Announcement SpeechCorner of Harford Road and The Alemeda My name is Martin O’Malley. I believe I can turn this City around by making it a safer place, and I mean to begin doing it now. This is why, today, I am a candidate for Mayor of Baltimore City. Late last night as I drove by this corner, there was a young man standing right here underneath that “drug free zone” sign. In this drug free zone that has existed here for far too many years. He was motioning to all passers by that he was selling drugs. After making a u-turn and stopping at this intersection, he approached my car thinking I was a customer. He looked me dead in the eye and held out his arms and asked, “What do you want?” And that’s a question that each of us in this City needs to answer in this important election year. The opposing forces of hope and despair cannot coexist on the same corner. Hear me, Baltimore. Six months after I take office, the open-air drug market of this corner and nine others will be things of our City’s past. In the second year, twenty more open-air drug corners will likewise be shut down, and, thus, will the people of this City easily measure our success or failure. When we make fighting crime and closing down open-air drug markets the top priority of Baltimore City government, the, and only then, will we be able to build a stable and growing City tax base. Then, and only then, will we dramatically improve schools. Then, and only then, will the new jobs created by increased private investment be things of our City’s present and future. We will create jobs and improve schools by first improving public safety. The working families of this City, black and white, are hungry for change, hungry for reform, and hungry for new leadership. This is not a campaign about the worn out politics of the past. This is not about blame or excuses. This election is about building a safe new tomorrow, not just for downtown, uptown or the Inner Harbor, but for each and every neighborhood of this City. |
 
 
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