Response

Reforming city government: A City government that is not transparent is one that that is not effective, not equitable, and not accountable to the people. A government that is not accountable to the people cannot effectively address their needs, whether surrounding housing instability, public safety, public health, or quality education. That is why as Council President I have proposed and support a number of reforms to the structure of city government. As Mayor I will continue this work as outlined in my proposal Restoring Trust in City Government: A New Way Forward for Transparency and Accountability, which can be found on my website. Bringing equity to Baltimore: Baltimore is the birthplace of redlining, racially-restrictive covenants, and discriminatory lending practices. The legacy of those practices, with respect to race, gender, sexual orientation, and economic status, is still with us today. To help repair this history, we must embed a framework of equity into how we do business. Baltimore has an equity problem. We absolutely cannot use zip codes or income to determine which residents are most worthy of city services and community amenities. That is why as a councilmember, I created the Equity Assistance Fund. It's why I passed an equity assessment program, which is forcing City agencies to analyze policies through an equity lens. This will lead to better policies and a more equitable distribution of city resources. I will continue this work through the remainder of my term as Council President and throughout my term as Mayor. Holistically improving public safety: Our city is in the midst of one of the worst public safety epidemics it has ever faced. Since 2015, there have been over 1,600 homicides, 3,300 non-fatal shootings, and nearly 3,500 fatal overdoses in Baltimore City. To me, these are not just numbers, they represent lives cut short, children without parents, parents without children, and communities overcome with trauma. The violence our city continues to experience, disproportionately in Baltimore's Black and historically redlined neighborhoods, is what motivated me as a young man from Park Heights to become a public servant. I am running for Mayor to transform our city's approach to crime reduction, from being focused solely on law enforcement to a comprehensive, holistic approach to public safety that centers public health. Baltimore cannot arrest or prosecute its way out of this problem. Baltimore's violence results from generational trauma, structural racism, lack of opportunity, and systemic under-investment in our city's youth and families. We will only sustain reductions in crime if our approach is comprehensive - grounded in the immediate action we can take today while simultaneously addressing the root causes of violence. Ending violence will require us to stop the flow of illegal guns that end up on our streets and actively target the small groups of people who commit the vast majority of murders, shootings, and aggravated assaults in Baltimore. We must also prioritize the opioid crisis, which fuels street-level, open-air drug markets and has intensified with the emergence of fentanyl. As Mayor, I will establish a holistic vision with a focus on investing in young people, addressing trauma, providing supportive housing, and reforming the police department.