Yesterday, Mayor Catherine Pugh offered her State of the City address, which she divided into five key areas: education and youth development, public safety, economic and workforce development and expansion, smart cities and effective government, and healthy communities. (Watch the full address here.)
She promised to address the school system’s structural deficit and to confront the city’s crime rate by focusing on social services rather than increased policing.
“Even if we were to add 1,000 new police officers to our streets to patrol daily, that would not solve our crime problem,” Pugh said. “Crime is symptomatic of the many problems facing our city today—unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, hopelessness and homelessness.”
She ended her address by citing OSI’s Solutions Summit as one of many ways that Baltimore residents can help move the city forward.
“Again I ask all of Baltimore to join our Solutions Summit, youth summit, volunteer to support our schools, mentor our children, serve on volunteer boards and commissions, create jobs, partner in business with communities of color and women, participate on local school boards and cheer with me for the success of Baltimore as we work towards moving our city forward together,” she said.