Category: Uncategorized

Before there was a Harborplace

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“This is an opportunity to prove that a single building can unite an often-divided city, provide launchpads for under-represented entrepreneurs, and be a catalyst for further inclusive economic development in the area,” Thibault Manekin said in a statement announcing that his development firm had secured financing for an overhaul of Lexington Market.

Lexington Market was Baltimore’s Harborplace – before there was a Harborplace.

People from around the city would come there to shop for groceries, including fresh meat and fish, and eat lunch.

I do the latter.

But the Market has fallen on hard times.

I wrote Thibault, “I hope we can say the same thing about the redevelopment of Pimlico Race Course by the end of the legislative session.”

Speaking of Pimlico, I ran into a friend today who asked if there would be sports betting at the new facility.

“Most likely,” I replied.

His first trip there with his sports buddies would be followed by dinner and wagering.

We hope.

Incentives for teachers

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I went to a forum on Sunday morning about the Kirwan report for pre-k-12 education.

Then I watched football.

Today, I did my follow up.

The report declares that there should be “incentives to attract high-quality high school graduates into careers in teaching.”

I’ve introduced bills that have created such financial incentives. The Nancy Grasmick Teacher Award helps to repay the academic debt of people who are teaching science, technology, engineering, or math subjects or are teaching in a school in which at least 75% of the students are enrolled in the free meal program in the state for 2 years.

Today I asked a General Assembly research librarian, “What are the existing state programs that provide incentives for teachers to teach in schools with high concentrations of low income students?  What is their funding level?”

I’ll share the answer with you and my colleagues.

My Priorities

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There is no doubt as to my priorities for the upcoming legislative session.

Kirwan.  Crime.  Pimlico.

The future of Baltimore, as a constituent wrote me, is inside our schools.  The Kirwan Commission has proposed investments and reforms that are necessary to give every Maryland child access to a world class education.

I will scrutinize what the commission has proposed for pre-kindergarten, college and career readiness for students, teacher compensation, and accountability.  Enacting these recommendations is the most important vote I will cast this year – indeed this four-year term.

Our students, all of us, need to live in a safe city.  More than three hundred murders in a year is unconscionable.

We need to prevent crime from happening and enforce the law when it is broken.  I will propose incentives for police officers to live in Baltimore to address the crippling shortage of officers on the street.  I will work with my colleagues on other means to reduce crime.

We’re going to save the Preakness and transform the Pimlico race track site into housing, recreation, retail, and job opportunities. “While our communities each face their own challenges,” the neighborhood leaders surrounding the track have said, “we share a common desire to see all of our residents thrive.”

I was instrumental in funding the Maryland Stadium Authority’s study of the future of Pimlico. That study is at the heart of the agreement to transform the race track site.

I look forward to hearing from you as we address these and other issues.

The 7th Game

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Every Little Leaguer dreams of playing in the seventh game of the World Series.

Getting the game-winning hit or making the big play in the field.

Among those American dreamers, perhaps, were two recent arrivals in the United States from Ukraine, growing up in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn.

http://carolkitman.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=20867&AKey=twlnv9g5&ajx=1#!pf116792_im0

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, one of those twins, testified yesterday before the House Intelligence Committee.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/us/politics/who-is-alexander-vindman.html

But you don’t get to the 7th game or the staff of the National Security Council without knowing and mastering the fundamentals.

One of the fundamentals of my job is representing the many communities of the 41st District.

Tonight there’s a meeting about the future of the Police Training Academy – on the site of the former Pimlico Junior High, which I attended.

The 41st District delegation and Councilman Yitzy Schleifer wrote Mayor Jack Young, seeking his commitment to a “collaborative and coordinated effort by all stakeholders” to bring about the best use for the future of this property.

I’ll miss the first hour of the 7th game because of the meeting, but I hope I’ll see the game-winning hit or the big play in the field after I get home.

Our living messengers

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“We didn’t lose him, mind you – we gained so much knowledge from this man,” Christopher Johnson said of Congressman Elijah Cummings.

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/10/18/baltimore-mourns-its-native-son-and-champion/

Elijah Cummings and I were in the 1982 class of newly elected members of the House of Delegates. We knew each other from high school.

Elijah said, “City College was the first time I was in an integrated environment as an equal.”  He became an effective and passionate leader pursuing equality for all of us. We worked together to protect voting rights.

“Our children are our living messengers to a future we will never see.” I heard Elijah say that many times. Perhaps you did as well.

A quality education for all of our children, regardless of their background, is the goal of the Blueprint For Maryland’s future. It’s the work product of a commission chaired by Brit Kirwan, the highly respected former chancellor of the University System of Maryland.

This is the most important issue before the General Assembly. What standards do we set for our public schools and how do we fund them?

As you know, we’ve taken a big step forward in preserving the Preakness at Pimlico and redeveloping most of that land for commercial, residential, medical, and recreational uses.

What I did to bring this about is at http://www.delsandy.com/key-issues/pimlico-and-the-preakness/

 

Red Hots

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Lyndon Johnson called them red hots.

Johnson was the majority leader of the US Senate. Mitch McConnell’s job.

The red hots were the liberal Democrats – passionate on civil rights and other issues but not very good at counting votes and getting bills passed.

Bernie Sanders is a red hot. I am not.

I’m working on many issues for next year’s legislative session.

At the top of the list: keeping the Preakness at Pimlico, redeveloping the rest of that site, and funding our children’s pre-kindergarten-12th grade education.

I’m also working on other education issues, lead poisoning prevention, and election security.

Not ready to talk details yet because private conversations come first. My goal is to get the bills passed.

Half-baked proposals and common sense solutions

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This is what Governor Hogan said about school funding in a prepared speech last Saturday:

With little thought, the legislature rushed through the so-called Kirwan plan, which will require billions and billions more in mandated spending increases for county and state taxpayers.

They took this action without any regard to funding formulas and with absolutely no plan whatsoever for how any of your counties or the state taxpayers could possibly be able to pay for any of it.

These well-meaning but half-baked and fiscally irresponsible proposals will cause an $18.7 billion state budget deficit over the next five years, and will force a crushing $6,200 tax hike on the average Maryland family.

https://governor.maryland.gov/2019/08/19/maco-summer-conference-address/

This is what he should have said:

Education is our state’s Number One obligation.  Our state constitution requires that the General Assembly establish “a thorough and efficient System of Free Public Schools.”

At the same time, we cannot make a commitment that would overburden our middle class taxpayers without thoroughly examining the changes that have been proposed by the Kirwan Commission.

Brit Kirwan is one of our country’s leading educators.

We can learn more about what his Commission is proposing by putting aside our partisan differences.

In his speech on Saturday, the Governor also said of his accomplishments as Governor:

We debated, discussed, and reasoned together, honestly and productively, with integrity and sincere purpose.

Together, we sought out bipartisan, common sense solutions that worked for the people of our state.

With our children’s educational future at stake, it’s time to do just that.

From despair to prevention

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My first reaction to Saturday’s slaughter in El Paso and Dayton was despair. Nothing to prevent future killings will come of this.

In the 48 hours since then, my outlook has changed.

President Trump has reduced funding for the Department of Homeland Security to assess the threat from homegrown violent extremists and domestic terrorists.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/homeland-security-disbands-domestic-terror-intelligence-unit

The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (S. 894/H.R.1931) would require federal law enforcement agencies to regularly evaluate these risks and provide training and resources to assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement.

If we don’t see positive action on the federal level, legislation should require the State Police to assume this responsibility.

I was already working on a response to the President’s racist tweets about Congressman Elijah Cummings and Baltimore City. And I have company.

“This has roused Baltimore like nothing I’ve seen in the past five years,” JHU Professor Matthew Crenson has said. “There’s a community spirit that perhaps the mayor could harness, using Baltimore itself to make appeals to the state and federal government.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-baltimore-good-and-bad-20190801-iwc3zsfmynb23mejxbetx2plri-story.html

I’m working with my legislative colleagues to assemble a list of redevelopment projects in the 7th Congressional District that are eligible for federal or state funding.

An Indictment, Clean Energy, and a Faber Amendment

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A criminal indictment is not the usual source for my legislation.

Celebrities creating bogus athletic records for their children headline the college admission scandal.

I used to visit high schools on behalf of Amherst, the college I attended. What did I learn?

Students whose parents have a college degree understand the admission process. On the other hand, students who would be the first in their family to go to college know very little about the schools they should apply to and the financial aid that’s available to them.

In recent weeks, I’ve talked to people who do admission work in public schools.

More discussion is needed before I draft a bill.

Government spending for clean energy will be targeted to “areas  burdened  by  cumulative  environmental pollution and other hazards that can lead to negative public health effects” under legislation enacted this year in New York state.

I met with environmental advocates to discuss how to do this in Maryland. They are very interested.

Are there lessons to be learned here from House Bill 268, Welfare to Work – Job Skills Enhancement Program – Green Jobs? I successfully sponsored this legislation in 2009.

234 students are benefiting from the Maryland Technology Internship Program.

I passed this bill with the help of Freeman Hrabowski, President of UMBC, and Governor Hogan funded it.

Interns working for non-profits are not eligible for the program. A bill would change that.

Currently, students must have a 3.0 average to be eligible.

Employers and the staff at UMBC want that to be lowered to 2.5.

I’ll call that the Belushi amendment.

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning