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Economic Justice
Economic Justice
My biggest priority is to stop the government from unjustly taking money from our communities. In particular, I'm going to end the tax sale, which drains millions of dollars from vulnerable people in West Baltimore each year. I'm also going to repeal the inheritance tax, eliminate ground rent and reform probate.
Properties on the tax sale list in 2021, showing a large concentration in West Baltimore.
A vacant house at the end of my block.
Vacant Houses
Vacant Houses
Baltimore has more than 10,000 vacant buildings, concentrated in West Baltimore and other disinvested areas. They cost the city $200 million per year in lost tax revenue and direct costs. Each one is a threat to health and safety. We need to stop homes from becoming vacant and intervene sooner when they are vacant.
Safety
Safety
Eveyone should feel safe in their neighborhood. We need to invest in police training and violence prevention. But, I would focus on what we know works. Education and economic well-being are proven to be highly connected with lower crime rates. For long-term success along all measures, we need to focus there. We need to adequately fund our schools and support our teachers, students and parents. And, we need to disrupt systems of economic injustice, such as the tax sale, which have been destabilizing West Baltimore for generations.
Two lifelong Baltimoreans.
A picture of my classroom, my first year teaching.
Education
Education
I was a math teacher in the city in an under-resourced and underperforming school. The educational outcomes were very poor. And it wasn’t really the student’s fault, or the teacher’s fault or the parent’s fault. The system itself crumbles under the weight it’s given to bear. We need to support our schools more, including more funding.
Democracy
Democracy
I would fight for democracy in our state. In Maryland, 53% of registered voters are registered as Democrats, 24% Republican and 22% unaffiliated. Yet, the governor and House of Delegates supported gerrymandering to make sure 100% of the congresspeople from Maryland were Democrats, making sure that 47% of the voters didn’t matter.
To believe in democracy, is to believe that everyone's right to vote must be protected, even when we don't like who they vote for, especially when we don't like who they vote for. If we only protect rights when it's good for us, then we don't really believe in democracy, only power.
Can we fight for democracy by disenfranchising half of our voters? Can we fight fire with fire to stop our country from burning?
Our closed primary system effectively disenfranchises the unaffiliated voters, which are 22% of the voters, because most races are decided in the primary.
Our election system in Maryland protects the Democratic party, not the people.
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