As part of our continuing study of the most interesting candidates running for Mayor, we’ve been focusing recently on David Warnock.
Mr. Warnock has an exceptional story. A self-made millionaire venture capitalist, in many respects he is a personification of the American dream, an example many in the City of Baltimore will envy and hope to emulate. But is he the best, the right choice to lead the all-inclusive economic recovery and growth, to create the jobs that will, sooner rather than later, eliminate the unemployment and poverty that have plagued the city for generations – and that are, without question, the root cause of so many of Baltimore’s problems?
Mayoral Candidate David Warnock is justifiably proud of his accomplishments in business. He should be. Starting with very little, he’s made a great deal of money – millions of which he has used through his Warnock Foundation and other means to help people in the city of Baltimore. It’s a great story and he deserves our respect for his accomplishments – and for his willingness to walk away from what he has built for a second, much more demanding and less lucrative career in public service.
In the market for labor, “Workforce Development” is a supply-side concept. Labor is the product. Employers are the buyers. Without enough employers, there aren’t going to be enough jobs, however well-trained the workforce may be.
In case you’re having problems understanding what this or that candidate for Mayor is all about and picking one that you’ll support, you’re not alone.
Sometime in the next 2 or 3 weeks, all but 1 or 2 of the 15 Democratic candidates for Mayor running against Sheila Dixon need to drop out. If they don’t, the ones who don’t drop out – and who have no real chance of winning – are seriously and selfishly jeopardizing the future of the city they are running to protect.
Free land. No property taxes. Abundant, affordable labor. Customers who spend just about every dollar they make. Financing, if you need it. In the perfect location to do business across the country and around the world. Baltimore’s disadvantaged neighborhoods are every entrepreneur’s teenage dream.
Hey. Roughly a quarter of the city’s population – round numbers, more than 150,000 parents and their children and a good number of older folks too – are in families making less than the official poverty level. If that isn’t the city’s highest priority, we don’t know what is.
As you may have heard, the state and city will be spending substantial millions of dollars over the next few years to demolish vacant houses in the sections of the city that suffer from urban blight.
A hundred thousand dollars here, a hundred thousand dollars there. Pretty soon, you’re talking serious money.
Ask yourself… Are you willing to bet the future of your family and your city on a candidate who is a convicted criminal, who pled guilty to perjury, who betrayed the trust of her constituents and was then forced out of the Mayor’s office? Is that really your image of a Mayor who can reach out around the country to attract employers to Baltimore?