With Baltimore?s mayoral primary just six weeks away, several candidates hit the streets over the weekend looking for votes.
State Del. Jill Carter spent Friday night at Harford Road and Cliffmont, her third overnight stay on a city corner to call attention to crime. Sitting on a chair engaging residents in some of Baltimore?s most violent neighborhoods was a learning experience, Carter said.
“What resonates most with me was that the people on the corners ? regardless of their station in life ? all say the same thing: Neglect has created the crime problem,” she said.
Carter also said she witnessed illegal activities.
“The thing that got me the most were girls 12 to 13 years old prostituting themselves,” Carter said. “It?s tragic.”
Meanwhile, candidate Keiffer Mitchell continued his dogged criticism of the city?s police policy, holding a midday news conference Sunday in front of Eastern District headquarters on Edison Avenue to call for more officers to fight gangs.
“I will add gang units to every [police] district in the city,” Mitchell said.
“This district has the only gang unit in the city; that is unacceptable,” he said. “As mayor I will expect police to be proactive in fighting gangs.”
Mitchell said the additional gang units would come from the 400 extra police officers who will be added as part of his crime plan. Paying for the additional force will come from reduced overtime, federal grants and pay freezes for the mayor?s staff.
Carter may have picked up at least one vote for her troubles, according to Wayne Phillips, 35, a resident of West Baltimore who ran into her July 21 during her stay on a corner at Fayette and Monroe streets.
“She?s showing she really wants to be involved,” he said. “It gave me a lot to think about.”
