1. Please describe your educational and professional background and how it has prepared you to serve on the City Council.
After studying at the Defense Language Institute, I served as a Korean translator for the United State Air Force. I then went on to obtain A+ and MCP certifications at UMBC. I believe this combined with over 25 years of management experience, seven of which have been directly involved with project management, distinguishes me as the only candidate with experience in effective problem solving.
2. Why do you want to serve on the council? What would your top priorities be if you are elected?
I believe that the citizens of Baltimore deserve a more honest, open government that is truly looking out for the citizen's best interests. The current city council has been mired in scandal and since this city has been ruled by one party since 1942, it has become obvious that they are looking out for themselves rather than the citizens.
3. Do you support Baltimore's current crime-fighting strategy? What changes, if any, would you advocate for to improve public safety in the city?
The challenges that Baltimore city faces concerning crime have been going on for decades. The policies have obviously failed. The idea of hiring more police, at lower wages than the surrounding counties, has proven itself as ill conceived. We, as a people, need to get to the root cause of crime: economics. It is not secret that crime decreases in more affluent neighborhoods and does the opposite when areas are left to disintegrate. What the residents of Baltimore need is opportunity, pure and simple. The residents of Baltimore need employment and clean, safe homes to raise their children. Once we approach job training and the blight of vacant properties, we can attract more businesses to Baltimore which will only speed the renaissance.
4. Do you support the recent reforms in the Baltimore City school system? Do you believe any changes are needed in the schools' governance structure (such as direct mayoral control or an elected school board)?
I believe that the school system has been nothing but a political pawn for years. Year after year, we talk about improving the schools with little effect. I support a partially elected school board so that residents have input, and there needs to be a public removal process. In the current configuration, the opportunity for appointment as political payback is too great.
5. How would you address the city's backlog in school maintenance and renovations, estimated to be as much as $2 billion?
The idea of funding being the only issue here is something to which I don't subscribe. I believe that it's a matter of priority. We absolutely need to improve the physical structures of our schools, but just adding a new building won't solve all the problems. We first need to make sure that ALL of our schools are safe. Lead issues have been ignored for too long and need to be addressed quickly. We need a 100% open bid process for all school construction and maintenance. Every parent should be able to easily research how much funding each school has and where the money is going. This would not ensure that funds are being appropriately allocated, it would reduce the opportunity of fraud.
6. Property taxes have become a major issue in this year's election. Do you believe the city's tax rate needs to be cut? If so, by how much, and what steps would you take to keep the city's budget in balance while lowering the rate?
This is not a new issue. This issue gets discussed almost every election cycle and nothing is ever done about it. One of the reasons that Baltimore hasn't been able to address property taxes is because no one is looking outside of the city for answers. We must bring new businesses to Baltimore as a revenue source, not tax them away. We need to have partnerships with companies to provide training and employment opportunities for residents. We will never see the 400,000 people back that moved out of Baltimore, so we need to find a 21st century approach to the tax base. The idea of just taxing those residents that have chosen Baltimore as their home is nothing short of punishment.
7. The city has faced large budget shortfalls in recent years. If that trend continues, what top priorities would you protect from cuts? In what areas would you pursue spending reductions?
As previously mentioned, Baltimore needs to find a more modern tax structure in order to support residents. We need to prioritize education and look at moving more of our schools to charter schools. We need to put high priority on fire and police. In my opinion, all other city services should be considered for restructuring. From the way that we print legal documents, to the way that we pick up trash. The idea that we have no clear cut organizational chart is only proof that the city government is bloated with waste. There needs to be top-down review of all positions in Baltimore and streamline those positions.
8. Baltimore has lost tens of thousands of jobs in the last decade. What would you do to encourage economic development and provide employment opportunities for city residents?
The idea of going to businesses and simply asking them what they need seems to be a good start. Businesses are in business for one reason, the bottom line. If we, as a city, go to businesses across the country and prove that we can affect that bottom line, I believe that we can attract hundreds of companies. The idea of tax breaks appears to be the only answer that our current city council can offer, and when they do this, they don't do it in a transparent way. This leaves the process open for fraud and we lose the "PR value" of the tax break.