Meeting starts at 7 PM with the pledge of allegiance. Officer Addair was absent and Officer Briggs was there in her place. He gave the crime stats for our area “there a 55 reports for the month of September: 52 traffic stops, 3 crossing details, 2 overdoses, 2 theft from autos, 3 destruction of property, 1 armed robbery, 1 theft of auto, and 1 narcotics.”
Open the meeting with City Council President Jack Young to talk about Holabird Avenue and Dundalk Avenue and try to work together to reduce crime on the city/county line. Jack Young Said “there should be no lines between the city and the County, that we need to find solutions to these problems to minimize the crime.” The police Deputy Commissioner Bonaparte. “Brought his whole team here to deal with the matters. This partnership is great. They work with the Baltimore County on prostitution and drugs and car theft. Captain Brown is new, but she’s working through issues with Baltimore County to solve problems in collaboration with the city and the County.”
Major Brown said “Thank you for the invite their number one goal is crime reduction in the South East industrial side. In June and July They met with DOT in the industrial corridor and had 24 cars towed. The lot that the cars were on had 3 fatal overdoses, there were prostitutes using drugs on the lot. And unfortunately died from it.” The crime numbers on the city side were very low with 15 disorderly conduct, 9 narcotics, 2 robberies. They decided to do a foot deployment and walk to talk to the local business owners. They brought a drug sergeant in. Looking to see that the businesses were in compliance with their licenses and up to code. The district commanders Look for calls to service and there isn’t a way for the city to share their statistics with the county and vice versa.
We should find a way to coordinate statistics from the Southeast City and Baltimore County. We did learn that as a County resident, We cannot call 911 and speak to the city 911 dispatch. That if we are in the County our dispatch automatically goes to the County. But there is an app for the city. It’s called BPD app. You can download it on your phone and use it anonymously. Or you can send an email to SEDTIPS@baltimorepolice.org.
Senator Salling said that Graceland Park met with the council at a meeting with the police. To try to problem solve. And that he appreciated Dawn and Dave working with the community to bring the attention to the crime and inviting the city to discuss the matters.
John Melzer stated that the intersection that we’re talking about at Holabird Avenue and Dundalk avenue is not only high in crime but also covered in trash. Trash brings on crime. We need to keep our neighborhoods clean. It will help with crime!
Deputy Commissioner Bonaparte said that the squeegee boys have plagued to the city for some time. They have a task force to deal with the boys, but they’re mostly juveniles young people trying to earn money. homeless people are doing the same thing, and if we are going to prosecute the squeegee boys. We need to also prosecute the homeless. It has to be fair. (everyone seemed to agree to this)
The Colonel said that September 10th at their council meeting. It showed that the database # calls for service with problems pertaining to the squeegee boys. They couldn’t do anything about the calls because the people would call on the boys, and then leave the scene, so when officer got there, they couldn’t prosecute without a statement from the witness. We were also told that during school hours, There is a school daytime curfew in the city so they are using units at certain intersections to enforce curfews. We also need to find out why these kids are hanging out on the street. Some of it might be drugs and some of it could be because they are hungry. There is a real food problem in the city.
When people are soliciting and its aggressive soliciting or panhandling the police need an accurate description of the person they need you to stay at this scene to report it.
Jack young said “We want to look at other City/County line Crime and see how agencies in other areas work together. that way we can replicate their programs and open dialogue between City and County police sharing stats and solving these issues.”
The city has a police sergeant working on a drug unit from the City with the County at 100 Dundalk avenue on the line sharing info w/ the County, Graceland Park has been seeing a lot of phone orders for drugs because they are a quiet area. 6 people for the whole district working in that unit. But they’re creeping into our area.
Delegate Ric Metzgar said that we need to reach out to the juveniles in a room and see what they want. They need love and positive role models, County and City should come together and put something in motion.
City Community leaders had an event in Druid Hill Park to hear about what residents concerns were and find out what plagues the community. We need to find the root cause and we need a sustainable effort to solve issues with Council President and mayor’s office.
Senator Salling said that there are a lot of homeless kids in our area that have no parents around who go to school and still manage but they need love and compassion. It’s a milestone that kids need to help them grow. He met them doing his missionary work with the church.
Sergeant Stelmack , said that there is a numbers game in Baltimore County that if we want action. We have to call in crimes and report as much information as we can to dispatchers. That way when an officer gets to the scene of a crime. The officer is completely prepared for what they’re about to find. And if we don’t report it then problems won’t be fixed.
Jack young stated that his focus is on officers collaborating to get rid of this stuff. It doesn’t matter city, County there should be no line. Major Brown is going to reach out to Captain Wiedeck to open communication between city and County. Jack Young said thank you to Dawn and the officers for being open to communication. Major Brown gave us her email address, so that we can continue to communicate.
Mike Yancura gave his Treasury report. We have $1208.72 in the bank there has been no purchases and no change. Unfortunately. Mike has to stop being the treasurer and we open the floor and asked if anyone wanted to be the treasurer and Kathleen Sladics volunteered. The floor voted unanimous. Yay!!! Special thanks to Kathleen for volunteering.!!!!
Barry Sayer give his report said not enough headwind with the County that he’s working on Rat holes and tall grass.
Special guest Elaine Welckie from Johns Hopkins University with a tree full of paper. There’s a senior Expo tomorrow and Thursday, 150 exhibitor’s papers about kidney health October 6th activities for Hispanic heritage. September 15th through October, 15th
Alzheimer’s is October 17th And a program called to care for seniors, and caregivers for seniors who need assistance.
A monthly newsletter. And the Henrietta Lacks memorial lecture. If you need assistance or have problems at Johns Hopkins hospital she left her cards.
Hart miller Island trip is still an option, the boat launches from around Miller Island to Hart-Miller island, open to community associations. Doug Stanley, attending the meeting for Dun-Logan community stated that there is a giant tower. The West side is very nice. There’s a Lake and 8 Mile Trail and bikes to ride beaches, but there’s a lot of bay grass. And you can camp there for $5 a night.
John Melzer said please don’t blow grass in the road it’s bad for the bay and for motorcycles that grass to a motorcyclist is like a sheet of ice. We also stated that Baltimore County can fine a home owner Up to $1000 for anyone who is caught blowing grass in the street.
Linda Mooney stated that there was a traffic study done on railway and walnut and they got a letter that said that they did not meet the minimum requirements of traffic to do any kind of speed bumps so we’re going to get with her and try to help with this process.
Mike Belzner asked about the golf course at Sparrows Point Country Club to see if there was an update on Baltimore County planning from developer. We have not heard anything. We know it’ll be tied up for a few months pending approval.
Meeting ends @8:10pm