Love Letter to Baltimore - specifically the 14th District - published in The Charles Villager

I’m very honored to represent most of Charles Village, all of Abell, parts of Greenmount Avenue, and our surrounding neighborhoods. Charles Village/Abell and Waverly are the center of my district.

It seems so much focus on our city and our neighborhoods is negative. While there is no doubt we have a lot of work to do to improve the lives of the residents of our city - so many of whom have survived trauma and many other obstacles - we have so much to be proud of, and it is because of our creative, motivated, fantastic residents. Together we can find the solutions to our larger challenges, while enjoying every moment of city life.

Often we talk about the Place: our housing stock, our parks, our proximity. But I want to focus on our people. I am so proud to represent this district, because we have active residents, business owners, and clergy trailblazing along the way. 

The Baltimore Magazine recently featured 18 of the City’s best bookstores - and NINE of them are in my district - and one powered by volunteers!  In an era where anyone can get anything they want online, our residents shop and support our bookstores, and our bookstore owners work hard to have unique content while contributing to our communities. 

Parents for every child in the Baltimore City Public School system come to Herman’s on Greenmount Avenue for their uniforms. Herman’s has been a staple on Greenmount Avenue for discount goods for over 30 years, and has become the source of uniforms and merchandise for every single public school student in Baltimore. Herman’s has been creative, and gives back to our community.

The Space Telescope Science Institute on San Martin Drive in my district designed the James Webb Space Telescope that was launched on Christmas Day.  The Space Telescope has reached its destination, and will start sending data and images to the astrophysicists and scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute. The images and data will tell us more about how the universe began, what’s out there we don’t know already, and the spectacular images of our world. So many of the men and women who conduct this research and designed this telescope live throughout my district.  As Dan Rodricks said “Baltimore may not be the center of the universe, but you can see it from here.” 

While we have horrific flooding on 35th and Hillen Road in my district, the lead engineer at the Department of Public Works who is making sure this does not happen again lives in my district in Coldstream Homestead Montebello. He is determined to get this project right for the residents who have suffered so long, and has marshalled a tremendous team - many of whom are also my constituents - to get this right.

This past week, we witnessed our entire fire department out of service to mourn the loss of their brothers and sisters who perished in a horrible fire. All of our fire houses were still active thanks to fire engines and EMTs from across the state who filled in. This monumental feat of coordination was conducted by one of my constituents who lives in Hampden and is the deputy director of the Maryland Office of Emergency Management.

I could go on and on with examples of our residents meeting the challenges of today head on. That would take another several pages.  So I’ll just say this. We have brave firefighters who live and work here.  We have scientists and professors conducting groundbreaking research, we have elders who impart their sage knowledge on our young people to ensure we don’t forget, we have residents who take charge when something isn’t done right, artists bringing joy to our neighborhoods, educators who see and do everything they can for our students, and activists who hold mine and my colleagues' feet to the fire. We have residents working together to make sure everyone is ok during the pandemic - giving people rides to vaccines, ensuring residents have basics during the shut down, and keeping the hope that we will get through this.

I could go on and on. I cannot be more proud to represent this district.  Thank you for the opportunity to serve.  Let’s keep fighting for Baltimore.