Lifting South Baltimore one victory at a time

New homes, better schools, a wind facility in Curtis Bay and the continuing growth of business at Port Covington has kept 10th District Baltimore City Councilwoman Phylicia Porter plenty busy since her last visit. She joins Nestor at Faidley’s at Lexington Market on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour to discuss how how South Baltimore is improving and thriving despite some continuing challenges.

Councilwoman Phylicia Porter discussed the impact of the government shutdown on Baltimore, highlighting the disruption to healthcare services, public assistance, and Medicaid, which affects 22.6% of Baltimore residents. She emphasized her efforts to improve South Baltimore, including opening a grocery store in Mount Clare Junction, bringing 200 new homes, and a $300 million wind facility in Curtis Bay. Porter also addressed the oversaturation of health clinics in commercial corridors and the need for better community planning. She stressed the importance of local representation and initiatives like community violence intervention to address root causes of crime and improve community well-being.

• [ ] Change zoning to remove health clinics from commercial corridors and allow for more diverse businesses.
• [ ] Continue to advocate for and implement community violence intervention programs to address the root causes of crime.
• [ ] Communicate the positive changes and progress happening in South Baltimore and the city as a whole.

Government Shutdown and Its Impact on Baltimore

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the topic of the government shutdown and its potential impact on South Baltimore.
• Phylicia Porter explains that a government shutdown would be disastrous for Baltimore, affecting services like healthcare and public assistance.
• Nestor and Phylicia discuss the political implications of the shutdown, with Nestor expressing frustration over the situation.
• Phylicia highlights the importance of federal leadership in fighting for Baltimore’s interests.

Challenges and Responsibilities of a Councilwoman

• Nestor and Phylicia discuss the challenges faced by council members, including managing trash and public works issues.
• Phylicia emphasizes the importance of local representation and the role of council members in protecting democracy and ensuring basic services.
• Nestor shares his experiences of meeting various elected officials and the challenges of representing the city.
• Phylicia explains the day-to-day responsibilities of a councilwoman, including addressing local issues like trash pickup and water quality.

Improvements and Development in South Baltimore

• Nestor and Phylicia discuss the positive changes happening in South Baltimore, including the revitalization of areas like Cherry Hill.
• Phylicia highlights her achievements, such as opening the first grocery store in Mount Clare Junction and bringing 200 new homes to District 10.
• They discuss the impact of the Baltimore Peninsula project and its role in economic development and community revitalization.
• Phylicia explains the importance of community planning and the role of local government in supporting businesses and infrastructure.

Legislative Efforts and Community Violence Intervention

• Phylicia discusses her legislative efforts, including addressing the oversaturation of health clinics in Baltimore City.
• She explains the impact of health clinics on commercial corridors and the need for better community planning.
• Nestor and Phylicia discuss the importance of community violence intervention and the role of local legislators in addressing root causes of violence.
• Phylicia emphasizes the need for comprehensive support, including mental health, housing, and education, to prevent crime and improve community well-being.

Transportation and Economic Development

• Nestor and Phylicia discuss the challenges of transportation in Baltimore and the importance of public transit for economic development.
• Phylicia highlights the efforts of Councilman Dorsey and others in addressing transportation issues and community planning.
• They discuss the impact of the Baltimore Peninsula project on the surrounding communities and the need for economic development to support local businesses.
• Phylicia emphasizes the importance of creating a vibrant and connected community to improve quality of life and economic opportunities.

Community Engagement and Local Impact

• Nestor and Phylicia discuss the importance of community engagement and local impact in addressing city issues.
• Phylicia explains her efforts to bring resources and support to her district, including affordable housing and clean air initiatives.
• They discuss the role of local legislators in advocating for their communities and addressing federal and state policies that impact Baltimore.
• Phylicia emphasizes the need for collaboration and community involvement in achieving long-term success and improving the quality of life in South Baltimore.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Government shutdown, Baltimore impact, healthcare services, public assistance, Medicaid recipients, federal funding, community violence intervention, affordable housing, clean air and water, economic development, transportation issues, community planning, local legislators, Baltimore Peninsula, community schools.

SPEAKERS

8

Phylicia Porter, Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 tasks, Baltimore. We’re Baltimore positive. Get through my technical challenges. We’re here fadeleys. It’s the Maryland crab cake tour. My dude, Andy Ratner and Jenny, they’re eating crab cakes here from the Maryland Health Commission. I’m going to be promoting them down here at faidleys. We’re also going Matt Gallagher stop by. We’re gonna eat catfish sandwiches today, because I had the shrimp salad last month. I had the fried oysters. And I love fade these. And it’s Maryland crab cakes, all presented by the Maryland lottery. I have Raven scratch offs to give away. Electeds are allowed to have them. I think Felicia Porter’s here. She is the Councilwoman for the great district 10 in South and Southwest Baltimore City. I’m not in district 10 right now, right? I mean, I’m Zach’s

Phylicia Porter  00:44

disappear, right? We are in my colleague Zach’s issue. But, you know, make sure I got a pass.

Nestor Aparicio  00:48

I had Zach on a couple months ago, a couple weeks ago, actually, at Mako in August, and I probably had four or five at o dad. Yes, I had Mark

8

Phylicia Porter  01:00

trying to think I saw you at Cory as well.

Nestor Aparicio  01:03

Yeah, I had Brooke learman, yes. So I ran into you a cop, and I run to you around town. I ran you a copy. Hey, cop and so, and I’m trying to get Dr Jenkins down here do all that. What’s going on? You got stuff in Cheerio? You got Yes, and you saw the Maryland Health Connection people, and I’m like, you know, people in your district that there are a lot of challenges, right? And we’re talking about the government being shut down here this morning, and how that would impact South Baltimore. And you’re like, well, just government employees, and it’s just certain agencies or whatever. Now government shuts down big poop. It’s the fan, and that’s why Trump’s doing it. So exactly, I ain’t getting into the politics of it. I just want to get into reality. Yes, what it means to us. Yeah.

Phylicia Porter  01:47

So first and foremost, a government shutdown is going to be disastrous for Baltimore, and so that means that care is not going to be delivered to our young people, our adults and our elders. And also, when we have any type of public assistance, whether it be the public housing, whether it be the SNAP benefits, those are the types. That’s federal money, federal money. And so Baltimore is 22.6% of Medicaid, Medicaid recipients. And so that’s going to be disastrous for Baltimore. That’s older people. So no, so Medicare is older people. Medicaid is people all throughout from young people, adults and also older

Nestor Aparicio  02:19

8

what’s worrying you the most about and I don’t want you like this government shutdown can end in a minute. It can end in an hour. We could have civil war by lunchtime today. Well, I mean, those 800 generals should have just walked out of there and walked to Congress and sat in front of Johnny O and everybody else there and said, today’s the day. Get the Republicans asses in here. Let’s get rid of this. Yeah, and

Phylicia Porter  02:42

I know kind know Yeah, Congressman and fuma is fighting for us as well. And, I mean, it’s, it’s so important for us to have federal leadership that are fighting for us, because it’s the local, it’s the little people like us that need to be at the at the forefront

Nestor Aparicio  02:54

city that voted against him, 97.2% like, literally, literally, yes. 90 that he wants to come in, yes, and destroy this, like he’s doing the Portland today, like he’s been doing a Washington, like Chicago, yeah, any place where people look like you or me? Yeah, I thought I was white for like, 50 years. Most people you see me, yeah, I’m white, right? But, I mean, you know, I’m Hispanic, yeah, if ice came over, yeah, they’d be asking me if I was born a church home. But like, this isn’t even like we’re we almost laugh about that’s how numb we’re getting to this.

Phylicia Porter  03:34

And if we’re becoming very, like you said, numb to it. But also, what I will tell you, we got a few fighters that are in community, and, you know, it was very interesting when he interesting. When he started talking about Baltimore, people were coming at the white people coming out the woodwork, saying, Don’t talk about my city. Meanwhile, John harbors, don’t, don’t talk about our citizen work from Yeah, don’t talk about our city. And so we are here trying to make a positive influence and impact, yeah, don’t talk about our city.

8

Nestor Aparicio  03:59

I get very angry. Yeah, the smell of the crab cakes is going to help me a little bit here and try to keep me on point. Yeah, Felice Porter’s here. Um, what is a council woman? What is? What is the city can’t let’s start with Schoolhouse Rock for people, maybe, or don’t know how, because we have a disruption in Baltimore County right now with Johnny oh and with Kathy and I’ve had four potential electeds on three electives and Nick and different people running. This is a very active time to say this is what’s good about our county, our city. This is representation itself in the city. Yes, you know, if David Smith and his son have their way, there’d be like, one of one of you. Yeah, one council person. Yeah. City, right. Yeah. And every time I talk to all of you are like, Hey, you have no idea how overwhelming it can be. And I almost ran for mayor. I mean, I know all of this stuff. I’ve been with every Eric Costello and the Zacks after that, and, you know, Odette and her predecessor. So I’ve seen all this get handed down. But if I walk up to people in here and say, Hey, this Councilwoman, Felicia Porter, like, what? Does she do? She politician? She doesn’t do anything like I hear that all the time, amazed, but I was with the maryland health commissioners people, and they were very complimentary all the politicians. But I’m like the politicians. I see, they look me in the eye, and they’re pretty serious

Phylicia Porter  05:13

people, very much. So your local representative is your first line of defense. Well, we’re talking about protecting democracy. We’re talking about making sure your trash gets picked up, making her pot holds her fill. Or fill but we also legislate as well, and I don’t think that people really have a great understanding of what we do, and that can be on our part, like we need to communicate what we’re doing better, but your local legislator is probably your is probably going to be your best friend during these

Nestor Aparicio  05:36

next four years. What do people call you the most about in South Baltimore as a council

Phylicia Porter  05:42

8

trash so they talked, they call me about trash, making sure that trash gets picked up, and also,

Nestor Aparicio  05:47

every day when your toilets don’t flush your shower water, right?

Phylicia Porter  05:51

That’s that’s a local issue as well, because that means that the DP, that means that our Department of Public Works needs to visit if your toilets aren’t flushing, your faucet is not pulling out water. That’s the Department of Public Works, like local government touches every person. And I like you

Nestor Aparicio  06:06

so much, and I considered serious with you or not, but it’s sort of like you have heard yes in South Baltimore every everything,

8

Phylicia Porter  06:13

everything, yeah, and this is my second term, so I’m hearing it probably four or five times now.

Nestor Aparicio  06:18

Well, let’s go to the top with anything. You know, I don’t get any city anymore because I’m afraid of getting carjacked. Get ready. I watch Fox News and you WPF, and I read Shawn. You know, there are people that wouldn’t drive through Cherry Hill because they’ve read about it or heard about it or whatever, and you’re so proud of all of the things that you can see in the city. And I’ll tell you, I drive past places. I just came down here. I’m looking at parks fried chicken, but I’m trying to Park Avenue, yes, on the way down here, old Chinatown, where Mommy stick me up through the white rice in and that area had fallen into some like disrepair, and I drove through and now it’s like businesses, yeah, and I’m saying I’ve driven through every nook and cranny. And I see places that are going like this, and places are going like this, yes. And when I go on the radio and I say to people, Baltimore is getting better, yes, you know, I mean, it was bad during covid. Was Bad during Trump. Was bad after Freddie Graham, you know, I didn’t leave because of that or anything. But like when I come to the city now, I see more people, more vibrancy, it’s cleaner. I feel that I would say that to the mayor. I say that yes, I said it to Zeke a couple weeks ago. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I don’t know why that is. I want to give Brandon and every all of you some credit, and his

Phylicia Porter  07:30

local government and people picking up trash, and also, and also people in the agencies too. We can’t forget the people that are in the agencies that are showing up every single day, doing this work, our DPW workers, so our people that are picking up the trash, the sanitation workers are transit equity officers that are going out into the street making sure that we have our signal synchronization make it to our stoplights are actually moving in a correct but Jim Palmer got all over, yeah, and so like, those are, those are the aspects of like city government that most people don’t Think about often. I tell people, you know that government is working when you don’t call your local representative, right? Okay, so government just helps. If there’s no potholes, we’re doing good. Local Government is working, and we’ve seen that. We’ve seen that, especially in South Baltimore. I can definitely sell a difference with how South Baltimore is being represented, but also how services are being delivered to South Baltimore. For often, people think that South Baltimore is just on an island, but we’re now under my leadership, bringing it back into the city.

Nestor Aparicio  08:28

8

So when you came into six years, how many years you’ve been? So I’ve been in five years, five years. Okay, so what did you see at that point? Say, all right. I mean, I mean, you’re in a really challenged area. I mean, you, I, you know, I, I see Cherry Hill to people, and I say she’s in Southwest Baltimore. These are places that maybe some of you have never visited, or haven’t been since 1958 or whatever it would be, but you’re there every day on and when I think of Cherry Hill, I think of community schools. I think of unique things that have been, I would say incubators, because they’ve worked in other places, like Detroit and other places. But this is where young, yes, African American mayor who grew up in this city, comes and gets these ideas, one all these trips that fox 45 makes fun of them.

Speaker 1  09:12

I see, I see how hard they make fun all of us. I see how hard, yeah, the

Nestor Aparicio  09:17

murder rate goes down. But that’s not good enough. We’re gonna talk about something else that’s bad for you, what were the couple of hot buttons? Yeah, that you could sit here five years and say, well, we’ve done a good job of solving that, yeah, fixing this, making this better, yes, but then this fell apart. We got this, and I’m sure you have all that. So give me a little roster of your work

Phylicia Porter  09:36

of those five years. Roster of my work includes one at opening the first grocery store in Mount Clare junction with a 1.5 incentive in a food desert. So that is completely unheard of. South Baltimore didn’t have a grocery store until I brought one in, and we also raised capital for them as well. Number two, we got 200 homes coming to district 10, and so 200 homes meaning that we’re going to have more housing. I. Options for people, we’re going to have affordable housing. 20% of those projects are affordable housing, meaning 250,000 and below, and then last, but certainly not least, you know, clean air and water is very important to my people down there. So we’re bringing in a $300 million wind facility that’s anchoring in Curtis bay that it’s essentially changing the economy from coal to cleaner options in Curtis Bay. When’s gonna happen? It’s a timeline, yeah, 2026, 2027, and so they are now out there. Now, kind of doing the excavation work, doing the groundling work. So we have a windmill in South Aparicio. Well, no, not a windmill. So when underground cables? Yes, underground cables. I’m gonna

8

Nestor Aparicio  10:41

so how did you get educated about this?

Phylicia Porter  10:43

So I got educated by actually just talking to people. So talking to former mayors, talking to former council people, of what they did before, what were some of their pitfalls, but also talk with people across the nation, other local legislators, to see what they’re doing. See how we can we in Baltimore, can make sure that we’re on the pedestal as well, borrowing good ideas. Yes, there you go. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. This is an opportunity for us to lock arms and replicate what’s good happening in our cities and make sure that Baltimore is on the map as well when

Nestor Aparicio  11:10

we say Community Center. And, you know, I see urban planning, and I’ve had urban planners on over the course of time, and I see the port Covington project Baltimore Peninsula, is that you

Phylicia Porter  11:22

8

Yes. So a portion of it, Baltimore Peninsula,

Phylicia Porter  11:27

yes, I’m never calling, I know, I know, but I try to, you know, try to,

Nestor Aparicio  11:31

because you’re a lady and I like you,

Phylicia Porter  11:34

but no, I know.

8

Nestor Aparicio  11:37

So part of that, like we see this shiny city down there. That’s, that’s, what is that? Yeah, what is that going to become? Because I remember the vision for that Mark Weller on, yes, you know the whole plank Sagamore thing going on when they, they had the the ride down there, I meant to show down there, and it was dust, like, literally, construction project. Now I go down there and it’s a city, yeah, but it was thought to be uninhabited recently, yeah. How are we getting with

Phylicia Porter  12:06

that? Oh, no. So I would tell you, it’s 80% filled, and so 80% of the housing

Nestor Aparicio  12:09

filled, so I need to drive down. Yeah, I haven’t been down in a year and a half, yeah.

Phylicia Porter  12:14

8

And I would say, drive down. You know, most people and I see those YouTube videos as well. Thanks so much for highlighting the YouTube videos, because they often show that it’s like a desert, but it’s really not. We see the booming economy down there. We see the small businesses that are coming into Baltimore Peninsula. We see the housing that’s being developed. We see the marketplace that’s coming down there, but it’s it’s economically anchoring the surrounding communities. That was a part of the deal as well with with

Phylicia Porter  12:41

idea. Whole idea was making

Nestor Aparicio  12:42

sure a gentrification of a move at a vacation, yes, people that have been living there, yes, making

Phylicia Porter  12:48

a life. And so the communities are able, through their partnership with South Baltimore seven, the seven communities surrounding the Baltimore Peninsula, they are able to have a say and Aparicio with the economic activity that’s happening at Baltimore peninsula, which is include, which is important. It’s important.

8

Nestor Aparicio  13:04

I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t had Brandon on probably a year. And when I think of Zeke, I think more East ball. I didn’t talk to him about that. Yeah, I haven’t talked about port Covington in like, I just and I haven’t visited it. Yeah, I’m ignorant. I mean, I’m blind about No,

Phylicia Porter  13:24

but come on, come on down. I’ll drive you around, and I’ll show you kind of what, you know, some of the innovation that’s happening, but also you can see some of the people and hear some of the thoughts about what’s happening

Nestor Aparicio  13:33

down there. You know, when I saw it getting built, I think about a lot of things, and I lived at the Inner Harbor for I live up in Towson now, and I think I like where I live, maybe I’ll live and die. Maybe I’ll, you know, live there forever. I don’t know. But I thought if I moved back to the city, where would I move? And my wife and I talked about this all the time. We really miss the city. Yeah, we miss walking around, like, when I’m in a city, yeah, like New York or someplace, all I do is walk, yeah, and I miss that part of being down here. And so if I were to move back, I often think to myself, well, where would I go? Whatever. And I’ve always thought I didn’t. I probably use the word if don’t shoot me. I know, but I welcome you if, if we fix the city, yeah, way that where I’m going to come back. Yes, I would consider that. And I would think that that’s got to be the future. It is because I saw it there, you know, I saw it built, yes, and I thought, well, it’s not going to be empty. No matter what anybody says about it, it’s going to get occupied. I’m thinking, what’s it going to be when it’s mature? There you go, in the same way

Phylicia Porter  14:33

8

that you look at Harbor East, Harbor East. Five years ago, yes,

Nestor Aparicio  14:37

it smelled like cinnamon rolls down there, and

Phylicia Porter  14:40

H and S, H and S bakery was the anchor. But we’re now seeing in Harbor East that it has been built up, and it’s now an economic engine that is partnering in parallel with the harbor.

Nestor Aparicio  14:49

I’ve driven three different people just through the circle where the statue is and where all the Atlas stuff is, and they said the same thing. They’re like, this feels like New York. Yeah, like, and that’s, that’s a good thing, yeah, not the Yankees, but New York in general. Yeah, but I think that that the murder number that bring, that brings so much attention to our city, and then we’re saying, Okay, we’re fixing that, whatever the long tail of that we’re getting out and the foodie community and the tourism, yep, fixing the sports teams, building the harbor. Yes, it takes time. It does take time. That peninsula was nothing, yes, five minutes ago, that’s correct.

8

Phylicia Porter  15:29

It was an old, it was an old Walmart there. And then when the Walmart left, it was a it was my Walmart. Oh, was it? Oh, I just want to shop that, yeah. And it was a big void in the area. And so again, it’s gonna take that is true, but the Baltimore Sun, the building is still there, but we are now seeing how it’s going to look in like five to seven years. And so I implore people like go down to South Baltimore, take a look at what we’re doing down there and see how the neighborhoods are changing.

Nestor Aparicio  15:55

All right, Felicia Porter’s here. She is our Councilwoman. So you say, what do council people do I started. So the legislative part of this, yeah, is something that I’m ignorant about. And every time I talk to Odette or it’s putting bills forward, seeing a problem yes and trying to solve it, yes, is really like, but that’s what you went to school for. That is why I love having you on because you’re like, All right, so what problems are you seeing right now? I know you don’t want to talk about the problems. That’s part of my show. There’s the pothole. Yeah.

Phylicia Porter  16:29

So one of the legislative ideas that I’m working on now is the oversaturation of health clinics within Baltimore City. So we are seeing an oversaturation in black and brown communities, and they’re not necessarily providing the quality care of services needed. So what I did as a local legislator, which is under my jurisdiction, I am attempting to change the zoning to remove health clinics from commercial corridors, and that will allow businesses like fayley’s, like, you know, daycares coming in to be on that commercial corridor to really vibrant up the community.

Nestor Aparicio  17:00

8

Better explain that, because I’m not. Yeah. Okay, so health the health center means, what can be anything?

Phylicia Porter  17:07

No. So really, health clinics can be anything from a substance abuse clinic, so kind of the outpatient treatment facility, okay? Or it can be like a dental office, a physician’s office. This isn’t a GBMC Medical Center. There you go, people and people are people’s behavior and how they are achieving healthcare is different. And so what’s happening is that we’re having substance abuse clinics on commercial corridors, on the boulevards, and businesses are not wanting to come into community Exactly. So this would be an opportunity to one to change the marketplace of business. They’ll go so they’ll continue to be in community, but they’ll maybe partner with a larger institution and be near the institution, as opposed to in residential.

Nestor Aparicio  17:49

How many of these are we talking about? In District 10?

Phylicia Porter  17:52

So in district 10 alone, we probably have about 3030,

8

Nestor Aparicio  17:56

and that’s why, like when you’re driving in the main corridor, you’ll see, you’ll see places where people have problems or health problems or whatever, and there looks like there’s loitering in some way,

Phylicia Porter  18:06

and that’s not the case. And quite honestly, they’re there to get served. They’re there to get service, but it’s a hub to be there, yes, for whatever, whatever reason, whatever reason. But also within the state of Maryland, 34% of our health clinics, substance abuse clinics alone, reside in Baltimore City. So that’s the third across the state of Maryland. That’s a lot. And so when we’re talking about revitalizing Baltimore, when we’re talking about bringing new businesses in, we have to begin to Community Plan much better.

Nestor Aparicio  18:33

Well, I think that’s the one thing people don’t understand about how you have to meet businesses. And the only thing that’s going to make district 10 better is either business in there, yes, or people employed in there by business Nine, eight, wherever, right? They get a job at the peninsula. They can walk to you guys. They go transportation always an issue in the city. I mean, you already, man, you are such a city council. You already hit potholes, yeah? Food desert. Yeah, we’ve hit, you know, we’ve

Phylicia Porter  19:02

8

education, housing, healthcare, and also transit.

Nestor Aparicio  19:06

All right. So I hear this all the time, and I had the king of transit on, Ryan Dorsey, oh yes, yes. My greatest colleague, the bike guy, is he likes Yes. And I’d never, I’d never met him. I’d never thought, yeah, we did an hour on the air. Fascinating. Yeah, was because I’ve heard he’s, he’s this mythical figure, this guy I’ve never really met and but what in what an eclectic group you all are, yeah, yeah. I mean, if I’m in a room, I mean, I know all of you one at a time, yes, but I don’t know any of you together. I don’t think I’ve ever been with two of you at the same time. Yeah, get in the middle of black, white, male, female, east, west, north, south, yeah. We all have it coming. All, you know,

Phylicia Porter  19:47

we all want to see Baltimore win, right? That’s all that’s all that we are about. We all want to see Baltimore win. And the great thing about the council is that you mentioned it. We all have our various levels of expertise, and we bring it on together to make Baltimore better.

Nestor Aparicio  19:59

Well, the trick. Transportation thing is issue, I think, for everybody you know, where I learned so much about that from the mayor, when he was City Council President, yes, I had never really met him. This is five, when he was talking about running, and people were laughing at him, yeah, like, like, he came at the old fadeleys, yes, when Jack was running the city. Okay? So Kathy was locked up whatever was going on at that point, and he sat with me, and I said to him, you know, city, give me your story. And getting getting having a getting mugged, was part of it. But his biggest story was I went to school in mervo and had three busses, that is correct. Said I was in Lexington, Mario market, the old market, every day as a kid, as an 1112, year old kid, changing busses. Yeah. And I’m thinking, as you know, but you

8

Phylicia Porter  20:49

know that happens every day for our young people. It’s a very serious issue. And I will tell you Councilman Dorsey, he’s really pushing the mark on how we’re doing community planning and transit. But also, I want to just up score that Councilman Bullock and the chair of the Education youth and older adult, he is bringing, you know, a lot of resources and intellect to the table as well to make sure that we’re highlighting those issues. Because if kids can’t get to school, then we talk about the trans we talk about absent parents get to work. But absenteeism, we talk about, you know, lack of kids coming to school. We talk about health problems, like, all the things are connected, and that’s what we’re trying to get across. Every transportation is connected to environment. Environment is connected to health care. Health care is connected to housing. You know, these are things that are connected

Nestor Aparicio  21:35

well. And it’s we call wrap around, right? That’s right. So how, in the five years, give my audience who’s living a baby a different kind of life then woman with two children, they’re young, they’re in school. She’s trying hard. She’s clean, sober. Well, like not we’re not some job. The whole deal trying to get kids to school in the morning, have a job, transportation, grocery, like all this is real

Phylicia Porter  22:04

life. It’s real life every, every single day. Yes,

Nestor Aparicio  22:07

8

and the transportation part of that, and then kids from school at the end of the day. Yes, give me a little I heard so much about community school. Yes, that is sort of the route. Yes, that was the grand idea that is correct to make this better, to clear up these social ills, and, yeah, create better humans.

Phylicia Porter  22:26

Yeah, right. And I will tell you, so it’s still a work in progress. You know, the blueprint is still a very important policy initiative at the state level, and it’s important policy initiative at the city level. The problem that we’re running into, of course, as we’re seeing right now with these federal economy, the funding. The funding is the major issue that we’re running into for a lot of our blueprint, a lot of our blueprint initiatives such as making sure you have communities. I was in Mako, the governor is trying to come up with money. He’s trying to come up with money. And so it is tough times. But what I will tell you is that one we’re thinking more creatively on how we can make sure that not only kids get to school, but parents get to work, and it makes sure that it makes sense. So that makes sure that we have housing that they can live near their school, that they can be in a space where they can work near their child’s school, they can live all in the same area, and so creating that environment so that they don’t have to travel three and four busses to get to school or work. They can be right in the neighborhood where it is intended

Nestor Aparicio  23:21

to be, Felicia porters, our guest. She is the Councilwoman from District 10. I’m not in 10. I’m in faintly, we’re Lexington market. You know, you come across it. We do. We come across lines. You come across lines from time to time. It’s always pleasure to visit with with Felicia. If people, people the outside that murder number, yeah, and they see that number going down, yeah. And that just had to happen. Yeah. It had to it had to happen, right? I remember when the mayor and a lot of you, and a lot of even thread and, you know, other organizations talking about young people and parents and responsibilities and all of this stuff to get activated, to make sure that gun doesn’t happen, that murder doesn’t happen, that beef doesn’t,

Phylicia Porter  24:09

yes, become community violence intervention. I want to call what it is. It’s community violence intervention, and it’s also making sure that our young people and our adults as well, because we can’t forget them as well, because these young people grow up into adults. They have the coping skills. They have the skills in order to say, hey, something is bothering me, I need to go, indeed, talk to someone, or I need to be able to have a heart to heart with someone that I may not have been able to sit down with like, that’s what community violence intervention when we’re talking about the reduction of those gun, those Gun, gun violence. That is what we were talking about. We’re talking about intervening at a community level with people that look like you and me to our young people and our adults.

8

Nestor Aparicio  24:50

So that concept, and I talked to so many, yeah, yeah. Back when I found the Baltimore positive with Mueller, we were booking authors and yes, you know. How did they do it in Detroit? Yeah, do they do it here? You know, what are they doing over there? Yes. Are the broken windows? Yes. You know all of these concepts, yes, of and then there’s just the fox 45 crowd, which is, shoot them all there. We can’t fix them.

Phylicia Porter  25:15

We don’t, we don’t, we don’t adopt that in Baltimore, we damn sure don’t adopt that.

Nestor Aparicio  25:20

Let me tell you what. Man, I had a former governor that I supported, that I’m embarrassed by, who ran into me and referred to the city as those people. That’s a deal breaker for me,

Phylicia Porter  25:34

8

very much so, because what’s different, what’s it, you know? And I’m just gonna challenge his his statement, what is different from our kids in Baltimore City versus those in Hartford and Howard County? Well, opportunities in education and so there is no different from our young people. It’s no different from our people here in Baltimore City versus these other jurisdictions. It is opportunity, and it’s making sure that they have the necessary resources in order to have a better quality of life. We know, we really know the root causes of these issues, and we here in the city, we are addressing it head on, instead of

Nestor Aparicio  26:09

name calling. Well, when, when the the murders were 1617, 18, when the numbers are getting out of control, and the whole Fox thing and Trump’s pissing on the city the first time, the notion that because I would say to the Yeah, Jane Miller and I would get into this all the time, because Jane would say, I shut it down, yeah, if you kidding, that I’m not going to Baltimore because x shut like, that’s not the solution. Yes, the solution for you in Hartford County, Carroll County, but it’s not, I never go into the city. Yeah, no. The solution should be, hey, people get murdered down there. Like they need to fix that, yeah? But, like, what can we what can we do? That’s where I came. That’s positive. Okay, so what needs to be done? And I heard these ideas, and I’m like, All right, you know, I’m not Archie Bunker and just, you know, f them all. But I’m also like,

Speaker 1  26:56

we’re gonna sit down and, yeah, and talk,

Nestor Aparicio  27:00

you know? Like, I’m like, that, yeah, you know, I’ve seen the gangs and watch the wire, yeah? But I’m like, how’s that gonna work? Yeah, you know. And now we’re five, six years in, and I tomorrow, I hear tactically of sitting with people and saying, just like a parent would say, here’s the jail, here’s the and not only here’s the other path, get out the door, here’s the other path, and here’s every phone number, every person, all the things we need to do to keep you out of jail and death,

8

Phylicia Porter  27:30

but, but also, you know, and not, and not to be that extreme, to keep you healthy, you know, like there, there are certain spectrums that you get before you even get to jail, before you even pick up that gun. And that’s what we’re trying to prevent. We are trying, excuse me, we’re trying to prevent. We’re trying to prevent folks from actually getting there, and so making sure they have the proper mental health, making sure they have the proper making making sure we making sure we have the proper food. And that’s what that’s what we need. That’s what we need.

Nestor Aparicio  28:03

Well, fish borders here, we’re doing a Baltimore positive. Thank you. Well, you know, she give me a love. I don’t know what he’s doing. That’s all right? She they’re taking out daycare. Yeah, you get it. It’s what we’re talking about here, yeah, that’s what we’re talking about, having some oysters, man,

Phylicia Porter  28:24

this is, it’s serious. It’s serious.

Nestor Aparicio  28:27

8

That’s why we’re talking about,

Phylicia Porter  28:30

Yeah, everybody’s losing everything. Yeah, no, you’re right, exactly. And that that’s, that’s true. That’s what we’re trying to fight here in the city.

Nestor Aparicio  28:42

You’re absolutely, yeah, correct. You’re right.

Phylicia Porter  28:45

Yes, he’s draining us, but we’re trying. We here in the city, we’re I agree, we’re making a difference.

8

Nestor Aparicio  28:50

So back to our regular schedule. I’m glad I

Phylicia Porter  28:54

got, I know, yes, you make great point. Great point.

Nestor Aparicio  28:57

Um, so for me, with the violence reduction in the strategy, why is it working? I mean, yeah, that might have been the first question I should ask you. Now, yeah, it’s like, because that’s the thing that the county hears and feels, is why? Here are the murder numbers that, well, the carjacking, or the non violence, or this or that, just that part, yeah, alone, that you can come to the city and be safe? Yeah, that’s a message. It is a message. It’s a message that I’ve always given living here because I’ve never had a problem. Yes, you know what I mean.

Phylicia Porter  29:28

8

And here’s the thing that I often remind people, I don’t want to, I don’t want to invalidate what people are feeling, because that’s, that’s what we don’t want to do. What we want to do is make sure that we address the root causes of the issues that we’re seeing. So when people are talking about violence, they’re talking about behavioral health and mental health issues. They’re talking about lack of coping. They may be even talking about lack of housing and crimes of survival. Those are the issues of community that we’re seeing here in Baltimore City. And oftentimes, when people talk about this whole violence that’s happening in the city, they are talking about the issues. Are leading up and surrounding individuals in order for them to maybe want to choose a life of crime.

Nestor Aparicio  30:07

Well, when I heard about this, 567, years ago, yeah, I don’t see I was skeptical. Yeah, I was interested, interested enough to build content around and talk about it and say, why did it work there? Why did it work here? Yeah, you embraced it. The mayor embraced it, yeah, and I think the numbers reflect that. I mean, I want to give him credit for it. Give you credit for thank you so much. It’s important.

Phylicia Porter  30:29

Thank you so much. I’m sorry, sir, moving

Phylicia Porter  30:39

around. Why would you want to steal a car around around Baltimore? That’s correct, but one second, let us finish

8

Nestor Aparicio  30:47

this. Said, why would you still call that makes all the sense in the world. Yeah. Appreciate you, bro. Thank you, families, customers. Hey, my man, there you go. A free lottery ticket. Hey, my man, there you go. A free lottery ticket for the marital lottery. There you go.

Speaker 1  31:04

Thank you. Thank you. Keep the faith. That was great.

Phylicia Porter  31:08

It was great. But see, here’s the thing I wanted to, people

Nestor Aparicio  31:13

8

should be stirred up morning after. They’re told the military for protest,

Phylicia Porter  31:17

but even, but here’s the thing, here’s the thing that we have to here’s the thing that we have to consider. These are everyday people, and they have to realize that we as local legislators are fighting on their behalf like what he’s talking about are federal level issues that we hear in the

Nestor Aparicio  31:30

city. Get that on the radio Trump string. I say that every

Phylicia Porter  31:35

day, these are these are the importance of local legislators, and these are the importance of the local impact of what’s happening at the federal level. Everything that he just said is happening in Baltimore City, and we are free. Are fighting it.

8

Nestor Aparicio  31:48

Flash borders here. She’s our Councilwoman from 10 that’s down south, if you’re in Cherry Hill, if you’re down in Port Covington would be in Brooklyn

Phylicia Porter  31:57

and Curtis Bay and Lakeland mount wine. We can’t we have so many communities so I’m gonna go, I’m gonna go to the Nestor we have originally used to light all the way down to pig town. Then we got moral Park, we got Lakeland, we got mount Winans, we got Westport, we got Cherry Hill, we got Brooklyn, we got Curtis Bay, we got St Paul’s. So we have, oh, we also have Federal Hill South they’re one of my new districts. I mean, they’re one of my new precincts. And so

Nestor Aparicio  32:19

Miss Montgomery Park in your district. All right, just working my lottery ticket. So I, I was in your there’s a roof, yeah? Nestor, big down, big town, yeah.

Phylicia Porter  32:30

8

Hollins, no. Hollands is a nine. No catch.

Nestor Aparicio  32:37

See you give it, okay? I love it. I love it, sir, everything about Baltimore, I love it.

Phylicia Porter  32:43

No, look. I’m surprised. I’m surprised, and I’m very grateful that you knew

Phylicia Porter  32:47

Hollins is representative.

8

Nestor Aparicio  32:49

If you stick around long enough, I’ll have bad answers for you. Police Force, I gotta buy her crap cake by the Maryland lottery, we were wildly interrupted, but it was kind

Phylicia Porter  33:00

of fun, but he but he understood oysters.

Nestor Aparicio  33:03

He was eating oysters. I mean, he was a customer, and he just heard us talk, yeah? And he started screaming about

Phylicia Porter  33:09

8

Trump so that. But look, that’s what we need. That’s what I love. I love it. It’s fine.

Nestor Aparicio  33:14

I’m blushing. You know, if I didn’t want to be bothered, I’d go do this in the studio. Say it again. But how we get the crab cakes? Yeah? But there you go. I can’t wait to eat mine. You know, John Martin and I got into it today, because I call the scented tickets sniffers. They’re scented tickets. But he said to me, there’s gonna be a holiday. Yeah, that’s okay, because we didn’t have one last year. Is that bother? So, like, they put him in my bag, and I asked him if he can make him smell like, like Old Bay or eggnog or something like that. But when you come into Lexington mark, yeah, you smell fried chicken. You smell fried you smoke cakes and pies, yeah, it just smells like a market. It does, and I love it, and I’m hungry. Yeah, I’m gonna take a break. My Thanks, dude. Here she’s one of the good ones in 10. We also, I did a whole segment that disappeared on me from the Maryland Health Connection. I had Andy Ratner here, and I had Jenny Garrison here. I feel like a chump because my equipment, the battery died on me. So I just want to, like, give them some love and say, why do people need health insurance?

Phylicia Porter  34:15

Oh my gosh, people need health insurance because people have to go to the doctors. That’s the key risk of it. You know, we want, we want people to be healthy, and so you can’t be healthy if you haven’t gone to the doctor.

Nestor Aparicio  34:25

That’s really at the heart of this government shutdown. So, I mean, I really picked a hell of a day to have Andy over here in regard to what happens when, when 100,000

8

Phylicia Porter  34:34

people in a state? Yes, that is correct. That is correct. And so that is at stake here with this government

Nestor Aparicio  34:40

shutdown. Yeah, I don’t know if, if Barack Obama liked that. They called it Obamacare, or, like it was his branding, or whatever. Maybe it got him elected again the second. I hope so. It is the Affordable Care Act, yeah, I mean, and that’s really what it is, but it got branded as this awful thing, yeah, and it’s actually this incredibly. Magnanimous. It’s what America is about people that’s correct, not pissing on people that’s not taking things away from people and people that’s correct. About Love, it’s not about hate.

Phylicia Porter  35:10

Yes, right? Yeah, that’s right. At peace. It’s not about war and and here’s the thing, that health care is not just a privilege, it’s a right. So that was one thing that the Affordable Care Act did it. It made sure to have the foundation that health care is a right, not just a privilege for me, or few

Nestor Aparicio  35:27

8

I can have you on more often. All right, I got to go get a crab cake. I’m hungry. Matt Gallagher is going to come by. They’re going to feed me later. Here at faidley’s, their award winning. They won an award for Sam was a rockfish. Yes, catfish, catfish with slaw and like a hot honey.

Phylicia Porter  35:47

Yes, that sounds so good,

Nestor Aparicio  35:51

my palate, but they got beer here. All right, we’re families. It’s Maryland to represented by the Maryland lottery. My thanks fleece porters for coming by. Thanks to the maryland health connection that I feel like I owe. I’m gonna get back, because I gotta learn so much, and it’s all in the cosmos, so I’m gonna have to have them back on. I’m back at fading. Mac Gallagher, stay with us. We’re Baltimore positive.