Don?t call it a protest.
Organizing an anticipated 200 people for his “Walk of Notice, Walk for Jobs,” Michael Eugene Johnson is trying to get the attention of developers, contractors and city officials to look at the plight of unemployed citizens in Baltimore. It is Johnson?s hope to spark a decrease in Baltimore?s unemployment rate and secure local jobs for Charm City?s residents.
“This is not a protest. This is to bring attention to unemployment,” said Johnson, a 42-year-old Baltimore City School District employee. “We think it is a good symbolic gesture to the memory of Martin Luther King.”
Demonstrating around the “New Mondawin” construction site at the corner of Reisterstown and Gwynns Falls roads, the group will march around the area 39 times on Martin Luther King day, with each lap symbolizing a year since King?s death. Johnson chose the Mondawin Mall makeover project as the location of the demonstration because it represents an investment in Baltimore property that should support local residents.
Johnson claims that the makeover is worth an estimated $70 million, a number that the Chicago-based developer of Mondawin Mall, General Growth Properties, declined to confirm. However, General Growth believes that they are doing their part to help the economics of Baltimore.
“We have been meeting with the Baltimore Development Committee to discuss minority and women-owned hiring, and are exceeding the cities guidelines for construction firms,” said Jim Graham, the director of public relations for General Growth. “We are hopeful that those demonstrating on Martin Luther King?s birthday will look at us as a model of what will be happening in the city.”
Graham goes on to state that General Growth has contracted all local businesses for the project: K&K Adams is a certified minority-owned business from Baltimore City; P. Flanigan & Sons is a Baltimore-based construction company; and Bay City Construction is a Baltimore County-based company that is also certified minority-owned.
Data seems to indicate that Baltimore is moving in the right direction. Nationally, Baltimore City is 0.4 percent below the unemployment average of 4.5 percent. Second-quarter data from Maryland Career and Workforce Information also notes a 1,044 increase in Baltimore metropolitan jobs from the same time last year.
TO PARTICIPATE
» Anyone interested in participating can contact Michael Eugene Johnson at 410-878-7504. The march is set to begin at noon on Jan. 15.
