Posts Tagged ‘Jack Young’

Video of my jog through the ruins of East Baltimore

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Yesterday I showed you what it looks like to run from one end of North Avenue to the other, today I will show you the rest of my 17.3 mile run which took me through some very rough parts of East Baltimore.

YouTube Preview Image

Not all of East Baltimore is in horrible shape, but Gay Street (I started above North Avenue where it is Belair road) and Greenmount have seen much better days. These two infamous streets are filled with ruins that are begging for rehab and brighter futures.  Before the buildings can be rehabbed there is going to have to be some sort of change in tone from the people in the streets and the elected officials of the area.

Oldtown Mall was the one place where I ran into very angry people during my entire 17.3 mile run. When I started to film the paved over northern Gay Street entrance to the mall a group of young men who were loitering beyond it (and who were so distant that I had not noticed them until they started to scream) started yelling at me and threatened to injure me and take my camera. I immediately turned off my camera and ran toward the area behind the mall while two of the individuals briefly pursued me.

Gay street and Greenmount have plenty of liquor stores and “convenience” stores on them and many of these establishments still have large political signs on the front of them. I have always said that our leaders endorse these establishments when they allow their names to be placed on them. What does it say about our leaders when they do not take down their signs from these questionable establishments weeks and months after the elections? They should live in the community and be familiar with where their signs are posted. Many leaders in Baltimore have their signs taken down the day after the September primary election. The outdoor ones are obviously the easiest to remove.  Most candidates know exactly where every sign of theirs is located during the campaign and they always are monitoring them to make sure rivals do not rip them down. Why do candidates care about their signs during the campaign and then forget about them once the campaign is over? It reminds me of the candidate who talks a big game during the campaign, but does little over the next four years. The somewhat scary state of the parts of East Baltimore that I ran through makes it obvious that there are plenty of elected officials in that area who fit the above profile. How many people would have run where I ran on Sunday? For the few who would I challenge them to explain to me how things can look the way they do and how some of it can not be the responsibility of our elected leaders. Where is the accountability in East Baltimore?

It is amazing to see how close the sleazy Block and and its anchor Hustler club are to City Hall. The proximity speaks volumes about the state of Baltimore.

Video of my jog on North Avenue from one end to the other

Posted by ameister on Monday, November 28th, 2011

On December 13, 2009 the following comment was posted under this blog entry:

“I challenge Mr. Meister to videotape a walk eastward on North Avenue,
from Gay Street to Hilton Street. Let’s see if he even survives the trip, much less is able to find anything positive to crow about.”

I have thought about this challenge for a long time. I run at least a half marathon three times a week so the length of North Avenue is actually much less than my regular run. On Sunday I decided to run all of North Avenue, Gay Street, and Greenmount. The entire run starting and ending at my house in Reservoir Hill was 17.3 miles. I had a blast although at Oldtown Mall I ran into an “issue”.  Below is a video of the North Avenue portion of my journey. I will post the Gay Street/Greenmount/East Baltimore portion of my jog on Tuesday.

YouTube Preview Image

The western part of North Avenue is in better shape than the eastern part. I also saw more people out and about on the west side. A few people shared comments with me on the west side including one guy who said that he had seen me on TV. Only one person communicated with me on the east side (she said good morning). Some younger people on the west side shared some obnoxious racial comments.

Both sides have their architectural gems, although I think the west side has more. The view from Baltimore cemetery at the east end of North Avenue was spectacular and I was disappointed that my camera dulled the view.

I had run on parts of this route many times. I usually get to that Aisquith street warehouse from 25th street so the North Avenue perspective gave me a different view of the area that I do not usually see. North Avenue has a stigma and an aura around it so running its entire length gave me a sense of accomplishment that I usually do not get when running on segments of it.

The desolation and destruction can be a little overwhelming at times, especially when you try to think about how things might have been long ago.  I see a lot of potential. The three-story buildings on the west side are  unique and there were random landmark type larger buildings scattered throughout the route that could be used as anchors for future development.

We need to remember that all of Baltimore is our city. You are free to explore any part of it. I hope that this video inspires people to visit some of the blocks and areas that I visited. In person visits help inspire ideas and this town needs a lot of new ideas if we are ever going to come close to rehabilitating huge hunks of this city.

Video of an Occupy Baltimore solo march through East Baltimore

Posted by ameister on Monday, October 17th, 2011

You may not agree with everything this guy stands for, but you have to admit that he is principled and he believes in true outreach. The videos show slivers of life in East Baltimore not far from where City Council President Jack Young says he lives. I think a lot of the occupiers could learn a lot from the quote at the end of the third video:

“…action is better than consensus… doing something matters in this world!”

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image

Important question about Jack Young’s false alarm reduction program hearing

Posted by ameister on Monday, September 26th, 2011

City Council President Jack Young wants hold a hearing about Baltimore’s false alarm reduction program. In this Jack Young press release it says:
“In 2002 the Baltimore City Police Department responded to more than 125,000 burglar alarm calls, 98 percent of which were false”

I hope that 2002 is not the last year of data the city has! This program has been going on since at least 2004, one would think that the Council President could call police headquarters and ask them how many burglar alarm calls were responded to in 2010 or 2009. If the number went down substantially then the program is effective and the following statement is not as true as it once was:
“The volume of false alarm calls that our police officers respond to on an annual basis is staggering.”

Do we really need a hearing on this issue if the false alarm numbers have drastically dropped since 2002? The public deserves to know a recent false alarm statistic before any hearing is called for.

If a hearing is necessary then I would love to know how often police noticed other issues at other properties when responding to a false alarm. In many neighborhoods police walking around for a few minutes can be a deterrent to other criminal activities.  I believe it is better to have a policeman walking around Druid Hill Avenue responding to a false alarm than having him parked on the Eutaw Place median strip sitting in his car.

Friends Of Bernard C. Young is funding Baltimore’s destruction by transferring funds to Conaway, Welch, Spector, Holton, and Stokes

Posted by ameister on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

When a well funded citywide incumbent faces no serious challengers he or she can financially influence city council races. City Council President Jack Young’s campaign has given thousands of dollars to the campaigns of numerous controversial and establishment politicians in Baltimore. The following campaign “transfers” should make big time donors think twice about funding Young’s campaign. I bet many contributors to Young’s campaign did not expect his campaign to act as a campaign financing middleman that helped less than honorable candidates attain thousands of dollars for their campaign war chests. When you give money to his campaign look

The following chart shows the serious consequences of having an incumbent run virtually unopposed. Landers, Rolley, or Pugh could have prevented this mess:

Candidates Account Payee Name(Address) Amount Date Received Expenditure Type
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of Freinds of Helen Holton
(baltimore, MD, 21203)
$3,000.00 08/25/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of Freinds of Ed Roesinger
(Baltimore, MD, 21227)
$3,000.00 08/25/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of Friends of William Pete Welch
(Baltimore, MD, 21228)
$3,000.00 08/23/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of Friends of Bill Henry
(baltimore, MD, 21212)
$3,000.00 08/16/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of Friends of Rikki Spector
(Baltimore, MD, 21215)
$3,000.00 08/15/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of FRIENDS OF BELINDA CONAWAY
(BALTIMORE, MD, 21215)
$3,000.00 07/28/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of CITIZENS FOR CARL STOKES
(BALTIMORE, MD, 21230)
$3,000.00 07/27/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of FRIENDS OF ROBERT CURRAN
(BALTIMORE, MD, 21218)
$3,000.00 05/24/2011 Transfers Out to Other Maryland Treasurers (Includes Ticket Purchases)

The Bill Henry contribution is the only one I support. Reisinger and Curran are both part of Baltimore political dynasties that make the most of their well-known last names.

I assume you do not need me to remind you about the numerous problems that Holton, Spector, Welch, Stokes, and Conaway bring to the table.

Jack Young also needs to stop pretending that he is not part of the establishment:

Candidates Account Contributor Name(Address) Amount Date Received Contribution Type
Young, Bernard C. Friends Of FRIENDS OF MARTIN OMALLEY
(216 LEXINGTON STREET SUITE 602 ,
BALTIMORE, MD, )
$2,000.00 08/09/2011 Candidate accounts
Remarks: CHECK #7139

The start of the political earthquake in Baltimore

Posted by ameister on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

There are so many little local political tidbits I need to mention. This earthquake gave me a great title that will allow me to talk about all of my recent political observations in one entry.

The truly earthquake-like event that I observed on Saturday was the mayor’s first mailing. With a little over three weeks before the election the mayor sent out a full color, two-sided, thick paper, oversized, crime themed mailer. I assume every super voter in Baltimore received this Rawlings-Blake promotion. It basically says the mayor is awesome and she is especially awesome at fighting crime.  There will be other large mailers from the mayor coming out very soon and I assume they also will be themed. We are beginning to see what the money she raised is buying. She is doing what all well-funded politicians in Baltimore do: inundating the super voters with large  colorful propaganda pieces over the final three weeks of the campaign. It looks like our mayor has so much money that she has started her mailings a little early. I predict I get seven mailers from her.

In past articles I have mentioned some of the hard working candidates I have randomly run into during my travels around Baltimore. On Thursday night at the Best of Baltimore magazine party I ran into first district Candidate Jason Kahler.  Jason was taking a break from pounding the pavement and meeting first district voters. He actually recognized me and said hello. He is a nice guy and has his work cut out for him. George Della gave incumbent Jim Kraft three times the amount of money that Kahler has raised! The establishment’s financial advantage always finds new ways to sicken me.

On Friday night I was at the Windup Space on North Avenue. I did not expect to find any candidates there even though one Saturday night I found Odette Ramos a few doors down at Liam’s.  I was pleasantly surprised to run into 12th district candidate Jason Curtis. Curtis was out on Patrol with police on segways. He has done this many times over the last few years. He let me ride his segway for a little bit. I had never been on one before. They are easy to get the hang of.  Jason and Odette are giving Carl Stokes a real run for his money. Both challengers have raised impressive amounts of money. I will write about this in another article soon (I hope).

Last night in Hampden there was a political forum and I ran into Jason Curtis and Odette Ramos again. The forum was for Mayoral, City Council President, 7th district, 12th district, and 14th district candidates. The mayor and Jack Young did not show up. Catherine Pugh can really zoom through all of her talking points. You can tell she has done this before. Landers and Rolley were also their usually solid selves. I was impressed that all three candidates stayed at the event for long periods of time. They are really trying hard and are taking the challenge very seriously.

The night really was quite boring. Most of the people in attendance already had their minds made up on who they were going to vote for in most of the races. The biggest spark of the evening came from City Council President Candidate Tom Kiefaber.  Tom can be a very effective speaker when he wants to be. It is a shame that Jack Young will not debate him. Tom made a passionate plea for new blood in Baltimore politics. He ripped on the media for favoring well-funded candidates and he spoke candidly about the corruption that infests Baltimore politics.  I wished more people could have heard his call for new youthful leadership, it was the highlight of the night.

Jack Young’s campaign helps fund the campaigns of Belinda Conaway and Carl Stokes

Posted by ameister on Sunday, August 21st, 2011

Look at the money Jack Young’s campaign gave out to other campaigns during the most recent campaign finance period. All of these individuals helped get Pete Welch nominated to his mother’s seat. Are you starting to understand how this all REALLY works? Stokes and especially Conaway are no longer seen the same way they were in 2010 and Jack Young is helping to bail them out and maintain the disgraceful status quo that our city has had to deal with for decades.

Candidates Account Contributor Name(Address) Amount Date Received Contribution Type
Conaway, Belinda K. Friends Of Friends of Bernard “Jack” Young
(326 N. Charles Street Ste. 301,
Baltimore, MD, 21201)
$3,000.00 07/19/2011 Candidate accounts
Curran, Bob Friends Of The Friends of Bernard C. “Jack” Young
(326 St. Paul Place ,
Baltimore, MD, 21202)
$3,000.00 05/17/2011 Candidate accounts
Stokes, Carl Citizens For Friends of Bernard Jack Young
(326 N. Charles Street, Suite 301 ,
Baltimore, MD, 21201)
$3,000.00 07/12/2011 MD PAC

Belinda Conaway’s numerous campaign finance issues- Jack Young and George Della contribute to Belinda

Posted by ameister on Friday, August 19th, 2011

Updated campaign finance reports are now live on the Maryland Elections Center site. Disgraced Councilwoman Belinda Conaway‘s reports are filled with controversial tidbits.

Belinda Conway is associated with two accounts according to the Maryland Elections Center site: “The Four Bears Slate” and Friends Of Belinda K. Conaway (which currently lists no campaign treasurer).  “The Four Bears Slate” not only supports Belinda, but it also supports her brother, father, step-mother, and some other people, some of whom just happen to live in Frank Conaway owned houses (or at least those addresses are given). Treasurer Angel Maes lives at  3620 Wabash Avenue which she purchased from Frank Conaway in 2006. The account currently has a balance of -$9,082.63 (yes, that is a negative number) after raising $5,357.47 since the first report of the year. I will get back to this account later.

Friends Of Belinda K. Conaway currently has a balance of $8,851.12 after raising $9,400.00 since the first report of the year.  Of that $9,400, $1,000 came from Friends of Senator George W. Della, Jr. and $3,000 came from Friends of Bernard “Jack” Young.  Nick Mosby has raised $5365.33 according to the Maryland Elections Center site.

The Della and Young contributions bring up a lot of questions. The first thing that comes to mind is that Della, Young, and Belinda have all been embroiled in residency controversies in the recent past. Della’s campaign account only gave money to two other candidates- Jim Kraft and Catherine Pugh. Is Della trying to tell us something?

Since the humiliating end of the Conaway lawsuit fiasco many of you have asked me what is going to happen to Belinda now that she says she lives with her daddy on Liberty Heights, but numerous signed legal documents say her primary residence is in Randallstown. Some of you have asked me if the City Council will look into this matter.  Well, Jack Young is the President of the City Council and if he wanted to look into Belinda’s residency issue, he could easily set something up, but with this $3000 donation you can see he has little interest in figuring out what is up with Belinda’s residency.

The City Council President and the city of Baltimore should be ashamed! Some of you may remember my post about Artscape. On July 17, 2011 Jack Young came up to my and I immediately confronted him about Belinda Conaway’s frivolous lawsuit against me. I left this aspect of our conversation out of my original post because I had been advised not to bring up the lawsuit to public officials because it could lead to Conaway delaying the hearing. I took a foolish risk in confronting Jack Young on this subject matter, but now I can admit that I did. I asked him why he was not doing anything to one of his council members who was frivolously suing me.  He told me to calm down (I was yelling at him) and that I had nothing to worry about since I had a pro bono lawyer. He said Conaway was doing the same thing Jessamy did when she brought up the police commissioner’s  Bernstein signs in his front yard.  He said Jessamy and Belinda made mistakes by calling attention to these matters.  According to Friends Of Belinda K. Conaway two days after this discussion Friends of Bernard “Jack” Young gave Friends Of Belinda K. Conaway $3,000.  Do not vote for Jack Young unless he does the right thing and investigates his $3000 friend. 

Now back to “The Four Bears Slate”. $309.22 of the slate’s contributions came from anonymous sources. You are not allowed to mark campaign finance entries as anonymous. $5,000 came from “Lump Sum”. Lump Sum is a controversial campaign finance term that is talked about in this Baltimore Sun article from May 14, 2011. In the article Frank Conaway Sr. is quoted and talked about:

“Conaway, the city’s Circuit Court clerk, reported a lump sum contribution of $13,785 on May 21, 2008. He noted receiving the same amount precisely one year later. Additionally, nearly all of the contributions received by The Four Bears political slate he shares with his wife and two children are marked as lump sums.

When asked about the reports, Conaway said he had no idea what a lump sum is. He said he is an almost entirely self-financed candidate and surmised that the lump sums are actually personal loans he extended to himself. Loans are required to be noted as such in campaign finance reports.

“It’s an error, you can count on that,” Conaway said. He said his campaign would contact the State Board of Elections about correcting the record.”

The Conaways sure like to talk about correcting things yet here we have the mysterious lump sum pop up again!  Why do we keep electing these people?

If you were naive enough to donate to Jack Young’s campaign, you can now see that a little bit of your money has  gone to fund Belinda “Homestead Property Tax Credit in Randallstown” Conaway.

WE DEMAND REAL ANSWERS FROM THE CONAWAYS!

Jack Young has a campaign sign on Linden Liquors

Posted by ameister on Monday, July 25th, 2011

When I ran by Linden Liquors the other day, I could not help but notice the large Jack Young campaign sign on the front of the building. The notorious liquor store at the corner of North Avenue and Linden Avenue in Reservoir Hill is considered a nuisance by quite a few people in the area. You can see some of them protesting the store’s reopening in a video at this link.

The City Council President’s name on this establishment gives it legitimacy. The store and corner have a lot of traffic that go by them, but is this kind of name recognition really worth it? Obviously someone in the Young campaign thinks it’s perfectly normal to place the City Council President’s name on a notorious liquor store. The store has made some improvements over the last few years, but I do not think it deserves this kind of implied approval from a sitting city council president.

Politics at Artscape

Posted by ameister on Friday, July 22nd, 2011

On Sunday at Artscape I ran into two prominent politicians. At about 1PM, I saw Delegate Luke Clippinger trying to register people to vote. We had a pleasant conversation about current events.

After I spoke with Clippinger, I returned to the DJ booth on the Charles Street bridge where I hosted 80′s Karaoke for all three days of Artscape. At the time a DJ was blasting some 80′s music, and I had earplugs in my ears. City Council President Jack Young approached the booth and recognized me. We immediately got into a loud political conversation that the DJ next to me described as heated. I lowered my voice once I took out my earplugs. Jack Young brought up a few specific issues I had brought up in this blog in the past. He still has issues with me having issues with the raises he and his colleagues received. He asked me if I thought any city worker deserved a raise, and I said in these economic times that none of them do. He definitely has a much more positive view of the current and future economy than I have. I think we have to be very careful about any future economic plans we make. We should be very conservative about potential future revenues. I do not expect the real estate market to recover in the next five years. I actually expect the real estate market to get worse over the next three years! The City Council President seemed to have more of a recovery-centric view of the economy. Time will tell who is right.

Jack Young also pointed out that he is not the best speaker when he has a prepared speech in front of him. I agree with that one, and I did notice that he is a better speaker when he is does not have a script and is talking about issues with which he is familiar. He talked comfortably about poor people and water bills without any hesitation.

On thing that surprised me about the Council President was that it was very clear that he knows a lot about political strategy and does not make random political moves and decisions. He has a thought out plan and avoids making reactionary mistakes that other council members have made.

The Council President was walking alone through Artscape. I give him credit for not needing an entourage like many other politicians always seem to have. My experience with Jack Young was enlightening. He definitely likes talking one on one with citizens of Baltimore.