Yesterday, after being sworn in as mayor of Baltimore, Catherine Pugh promised to work to lift up communities throughout the city, not just downtown.
“We understand that downtowns are really important, but so are uptowns and neighborhoods from east to west, north to south,” she said. “Every neighborhood deserves to be the greatest.”
Pugh will join one effort to lift up communities this Saturday when she welcomes attendees at this Saturday’s Solutions Summit, an all-day, free event where communities members will discuss and vote on the priorities they most want to see the new mayor and City Council focus on.
In a staff editorial called “Pugh’s Moment,” the Baltimore Sun compared the Solutions Summit to the good-fatith—and fruitful —discussions between Sagamore and BUILD over development at Port Covington.
“A similar spirit informs the Open Society Institute-sponsored Solutions Summit, which will culminate in a day-long public meeting on Saturday at the War Memorial Building. For months, a diverse array of Baltimoreans — ordinary individuals, corporate leaders and everything in between — has been meeting to talk about ideas for improving the city in the areas of jobs, criminal and juvenile justice and behavioral health and addiction. Ideas have been pared down and refined, and organizers hope to emerge from Saturday’s event with a focused agenda. The historian Taylor Branch, who has participated in the process, says it has served to “rebuild optimism about the possibilities of engaging.” Ms. Pugh will get a chance to witness that possibility; she is scheduled to give the welcome address.”
We hope you can join us. Register for free here.