Close to 200 teenagers gathered Tuesday evening at City Hall to let Mayor Sheila Dixon know what they believe needs to be done to make Baltimore safer. Sitting in a packed room across from Council Chambers, the students and the mayor had a no-holds-bar discussion of what is wrong ? and right ? about the city
“The crime scene is on North Avenue,” said 18-year-old Chris Goodman, a recent graduate of City College, referring to Baltimore City Schools headquarters at 200 E. North Ave. “The current state of city schools is unacceptable. They need to be fixed, and you need to hold the politicians, who let this happen, responsible.”
Dixon listened patiently, then asked for solutions.
Marcus Payne, 17, said his community has had problems with police, who keep making what he called unnecessary arrests.
“We need sensitivity training for police,” he said. “Then, they need to learn how to work with the community and do away with zero tolerance.”
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Joan Edwards, 14, said the city needs more mentoring programs to help students develop small businesses.
“We need to help young people become entrepreneurs,” she said, before presenting the mayor with a gift basket she made during an after-school program called Street Soldiers, which helps students learn about starting businesses.
The second in a series of emergency community meetings called by Dixon in response to the city?s rising homicide rate, this one purposely targeted Baltimore?s younger residents.
“I want to learn from young people how to make the community safer,” she said.
Suggestions ranged from confiscating “flags” (handkerchiefs worn by students that represent gang colors) to offering more after-school programs.
Even the recent dirt-bike arrest and handcuffing of 7-year-old Gerard Mongo Jr. was mentioned as an example of flawed police strategies.
For Goodman, who is organizing a protest outside school headquarters this morning, the meeting was just the beginning of an effort to get students more involved in improving the city.
“The key for young people is to organize and hold people accountable,” he said. “Then we?ll see change.”
