As the current elected representative for District 1 in Baltimore County and as a former Marine on the front lines who served our country in the Middle East, Councilman Pat Young has plenty on his mind about our area and country and returns to tell Nestor why he’s running for Baltimore County Executive on June 23rd from the newest restaurant gem of his Catonsville home, The Fishmonger’s Daughter on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.

Councilman Pat Young tells Nestor why he’s running for Baltimore County Executive

Councilman Pat Young discussed his campaign for Baltimore County Executive, emphasizing the need for public engagement and transparency. He highlighted the expansion of the council from seven to nine members, aiming to better represent the diverse county. Young criticized the current county executive’s lack of continuity and public trust, citing issues like police vacancies and public transportation. He advocated for better public services, including fixing potholes and addressing school needs. Young also stressed the importance of a diverse council and a people-powered campaign, having qualified for public financing with 550 Baltimore County donors. Councilman Pat Young discussed his campaign for Baltimore County Executive, emphasizing his door-knocking strategy that led to a narrow win in 2014. He highlighted his consistent efforts, operating a campaign office six days a week, and the importance of building personal connections. Nestor Aparicio mentioned inviting various candidates to his show, including Young, and promoted local attractions like the Maryland Lottery’s Maryland Treasures series and the Fishmonger’s Daughter restaurant in Catonsville. They also touched on community issues, such as the need for safer driving on 695.

Action Items

• [ ] Hold regular constituent office hours (a set day each week focused on constituent services) so residents can bring service issues directly to the office and receive one-on-one assistance
• [ ] Operate and staff the county executive campaign field office (open six days per week) and continue community outreach to qualify and maintain a people-funded campaign
• [ ] Prioritize and secure budget resources for public safety by ensuring police and fire departments receive needed funding and by advocating for necessary dollars at Annapolis during the next budget season
• [ ] Advocate for county participation and engagement in the Key Bridge rebuilding process and push for timely selection of qualified contractors to accelerate replacement and minimize further cost escalation
• [ ] Expand the community schools model countywide to provide additional supports (social workers, food pantries, resource hubs) so students and families receive wraparound services at their local schools
• [ ] Review and improve county permitting and reservation systems to restore accessibility to a human point of contact and reduce barriers for businesses opening or expanding (streamline processes, provide assistance and potential financing resources)

Outline

Councilman Pat Young’s Campaign for Baltimore County Executive

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the segment from The Fish Monger’s Daughter in Catonsville, highlighting the local businesses and community.
• Nestor mentions the sponsors of the show, including the Maryland Lottery, GBMC, and Farnin and Dermer.
• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the expansion of the councilmanic districts from seven to nine, and the sense of pride and belonging in different parts of the county.
• Pat Young emphasizes the importance of consistent expectations from government services, such as basic services and education, across the county.

Challenges and Perceptions in Baltimore County

• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the perception that certain areas of the county receive more attention than others, such as Dundalk versus Catonsville.
• Pat Young shares his experience of hearing similar concerns from residents across the county, regardless of their location.
• Nestor mentions the positive impact of school renovations in his area, which helped alleviate feelings of neglect.
• Pat Young highlights the role of partnerships with state officials, such as the Built to Learn Act, in funding school construction.

The Blueprint for Education and Its Impact

• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, its goals, and its implementation.
• Pat Young acknowledges the challenges faced by smaller jurisdictions in meeting the Blueprint’s expectations and the need for state support.
• Pat Young emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement and adjustment in education policies to meet the needs of students and parents.
• The conversation touches on the success of the community schools model in providing additional resources to students and parents.

Transportation and Infrastructure Challenges

• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the challenges of transportation in Baltimore County, including the Beltway and the Key Bridge.
• Pat Young explains the ongoing efforts to rebuild the Key Bridge and the challenges in finding the right developer and contractor.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the current state of the Beltway and the impact of traffic on residents.
• Pat Young highlights the need for a comprehensive public transportation plan to connect different parts of the county and improve mobility.

Public Participation and Government Accountability

• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the importance of public participation in government decisions and the need for transparency.
• Pat Young emphasizes the role of elected officials in engaging with the public and being accountable to their needs.
• The conversation touches on the challenges of balancing local and state-level responsibilities in addressing public concerns.
• Pat Young shares his experience of working with constituents to solve specific issues, such as bullying in schools.

Pat Young’s Background and Motivation

• Nestor asks Pat Young about his political path and motivation for running for Baltimore County Executive.
• Pat Young shares his background in the military and his experience as a councilman, emphasizing his commitment to public service.
• Pat Young discusses the importance of addressing the needs of all residents, regardless of their influence or connections.
• The conversation highlights the challenges of running a people-powered campaign and the importance of grassroots support.

The Role of the County Executive

• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the responsibilities of the county executive, including managing various departments and addressing public concerns.
• Pat Young emphasizes the need for a proactive approach in engaging with the public and addressing their needs.
• The conversation touches on the importance of budgeting and resource allocation in meeting the county’s goals.
• Pat Young highlights the need for a diverse and inclusive council to represent the diverse population of Baltimore County.

The Importance of Public Trust and Engagement

• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the importance of public trust and engagement in government.
• Pat Young shares his experience of working with constituents to solve specific issues and the impact of public participation on government decisions.
• The conversation highlights the challenges of balancing local and state-level responsibilities in addressing public concerns.
• Pat Young emphasizes the need for a proactive approach in engaging with the public and addressing their needs.

The Role of Government in Solving Problems

• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the role of government in solving problems and providing services to residents.
• Pat Young shares his experience of working with constituents to solve specific issues, such as bullying in schools.
• The conversation highlights the importance of public participation in government decisions and the need for transparency.
• Pat Young emphasizes the need for a proactive approach in engaging with the public and addressing their needs.

The Impact of Military Service on Public Service

• Nestor and Pat Young discuss the impact of military service on Pat Young’s approach to public service.
• Pat Young shares his experience in the military and the lessons learned about leadership and public service.
• The conversation highlights the importance of integrity and accountability in government.
• Pat Young emphasizes the need for a proactive approach in engaging with the public and addressing their needs.

Pat Young’s Campaign Efforts and Personal Connections

• Pat Young discusses his consistent campaigning efforts, mentioning the opening of a campaign office in southwest Baltimore County and operating six days a week.
• He emphasizes the importance of building real connections and relationships with people, which he believes sets him apart from other candidates.
• Pat Young recalls his 2014 campaign where he knocked on 9000 doors and won by 34 votes, highlighting the significance of personal connections in winning elections.
• Nestor Aparicio appreciates Pat Young’s efforts and mentions inviting other candidates to discuss their campaigns, ensuring fairness in coverage.

Nestor Aparicio’s Media Platform and Community Engagement

• Nestor Aparicio talks about his media platform, “Fishmonger’s Daughter,” and its partnership with the Maryland Lottery.
• He introduces a new series featuring Maryland Treasures, including Assateague, Bay Bridge, Ocean City, and Blackwater Refuge, encouraging viewers to explore these places.
• Nestor mentions the history and unique features of the Fishmonger’s Daughter, including a ballroom that can hold 300 people and an outdoor patio with a gas fireplace.
• He shares his personal experiences and plans for future events at the Fishmonger’s Daughter, including his 60th birthday party.

Community Events and Personal Anecdotes

• Nestor Aparicio and Pat Young discuss the vibrant community events and personal anecdotes, including Nestor’s wife’s experience at the Fishmonger’s Daughter.
• They talk about the delicious food and unique menu items available at the Fishmonger’s Daughter, highlighting the culinary experimentation of the chef.
• Nestor mentions his plans to visit the Fishmonger’s Daughter for a night cap and to explore other local attractions like the Black Crows in Merryweather.
• Pat Young expresses his interest in being invited to Nestor’s birthday party and appreciates the community engagement and support.

Civic Responsibility and Safety Concerns

• Nestor Aparicio emphasizes the importance of voting and encourages everyone to register and participate in the upcoming election.
• He humorously mentions his hypothetical death penalty for speeding on 695, highlighting a common safety concern in the community.
• Pat Young agrees with the need for more mindfulness and safety on the roads, mentioning the tragic incidents involving state workers.
• They discuss the challenges of traffic and speeding, with Nestor sharing his personal experiences and concerns about road safety.

Closing Remarks and Future Plans

• Nestor Aparicio wraps up the conversation by reiterating the importance of community engagement and voting.
• He shares his plans for future episodes of “Fishmonger’s Daughter” and invites listeners to visit the Fishmonger’s Daughter for a unique dining experience.
• Pat Young expresses his gratitude for the opportunity to discuss his campaign and connect with the community.
• They both look forward to future interactions and community events, emphasizing the importance of staying connected and involved.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Baltimore County Executive, Pat Young, council expansion, public participation, police department, transportation issues, Key Bridge, public schools, community engagement, budget challenges, public finance, campaign strategy, local government, constituent service, infrastructure improvements., Baltimore County Executive, Pat Young, campaign office, real connections, election results, Fishmonger’s Daughter, Maryland Lottery, Maryland Treasures, Blackwater Refuge, Catonsville, voting importance, speeding on 695, community engagement, Maryland artists, outdoor patio.

SPEAKERS

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Pat Young, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We’re Baltimore Positive, doing our first ever segment from The Fish Monger’s Daughter. We were in Catonsville. Life is great. 21228 We are on Frederick Road. I have the radiator seat here. This is a complete radiator table. I’m overlooking beautiful Frederick Road. Take a little taekwondo, I can go over, get a little bit of Mexican food after I get done. My fish monger’s daughter here, right across from Bill’s Museum. You get it all going on. Life is great. In a 21228 Councilman Pat Young is my guest. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery. I have, I have, I have Bay, I have Bay Bridge, I have Ocean City, and I have ST courses, so we have all four of the Maryland treasures here. It’s also brought to you by our friends at GBMC, as well as Farnin and Dermer. They are the comfort guys. I’m always comfortable in Catonsville, I know you are, but you’re trying to branch out around the county, from Lansdowne to Dundalk to White Marsh to Hereford, you’re running for Baltimore County Executive. I’ve known you well, man. Like, yeah, I’m in your homeland here in Catonsville. For some of the other candidates, I’ve moved them to other parts, taking people from the West Side to Essex and North Side. Look, we’re all in it together, and I always kidded Mohler about, like, Dundalk and Catonsville being really far apart, but really close, as I’m here on the town square,

Pat Young  01:24

right?

Nestor Aparicio  01:24

I would think out on the campaign trail you’re probably hearing some different things, east, north, south, west, and but probably some similar things that Dundalk and Catonsville all bridge together,

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Pat Young  01:35

you know. I’m glad you started with that, because I mean, honestly, we’ve been around this entire county, but what we’re parochial, and it’s from southwest to west to east, you know, and different iterations of like where political power has come from traditionally. For the longest time, county executives came from the east side, and then there was more power on

Nestor Aparicio  01:54

the way, more people in the east side

Pat Young  01:57

organization. Yeah, that’s right. And

Nestor Aparicio  01:58

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now we have nine councilmanic districts.

Pat Young  02:01

Yes, it’s been expanded, so yeah, there’ll be there are folks running for nine councilmanic districts, so where we’ve had a council of seven members since 1956 it will now be a council of nine, and to your point, to where similarities, like there’s a feeling of we’re on the east side and there’s like pride in it, we’re on the southwest side, and I have pride in growing up on the side of town, too, but then when you get down to it and start talking to regular people, you see the main street over in Dundalk, you see the main street over here, you see the main street in Randallstown, you see over in Towson and other areas around the county, there’s this sense of belonging to your area, but while we belong to a big county and recognizing that we all have different approaches and like things that we want to see change, but we all still belong to this incorporated county that has a county executive, and we want everybody to do right by their neighbors, and everybody’s trying to do their best, especially now, want to pay bills to make lives better for their families, and they want to make sure that the future generation has schools that one aren’t falling down and are educating their kids, our kids appropriately, and there’s there’s this concept of consistent expectation that the government’s going to provide the basic services that a taxpayer expects, and that is across the board. I’m done, dog.

Nestor Aparicio  03:12

Well, that’s what you’ve been doing as a council member forever, right?

Pat Young  03:14

Absolutely,

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Nestor Aparicio  03:15

potholes, red lights, signs, streets, safety,

Pat Young  03:18

yep, community, and hearing from folks about where one, we have our own focus, and being around your district, you kind of get a sense of what needs to be done, what you need to bring to the county executive’s office, but then we rely on people to reach out to our office and tell us, like, if we’ve missed something, if we’ve forgotten something, if they’re somebody else is leaving their house and they’re passing by the same stop sign that’s been knocked down for a week, and then they call our office, like, I had no idea. Great, let’s get this fixed. Let’s move on it. It’s part of this concept of we all live in this county, we all play a role in trying to make it better, and I think there’s a perception that is consistent across the board that one area gets more attention than another. Even on the southwest side, Arbutus thinks Catonsville gets more attention than Arbutus does. The east side thinks Towson gets more.

Nestor Aparicio  04:01

I thought that until Jim Smith and Johnny O and Kevin rebuilt my elementary school and my high school,

Pat Young  04:07

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exactly.

Nestor Aparicio  04:08

So I’m like, we’re finally ahead, Dundalk’s finally getting something here, you know?

Pat Young  04:11

Right. And that kind of, that thought process, though, too.

Nestor Aparicio  04:14

It didn’t work for the Delaney people, though, and some other place, you know, other schools wanted to get rebuilt, right?

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Pat Young  04:18

Right. And it took time, and you know, and that’s part of this whole concept of it’s not just an individual county, it’s not just an individual region, it’s working as county government with your, your tax paying residents, your voters, and with our partners at the state, because these schools being built is partly because of the partnership that we had with the former Speaker of the House, Adrian Jones, and the Built to Learn Act, which was tied to the blueprint, because there wouldn’t have been this extra funding for school construction across every jurisdiction. That’s why this is happening, because we heard from folks what they wanted, and we utilized our resources at the state and local level to make it happen.

Nestor Aparicio  04:50

Think the blueprint’s working. Where are you on blueprint? I mean, I’ve been talking about this for since before the plague. Honestly, I mean, when Mueller started to think 789 years ago, it would. Conceptual, and then it’s, how are we going to pay for it? And then it’s, oh, we have a Democratic governor who’s trying to figure out how to pay for it after the Republican governor left the red line debt. So, there’s all of these issues of where the money could have gone. I don’t argue with education as far as where it’s going, but whether it’s working or not, that remains to be seen.

Pat Young  05:18

So, I would say, too, and I remember being in the legislature and being a co-sponsor of the blueprint, and Baltimore County’s in a better position than other jurisdictions. I mean, from small, smaller jurisdictions have a cliff that they’re trying to deal with, that also the state, I think, even in this legislative session, was figuring, how are we going to support these smaller jurisdictions to make sure that the mandate and the expectation for the blueprint is met. We’re in a better position than some of those other counties, one from a financial standpoint and economic standpoint, from a results that I believe that we are doing pretty dang well. One from our reading scores, our math scores are going up, but there’s still this expectation of the experience that a student’s getting at our schools that’s still missing the mark, and from a parent perspective of what role do they play when they know that their individual school, well, the system might be doing well, right? The system might be showing indicators that things are moving in the right direction, but my individual experience with my child at this school needs to be addressed or fixed, and they feel they have no role to play in it. That’s sort of the role that we have, and I think that the legislature has, in my experience being a legislator for the last 11 years, has been that you pass a piece of legislation, you have a goal for it to have a specific result, and if it’s not meeting that expectation, you go back, you adjust, and keep moving forward to get to a better or more perfect result, rather than sitting there, it doesn’t work. Let’s throw everything out and start all over again. And I think that’s where we’re at. I think we’re at a point where our school system, with the leadership of the current superintendent and soon to be a new superintendent has recognized that we have exponentially increased the number of tools at their disposal to improve the student experience, and we’ve utilized that as Baltimore County, when it comes to the community schools model, with extra support for administrators and student and teachers, so that the student experience isn’t just affecting them but also their parents, and I think that if there’s anything to look at where there’s been a success, what we need to expand is that community schools model across the entire county, so that we can provide those extra resources to communities and students that otherwise wouldn’t have had access to social workers, wouldn’t have access to food pantries, and also resources within the community that those resource officers have been bringing to the schools, because we utilize them as this hub now, right? We expect so much of our teachers, we expect so much of our police, but these community schools really are a hub where parents go and students go every single day and interact throughout the year. We utilize this model to be the place that we can go as a local government to inform them of what resources we have for them, what programs we have available for them to try and make their lives better.

Nestor Aparicio  07:40

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Well, every time I talk to somebody, by the way, Pat Young’s here. We’re in Catonsville, we’re at Fishmonger’s Daughter, first ever segment here, and there’s a lot of glass going on here. It’s quiet right now, because we’re doing our show during the early part of the day. They’re only open for dinner right now, but they are going to get up for lunch, amazing, later on in the summer. Oh, it’s, I mean, it, this is really going to be a centerpiece for your community in Catonsville, but for the whole county, and you know, I’ve talked so many of you over 10 years of this.

Pat Young  08:07

Sure,

Nestor Aparicio  08:09

if you don’t have a kid in school, and I don’t, my son likes living near the school I grew up in, because he thinks it’s holding property value because it’s a new school, right, Colgan Elementary over by East Point, so he’s pleased with county government in that way, even though they’re not making babies and send the kids to school, tax base, toilets flushing, you know, water, water, the things that we’re like red lights, police, crime, these things. I think of the things that we share in the county, and the thing that always ties me to all of you is when I’m on the Beltway, because the Beltway is a Baltimore County entity, other than this much of it on Anne Arundel County, down in the bottom side, right, and I just think like we’re all swimming together from, you know, councilmanic district to council manic district through the county, driving and roads and experience on roads and the 45 miles an hour with the blinky blinks that I did all the way around here from Towson over the construction part of that and moving around, boy, the key bridge is really screwed up transportation and made it even worse when these bandits are racing 100 miles an hour on the county road, sure. And I think to myself, if I were running for county executive, and I think Carson Kamenetz is the one person that said something to me about in his community, the complaint he’s hearing is traffic and people driving too fast on side streets in communities with children and with families and older people. But I think about the Beltways being this, it’s our freeway for all of us, and I, I’m displeased with our beltway right now, as a driver and as someone that likes to stay alive and seeing stuff. I think if you become county executive, I became county executive, death penalty for anybody driving 100 miles an hour on the freeway, like that’s been something that I think other people have talked about.

Pat Young  10:00

A safety,

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Nestor Aparicio  10:01

safety, yeah,

Pat Young  10:02

just living and living in the county, trying to just traverse from one side of the horseshoe to the other with the key bridge,

Nestor Aparicio  10:08

gotta have the beltway,

Pat Young  10:09

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do you do, and I’ve said it before, it, regardless of whether, if you believe you like the direction the county government’s going, or you have complaints, the thing that unifies us all is that the Beltway is our collective nightmare, depending on when in the morning, in the afternoon, having to go

Nestor Aparicio  10:26

on, just trying to get people to do 55 miles an

Pat Young  10:28

hour, right,

Nestor Aparicio  10:29

and I know that’s not your job as a county executive, but I’m just thinking, like the experience of living here is, I live a mile from the Beltway, and I’m, and I’m not an old fart or fuddy duddy, I just see stuff on the Beltway specifically that I’ve never seen in my life until the last five years,

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Pat Young  10:46

right.

Nestor Aparicio  10:46

And I think that from a county, I know it’s not crime, but it feels very, very criminal what’s going on, driving why it’s not,

Pat Young  10:55

it’s not a violent crime, right, but it, but it is violating the law, and I think people recognize that, and there’s why you get a certain satisfaction when you watch a video or you see in real time a speeder or somebody that like cuts out and takes the media and they get pulled over by a cop because you think you know justice being served by somebody who’s trying to break

Nestor Aparicio  11:11

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I think they’re much more likely to kill somebody than get pulled over from what I see I’m being honest with

Pat Young  11:16

course well I think so one there’s two the immediate thing that we’re all trying to focus on, which is disappointing at the state level, is the key bridge needs to be rebuilt as fast as possible, and I know that there’s been, there have been a number of setbacks, including trying to find

Nestor Aparicio  11:30

what should I know as a citizen about that. You sit in all these fancy meetings in the county, what do

Pat Young  11:34

I need to know? I don’t sit on a lot of meetings when it comes to the key bridge. What I do understand is that they’re still trying to find the appropriate developer and contractor to then actually build the new bridge. I think that they have their plan in place. It’s about finding the right business and right company that has the expertise, the experience to then build it effectively and safely. So that’s number one.

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Nestor Aparicio  11:54

Do you feel like it’s on target, or do you feel like you’re they’re being honest about that part of it?

Pat Young  11:59

I mean, with the last announcement that they had to, you know, either I’m gonna.. I want to make sure I’m saying this right. I don’t know if there was a contract or they were moving towards going towards the contract, but they had to shift from whoever the company they were looking at, and now I don’t know where they are. Well, the nightmare for

Nestor Aparicio  12:14

me as a citizen, just knowing this every day that it tarries, it’s going to cost more, so that that part of it for me from the beginning was build it as fast as possible, as great as possible, name it the right way, but get it done. Let’s not turn this into a political battle, which it’s obviously become,

Pat Young  12:34

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and it

Nestor Aparicio  12:36

wasn’t that day, the morning of it wasn’t. It felt very as bipartisan as we can be bipartisan in this country at this point,

Pat Young  12:45

and the

Nestor Aparicio  12:45

bridge is not bipartisan, it’s not Democratic, it’s not Republican, it’s not even a Maryland bridge, it’s a regional bridge, it’s an East Coast bridge,

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Pat Young  12:54

and we, because I sit at the county level and the state’s making decisions when it comes to rebuilding this, when it went, when it fell, and when it collapsed, there was a different administration in Washington, and I know that there’s not defending one way or another, but there does seem to be consternation at the White House and at the governor’s office to try and figure out one, how we fund this, but also we need to, we need to actively participate as a county in advocating for what we need, which is specifically the bridge to deal with the traffic that you’ve experienced, I’ve experienced 695 The other piece is talking. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  13:23

amazing how it took one minute for that bridge to be down and to see how much traffic it affected, like literally

Pat Young  13:29

immediately. And now I think there’s this other focus, which is a good thing, on what’s the state of our public transportation around Baltimore City and Baltimore County, which is almost non-existent from a standpoint of there was nothing for folks to fall back on, folks don’t utilize public transportation because they don’t trust it. It’s not effective, it’s not efficient. And while, again, mostly a state issue, the county has a role to play in not just thinking of how it’s right now we have these fingers that pull people into Baltimore City as fast as possible. What we don’t have is a comprehensive plan, either immediately or in the future, to connect people to our transportation hubs, so the folks

Nestor Aparicio  14:01

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can go where they landed on Frederick Road. I will not see a bus go by here all day.

Pat Young  14:04

Gotcha. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  14:05

right,

Pat Young  14:06

bro. I’m not sure what the bus route is.

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Nestor Aparicio  14:07

I’ve never seen a bus go down Frederick Road. Maybe I’m wrong. I know they are, but I’m sure it’s so.. I’ve never seen people waiting on the bus, like I’m.. I’m from Dundalk. I lived on busses, my parents never drove, sure. So I lived on the 23 bus, the number 10 bus, the number four bus, number 20, time to time. It’s a different kind of life, you know. I can’t, and I meet people all the time. I took the light rail yesterday morning. I landed from Pittsburgh at seven in the morning at our airport, and my wife said, ‘Take the light rail, I ain’t get your ass at the end. No, she had to work, so I don’t want to, and we live in Towson now, and I’m at PWI, so like the light rail for me for a buck 75 or two, but whatever it is, I was in Lutherville, it took me an hour, I mean it’s a light rail, but like I didn’t have to put my wife out, and my wife asked off from work for 20 minutes and ran over and got me, and she took 20 minutes off of work, and I light railed it. And I was, but seeing how many people are on the light rail at six in the morning who work at the live casino or work at the airport, or they’re wearing swag, and I see who they work for, I see their work outfit, and I’m thinking every day this train’s gotta run on, and I think that when I’m in New York, or in places where public transportation is like a thing,

Pat Young  15:22

right?

Nestor Aparicio  15:22

We really screwed that pooch in this state, didn’t we, like all of our lifetime, really

Pat Young  15:26

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do. And I mean, we go back to our conspiracy theories of what happened to our, you know, our trolley lines, the one that did used to go right down Frederick Road. Then there’s even evidence showing it was

Nestor Aparicio  15:38

racism, it’s Baltimore, like that’s that’s just what I chalk it up to. I chalk it up to, oh, there were some white people that got out of hand back in the 60s or 70s, and they pushed this and that, because that’s that’s been my experience for all of this. As now, I thought it was white when I met you. I’m definitely Hispanic.

Pat Young  15:54

Oh, gotcha.

Nestor Aparicio  15:55

Definitely.

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Pat Young  15:56

Well, I’m learning things.

Nestor Aparicio  15:57

Definitely, ice comes here today. They’re getting me, not you. Trust me, I found that out when I spent time in South America, so I just, so many things we’re still trying to undo in this country, like your military, yeah, and the Trump thing, which sits over top of all of this in so many ways, but the transportation thing in Baltimore, to me, oh man, you know, it’s there’s.. it’s straight up with the red lining and everything else that went on. As I see it,

Pat Young  16:27

there are insidious pieces of racism that tied into where how we’ve gotten here, and I think that’s also what’s challenging for new generation of elected officials, new generation of folks that live in the Baltimore region. Is why don’t we have these things when we start looking into it? Like, well, that was wrong, and how do we fix it? And I think that’s indicative.

Nestor Aparicio  16:45

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And now, do we have the money to fix

Pat Young  16:46

it? Do we have the money? And how do we? And do we have the money, but also from a budgeting standpoint, I mean, like, we live our values through what we’re hearing from people, what we put our effort into. And budgeting for transportation, budgeting for schools shows people like what we care about and what we see the future of a particular region, and specifically Baltimore County, is going to..

Nestor Aparicio  17:04

I love that you said that. The value, so many.. I’ve heard that many times, like our values are in the budget. Just look at the budget, that.. that’s

Pat Young  17:10

what have we..

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Nestor Aparicio  17:11

that is what we’re valuing, literally,

Pat Young  17:13

right? What have we chosen to put our.. our resources into taxpayer trust through dollars into.. and you can take a look at the budget, and from any particular year, when it comes to, and that’s also, I mean, I come from a budget background, where I’ve served eight years in the general assembly on appropriations, and been on the county council for the last three and a half years, and I’ve chaired the spending affordability committee, and I say that to say that there’s a, you can go back and look through budgets, even from the first year that we got here, and seeing where did we put our effort in the first year and what have we accomplished and what have been able to do the first year I was there they canceled the red line and I bring it we’ve talked about transportation and now there’s been announcements about the red line and now I think they’ve paired it to a rapid bus transit line I’m I’m for anything that’s better than the nothing that we have now but at the end of the day is it meeting our long term expectations and needs to get people where they need to go to benefit from the economic opportunities in the city and around Baltimore County, and at the moment by itself the answer is no, but working together to connect around this county, so you were saying too, you got to the airport and then you went up to Lutherville, but if you didn’t live so close, you’d need to find another way to get to somewhere else in the county, so if you wanted to connect lines, either you have to go into the city, then go back out again, or you can’t get to where you need to go once you get to the end of the line. Ever

Nestor Aparicio  18:27

since rental cars become like a buck and a quarter a day, I’m from Dundalk. I took busses all of my life. Sure, I’ve become a real public transportation hoe, you know. I’m that guy, I’m that guy that’s going to take the Amtrak in San Diego, two weeks from now to LA, because it’s $36 but then I measured the Uber I’m gonna have to take from downtown LA to the airport. I’m going to see Rush.

Pat Young  18:49

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Nice,

Nestor Aparicio  18:50

it was $36 to get from San Diego to LA. It’s going to be 55 in Uber to get from the train station to my hotel, and I’m thinking to myself, all right, there’s got to be a bus. Turns out LA put like a light rail in that I didn’t even really realize happened. I mean, South Florida’s put in this bullet train from Disney World, and nobody’s using it. And I was in Vegas the other day, and people were talking at length about the Vegas LA bullet train. Sure, you know, I’ve been on a bullet train in Japan, and you were military, you went around, you saw how the world moves around. My wife was in Europe and Italy a couple weeks ago.

Pat Young  19:25

Get anywhere you need to go.

Nestor Aparicio  19:27

Other than our freedom that began, I guess, in the 50s and 60s with highways and gas guzzlers, and yeah, Ike, and whatever,

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Pat Young  19:34

focused on cars

Nestor Aparicio  19:35

and focused on cars and freedom and freedom and cars in California, Texas, and cars. And

Pat Young  19:39

sure,

Nestor Aparicio  19:40

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I don’t, I don’t know what we’re doing to sustain that, other than bombing Iran and blocking up the Strait of Hormuz, right? Like, literally,

Pat Young  19:46

if we’re, how we’re sustaining that. I mean, gas prices are going to be $5 a gallon here soon, which we have, you know, little to do with at the county level either. It’s, it’s awful to see, and I think that’s it’s hard to try and

Nestor Aparicio  19:57

build. I saw it at the gas pump, I saw. Point,

Pat Young  20:00

yeah, that’s it’s hard to build trust at the local level too. When you, you mentioned to at the top you have this pressure pushing down on like we’re trying to do the best we can locally, which has the most impact on individuals’ lives from day to day. While at the top you’re saying, well, we’re, if you, that if you’re a microcosm or even like a small, like you know, subsection of how government works, like we can’t trust this, how can we trust you? And my response to that is to try is not just to try, but to implement as any opportunity we have to be as transparent and open to provide the public a forum to engage with us, because they’re part of this. There is no transparency without the public participation. There is no accountability for elected officials without, with the, without the participation of the public, which says to me, especially in this day and age, that we, as a government, whether it’s whoever is in charge, needs to provide and not just tacitly say, “Here’s a forum you participate, but seek out the people that are actively engaged on social media, in person, in their communities, with their community associations, and bring them in, because they’re the ones that should be guiding our decisions, not folks that get elected from one cycle to the next.

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Nestor Aparicio  21:06

Pat Young’s here. We’re at Catonsville. Life’s great. The 21228 We’re Fishmonger’s daughter. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery, along with GBMC and Farnham and Dermer, our comfort guys. All right, so for the county, your political path from marine and citizen here to running for office to then becoming councilman. Give me your path toward county executive. Why here? Why now? And we’ll go backwards and we’ll talk about Johnny O and Kathy and all that other stuff, but just where you are in wanting to do this now, feeling like the time’s right. Obviously, Johnny O moved on to Congress. You were involved in selecting this particular county executive. I haven’t been pleased with this as a county resident or voter, so some ideology on that, but more than that, you’re running and you want to change something, right? I mean, you want to make something better, right?

Pat Young  21:58

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, one lived experience from the folks that live here, I’d say the expectation of what our citizens experience from the police department and folks from one jurisdiction and precinct to the next about what they’re seeing on the ground.

Nestor Aparicio  22:14

Police is first, that’s the number one thing you think you hear the most about.

Pat Young  22:17

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I think there’s, I think there’s a want for there to be a old style presence of seeing folks out the bound, and in order to meet that expectation, we need to fill all of the vacancies, or as many of the vacancies as we can, within the police department, and we got to give credit where credit’s due. The current chief has done an amazing job at one recruitment and changing the way that the police department’s recruited, but also from a standpoint of filling the vacancies we’ve had in the past. So, we’ve gone from, in when I started 400 some vacancies, now we’re down below 160 and I think that’s a good thing. What we need, though, is to recognize which jurisdictions have the most vacancies, whether we have folks that can be new to the force but also working within precincts to be patrol officers, so that we can meet a one on one in person interaction with the public when they need it, when they expect it, and not just, not just sitting, and this is what we’re hearing from other folks too, not just using the patrol car as a place to then drive around, but also to interact with the public when you’re out and about, specifically along our economic corridors, and when crime happens, be active with our responses to folks that have been a victim of crime, when it comes to whether it’s an individual, whether it’s a business or an entire community that’s been either vandalized or has suffered from some form of crime or another. There’s been a drop off of an action happens, there’s a response, and then there’s no follow up, and that’s across county government, and that’s part of the thing that is overarching with the way that I would like to change things. It’s one of, been

Nestor Aparicio  23:36

one of my experiences is the ball just being

Pat Young  23:38

dropped, right? Then, like, everywhere I go, the story that connects everybody is whether it’s a positive reaction or not, or negative, that there’s whenever they go to engage with county government, it’s initially they’re treated as an adversary rather than a partner to try and solve simple problems, and my experience that I was raised to believe that government’s a place to solve problems and a backstop when all other ways to resolve something has failed, and that’s what we’re here for. In my, I don’t, I’m not going to say that everything the government does as response is perfect, but it’s also made up of people, so it’s never going to be perfect. If we can move the ball forward in a way that includes our citizens, makes them feel part of a process, they, we build trust at the local level, and we can continue to build that up through the state and federal level. But that’s just my opinion of how government’s supposed to work, and I don’t think it’s been doing that. I think we’ve been more focused on a system. A system will work the way it’s supposed to set up when it ignores the people that’s supposed to be serving, and the focus needs to be on we serve the people and taxpayers of Baltimore County first and ourselves second. And I don’t think that’s been the focus over the last.. well, I just have not seen that, and that’s not what I’ve heard from the folks that live here in Baltimore County,

Nestor Aparicio  24:41

well, you were involved in a really unique situation. Don Moller was also involved when Kevin Cameron has passed away tragically. That felt like it happened a little bit more quickly and seamlessly in the aftermath of the tragedy. The inspector general situation, just, there’s just a lot going on in the county. I have not had the county executive on, because I don’t.

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Pat Young  25:05

Yeah, I didn’t.

Nestor Aparicio  25:06

I just have not had her wrong. I’ve not been impressed enough with her as a citizen to invite her on to think that I’m truly going to get answers from somebody who is a placeholder, as I saw it. Right? I don’t know what you and the other six people saw or didn’t see, thought I’ve met the other people. Barry Williams has been on my show, kind of famously. I, I saw other candidates, and I, I still don’t know what happened behind the closed doors to make the county executive the county executive as a citizen, right? I’m very blurry on that. In regard to you and Izzy and Julian, who were all part of that, and now you’re all on my ballot on June, june 23 by the way, primary, and I won’t say this about you, but even if you don’t vote for him, vote, vote, vote, right, we gotta get vote,

Pat Young  25:51

need to participate, if

Nestor Aparicio  25:51

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you’re one of those people listening and you’re not registered to vote, please get vote, we need, we need everyone to vote, and Pat needs you to vote for him,

Pat Young  25:59

and I think if you remember, too, there was a, there’s a lot of confusion that was set by some members saying that there was an expectation that you’re going to say to the public like what it was going to look like to then select the county executive, and then that didn’t happen, and I think that was indicative of the fact that the council wasn’t working as a particular unit to then come to an agreement. There was one public input meeting, and then there were interviews where we led the, I guess, the folks that seemed like that they were raised above to, like, kind of, why

Nestor Aparicio  26:27

wasn’t there a special vote? I mean, I’m just serious, why wasn’t there just a special vote?

Pat Young  26:31

Well, we did have a vote, specifically,

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Nestor Aparicio  26:33

no, I mean, from the, from, from the citizens, why didn’t the citizens select?

Pat Young  26:36

Oh, there was no,

Nestor Aparicio  26:37

that’s the codicils in the, in the law of how this is supposed to work,

Pat Young  26:41

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so yeah, I mean, I guess part of the other issue is when folks like, why didn’t we get a chance to vote, was like in terms of the timeline, the

Nestor Aparicio  26:46

whole idea is I did vote, I gave my councilman was

Pat Young  26:50

republic, we’re representing, and then situation, it wasn’t there wasn’t a mechanism for the county executive stepping down midterm and then having an election for another county executive that didn’t exist, it still doesn’t exist,

Nestor Aparicio  27:01

we’re having three councilmen that are going to run for county executive in a couple of years who didn’t want competition.

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Pat Young  27:05

Yeah, well,

Nestor Aparicio  27:06

I see that as a, as a citizen, as

Pat Young  27:09

yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  27:09

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something that is very, you know, apparent to me in a lot of ways, because she’s not a candidate, she’s not even a candidate to do my show. I mean, literally, I’ve spent five times in meeting with her. I don’t think she’ll make a very good guest. I don’t think she’s made a very good county executive.

Pat Young  27:26

Gotcha. Well, I will say

Nestor Aparicio  27:26

that’s just

Nestor Aparicio  27:27

the way I feel about it.

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Pat Young  27:28

That’s fine. I mean, everybody’s welcome with their opinion. I think

Nestor Aparicio  27:30

she wants to come on the show. Come on, I mean,

Pat Young  27:33

I’ll be sure to

Nestor Aparicio  27:34

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let her set up, you know, I mean, I’m set up.

Pat Young  27:35

I think there was, and at the time, what we had heard, and what I’d heard from, like, employees from around Baltimore County, was that there’s been a lack of continuity since, unfortunately, the unfortunate passing of county executive cabinets, and then a interim county executive with Don Moeller. There was a short period of, there was, there was a feeling of continuity with John Oszewski coming in, and then him leaving. There’s this sense of up and down, who’s in charge? Then that was coming from employees, so there was this feeling from the council that we didn’t want there to be, we wanted to be continuity, we didn’t want there to be a question of validity to the next county executive. So, of all of the candidates in the, in their, I guess, interviews with us, in the public talking with us as well, she, Kathy, could get a unanimous vote, and the other members couldn’t, and I think that was important at the time to show to the public in a relatively short period of time that there was continuity

Nestor Aparicio  28:26

didn’t happen quick,

Pat Young  28:28

right? Yeah, but I think from the moment of knowing that that Johnny was leaving and then having to pick somebody, I think before the end of the year there was an expectation of continuity and wanting the public to know that there was that whoever it was, they were going to get unanimous support, and at the moment that was, that was a value, and I think a, a want from the council to find somebody that would get that vote, not split the council between folks, and she could receive a unanimous vote from the council.

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Nestor Aparicio  28:57

So, you know, the county as well as anyone. Pat Young’s here, by the way. We’re day one. What are you doing? What, what are the three or four things that you’re like, I don’t like this, I’m going to raise the bar on this, that, and the other. What is your platform?

Pat Young  29:10

Well, I would say that immediately, I mean, from a couple different things, there’s going to be a brand new council, there’s going to be nine members, and out of that nine members, only two are returning, so it’s going to be a new seven new members building relationships immediately with this council. We’re going into a budget session or budget season as soon as the election’s over, so expect expectations and knowing what the fiscal landscape looks like going into the next year, making sure that we’re providing every resource that we need financially to our police department. Excuse me, our fire department working with the other departments to make sure whatever that they’re providing, that we’re ready to go to Annapolis and fight for every dollar that we can, so that we’re not pigeonholed or we’re in a tough spot when it’s time to present the budget at the end of it to the council in April. So I think there’s a relationship building between the new council members that’s on the. One, I think it’s also pulling in different departments that are focused on that are engaging with the public on a daily basis that have an expectation that there’s accountability from the executive’s office of one, what they’re going to be providing to people, that there should be somebody working with people one on one, that we’re there isn’t this drop off of communication from people that are trying to solve things, because from one election to the next, the public doesn’t matter as much, the elected official doesn’t matter as much as the public expects there to be a consistent level of engagement and answers when they’re trying to solve problems. The

Nestor Aparicio  30:33

councilman is just fix the pothole, right?

Pat Young  30:34

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Exactly, there’s no, there’s, and the potholes don’t stop, because there’s an election, and that’s I think the key piece where there shouldn’t be any drop off, but there’s been a consistent lack of interest in engaging with the public. I think on my side it’s also looking at our departments that have traditionally not been doing as well of engagement. We went to an online system of reservations, but also of permitting that has caused a ton of issues with our with businesses, with folks that are trying to start, because you

Nestor Aparicio  30:59

can’t get a human,

Pat Young  31:00

can’t get a human to talk to. You go through the end, even my own.

Nestor Aparicio  31:03

Damie, you’re just trying to get Fishmonger’s daughter open. Is this is a not a novella, it’s a long novel,

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Pat Young  31:10

and

Nestor Aparicio  31:10

of government.

Pat Young  31:11

Oh yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  31:11

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and community associations, and neighborhoods

Pat Young  31:15

connected to a real person going through the entire process, getting permissions from agencies that are set up to be a backstop to prevent certain things from happening, but then getting in the way of then opening up a business when you wanted it to. We were able to provide financing when they ran into issues with the roof and the front edge of the building that set them back. So, there was there’s a mix, right, of governments here to then make provide approvals and move things along, but then when you run into issues yourself, that it’s also a place for potential resource for loans, for other opportunities. When it comes to, well,

Nestor Aparicio  31:45

you don’t want it to be an inhibitor, right? Absolutely, yeah, somebody to help,

Pat Young  31:48

and, and when it’s done right, in my experience, too, we can do right and move things along. My, here’s, here’s the issue that overarching for that one, we’ve talked about the public, and the government’s supposed to be here to help everybody. For too long, Baltimore County has helped people that write checks and have a large amount of influence with the people in power, because they have participated in their campaigns, they’ve funded developers, they’ve put developers

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Nestor Aparicio  32:15

all over the week, they’re upset that they have a bad name, because they do put a lot of money into all,

Pat Young  32:19

I’m sure they are, they’re upset because they have a vested interest in being able to have a guarantee, or at least a better version of engaging with elected officials that can change things in their favor, and that’s that’s part of what I’m running on. Government shouldn’t be working and moving fast for a select few that know who to call or have a phone, it should be working for everybody. The person that’s asking at a pothole fixed or have something reviewed related to their water and gas line should be addressed just as fast as a developer that’s trying to get a rezoning or their approvals and permits done, so they can build something. There shouldn’t be a drop off, because this person, and that’s what I think Baltimore County’s reputation has been, is that a select few get attention and things done in a time

Nestor Aparicio  33:00

that goes back to Agnew, probably right. I literally, I

Pat Young  33:03

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would say with that, that reputation has followed since then, and it’s been hard to break, because it’s that’s how that’s how we’ve operated there. Unfortunately, it has been a system where it’s if you know who to contact or you can reach out to that person, you get things done, and

Nestor Aparicio  33:18

sometimes you know the person still can’t get things,

Pat Young  33:20

and even, even then, but experience, right? But then, literally, well, I would say this, and then when you also know who the person is, and you can’t get it done, because it might be, might not fit into policy or into the law, then you know who to ask to then change the policy in your favor, which is why we have a zoning code that is a hodgepodge of why is this in there, why is this exception in there, be like, because the people that needed the exception, knew who to contact, knew to call, and pushed it through, because people weren’t paying attention.

Nestor Aparicio  33:43

The issue that I’ve had goes back 10 years, and I’m just at the point where the ball got dropped, and I’m just letting it go.

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Pat Young  33:52

Right, we should talk about that. You know,

Nestor Aparicio  33:54

it’s not even something for the air, it’s literally something to do with the street,

Pat Young  33:57

exactly.

Nestor Aparicio  33:57

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Literally, it’s nothing to do with my show or anything, me or me as a citizen, it has to do with Amazon drivers and trash truck drivers and post office workers, and probably potentially even, you know, emergency vehicles, yeah, where I live, but nonetheless, Pat Young’s here, but that’s listen for me, I just like for people like you to come on the show and Schoolhouse Rock me a little bit about the civics part of this, and about why you’re running. It’s such a big job, Baltimore County Executive. I mean, I learned this when I got involved in Baltimore Positive to think about running for mayor of Baltimore. I don’t know how many departments there were, I can’t remember, but I had it all handed to me. As far as, all right, you’re the mayor, here you go, you got trash, you got water, you got waterways, you got, you know, you have all of these things from a city perspective, from the county perspective, you’ve mentioned crime, police, teachers, right, like trash, I mean, all

Pat Young  34:53

economic development, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  34:54

and then every other resource the county provides in regard to senior. Citizens, in regard to children, regard just all of that sits for you, that’s

Pat Young  35:06

right. The executive for them to handle, and I think there’s a, you know, you ask too, like, why, why am I running for this? I mean, I think that the what I’ve experienced too is, and you’ve mentioned the council expansion, and I think that there’s watershed moments for everybody. There is, I’ve mentioned it a couple times, I mentioned it publicly, I mentioned it here, that including the public in the decisions that we make isn’t an option, it’s required for me, and it’s every time that there’s been a controversy that I’ve had to witness in elected office, or that I’ve been part of by, you know, association, is because there was a choice not to include the public, the map process, the expansion of the council, while the expansion is the good piece. The part that wasn’t was that members of the council attempted to prevent the public from participating in the map drawing process. The only reason that they did was because an amendment was put on at the end that struck the language and guaranteed that the charter required map redistricting map process was put out to the public, and then once the,

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Nestor Aparicio  36:01

as a citizen, I would call it Hokey Pokey,

Pat Young  36:04

right?

Nestor Aparicio  36:04

That’s why I felt like Hokey Pokey to me. The whole thing, all I mean, even Kathy’s boy, just all of it. I live here, I talk to all of you, most of you, some of you avoid me, but I don’t even.. I don’t know how this happened, you know. It’s a year and a half, and I’m still like, I’m still

Pat Young  36:22

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good,

Nestor Aparicio  36:22

I feel like it was very personal, very political. That’s the way I saw it. I didn’t feel like it was on the up and up,

Pat Young  36:29

and I feel like it’s also indicative of the goal, not so much being to expand the council and to try and change the diversity of to make sure that our council represents

Nestor Aparicio  36:39

you agree with that. You like nine, you were on the side of nine.

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Pat Young  36:42

I was actually on the side of

Nestor Aparicio  36:44

vote for,

Pat Young  36:45

of including by four, not so. Here’s the, here’s the issue. The public was crying for years, excuse me, calling for an expansion by four. There was a, an effort, a herculean effort for multiple years to try and get four more on the ballot

Nestor Aparicio  37:00

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through seven to 11, right. Okay,

Pat Young  37:02

and those ballot measures failed, but then the council itself decided to put a work group together. Is

Nestor Aparicio  37:07

that because I feel as a citizen I’m not getting the service I need from my councilman or councilwoman, Republican or Democrat, East or West? Doesn’t matter, just that you’re serving too many people. We didn’t have, we didn’t have enough service for the amount of people in the growth of the county.

Pat Young  37:22

I think that’s part of it, because okay, as the since 1956

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Nestor Aparicio  37:26

I want to understand it, so that our audience can understand. I think literally,

Pat Young  37:29

since 1956 we’ve had a seven member council, and yet the council, the county population grew to 850,000 people, and still had seven members. So the councilmatic districts drew to a point, I think, at its max, 120 122,000 people per district, which I, I did not feel that I was having a problem individually as a council person engaging with the folks that were engaging with the office, but other people felt that there was that it was too many. I would also say that

Nestor Aparicio  37:56

you’re teaching 30 kids versus 20, I mean, so if you had 120,000 versus 75,000 you probably could serve them better.

Pat Young  38:02

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You probably feel that you could have more of a relationship and have and spread, spread your time a little bit better. I would all say this, that there was also a concern in this last council, where there are Joanne Jones, the only African American member of the Baltimore County Council, and there are no women on it. This was also a watershed moment where there was push for expansion of the council to provide more opportunities for minorities and women to run for the council, so that the council would have an opportunity to resemble the population that it serves, because at the moment we’re very white and very male, and that I would say the good thing of the expansion is that we have a huge, the most diverse group of candidates running ever. It’s the problem for me was that if the number one step that can’t be crossed is cutting the public out of a process, and that is what you used to do it. Then I’m glad that we’re expanding. I’m glad that we’re going to, we will be a more diverse council, and we will have more seats by expanding by two that nobody asked for.

Nestor Aparicio  38:55

But then there’s the drawing of the map that

Pat Young  38:56

is also the mountain that didn’t include that included the public, and had there was a map that was tied to the referendum that people didn’t know about, so they voted for the expansion. They voted to make the council full time, and they voted on a map that people didn’t realize until after it was over that there was a map that they had voted for. And then they went into a map drawing process that the public participated in, and then they, the commission, sent back a map that had public vetting, and then the council drew a map, it wanted to, anyway, which I voted against the expansion. I voted against the map because it cut the public out or ignored the public’s response and their participation in the process in the first place. It can’t be optional. Public participation is required, and every time I would say, in the last three years, that this council has been dinged for something, or pointed out, or like called out for something, it’s been the choice of some

Nestor Aparicio  39:43

insider dealing,

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Pat Young  39:44

taking the public out of the process, and I would say that,

Nestor Aparicio  39:47

and I

Nestor Aparicio  39:48

never felt like all seven of you get along or know each other well, or even like each other, or work together, that it’s the superpowers, you’re seven very different people, right,

Pat Young  39:59

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pretty much, and. It also shows the diversity around the county, just like you were saying in the beginning, the mentality of the east side, mentality of the southwest side, it comes through in the folks that we elect, even from north county with the urban rural demarcation line, we have multiple, we have different cultures in one county of mentality, even though we are one jurisdiction, and trying to represent that and being an executive for all is challenging, but it’s also exciting. It’s an opportunity to bring people together. What I’ve seen over the 43 years that I’ve spent on this earth and in this county have been amazing for me, because when I’ve been, when I was in the military and interacted with folks from different states, I mean, I didn’t realize back in 2001 that you could meet somebody that hadn’t met, like a minority person, but it was, you know, there was folks at Montana that had only interacted with white people their entire lives, and realizing that I came from a diverse neighborhood, a diverse community, went to public school, became

Nestor Aparicio  40:49

an incredible strength for you.

Pat Young  40:50

I still feel incredibly lucky for the empathy, but also the exposure to recognizing that we’re at the end of the day, even though we’re different, we’re all trying to fight for the same thing, which is to get home at the end of the day, to make a better life for ourselves and for our kids, and to make sure that our taxpayers, our tax dollars go to a system that lifts people up and doesn’t crush them or shut them down or prevent people just to live their lives the way that they want them to. And you know what, when I found in Iraq, two tours and engaging with the public is that they want the same thing, that we are more alike than we are different, and that propaganda is going to be what propaganda is, but the people here want the same thing, the people abroad want the same thing, and the things that they’re talking about on the news and the fighting for at the White House are complete bullshit. Good. Am I allowed to say that?

Nestor Aparicio  41:37

You just did, Pat Young’s here. We are in Catonsville, 21228 Life’s great. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery. We’re at Fishmonger’s Daughter. Anything you want to say about this joint, or just Catonsville? This is your.. this is your people out here, and it took a long time to get this thing built.

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Pat Young  41:52

Nestor, I would have met with you anywhere, but when you said we were made at Fishmonger’s Daughter, I was like, “When.. when

Nestor Aparicio  41:56

you’re the first ever guest, Monger’s Daughter. That’s all because Tom Quirk quacked out on me. Just want to get sick.

Pat Young  42:02

People get sick.

Nestor Aparicio  42:04

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Have Mandy Remmel coming by as well. And you mentioned females running, not running, people of color. Nine. Do you expect once we get these votes in that we’re gonna go, you know? I know you expect to be county executive. You hope to be June 23 register, do all that out there, but do you expect that we will have a more diverse morning the morning after the election in late November?

Pat Young  42:29

I’m, I’m positive that we’re going to have a more diverse council.

Nestor Aparicio  42:32

That’s good.

Pat Young  42:32

I’m positive we are. I, you know, and there, there will be challenges that will affect any councils, regardless of the size, regardless of the makeup, by gender or by ethnicity,

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Nestor Aparicio  42:43

just people choose wisely. Put some effort into where you live. You live around the county, where you are, know that there are nine districts, not seven anymore. Understand what the people you’re voting for stand for. Get to know your people, put a little civics, and put a little citizenship into this. Well,

Pat Young  42:59

I’ll say that’s important. I believe too, and we’ve, you know, we, we implemented office hours on Thursdays. I wanted to be Tuesdays and Thursdays, but then what had to be rotating Tuesday, so that didn’t make any sense. But office hours, where I’ll meet with anybody anytime, but one specific day where it’s just constituent service issues and no one else, so that there’s an opportunity for folks to come in and engage with the office, and you know, from what’s your

Nestor Aparicio  43:19

favorite day or least favorite day,

Pat Young  43:22

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honestly. So, campaigning,

Nestor Aparicio  43:23

anything can happen on Thursday

Pat Young  43:25

again. What are we focused on, and what am I being informed about that I just wasn’t aware of? I mean, I live in one corner of the district, and you know, I’ve driven into work and be like, “Hey, and I’ve called in, like, “Hey, I saw the sign was on. “Hey, when was the last time they cut the grass? I feel like it’s been three weeks, supposed to be two, but that’s because I’m driving by it, and I can call, but if somebody comes in my office, hey, they haven’t done this, then I can call for them. So I do like it, and I’m not gonna say that every time somebody comes into the office, you know, they’re in a

Nestor Aparicio  43:53

praise pack,

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Pat Young  43:53

they’re not in the best mood, but I think there’s a surprise where, like, they, this is the issue, I’m like, that’s not right, we should probably try and do something about that, like, oh yeah, right, well, what can we do? Like, I don’t know yet. We’re gonna find out together. Like, let’s, let’s see what we, what we can do. When I sometimes, you know exactly who to call, sometimes you don’t. But it’s

Nestor Aparicio  44:08

always an

Nestor Aparicio  44:08

example, something silly. Somebody came in for,

Pat Young  44:10

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ooh,

Nestor Aparicio  44:11

and they were teary-eyed, or a mess, or about to get screwed, and you put a little, little elbow grill, government elbow grill. I mean, that’s what I’d like to think, that if so, if I called my councilman, or I called my county executive, right, I’ve not had a lot of success, and I had Molar run in the county, and I still didn’t get things done. So, like, I’m just literally, I have not had a lot of success as citizen Nestor, being an asshole on the radio, that works, like this works when I yell out here, but like making that call and saying, hey, I salsa, you know, you want to, that’s been a very problematic thing as a citizen

Pat Young  44:45

to me, and I think this is this one sticks to mind of your question,

Nestor Aparicio  44:49

is why I act like a jerk on the radio,

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Pat Young  44:51

so

Nestor Aparicio  44:51

squeaky was a squeaky wheel gets the oil

Pat Young  44:55

well, so I think this is the answer to your question, that it was a little bit more complicated than a. Mother came in, and I’d be very clear not to indicate, and this was a few years ago, their daughter was getting bullied, or what could be defined as bullying, but there’s a process, right? And showing

Nestor Aparicio  45:11

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into the police, or been to the school, like

Pat Young  45:14

been to the school, there were there were meetings prior to that, and again, government being a backstop, they came to me, because

Nestor Aparicio  45:20

they didn’t know where else to turn, right there, you go,

Pat Young  45:22

and I hadn’t been through the process yet. My son was still young and getting into BCPS, but me finding out that there is a process for bullying, that you know, and this is also where there’s a drop over, like, why should I have to do, like, there’s accountability associated with anything taxpayer dollars go to, and anytime the public or kids are involved. So, even though

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Nestor Aparicio  45:38

this isn’t a councilman job, but it’s something that came to your office,

Pat Young  45:41

came to the office, and we weren’t going to drop it, so it was, it was going through the process for the first time, of like, all right, what went wrong here? They’re well, they didn’t fill, fill out, they filled out the bullying forms, but only after somebody finally told them to fill them out. So then there was a record of something happening, and then they were told, well, we, they need to transfer schools, there’s only very specific reasons to transfer schools, bullying could be one, but you need to fill the right forms out, and this is what drove me nuts. By going down the rabbit hole, they filled out the wrong form because they were trying to get them to leave for a medical issue, or like psychological issue, rather than a bullying issue. So, instead of saying, “Hey, just fill out the other form, it was like they were denied, and they said, “You can appeal, so they appealed it, but they were never going to get the yes, because they were appealing the wrong form.

Nestor Aparicio  46:21

This person trying to get their child to a school where their child can feel comfortable and safe.

Pat Young  46:25

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Yes, and we,

Nestor Aparicio  46:27

and I think anybody out there would put yourself in that mind, whatever that is, whatever they ever

Pat Young  46:33

could take.

Nestor Aparicio  46:33

And then wind up their councilman’s office, right? Literally,

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Pat Young  46:35

and the timing was perfect, and I’m glad it was, because by the time we went through this whole thing, we got it done over the summer, so that she was able to move schools because she filled the right form out and

Nestor Aparicio  46:45

seasoning with the principals for the school. Like, I’m putting this up, I’m just thinking about, like, if it were me,

Pat Young  46:50

and going through and being told what the timeline was, and what was finding out what the mistakes were, but not trying to find who made mistakes, just to get to the, because there’s two approaches, right. All right, what’s the solution? The goal is to move her out of a situation where she doesn’t want to be, and that she would thrive, right, versus where she’s now not doing well. It doesn’t matter who made the mistake. The goal for me is to find the solution, and, oh, look, clearly these missteps happened. They could have been fixed, but we’ll deal with that after the fact. Let’s get her out of here and get to the answer. And the answer was, it wasn’t your fault, maybe with somebody else’s, but fill this out and let’s get you to the prison. So they were ended up, I think, before August was over, they were able to find another location for her to go.

Nestor Aparicio  47:29

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See, I like this, like when the, when somebody falls through the cracks. I don’t know that I’ve ever called my councilman in my life for anything. I did hit Johnny O and and Kwaisi and gave him a raft of shit about four weeks ago when Trump did something maniacal. I don’t know, I mean, Epstein files, bombing Iran was probably bombing Iran, probably not bombing Venezuela, that’s just my people. But, like, I don’t write to my.. I have you guys on the show, and whatever, and we talk about issues, but when it comes down to call my councilman, I don’t know how drastic it would have to be for me to get on the phone and call the councilman and say, sure, I’m having this problem, but at least you’re there, that’s

Pat Young  48:10

within

Nestor Aparicio  48:11

what government’s for. It

Pat Young  48:12

is, and I’ll say this, where that was a, you can imagine, too, there’s tons of folks that come in that have an issue that I have no role whatsoever in solving, but try to find the right person for them, and you know, no matter how hard we tried, like nobody, I don’t want people to leave the office or interact with us being disappointed, but inevitably, because we’re dealing with the public, and it’s also 120,000 people, some folks don’t like the result, or they wanted this result, we were able to provide this solution, but it wasn’t exactly what they wanted, and folks aren’t happy, I live with that, because that’s nobody forced me to do this job. I do, I do love engaging with trying to solve a problem to work a problem, and where I think we have had a lot more successes than failures. You know, inevitably being in government means that there are folks that think it could have been done better or faster or in a different way, and but you know we live with successes and we live with things that we could have done better, but we just try to try to learn from them to make sure that we’re not, we own mistakes, right? We and try to make them better. It’s not about even when it’s on us, it’s like, all right, well, Where did we drop the ball? Where we make sure we don’t do it next time? And how do we make this better than when somebody came through the door? And for us, if we can do that, if somebody came in with one issue and it was egregious, and while we couldn’t fix it the way they asked, but we were able to make it a little bit better. It’s moving the ball forward and trying to make people’s lives better at the end of the day, and their experience living in Baltimore County as enjoyable as possible.

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Nestor Aparicio  49:31

Which better, run the Marines or Baltimore County government?

Pat Young  49:34

Whoa, jeez, I got out of the Marines that I thought the civilian world would be a bit more organized, but it’s.. it’s a.. it depends different. How

Nestor Aparicio  49:40

the hell can there be chaos in the Marines? Oh, well, I’ve seen the Commander in Chief.

Pat Young  49:44

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Oh, yeah, I was in the infantry. So, the Mission Wrinkle Russell Squad is located toward the enemy by enemy, by fire, maneuver, repel the enemy, sold by fire.

Nestor Aparicio  49:51

But what happens when they tell you to do something that’s unlawful or against your code?

Pat Young  49:55

You don’t follow it, right? Go to the brig and follow it. Then, okay, then take an order or follow. Order, that’s unlawful, and you know, there’s.. I was in the second battle of Fallujah, right? There was, you know, a lot that was different from a security.. I’ve been able to participate in combat operations, humanitarian operations, and while the humanitarian missions give me hope for the future, the combat missions have not always presented, you know, a memory that I’m fond of, but I can say that the men I served with, and I say that because it was all men serving in the infantry, that serve a distinction and would never follow an order that was unlawful, or something that would put people at risk, or even unwarrantly put a prisoner at risk regardless of what their actions were prior to them being taken into custody, and I am proud of that, proud of the service that I provided, and I think it’s influenced my decision making as a council person and as somebody that’s been in elected office. There’s a lot riding on how we are perceived, and I was.. I want.. I’ll tell this story, if you wouldn’t..

Nestor Aparicio  51:03

well, I.. you know, I.. you are the real deal. I mean, you know, having gone off and served this country, and I see what the president’s doing, how much it pisses me off, but I’m not you, and I can’t.. you know, I can’t.. you’re an elected and you’re running, and you’re putting yourself out there.. I.. I can’t imagine when you go home and have real conversations about these things, things you can’t say on the air, in regard to things you’ve seen or witnessed, in regard to military and our dollars, and I’m killing that guy. Why we’re killing those people? Why we’re bombing those people? Why we bomb school, school children? I mean, what are we doing here? You know,

8

Pat Young  51:35

right?

Nestor Aparicio  51:35

That’s not your code, that’s not what you stand for.

Pat Young  51:37

And you put it in perspective, right there, because I do get to go home at the end of the day, I get to go home even in my worst day, I get to go home, I get to hug my kids, get to, for the most part, try to put into bed, but you know, get to do

Nestor Aparicio  51:50

8

sometimes that is

Pat Young  51:51

not the case for everybody, and not the case for 21 men that served with me in 2004 but I do remember one when we were, we were relieving a unit when we got to Iraq in 2004 and the guy that we were replacing reminded us, and he was a sergeant, said, “Remember that you’re relieving us, and we did everything we could to provide an environment that when the people see this uniform, that there is a level of respect, and that they are going to judge the next group of marines that wears this uniform, they’re going to judge their interactions with them on how we acted, and don’t ever forget that how you act now will affect the next unit, and if you’re going to be awful, if you’re going to do unethical things, if you’re going to terrorize a population, then you have not made it hard for you, but you’ve made it incredibly hard for the next folks that you don’t even know who they are,

Nestor Aparicio  52:42

and that’s what worries me. The life lesson you’re giving me is I just got back from South America, I did two weeks down there, pull my US passport out, they don’t see Nestor or Hispanic or Venezuelan or decent guy, or they just see he’s with Trump,

Pat Young  52:57

yep,

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Nestor Aparicio  52:58

you know that’s what they see,

Pat Young  52:59

right?

Nestor Aparicio  52:59

And I saw that firsthand, and I got mistreated, and when I got mistreated, it really pissed me off and hurt my feelings, and, and I’m like, oh, I’ve got an American passport, this means something, and it doesn’t mean what I want it

Pat Young  53:11

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to mean, no, and it used to mean something else, right, and I think it’s going to be a general, it’s going to take generations to rebuild trust, and I’d say just even basic understanding of what that means to be an American, because the folks that have been in power that have no idea what it is to be a regular person living in the United States and doesn’t care about our experience is at the helm driving us into a, into an iceberg, but into the hope is an individual people recognizing that we’re we are not the sum of our worst examples, and that we all collectively can show what the American people really care about, and what we focus on, and that’s each other, and that there is value, and that we make it harder for people abroad, we make it harder for our military, and we make it harder for our government to interact with other other countries when our president and our federal government are acting like fools.

Nestor Aparicio  53:58

Pat Young is here, he is representing the good folks over here on the southwest side of town. He’s running for Baltimore County Executive. Give your parting shot here, I’ll let you go and get back to running what you’re running. But sure, why vote for you?

Pat Young  54:11

Yeah, lifelong resident of Baltimore County. My wife and I are raising our two boys, Tristan and Finn, here, 10 and seven. Yeah, so it’s

Nestor Aparicio  54:20

getting better,

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Pat Young  54:20

it’s good,

Nestor Aparicio  54:21

it’s getting better.

Pat Young  54:22

Yeah, they love better, they love baseball, so they love baseball. So

Nestor Aparicio  54:26

8

it’s getting worse then. It’s a bad week, yeah. It’s been a bad week for the baseball,

Pat Young  54:29

right? I’ve got, I mean, I’m an Eagle Scout. I mean, I’ve, I love this county. There’s been no other home I’ve ever known. I’ve dedicated life to this concept of giving back and service, indicative of the way I was raised right here in southwest Baltimore County, I think I’ve got the experience, one of the state level and the local level, and just being a regular citizen that wants to see the best for me and my neighbors, and hopefully my son’s classmates and friends, that they have the same opportunities that I had to make it even think that it would be possible for you. Guy from southwest Baltimore County to run for delegate, run for council, then eventually run for county executive. I hope that opportunity presents itself to everybody in this county.

Nestor Aparicio  55:06

Funding, asking for money. What are you doing? Geez, what’s going

Pat Young  55:09

on? My staff is going to kill me. I am the I’m the only candidate in the race that’s qualified for public finance.

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Nestor Aparicio  55:15

That’s what I understand.

Pat Young  55:16

That means we don’t, we cannot take money from businesses, corporations, or special interests. It can only come from people. We are a fully people-powered campaign, people-funded campaign. If you live in Baltimore County, your dollars are matched. If you live outside the county, it’s they’re not matched, it’s just regular dollars. And I’m proud to say we have the most Baltimore County donors and contributors of any of the campaigns that are currently running for county executive. I’m proud of that fact. It presents its own challenges, but ones that I think have tied me to the people of this county more than other campaigns, because we, we had to qualify with 550 Baltimore County residents to contribute. We had to talk to 1000s to even get to that, and we qualified back in January.

Nestor Aparicio  55:53

How much you have to give to be considered

Pat Young  55:56

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to qualify? You need 550 Baltimore County residents to contribute, and you need $50,000 so we

Nestor Aparicio  56:03

should be

Nestor Aparicio  56:03

what,

Pat Young  56:04

anywhere from $50 $50

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Nestor Aparicio  56:06

Okay, all right. I just try to get the numbers right,

Pat Young  56:08

that’s all. And, yep, and so we are consistently, consistently out there. We’ve been rocking and rolling since, well, for over a year, but we’ve opened our campaign office right here in southwest Baltimore County. We’ve been, we operate six days a week, I operate seven days a week, but paid folks operate six days a week, getting out, making real connections with real people. That’s how I ran in 2014 I knocked on 9000 doors and won by 34 votes,

Nestor Aparicio  56:33

3434

Pat Young  56:33

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but Johnny O won by 17, which is half of 34 as I reminded him the night of the election, but still no one remembers my 34 vote win, but it takes building connections and real relationships with people, and I think that’s what’s really going to set what has set us apart, and it’s going to make.. I think we’re going to be very.. I will be happy with the relax, the results on june 23

Nestor Aparicio  56:52

I’ll tell you what, I appreciate you coming out. Appreciate it. Pat Dyer, Republican, has been here. Pat Young is here. I have a line out to Izzy, a line out to Julian. Nick has been by Monsoor. I have written to you’re invited. If you are out there and you’re mad at me because he’s on and you’re running against him, write to me. I’ve had people do that this week as well. I’m equal time, Pat.

Pat Young  57:15

You are. I do know that, and I appreciate all this. Is the third time I’ve been on here, so I really appreciate

Nestor Aparicio  57:20

it. Well, I mean, every once a year or so, I try to have everybody on, you know, I mean,

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Pat Young  57:24

you saw me out too. I appreciate it, not for this one, but

Nestor Aparicio  57:27

I saw you, Mako, I think I saw you,

Pat Young  57:29

yeah. And we, you realize you didn’t have my phone, or we had an old one, so we, you know, we connected that.

Nestor Aparicio  57:33

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Well, and here you are as the first ever guest at the Fishmonger’s Daughter, brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery. I have the new series of the Maryland Treasures. These were actually last year, they were looking for artists and art for Maryland. These were the four winners, so Assateague, Bay Bridge, not Key Bridge, but Bay Bridge, Ocean City, and the Boardwalk, and the I call this one of my favorite areas in the state is the Blackwater Refuge. If you’ve never been there, make a right turn to Cambridge. You’ll be glad that you did go ahead. Then old salties get a crab cake down at Hooper’s Island as well. We’re gonna sign off here from Fishmonger’s daughter, Amanda Remmel’s gonna be Remmel’s gonna be your Damie Hall’s gonna be here talking about this place. And, dude, you’ve been upstairs

Pat Young  58:14

yet, it’s amazing.

Nestor Aparicio  58:15

What’s up there? It’s a whole ballroom, I think it holds 300 people. Damien will be able to say better too, but there’s there is history in every brick of this place. So, come down to Catonsville, stop by Fishmonger’s daughter. The food’s amazing. The atmosphere is amazing. It’s a game changer for Frederick Road and the Southwest region. My wife came in here a month ago. She got a burger first night. I’m thinking that’s something you can’t get at Faith Lee’s, right? So, they didn’t have the crab cakes that night, and I know what a Failure’s.. I know the deliciousness of a fat least crab cake, but she’s done like exquisite things here with fish with a menu, it’s sort of like this is like her Willy Wonka experiment here, so I can’t wait to have her on and talk about it, and I haven’t been upstairs to see where I’m gonna throw my 60th birthday party,

Pat Young  58:55

I hope I get invited.

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Nestor Aparicio  58:56

Well, I’m already married and we’re not doing kids, we’re not doing, we’re not having any parties, and I’m not retiring yet, although they’re trying to retire me, but if it’s a nice room, I got a full party.

Pat Young  59:07

Oh yeah, and it’s a great place for it too. And they got an out, they have a deck space too, so there’s an indoor outdoor space upstairs.

Nestor Aparicio  59:14

I saw lights outside, looks like a, like a, there’s going to be like,

Pat Young  59:17

8

oh yeah, like an outdoor patio space, and they have like a gas fireplace out there, all right. You got to experience yourself, though. You got to come down when

Nestor Aparicio  59:23

I get down to see the black crows in Merryweather on the way home. I’m going to come through here, and I’m going to have a night cap on the deck here at Fishmonger’s Daughter.

Pat Young  59:32

You got to let me know when you’re in.

Nestor Aparicio  59:33

Life is great. It’s Music City, Maryland. 21228 Life is great over here. Pat Young is here. Councilman running for Baltimore County Executive, I want to encourage everyone: register the vote, get out and vote next month. It’s the most important thing you can do to make our county better. And if I were made king and county executive, death penalty for everybody that’s racing on 695 that’s my little

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Pat Young  59:56

thing. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  59:56

the thing I see every day of unlawfulness that I think. Someone’s gonna get killed,

Pat Young  1:00:01

right? And you know, state workers have already been killed along the rent, so from folks just speeding, and yeah, we just need to be more mindful of

Nestor Aparicio  1:00:11

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my wife to slow down all the time, she doesn’t, but I tell her to,

Pat Young  1:00:14

right?

Nestor Aparicio  1:00:14

Someone told my audience, “Slow down there. All right, I’m gonna speed up. We’re Fishmonger’s daughter, we’re in the life is great in the 212 to eight, we’re in Catonsville. We’re back for more. It is Baltimore positive. Stay with us.