school graduates
  • End racial segregation by passing legislation to encourage the development of affordable housing in affluent neighborhoods 
  • End the New Jim Crow by prohibiting discrimination against nonviolent ex-offenders who have served their time in prison
  • Pass legislation modeled after H.R. 40 calling for a study, on the local level, of the question of reparations for slavery and Jim Crow
4.  Police Accountability and a Strong Civilian Complaint Review Board ('The Board")
  • Lobby to revise the Maryland Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights
  • Lobby to restore local control of the Baltimore City Police Department
  • Grant the Board access to personnel records
  • Grant the Board subpoena power
  • Allow civilians to investigate and interrogate officers
  • Establish a three panel of retired judges to resolving conflicting rulings between the Board and Internal Affairs
  • Expand the types of complaints that the Board can investigate
  • Increase the Board's budget
  • Launch a publicity campaign to inform the public of the Board and its role
  • Pass law calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor for all police brutality and police misconduct cases
5.  #TheYouthAreOurFuture - Educate and Empower our Youth
  • Launch comprehensive anti-drug campaign in all Baltimore City public schools as an integral part of the school curriculum 
  • Lobby for the implementation of the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education's (Kirwan Commission) recommendations
  • Support public schools and well performing charter schools 
  • Partner with corporations to substantially increase the number of youth employed by the Youth Works program during the summer; add a part-time Fall Youth Works Program 
  • Increase the number of recreation centers and ensure that they provide breakfast and lunch during the summer
  • Free before and aftercare services for elementary and middle school students
  • Fund successful mentoring programs; promote healthy fellowship, brotherhood and sisterhood alternatives to gang and drug culture 
  • Partnership with corporations and community groups to rebuild and relaunch former President Barack Obama's Brother's Keeper Program in Baltimore
  • Develop comprehensive STEM programs for our youth
6.  Health and Environmental Justice
  • Lobby for universal and free healthcare for all citizens
  • Create the Baltimore Clean Energy Community Benefits Initiative modeled after the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Initiative - (1) Require big businesses to pay a 1% surcharge on gross revenues; (2) deposit in a separate special fund for clean energy projects, clean energy job training, etc. (3) priority given to programs reducing greenhouse gas emissions
  • Expand program to address lead poisoning in Baltimore 
7.  Treatment over Imprisonment
  • Lobby state legislature and the federal government to legalize marijuana 
  • Use tax revenue from legal marijuana sales to fund drug treatment, public education, job training and various social programs
  • Expunge criminal records of all people convicted of marijuana offenses 
  • Lobby and/or pass legislation emphasizing treatment over imprisonment for possession of narcotics for personal use
  • Fund and create more drug rehabilitation programs 
  • Renovate abandon buildings and transform them into drug rehabilitation and housing shelters for the drug-addicted and homeless
8.  Restore Integrity and Ethics at City Hall
  • Pass legislation to make all deals with developers and other corporate interests transparent to the public
  • Pass legislation requiring developers and corporations to pay their fair share in taxes
  • Pass two-term limit for Baltimore City Council members and the Mayor 
  • Support legislation granting the City Council the power to impeach the Mayor and other City Council members for serious ethics violations
  • Support legislation reducing the number of votes to 10 to veto the Mayor
  • Political campaign reform - public financing of political campaigns to reduce the undue influence of corporations and developers on the political process
9.  A More Democratic Baltimore
  • Lobby for local control of Baltimore City Police Department
  • Lobby for and pass legislation empowering Baltimore voters to elect all of the members the Baltimore City Board of Education
  • Pass universal voter registration and/or same-day voter registration
  • Change Baltimore City Council meeting time to 6:00 p.m. to ensure maximum public attendance and stream meetings live on television and social media
  • Pass legislature granting the City Council more power to impact the City's budget
10.  Corporate Responsibility and the Promotion of Black Business Ownership
  • Modify zoning laws to reduce the number of stores selling alcohol in struggling communities 
  • Pass legislation preventing corner store owners from selling knives, other weapons and drug paraphernalia 
  • Increase fines and penalties for business owners who fail to clean trash outside of their establishments
  • Provide more city grants to small, African-American business owners to promote entrepreneurship in struggling communities thereby creating more employment opportunities 
  • Substantially increase Retail Business District fees and penalties
  • Help create an African American Business Association and an alternative business improvement district
  • Lobby for the passage of state legislation designed to pierce the corporate veil of problematic and non-responsive property owners








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