My first bond bill, in 1983, was for the Jewish Heritage Center.

I was not the lead sponsor. The chair of the Baltimore City delegation was. He had more influence than a freshman member.

As a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, I sat next to Delegate Bobby Neall. I began to notice that he was often erasing and changing numbers on the same sheet of paper. It was the list of bond bills – requests from non-profits for state money for capital projects. Spreadsheets had not been invented.

I began to make the case to Del. Neall for the Jewish Heritage Center. It was funded at $250,000.

Yesterday, I visited the Jewish Museum of Maryland, now the name of what was the Jewish Heritage Center. There is a sign for the Robert L. Weinberg Family History Center. I had kept Bob updated on the bill’s progress in 1983.

We were told about the proposed expansion of the museum on Lombard St. “It would be my honor to sponsor that bond bill,” I emailed Marc Terrill, leader of the Associated, the community’s leading charitable and service agency.

And I hope that someone who has played a role in the history of the Baltimore Jewish community will edit my testimony on the bill. My mother.