Back in June 2018, over 1,200 BUILD members gathered at Kingdom Life Church and made the following requests of Mayor Catherine Pugh:
A City That’s Safe
- Will you fully implement BUILD’s policing recommendations?
- Will you implement the Baltimore City parish ID system for Immigrants in our community?
A City for Youth
- Will you champion the full funding of Kirwan Commission recommendations?
- Will you work with Baltimore City Schools CEO to rally principals, teachers, parents, and students in support of Kirwan funding?
- Will you maintain current levels of funding for existing community school and out-of-school programs for the remainder of your administration?
A City with Jobs
- Will you make the 30% local hiring and 20% affordable housing mandate a flagship policy of your administration?
Mayor Pugh enthusiastically responded to each of these questions with affirmatives. 127 days later, BUILD demanded accountability.
Accountability Requires Intentional Follow-Up
On October 10, 2018, BUILD gathered again in a full sanctuary at Zion Baptist Church to hear Mayor Pugh report publicly for the first time on her progress on these public commitments. Because as BUILD sees it, public commitments require public accountability.
“Are you angry, BUILD?” asked Fr. Bruce Lewandowski, setting the tone for the evening. “Controlled anger centered on an agenda gets things done.”
BUILD leaders pushed Mayor Pugh to name specific actions and timelines in each of the issue action areas to BUILD One Baltimore through policing reforms, jobs, education funding, and protection of the immigrant community.
A City for All
José, a leader from member church Sacred Heart of Jesus, shared a story of being burglarized in his store. During the incident, the burglar killed José’s assistant and shot José’s wife five times. José’s wife eventually recovered. He stated that no one should be afraid to report a crime out of fear that it could lead to deportation, and that the Parish ID is a critical step in helping the immigrant community establish a relationship of trust with the police. Mayor Pugh committed again to implementing the ID and to ensuring the city’s next police commissioner is also committed to its use.
A City with Jobs
On June 6, the Mayor committed to the “BUILD Port Covington Standard” for all developers seeking major public subsidy from the city. Rev. Calvin Keene of Memorial Baptist Church asked Mayor Pugh, “Will you ensure that the developer of Perkins Homes-Somerset-Oldtown development will be held to BUILD’s standard of 30% local hiring and 25% profit sharing before the Master Developers Agreement is signed?” Mayor Pugh responded, “He will be required to.”
A City for Youth
Mayor Pugh agreed on June 6 to champion the full funding of Kirwan Commission recommendations, but did not include it in her legislative priorities at a meeting with the city’s state delegation. Victoria Moore, a senior from Coppin Academy, stood alongside her principal, Aisha Almond, and asked Mayor Pugh if Coppin Academy would again have to choose between offering college classes for credit and providing mental health support next year if Baltimore school funding does not improve. Rev. Walter Parrish of Northside Baptist Church further pressed the Mayor, “Will you make fully funding the Kirwan recommendations your top legislative priority?” Mayor Pugh answered with a firm “Yes.”
A City That’s Safe
Sister Audrey from Zion Baptist Church, a lifetime youth advocate and champion, shared the devastating story of the loss of her one and only son, Dwayne Cheeks. Dwayne’s murder was the 116th homicide in Baltimore City this year. The grieving mother has received no information or cooperation from the police in finding her son’s killer. On her own, Sister Audrey made door hangers asking for information and handed them out in the neighborhood where her son was murdered. She met three other grieving mothers during her neighborhood walks and asked Mayor Pugh, “When is there going to be a sense of urgency? It’s not your fault my son was murdered, but it is your responsibility. It is your responsibility to keep all of the commitments you made on June 6, just three days before he was killed.”
Jo Anne Stanton pointedly asked the Mayor for progress on BUILD’s recommendations:
- Assigning foot posts in the most violent neighborhoods
- Defining the parameters for constitutional policing, and
- Eradicating the culture of abuse and corruption in the police department.
The Mayor said that while she has instructed the BPD to get out of their cars and walk their posts, the shortage of police officers has thwarted attempts to deploy enough police officers to the most violent neighborhoods. She touted her internal and external polygraph policy and assigning civilian lawyers to Internal Affairs as steps toward eradicating the culture of corruption.
Ms. Stanton followed up, “So you’ve made progress on one of the areas, but where are you on the other two?” Ms. Stanton urged Mayor Pugh to present the recommendations to commissioner search finalists and to require the new commissioner to meet with BUILD. Ultimately, Mayor Pugh agreed that the new commissioner would meet with BUILD within 10 days of being sworn in.
A City That Votes
This accountability action also marked the launch of BUILD’s Get Out the Vote campaign before November’s critical elections. Rev. Cristina Paglinauan of Church of the Redeemer called on BUILD membership to consider the story of Esther, who did not stay silent. Rather, Esther was called to act for such a time as this, and she responded. Like Esther, BUILD members responded to the call. At the end of the evening, 243 BUILD members signed up to participate in a Get Out the Vote canvassing or voter registration event before election day.
