Phylicia Porter
District 10 Democrat candidate for Baltimore City Council.
Problematic campaign financing.
District 10 Candidate Phylicia Porter
Maryland-based Local Initiatives is committed to encouraging campaign finance reform in order to reduce the influence of money on the outcome of primary and general elections. In pursuit of this objective, we have been studying the campaign contributions made to candidates in selected races, most recently, for the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.
As you may have heard, Horseshoe Casino revenues have been declining while revenues at Maryland’s other 5 casinos continue to grow. This is not what former Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake and current Mayor Catherine Pugh had hoped and anticipated.
Depending upon the source, approximately two-thirds of Baltimore’s families are struggling financially – in neighborhoods that need all the help they can get.
The last thing Baltimore needs is a high-end, expensive, glitzy combination of high-tech driving range and bar, most of whose customers and many of its employees will come from outside the city, just to save the Horseshoe Casino and make more money for a handful of developers – with the help of the Baltimore Development Corporation. (“Baltimore Development Corporation.” Now there’s an oxymoron if ever there was one.)
A couple of months ago – before it occurred to us that we should have a website – one of us heard from a friend of his who knew somebody who lives in Baltimore in the neighborhood called “Pigtown” near the stadiums. We’ll call her “Mary,” because that’s actually her name.
Mary had heard about Local Initiatives and asked if we could do anything about the homeless people living under the Russell St. ramp.