Had
an interesting meeting last night before the Baltimore City Council's Committee
on Finance, Taxation, and Economic Development, Chaired by Councilman Carl
Stokes. A presentation was made for the committee to approve a PILOT for a
project known as The Superblock. The organization, of which I am a principal,
Community Churches for Community Development has been working with the
developer and various stakeholders for over a year crafting an Economic
Inclusion Plan that ensures local hiring of Baltimore City
The
EIP was ratified by a number of prominent organizations with the developer.
Attending
the meeting were a number of community activists that were advocating for local hiring.
They organized a number of people and banded together under the name Community
Churches for Baltimore Jobs, a group supported by the labor's union. An
interesting footnote is over a year and a half; I was instrumental in founding
CCBJ by sponsoring local training at Union Baptist Church
I
depart from that point of view and believe local residents should be trained
and prepared for a wide range of job opportunities. There are a number of job
opportunities attainable right now through working with existing job-creation
systems.
For
example, the Mayor's Office of Employment Development has a listing of jobs,
which are available from day to day. A focus upon that agency to improve its
system of job training, referral, and delivery, I believe, would yield far
greater results than to mobilize persons to advocate for local hiring on a
construction job which is limited in duration even if obtained. Furthermore, a
protest today does not lead to a job tomorrow.
During
testimony a cry was made for city jobs for local residents. I flashed back to
my early days cutting my teeth organizing within Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore City Baltimore City
The
community lost that fight over thirty years ago and today the effects of that
lost are seen in only 15% +/- of the Baltimore Fire Department staff living in
the City of Baltimore; less than, 25% of the Baltimore City Police Department
staff living in the City of Baltimore, and it continues through every
department of City government, including the Mayor's office, where employees
who work for the City of Baltimore live outside of the jurisdiction.
If
we had won that fight over 30 years ago, we would have a far different city
today.
After
that flashback moment, I focused again upon the discussion and debate that was
going on last night and reasoned that the community activists and community
residents who took the time to become engaged in the public hearing did the
right thing. The battle for full employment for residents of Baltimore City
0 comments