EDUCATION: Educating African American students from the inception of African Americans moving to Western Baltimore County. Until almost the 60’s African American students had to attend high school in Baltimore City. When the County reluctantly allowed African American students to attend County schools, it was a contentious partnership.

I initially became involved in activism because my son and other African American students were the subject of unbridled racism. It became a major issue when one of my employee’s child was receiving services that I’d requested for my son. African American students were not receiving scholarships, which they qualified for, nor assistance in getting into colleges. A group of families created the African American Parents Coalition. I joined the National Conference on Educating the Black child and became the Baltimore County Coordinator. Although we made some strides, the schools have not improved in more than thirty years.

The 4 th Councilmanic District is the “checkbook” for capital improvements in the County as the per capita income of it’s residents provide 49% of the County’s revenue. If the resident’s of the 4 th District receive what they are entitled to, other Districts will receive less. There is a vested interest by Politicians and other residents to keep the schools in the 4 th District deficient.

As I have always done, I will advocate for and insist that the students in the 4 th District receive their due!

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

I am a specialist in small business and minority development. I wrote Maryland’s Small Business legislation. Everyone decries the lack of quality restaurants and empty shopping centers in the 4 th District. This can be easily alleviated by bring business and workers to the District. Restaurants will come to the District if there is an available workforce for the lucrative lunchtime dinners. Owings Mills is a great example of this. Blue Cross/Blue Shield, T. Rowe Price and numerous other businesses are the reason for the diversity of dinning options in Owings Mills. Yet, the 4 th District has a valuable resource that our politicians have not tapped, the Social Security Administration and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), both located in Woodlawn.

Due to the passage of President Obama’s healthcare reform, these two agencies located in the 4 th District are experiencing exponential growth. It is rumored that the Social Security Headquarters Annex facility in downtown Baltimore will close because of the need for a larger facility with better access to parking and transportation. The Liberty Road corridor would be appropriate for this expansion.

Located on excellent transportation lines with land for parking, abandoned shopping centers along Liberty Road can be retro-fitted to accommodated Social Security (SSA) and (CMS) annexes. They would be located a short, manageable distance from SSA and CMS.

Restaurants and other ancillary businesses would follow to accommodate the employers. Currently, there is no reason for businesses to relocate to this area. Utilizing my extensive policy, legislative, political and administrative background, I would work with our Congressional delegation to accomplish this.

DEVELOPMENT:

I am a supporter of the “First Suburbs” movement. The First Suburbs consist of older suburban communities (such as Woodlawn, Randallstown and Reisterstown). This is an “advocacy movement working to revitalize mature, developed communities and to raise public and political awareness of the problems associated with urban sprawl and urban disinvestment. These communities are experiencing challenges associated with the deterioration of their infrastructure. This directly impacts the economic viability of these communities. I would bring into these communities more open spaces and recreation facilities. There used to be a great deal more recreation facilities for youth, twenty years ago, than currently exist in the 4 th District. I will restore these facilities that still exist in the community.

Towson is a First Suburb which Baltimore County concentrates all of its economic development. Again, the residents of the 4 th District are subsidizing the urban renewal of Towson while their communities suffer. When I am elected, I will insure that Woodlawn, Randallstown and Reisterstown receive the same level of urban renewal and economic development that is concentrated in Towson and White Marsh.

Owings Mills and other communities in the 4 th District have been devastated by over development. Newtown Elementary School was overcrowded before it opened requiring the building of Woodholme Elementary School and over burdening the surrounding elementary schools. Economically, this was the inefficient utilization of revenue resources that could be applied to instruction.

During the drought of 2006, Liberty Dam, along with properties on well water went dry. The residents suffered because the over development and lack of infrastructure to support this development caused this. The Developers did not provide the infrastructure, that they are required to do by the Baltimore County Planning process, to support these communities. County residents paid for the infrastructure that the developers should have provided. Properties, such as the historic Owings House, that were on the National Register of historic properties (that are supposed to be protected from destruction, located at the corner of Painters Mill and Dolefield Roads was torn down to accommodate and office building. That was the distruction of our history to accommodate a Developer.

I would stringently monitor the development process and insure that the process is in concert with the community’s need. I WOULD TOTALLY INVOLVE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS AND BE REPONSIVE TO THE COMMUNITIES. A policy expert, I would review current statues and write new legislation to protect the District.

THE ENVIRONMENT:

The environment has suffered greatly, for many of the reasons delineated under the Development clause above. Thousands of pristine acres were decimated to create Owings Mills Mall (that is almost empty) and Newtown. This was not done in concert with the “best practices” in planning. During the Real Estate Boom, Developers tried to go after land in Soldier’s Delight and other protected areas. I am an ardent supporter of environmental issues! I have worked diligently in the past and will continue to work to preserve our environment!

TRANSPORTATION:

I was a Policy Analyst and Program Developer at the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). I am thoroughly familiar with the transportation challenges in the 4 th District. I support the establishment of the Red Line into Woodlawn/Social Security Administration but, we need more feeder lines to areas of the County that lack adequate transportation such as Owings Mills and Reisterstown. More feeder lines are needed from the Metro at Owings Mills into Reisterstown. I worked on several Workforce Development initiatives. Accessible transportation is essential to Job Development.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT:

In order for the County to grow and generate more revenues to support goods and services for the 4 th District, we need to establish more Workforce Development initiatives to retrain fired workers, students that do not want to attend college and those who seek to change careers. The current level of agencies concentrating on Workforce Development are insufficient to support the population in the 4 th District.

SOCIAL SERVICES:

Due to the severe economic recession,we need to bring in more non-profit organizations to assist residents. The Social Service Offices are full of middle class families who have lost their jobs or retirees who cannot support themselves on their meager resources. There are many agencies that could help these residents but, they are located in Baltimore City and they do not service County residents.

I would actively recruit non-profit organizations to either relocate to Baltimore County or open annex offices in Baltimore County.