Dixon Admin to Sue Bank for Predatory Lending to Blacks

Interesting, if not laudable. Wells-Fargo must have missed a donation somewhere.

Police Attack "Main Weapons" Used in Drug Trade

Which apparently are, you guessed it, illegal guns. Thats right, the main "weapon" of the DRUG trade, according to police, is somehow illegal guns, not illegal drugs. Really, how do these police ever expect to accomplish anything when they are starting out with incorrect assumptions.

Does anyone believe for a second that even if all illegal guns(heck, even legal guns) were removed from the equation that murder, crime, and poverty would somehow be lessened? People would be stabbing each other over drug real estate. The market for crossbows and other clandestine instruments of war would skyrocket (or more likely, guns still will exist, only ALL of them will be illegal).

Its not the illegal guns that are causing the crime problem.

“Obviously, there’s a disconnect and there’s a failure in the criminal justice system,” Ross said of the numbers. “I don’t understand why they’re being released if there’s a gun crime.”

See, I don't understand why "they" are being arrested if there is a "drug crime." Criminologist Jeffery Ian Ross gets close to the answer:

Ross said that the situation likely will remain unchanged unless there are more job opportunities for young men in Baltimore.

But there’s a catch, Ross said: The jobs have to pay well.

“The drug trade is very lucrative,” he said. “Nobody is going to give up a flexible, lucrative means of supporting themselves to get a Mickey Mouse job.”

As long as drugs remain illegal, they remain more lucrative to the participants in the drug trade than any job you could offer. I can see the job description targeted at these drug dealers now:

Looking to hire Sales Staff immediately, no experience required, no education necessary. Tax free income of $600-1,000 a day. Set your own hours and hire and fire (perhaps literally) your own staff at will. Motivated employees can freelance to earn extra pay. Work from home or withing walking distance. Simply buy direct from our distributors, no advertising or sales experience necessary. This stuff sells itself!

I have a prediction for Baltimore City and for America. The "chaos" is going to continue.

Update: It looks like a bunch of new jobs just opened up! I wonder how many man hours went into locking these 8-9 people up for being effective capitalists? Not like it matters, because all that work was useless. There are no addicts who will go without heroin tonight in Baltimore, as I am sure Mr. Brewer's corners were filled with new dealers hours after his arrest.

Police Reaction to Drug Deaths is Laughable

As usual, the police reaction to drug related murders in Baltimore makes me laugh. The police just cannot understand why men who make money off of trading in illegal goods would not want to bring their business disputes to the authorities. I can't imagine it has anything to do with the fact that these disputes arise out of illegal actions. Why would a criminal risk incarceration to make a complaint to police. If they have lived in Baltimore for more than a few months, they should know how quickly police respond to the complaints of black citizens in bad neighborhoods. Even if the police did have the power to say, question Drug dealer A about his theft of Drug Dealer B's stash, or to take enforcer A to task for his assault of runner B for messing up the count on that morning's pull without having to arrest both for drug activity, it would probably not happen efficiently enough in a city where overtime and unsolved cases are the norm.

Anyway, onto the article:

Two men were killed in separate incidents last night and early this morning, pushing the pace of homicides in Baltimore to an average of one a day in May.

Law enforcement officials attribute at least part of the violence to drug turf battles and an increase in gang rivalries. In many cases, police and prosecutors complain that victims and witnesses are reluctant to cooperate with investigators, and instead settle scores outside of the city's criminal justice system.

Only somewhat? To what else do the police attribute these regular slaughters of young black men in our city? Perhaps we should find this "other" and declare war on it.

I am so tired of hearing new crime plans and new initiatives. None of them will work.

Baltimore's death toll will continue to rise until we end the war on drugs and divert our resources to a war on poverty and addiction. I hope someone can prove me wrong, perhaps someone currently running for Mayor, or maybe even President. I doubt it.

Martial Law on Demand Fails in Baltimore City

Good news. This proposal has been beaten for now, and the controversy may be a preview of the difficulty Mike Nutter may face in Philly when he tries to implement it. Americans should never have to justify walking on the sidewalk in public to the police.

If I may Direct your Attention

This post could have easily been posted here as well. Some folks in Baltimore City are so desperate for solutions I think they have stopped considering the effectiveness and legality of their suggestions.

Dixon's Crime Plan will Fail

Mayor Dixon, in association with your local media, has rolled out another plan to stop crime in Baltimore City. I am sure this one will fail as miserably as every other plan brought forward by "experts" called criminologists.

The particular criminologist in this case is David Kennedy. You may remember his failed "crime plans" from the 1980's or his study in 1997 which came to the stunning and revolutionary conclusion that "criminals commit crimes". Thats right, it took a few years of study for this expert criminologist to find out that most violent crime in Baltimore is committed by a core group of 4,000 criminals. Groundbreaking, really. I was under the impression that crime was a product of each and every Baltimore citizen performing at least one crime a year.

There are some positive aspects to the program, but they are afterthoughts, not central points. Drug treatment and community involvement is mentioned. Quality of life arrests are no longer the focus, and arrests without charges are down.

However, the Mayor's plan in no way addresses the root of the violence in Baltimore City, in exorbitant profits that can be made in the illegal drug trade. Because of this, criminals are organized, powerful, and their ranks are CONSISTENTLY REPLENISHED. Programs to dissuade young men from joining gangs or slinging will be grossly ineffective as long as much of the city remains in poverty and the drug trade is so easily accessible and so very profitable.

Gangs are responsible for many of the killings recently in the city. And of course, this program apparently will "target gangs". But will it really? This program does nothing to address the root of gang violence in Baltimore City, the illegal drug trade. I mean, these gangs make money somehow, and I have a feeling most of it is coming from selling heroin, as well as other drugs.

Of course the solution then, seems to be to target heroin dealers, and shut them down. I would argue that stopping the flow of illegal drugs into America, therefore, into Baltimore, therefore into Park Heights, while preserving civil liberties at all levels is completely impossible. A joke, really.

Instead of presenting more of the same the City, the Mayor could do the right thing (political suicide or not). She could send a letter, along with community activists and city police, to the Governor and the Legislature, to the Congress and the President. In this letter, she must admit the complete impossibility of continuing the federally and state mandated Drug War to a successful conclusion. Dixon could join with the Mayor's of every major US city, all of which are gripped with drug related violence.

She should ask the congress and the President to consider revisiting our drug laws, and re-writing them in a way that allows for the removal of the profit motive from the illegal drug trade. This could be done in numerous ways, from the creation of monopolized market, to the wholesale legalization of controlled substances. The key must be to REMOVE THE PROFIT MOTIVE from illegal sale. IMO, I think it would be unjust to reintroduce that profit motive into the legal market for things such as heroin, cocaine, or meth. For this reason, the creation of a monopolized narcotics, cocaine, and methamphetamine market would be ideal. Addicts need to be able to get their fix in a safe, non-violence encouraging environment. Treatment is also important, but ending the violence relies on removing the illegal profit motive and nothing else.

There is NOTHING that would end the violence faster than the removal of the profit motive from the illegal drug trade, short of a comprehensive and effective plan to revitalize the urban poor in our cities. Poverty is a great contributor to violence, and the reason that poor urban areas become such havens for drug activity.

Drug legalization cannot be a replacement for a war on poverty. Poverty has played a major part in this cycle, and must be addressed.

Still, I cannot hold my tongue when the people of Baltimore are being fed the same line, over and over on crime prevention. Don't get me wrong, I am completely aware that the ideas prescribed here are well outside of the mainstream, and not likely to be proposed by anyone interested in having a political career in most of America in the next 15 years.

So when it comes to crime fighting plans in Baltimore City, we can expect more of the same for some time to come. I will assume that those who disagree with me on drug legalization will herald this as a good thing. I must remind them that the murders will not stop either, or be reduced considerably for a long time. That doesn't sit well with me, and it shouldn't sit well with Baltimore politicians who continue to rely on tactics that do not work.

Update:To be clear, GANG ACTIVITY IS A DIRECT OUTGROWTH OF THE ILLEGAL NARCTOTICS TRADE. Eliminate this trade, you eliminate the reason for these gangs' existence.

Sgt. Ted Friel runs a four-officer gang intelligence unit in the Eastern District, the first such mini-unit in the city. Other districts have begun to create their own.

"For the most part, the existing drug territories and the gang stuff goes hand in hand," Friel said. "The drug organizations have become the gangs."

Yep.

Update 2:While reading the article I posted in the update, it is clear that the Drug Trade is more than a get rich quick scheme. For many, it is a conscious career choice. Gangs in Baltimore are highly organized in their recruitment, much like a powerful corporation. They seek employees in likely areas, prison blocks and blighted city blogs, places where hopelessness is all around. Those who join are set for life, and are expected to remain for that period of time. Drug dealing for gang members is a career, living. Older gang members see their gangs as community organizations.

Don't be naive. These groups are most likely funneling money into the coffers of Maryland and Baltimore politicians. What intelligent and successful multi-million dollar local business wouldn't be doing so?

Baltimore City to Outlaw Hustle and Bustle

At least it could, if the City Council gets their way on what might be one of the stupidest bills of the year, and I hope the Mayor calls these bills what they really are, political grandstanding by Keiffer Mitchell and others on the council.

Council President, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposal is so hilarious.

Rawlings-Blake's bill had the backing of 10 council members when it was introduced. It would prohibit noise in residential neighborhoods above 55 decibels -- about the volume of a normal conversation. It would allow the police commissioner to ''close'' an offending property for up to one year, after a public hearing.

Better keep your children quiet, or you could get evicted. Heck, will I get evicted for putting out my trash at night and inviting the bone-shaking trash truck with it's loud talking sanitation workers down the alley behind my apartment? Will I be able to call the police on the back-hoe that currently rips open 32'nd street every morning?

Perhaps Ms. Rawlings-Blake can reconsider allowing the Mercy Medical to get Heli-pad near my apartment, because chances are that will be very noisy.

Of course, none of this will happen, because this bill is really aimed at giving the city yet another way to outright steal your property and give it to big developers. With new laws passed in the Maryland Senate relating to imminent domain, the City is scared that they will no longer be able to seize property without impunity and compensation.

Keiffer Mitchell, for all the vitriol he gets here, has a slightly better idea.

Another bill is sponsored by City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell. It would add homicides, assaults, firearms convictions and other violent crimes to the public nuisance law, thus allowing the city to shut a property where the incidents took place, besides prosecuting the offender. Mitchell, who is running for mayor this year, said his bill is aimed at cutting gang violence.

''This gives the police and the prosecutor another tool,'' he said. ''This is intended to go after those property owners that aren't being good stewards.''

Now, this may be going overboard, but it makes more sense than the noise = eviction bill. Kieffer wants to remove criminally negligent homeowners. Rawlings Blake wants to outlaw NOISE in a METROPOLITAN CITY. Like I said, hilarious.

Mayor Dixon and Operation Safe Streets

I suppose that Operation Safe Streets is a major component of Mayor Dixon's push for community focused policing and violence reduction.

The Mayor outlines the project in an offical press release:

OSS is based on the highly successful CeaseFire model developed at the University of Illinois School of Public Health in Chicago. CeaseFire works with community-based organizations to develop and implement strategies to reduce and prevent violence, particularly shootings and killings. The model relies on outreach workers, faith leaders, and other community leaders to intervene in conflicts, or potential conflicts, and promote alternatives to violence. Along with cooperation from police, CeaseFire includes a strong public education campaign to provide the message that shootings and violence are not acceptable.

CeaseFire also is premised upon the strengthening of communities so they have the capacity to exercise informal social control and respond to issues that affect them. Since its launch in 2000, Ceasefire has been successfully operating in 15 of Chicago's high-crime neighborhoods. With the collaboration of community groups, outreach teams, law enforcement and clergy, communities experienced reductions in shootings up to 68% in the first year of implementation.

At least this program has seen proven results in high crime, urban communities. I am anxious to see how it does in Baltimore, and to what neighborhoods and organizations the federal grant is going. The PDF above lists March 19th as the date for award announcement, but I can't seem to find it online. If anyone has any info about what neighborhoods got the awards, drop me a line.

It appears that at least one neighborhood, Cherry Hill, has applied.

While this is a novel approach to crime, one that should be encouraged should it work here, I wonder whether it is enough. Once a drug market or a gang is pushed from one neighborhood, they will simply move the next. If OSS is successful, it will hopefully receive more funding to branch out around the city.

What is also troubling about the program is that in does not explicitly include funds to deal with local drug addiction or drug markets. Not only should violence be discouraged, but the community should be enabled to help those in their neighborhood they know are suffering from addiction. The program is otherwise holistic, and for this it should be praised.

As Mayor, Martin O'Malley adopted the zero-tolerance polices of "America's mayor". Its nice to see Mayor Dixon taking something more positive from the Mayors of Chicago and Philadelphia.

Drug War Claims Four Lives in 24 Hours

If anyone had any doubts as to the major cause of violence in Baltimore, yesterdays events in Northeast Baltimore should allay them. The drug war has claimed 4 more lives in Baltimore City, and most likely played a part in a large number of the 57 murders so far in the city this year.

Via The Sun:

In Lauraville, a gunman shot into a car on a quiet side street hitting two people in what police say was the latest chapter of an ongoing turf war over the sale of marijuana. The victims' car careened down the street, slammed into a parked vehicle and triggered a pileup that startled residents. One of the men who was shot died.

Thats right, over POT sales. A drug that can basically be legally purchased on the West Coast is highly illegal in Maryland, and look what we get for it. Dead young men and no reduction in the availability of marijuana. It's disgusting really.

The shootings on List and Cliftmont avenues occurred 2 1/2 miles apart about 8:15 p.m. Bealefeld said police were aware of simmering tensions between rivals and tried to defuse them by talking with those involved, days before the shootings occurred. He said police also had deployed extra officers to the two areas in an attempt to prevent violence.

Police did everything they could, apparently, but it just wasn't enough. This is the sad reality of the cut-throat drug trade we have created through our misguided drug policies. Bitter rivals fighting to sell an extremely valuable product. Of course, the illegality of the product is what MAKES IT SO PROFITABLE and forces it onto the street instead of keeping it inside of the pharmacy or in the garden. I am not sure how to make the logic clearer, our drug policy is directly responsible for this violence.

Authorities said the shooting on List Avenue was connected to two feuding drug gangs, who some residents said were vying for crack cocaine distribution along Harford Road. Police were deployed in the area along Harford Road, but the shooting happened about four blocks west.

Drugs again, gangs too. With all the talk about gang violence, I wonder when the discussion comes in about how these gangs make their money? Could it be from drug sales? No one is asking, no one cares. Its all about guns and getting "guns off of the street". This is silliness. The problem isn't guns, its drugs, and more to the point, the illegal drug trade created through our prohibitionist policies. We have created the most profitable illegal market in the world, and we have no hope of shutting it down short of forcing it into legitimacy. Then we will see an end to the violence. When it is no longer attractive or profitable to sell drugs illegally, the violence will fall. The way to do this is to legalize drugs and create a legitimate market.

I feel like I have written that paragraph many times in slightly different forms. Its easy to repeat the same position when the same sorts of murders keep happening, motivated by the same drug trade. Our inability to acknowledge the truth is both disturbing and depressing. The murders will keep coming, and those in law enforcement and in the city council will continue to ignore the solutions that are staring them right in the face.

Baltimore City Ban's Smoking in Bars, Restaurants

Finally. As a smoker and sometimes libertarian, I have had many long, unresolved arguments over this legislation, and I am glad to finally see it pass if only to end those arguments. Furthermore, from a public health standpoint, the ban really was necessary, and I support it's passage despite my earlier reservations.

While I will miss my after lunch cigarette at the Charles Village Pub on weekends, I will find some way to cope.

What I did find interesting about the bill was the deadlock over it's passage and the apparent work that Mayor Dixon had to put in to end it.

In addition to the maneuvering, the ban also received an important last-minute push by Dixon. Though she had been publicly supportive of the ban for months, several observers said the new mayor -- who often lists health as a major priority of her administration -- made a series of phone calls to members who had abstained on past votes.

"She definitely demonstrated her power," said Frank D. Boston, a lobbyist for the Baltimore Licensed Beverage Association, who said he believed early Monday that he still had a chance of killing the measure. "Before today, I had the votes."

For a Mayor who has such a short tenure before facing an election battle, Dixon made a good move flexing her muscle here. I am still ambivalent about the candidates in the upcoming Mayor's race (besides than my profound distaste for Councilman Mitchell) but Sheila Dixon just scored some points.

While Hundreds Crowd Homeless Shelters, Baltimore City Demolishes a Block of Houses

Faced with a snowy weekend and an untimely BGE turnoff notice, I was extremely moved by a recent story in the Hamilton Spectator about the Code Blue Bus in Baltimore City. Code Blue is a non-profit organization who provides warmth, shelter, and resources for the homeless of Baltimore City. When the temperature dips into deadly territory, Code Blue picks up street dwellers and gives them somewhere safe and warm to stay for the night.

What is heartbreaking about the article is what is heartbreaking about every contact one might have with a homeless person, the realization that "that could be me". Its a realization that flies in the face of conventional wisdom about the homeless, that they are mostly drug addicts or alcoholics, schizophrenics or Alzheimer's sufferers, or are "just lazy". Even worse is the conventional wisdom that not only takes such statements to be true, but then supposes that for those reasons, the homeless are undeserving of, or beyond help.

Two stories jumped out at me:

Some people grumble about the food and the condition of the bathrooms and the lack of showering facilities.

Others, such as Michelle Holley, a 23-year-old single mother, are grateful.

Holley spends the days at her grandmother's and the nights here with her daughter, 3, and son, 1. She shares a room with several other women. Tonight, her children watch television as she relaxes on the cot.

"It's not the right way to live, for real. But it's OK. I'm trying to get my own place," she says.

"I'm grateful. A lot of people should feel blessed to have someplace to stay until they get themselves together."

The shelter helps the Health Department identify families that should be placed in emergency housing and put in contact with social-service agencies.

On a recent night, Stacey Mouzon, a 26-year-old mother of six, enters the shelter visibly scared.

Tears are streaming down her face as her children's backpacks are opened and examined.

Around her stand five of her children, ranging from a 2-year-old to a 13-year-old.

The Glover-Beys immediately find her a private room and special care.

Settled in later, still shaken, Mouzon says she came to the shelter because she was forced out of her apartment in November 2006 and since then has been moving around among family members and friends.

When the electricity at her aunt's place was cut off, she knew she had to find another place to stay, and so she walked to the shelter.

"I didn't know what it was going to be like," says Mouzon, still crying.

"I don't know where we'll go tomorrow morning"

The next day, Mouzon and her family are placed in emergency housing at a hotel, and they're assigned a case manager with the city's housing program.

This is where my stretch of a headline and stretch of a point come in. As many may already know, Baltimore demolished a whole block of historic row houses on Saturday.

Now, I am sure if the houses remained, they would not have priority for low income housing or any sort of program to place the newly homeless in affordable housing. Still, the City Council's extremely overzealous actions on behalf of the Developer to get these houses removed ASAP deserves some attention. Now, the recent articles about the matter simply say this about the Council's complicity in subverting the will of the public in favor of helping out a big developers:

The city granted Mercy a permit to demolish the homes in December after the City Council removed the structures from a list of notable properties in the central business district - a move that allowed the hospital to raze the buildings without a one-year deliberation process.

Indeed, Councilman Keiffer Mitchell was the one who wrote the amendment to de-list the buildings, and he is the one who slipped it into legislation so it wouldn't be questioned or even noticed.

Mercy and the preservation community faced off last fall when City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., at Mercy's request, pushed an amendment to an otherwise innocuous bill that removed the houses from a list of "notable" properties -- a designation that required a one-year waiting period before demolition.

Councilman Mitchell should be ashamed of himself, though I am sure the donations will help him during his run for Mayor. If justice was guaranteed, Mr. Mitchell would lose his bid for Mayor and hopefully his Council seat. His amendment and failure to change the name to reflect the policy within is a direct attempt to mislead the citizens of this city, and he has the balls to think about running for Mayor.

So why do I think these stories are related, beyond the facile observation that we are destroying homes when there is a homeless problem? They are connected because they show who our City Council is working for, and in a lot of cases, it ain't us. Keiffer Mitchell will step up and work hard behind the scenes for his buddies at Mercy Medical so they can get their new center. I want to know who in our City government is working hard behind the scenes to help Stacey Mouzon and her six children? It is disheartening that some Council members would break the law to help a big developer screw over the people. I want to know who is willing to break the law to try to help the poor in this city?

I need to pay my parking tickets

When you live in Baltimore, who knows what could happen?

The End of "Quick Take" Misuse in Baltimore City

Good news for anyone opposed to authoritarianism, Baltimore's "quick take" system that allowed for the seizure of property in "emergency" situations has been struck down. Of course, the problem was that the city was taking property in situations that were clearly not emergencies at all. The seizure in question was particularly disturbing, because it was done specifically to appease big developers.

The state Court of Appeals, in a blunt opinion that harshly criticized the city's favored property seizure technique, found Baltimore had no good reason to take a Charles North bar called The Magnet last year with a sped-up version of eminent domain called "quick take."

...

By condemning the bar and about 20 other Charles North properties, Baltimore officials aimed to assemble a sizable tract that would entice developers. The goal was revitalizing the depressed area between Mount Vernon and Charles Village along the busy Charles Street corridor.

The city filed a quick take petition on The Magnet in March, gaining immediate possession of the property without a hearing.

The city has no right to seize a legitimate business to make way for developers. Developers who are nowhere near ready to even begin building in the area.

Judge Carthell was correct in his decision:

"The City failed to provide sufficient reasons for its immediate possession of and title of the subject Property," Carthell wrote. "Without evidence that the continuing existence of a particular building or property is immediately injurious to the health and safety of the public, or is otherwise immediately needed for public use, there is no way to justify the need for immediate possession of the Property via quick-take condemnation proceedings.

"This is as opposed to offering a property owner the full process to which he or she is constitutionally due, via the exercise of the regular condemnation power."

"The basic rule in America has always been that government must give you your day in court before it takes your property," said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Timothy Sandefur, who filed a friend of the court brief in the case. "But in Maryland and other places, bureaucrats have been exploiting their emergency powers when it's not an emergency. They try to take property first, and ask questions later. It's wonderful to see the court issue such a strongly worded decision striking down such practices.

This decision should end the predatory use of "quick take" in Baltimore City, but this situation raises other important questions. Primarily, who is in bed with the developers here and why are they allowed such a lack of scrutiny. Yes, "quick take" is done, but the corrupt people who utilized it illegally are still around. Who are they, where is their apology, and why do they still hold jobs with the Baltimore Development Corp?

Join me in emailing both the Baltimore Development Corp. and Mayor Dixon to get the answers.

Early Trouble for Dixon's Community Policing Push

The trouble is that nearly all of Baltimore City's police commanders don't live inside of the city. Eight apparently live as far away as Pennsylvania. I am not sure whether this story is an overreaction or not. Policing does is an extremely localized profession, and I feel like it says something about the Commanders who would choose to live away from the people they serve. Perhaps its that I want to feel like my police officers have the same stake in my community that I do. Things like this make such a thing hard to believe, at least when it comes to commanders.

Delegate Jill Carter agrees.

“How can you talk about community policing if the police do not live in the community?” asked State Del. Jill Carter, who is running for mayor. “It you live a community you’re invested in it. I live in the district I serve, and so I understand the community’s pain.”

As does Mayor Dixon.

Mayor Sheila Dixon’s spokesman, Anthony McCarthy, said she prefers to have top commanders living in Baltimore.

“It’s Mayor Dixon’s preference to have all senior staff live in the city,” he said. “In Baltimore, she is working every day to create affordable housing [that] would make it easier for them to choose to do so. The mayor hopes to see more and more command staff choose to live in the city.”

I am not sure why a police COMMANDER would need affordable housing benefits. If their pay is that abysmal, perhaps the Mayor should consider a pay increase for these important officers.

Councilman Jack Young gets tough.

Councilman Jack Young, D-12th District, agreed that senior staff should live in the city.

“If they’re going to be in a high-level position, the should live here and get to know the residents of the city,” he said. “I think it should be required that all top-level people live in the city.”

I agree with Councilman Young. If you are going to be actively engaged in policing this city, you should at least be required to live in an adjacent county. There is no reason a police commander from Baltimore should be living in Pennsylvania, especially when that officer is using a state funded vehicle for his hour-plus commute each way.

Perhaps this position seems harsh and perhaps some will worry that it will increase Baltimore's troubles in hiring quality police. In my opinion, Baltimore should be looking for Commanders who value our city enough to make a life here. Furthermore, Baltimore should go out of their way to encourage police officers of all ranks to buy or rent in the neighborhood/ district in which they work. This is the key to community policing, the kind that fosters trust and accountability.

A Quick Note on Councilman Mitchell

Keiffer Mitchell is running for Mayor of Baltimore (old news, I know), and to be honest, I don't know a whole lot about the man. However, on thing caught my eye in a discussion today about the proposed demolition of some historic Baltimore row houses (pre-fire even!).

Apparently, Mitchell has played a rather large part in helping Mercy Medical Center demolish the houses.

City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. sponsored an amendment to a bill that stripped the houses of historic protections. The amendment, added quietly at Mercy's request, eliminated a required one-year demolition deliberation process that would have hampered Mercy's construction schedule.

This stinks to high heaven. Does Mr. Mitchell think this is acceptable? Does Mitchell place the needs of big business over the concerns of the citizens in the city? Does he think it is his duty to subvert the laws of our city and to create loopholes for developers?

If so, perhaps Mr. Mitchell should reconsider his run for Mayor of Baltimore.

(by the way, if you're interested in a candidate for city council who will really fight for neighborhood dwellers and not for developers, check out Adam Meister, owner of techbalt)

Conservatives "Regroup" in Baltimore

Republicans have finally decided to come together to discuss how to regroup after their losses in 2006. Its a very important event for the party:

The retreat comes amid a widening split between conservatives and moderates within the Republican Party, with each side blaming the other for election losses in November. Conservatives say the party lost touch with the voters when it lost touch with its basic tenets: keeping government small and spending limited.

"As conservatives, we must get back to basics and begin to thoughtfully communicate our vision and core principles," Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the Texas Republican who chairs the 90-member Republican Study Committee, said in a statement. "Gathering some of the best minds in the conservative movement together with conservative leaders in Congress provides an opportunity to strategize and develop a solid foundation."

Obviously, conservatives have gotten off track. They recognize that they must return to their original values, especially if they plan on taking the presidency in 2008.

Too bad only one of the GOP front runners showed up.

Romney will address the congressmen Friday. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani also were invited to the retreat in Baltimore, where the same group met last year. Giuliani told organizers he had a scheduling conflict, they said. McCain did not respond.

Hilarious. Giuliani and McCain are the standard bearers of the GOP for '08. Romney is a long shot at best. This non-attendance is key.

The retreat comes amid a widening split between conservatives and moderates within the Republican Party, with each side blaming the other for election losses in November. Conservatives say the party lost touch with the voters when it lost touch with its basic tenets: keeping government small and spending limited.

Seems like the conservative wing of the GOP has lost touch with their presidential candidates.

Ending the Violence

Baltimore Examiner:

Protesters call for an end to violence

BALTIMORE - Marching through the McCulloh Homes housing project in East Baltimore on Saturday, nearly 100 protesters took to the streets to call attention to another deadly month in one of the country’s deadliest cities.

Citing 24 murders in 24 days, Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, who organized the Let’s Stop the Killings and End The Violence Rally, said he was fed up with the violence.

“We are here to end the apathy,” he said “We are here to recognize the continuing violence, and we’ll keep to expressing our outrage until things change,” he said.

How many of these rallies have taken place over the years? I am sure the numbers reach into the hundreds. What have they accomplished? Not too much it seems.

Yes, these rallies serve a purpose. They bring the community together and they restore a much needed feeling of unity among those in the city who want to see an end to the violence. Community leaders say some nice things and some angry things:

The protesters, who marched to the plaza near McCulloh Homes where a murder had occurred just days before, were joined by Israel Cason, the founder of I Can’t, We Can drug rehabilitation center in Park Heights, and state Del. Jill Carter.

Cason, who was recently notified the council he intends to seek the 6th District council seat vacated by new City Council President Stephanie Rawlings Blake, said the city needed a spiritual change.

“This is about our souls,” he said. “The root of the problem is us, we need to do something about our own condition” he said.

Carter, the only mayoral candidate to attend the rally, said the absence of other public officials was telling.

“The lives of African-Americans are simply not valued,” she said. “We need to build the morale of the people by standing with them.”

Delegate Carter, though it may seem like the "smart" thing to do, this is not the time to be scoring political points. Even though Baltimore's crime problems are the things of Mayoral candidate's dreams, even if every mayoral candidate from the past 25 years would have attended the protest this past Saturday it would have done nothing to end the violence in the city.

Others at the rally had opinions on how to end the violence:

Michael Makel, a resident of McCulloh Homes, said that although he is encouraged people turned out to join in the protest, the key to stopping violence was in the classroom.

“Everything starts with proper education,” he said. “Teenagers need to know there is opportunity out there, a real alternative. Then you’ll see change.”

Indeed, improving opportunities for those in violent areas is an important step in ending the violence. However, while we increase the opportunities for our "at risk" youth, we also need to take an active role in decreasing the opportunities for these youth to engage in behavior that leads to violence. This means ending our youth's access to a job in the illegal drug trade and all the criminal activities that come with such involvement. Our current policing and drug enforcement strategy has only lead to an increase in the scope, competitiveness and profitability of the illegal drug trade.

If we are serious about ending violence and saving our young people from becoming involved in violence we must attack the source of the criminal activity that breeds this violence. This is not the simple availability of illegal drugs, it is specifically the illegal market and the way we deal with this market that must change. To do this we must create a legal market for drugs that is appealing to the drug consumer. Once the consumer sees that they can get their fix in a safe, cheap, and legal way, the open air drug markets will fade almost immediately.

Suddenly, "the game" isn't very attractive anymore. The money will be gone, and with it, the allure of street life. Selling on the corner will no longer be a perceived "short path to money, success, and respect" that is has become for many misguided youth in our country.

Of course the violence will not end completely. People will still search for the "short path" the comes with robbery, theft, and murder for hire. However, the numbers will be greatly reduced. Not to mention, the street dealing values will pass away as well, with time. It is in these values, bred in desperation and without respect for the law, where we find this fetishization of senseless violence. Here we find the distortions of "respect" and "justice". Here we find the violent societal expression of our vicious, winner take all capitalism.

While Mr. Makel is correct, that teenagers do need a "real alternative", he never mentions what they need an alternative to. It is unspoken, but he is talking about cycle of violence and criminal activity of which the illegal drug trade is the backbone. No matter what alternative we present to our youth, it will continue be ignored by those who are drawn to the lucrative and forever pervasive illegal drug trade.

UPDATE: DChase at Bmorenews criticizes the violent mentality that has been created by the illegal drug trade.

Some New Stories Speak for Themselves.

In Baltimore, not even police officers are safe from random crime.

If only we had more officers on the street, or something. Whatever.

O'Malley: "incessant foreign chemical attacks of cocaine and heroin"

From Governor O'Malley's Inaguration speech:

For against the peril of terrorist threat and the incessant foreign chemical attacks of cocaine and heroin, we have the possibility of improving our homeland security efforts… making our port a leader… the possibility of using our technology and talents to deter and prevent attack… and the possibility of reforming our public safety institutions to save lives. Maryland is one of America’s wealthiest states; it's time to make us one of America's safest and most secure.

There is a lot to talk about in the Governor's speech, but seeing as this blog has taken to analyzing the effects of the drug war in Baltimore, this statement stands out to me the most.

Though I am no expert on international drug trafficking, I am relatively sure that drugs enter the state of Maryland in a variety of ways. A good amount of drugs enter illegally through the port of Baltimore, but it is just one out of one million methods. This is just big, fluffy talk.

The Governor takes responsibility for drug addiction in Maryland:

Some of the perils we face – budget deficits, polluted waters, drug addiction and crumbling infrastructure – are of our own recent making.

Recent making? Our own making? I applaud the Governor taking undue responsibility, but I think he is taking on too much. If Governor O'Malley wants to blame someone for the drug addiction (a natural outcome of the drug war, where effective drug treatment is a tertiary concern when compared to incarceration and high arrest stats) and poverty in Baltimore City, all he has to do is take a short ride down I-95.

The Governor had no problem as Mayor of Baltimore taking our Republican Governor to task for tying his hands in trying to improve the City. I think he needs to take the gloves off and take his concerns about these "incessant foreign chemical attacks of cocaine and heroin" to the Federal Government.

Many in Maryland agree that O'Malley has plans that reach beyond the Governor's Mansion. I cannot think of a more courageous act than to take a stand for his State and his City and demand that the Congress and the President take another look at our drug enforcement policies, as well as how to reduce poverty in our cities. Millions around the nation have seen the heartbreaking realities of the drug war in Baltimore play out on HBO's critically acclaimed drama "The Wire". Now is the time to seize on whatever popular sentiment the show has created.

The Governor now has the voice and the authority to speak for Marylanders who have had enough. Marylanders who are ready to try new ideas and new strategies to solve our addiction and violence problems. The Governor, the Mayor, and the citizens of Maryland need to join together, perhaps with other States whose urban areas have fallen under the ugly clouds of poverty and drug war insanity. They should demand reforms to the drug schedule, and they should demand immediate poverty relief for our urban poor.

Of course, the Governor doesn't have to wait for the Federal Government to act. He can work with the Mayor and County Executives to increase the availability of walk-in drug treatment centers throughout the state. He can advise his own police department to focus on high-quality, up the chain arrests. Finally, the governor can attempt to reduce the penalties for simple drug possession, perhaps even reducing the penalty to a citation.

What is interesting is that the Governor singled out two specific types of drugs. Suspiciously absent was marijuana. Could the Governor have plans down the road for decriminalization of small amounts of the plant? That would certainly be a positive step.

The best part about some of these reforms is that they are relatively cheap when compared to further escalation of the drug war. Drug treatment centers would provide quality jobs for Marylanders and show the Governor's commitment to changing strategy. Allowing police to focus on making quality arrests (rather than quality of life arrests) would improve morale, and most likely lead to a greater interest in wearing a badge in Baltimore.

I expect to see all these things happen when pigs fly.

City Paper: Death Watch

I posted earlier this month about the murder maps of the city made by Chris Nelson. The City Paper has taken notice of the interesting work Mr. Nelson has done and included him in a recent story "A Look At The Year In Homicides And The People Who Chronicle Them". A good read.