Patoka discusses campaign trail and issues for Baltimore County Executive

With the election approaching on June 23rd, we continue our discussion with Baltimore County Executive candidates and Councilman Izzy Patoka returns with a final pitch as he knocks doors and shares the local issues he’s hearing with Nestor on the campaign trail.

Councilman Izzy Patoka discussed his campaign for Baltimore County Executive, emphasizing his grassroots approach, having knocked on over 35,000 doors. He highlighted key issues like affordability, public safety, and the need for more recreational spaces. Patoka criticized the current administration’s lack of focus on inner Beltway communities and proposed creating a new Office of Community Conservation. He also stressed the importance of bipartisan action, citing his experience in managing large budgets and his endorsements from various advocacy groups. Patoka plans to restructure the permits department and address aggressive driving through additional speed cameras and state police involvement.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Save a crab cake for Izzy Patoka from the Maryland Crab Cake Tour visit (personal request).
• [ ] Press the Maryland Public Service Commission to hold BGE accountable for recent price hikes and work to address local affordability impacts (campaign commitment if elected county executive).
• [ ] Pursue enabling authority from the state legislature and implement additional speed cameras to reduce speeding and aggressive driving in Baltimore County.
• [ ] Increase law-enforcement presence in Towson (including expanded sheriff’s office roles) to address crowds and public-safety concerns in the Towson Town Center.
• [ ] Follow up and pursue acquisition of St. Pius property to create additional ball fields and recreational space inside the Beltway.
• [ ] Create the Office of Community Conservation staffed with sector/regional coordinators, a community attorney, a rural coordinator, LGBTQIA and sustainability coordinators, and a Main Streets coordinator to put communities first and direct agencies to address local needs.
• [ ] Restructure the permits department to enable simultaneous review, add two high-level ombudsmen to shepherd stalled permits, and reduce permit processing time for businesses and projects.

Councilman Izzy Patoka’s Campaign and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show and mentions upcoming events, including the Maryland Crab Cake Tour in Baltimore County and Carroll County.
• Nestor Aparicio introduces Izzy Patoka, a city councilman running for Baltimore County Executive, and emphasizes the importance of voting in the primary.
• Izzy Patoka discusses his campaign strategy, including knocking on over 30,000 doors and attending community meetings every night.
• Nestor Aparicio asks Izzy Patoka about the most common issues he hears from voters, and Izzy Patoka mentions affordability and public safety, particularly aggressive driving.

Addressing Public Safety and Aggressive Driving

• Nestor Aparicio and Izzy Patoka discuss their experiences with aggressive driving on local highways.
• Izzy Patoka suggests adding more speed cameras and increasing the state police’s presence to address aggressive driving.
• Nestor Aparicio shares his frustration with receiving speeding tickets and the need for better enforcement.
• Izzy Patoka emphasizes the importance of community meetings and understanding local issues to address public safety concerns.

Focus on Inner Beltway Communities

• Izzy Patoka discusses the need to focus on inner Beltway communities, which have been neglected for decades.
• He mentions the lack of recreational spaces and the need for standalone rec centers inside the Beltway.
• Izzy Patoka highlights the importance of having a stronger law enforcement presence in areas like Towson.
• He shares his experience as a basketball coach and the need for more recreational opportunities for young people.

Challenges and Experience in County Executive Role

• Nestor Aparicio and Izzy Patoka discuss the challenges of the county executive role, including managing difficult budgets and working with the state government.
• Izzy Patoka emphasizes his experience in managing large budgets and directing cabinet secretaries at the state and city levels.
• He criticizes the current county executive’s leadership and the need for someone with executive experience to manage the county effectively.
• Izzy Patoka mentions his endorsements from various professional organizations and advocacy groups.

Expanding Council Districts and Legislative Lifts

• Nestor Aparicio and Izzy Patoka discuss the recent expansion of council districts from seven to nine.
• Izzy Patoka explains the political challenges of expanding the council and the opposition from developers.
• He highlights the increased diversity among the 30 candidates running for council and the positive impact of the expansion.
• Izzy Patoka criticizes his opponents for not supporting the expansion and for prioritizing developers’ interests over community needs.

Key Bridge Project and Bipartisan Action

• Nestor Aparicio and Izzy Patoka discuss the Key Bridge project and the need for bipartisan action to ensure its completion.
• Izzy Patoka emphasizes the importance of working with other county executives and the state government to address local issues.
• He criticizes the current administration for not focusing on local needs and for allowing politics to interfere with public policy.
• Izzy Patoka promises to prioritize good public policy and community needs in his administration.

Patoka Administration’s Commitments

• Izzy Patoka outlines the commitments of his administration, including attending community meetings every night and creating the Office of Community Conservation.
• The office will have sector coordinators, a community attorney, a rural coordinator, and other specialized coordinators to address local needs.
• Izzy Patoka promises to restructure the permits department to reduce delays and improve efficiency.
• He emphasizes the importance of good government and putting communities first as the primary pillars of his administration.

Final Thoughts and Campaign Strategy

• Izzy Patoka discusses the feedback on his campaign and his confidence in being the front runner.
• He emphasizes the importance of experience and practical knowledge over theoretical knowledge in governing.
• Izzy Patoka mentions the positive reception of his campaign and the need for voters to get involved and vote on June 23.
• Nestor Aparicio and Izzy Patoka conclude the interview with a light-hearted discussion about crab cakes and the importance of democracy.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We are Baltimore Positive, positively getting the Maryland Crab Gate Tour back out on the row. We will be in Baltimore County. We’re going to be at Sorrento of Arbutus on the 10th. We’re also going to be in Carroll County at after the election on the 24th We’ll be up there at Green Mount Station, eating that delicious crab cake that I love so much. Oils playing an afternoon game that day. All the brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery. I will have the scratch-offs to Maryland Treasures. This is Ocean City. This is usually where I see my next guest, sometimes down at Mako in the summer scene. He is a city sitting councilman here in Baltimore County, who is running for Baltimore County Executive, I have spoken to him several times the last couple years out on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour Trail. We last met, I believe, at Honeys in Arbutus.

Izzy Patoka 0:49
Yes, we did.

Nestor Aparicio 0:50
Hell, Thorpe, I should say. I don’t want to get those people upset. Hail Thorpe, Penthesumites. Oh my god, over there, Catonsville, you know, Paradise, all of that. Izzy Patoka is a city city councilman also had been associated with the city, now in the county, now running for county executive. You know, I’ve done your life story. We did that up in Racerstown. You know, we’ve gone through all of this, man. We’re a couple weeks out on the election, and I first things want to say is, everybody please register, please vote, please vote in the primary, Democrat, Republican, doesn’t matter who you are, I believe in democracy, and I know you do too. Izzy Patoka’s back, he’s our defending champion here. What’s going on, man? It’s a long race for all of you running for county executive. I’ve had most of you on something, and I’m sorry that you’re not next to me, and I’m sorry you’ve had a death in your family that you couldn’t join me in the crab cake tour, but it’s good to have you on, and I’m watching all of you talk about all these issues, and I think it’s important,

Izzy Patoka 1:42
is yeah, sure. Well, we’ve had long days, you know, in the campaign world, there are so many things that are outside of your control, Nestor. So, I’ve always believed, do the things that are within your control and do them well. So, me and my team, we knock on doors, you know, we’ve knocked on over 30,000 doors, I think we’re approaching 35,000 because the best way to meet a voter and to understand the community sentiment at the at the grassroots level is to be on somebody’s porch talking to them about issues, and not, you know, and then when we’re not on campaign side, Nestor, I’m at community meetings every single night of the week without exception, and so I leave the house at nine, I come home at nine. I think I understand community sentiment in Baltimore County as well as anyone, and so I think you know this will prepare me well to be the next county executive.

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Nestor Aparicio 2:32
What is the thing you hear the most?

Izzy Patoka 2:35
Well, you know, on a more global scale, affordability certainly an issue, you know, there are things that that are difficult for us to control at the local level, like with the Trump administration creating wars all around the globe, and they impact fuel prices, which impact grocery prices. We do have the ability to pressure the Public Service Commission, and I will, as county executive, to hold the BG, any accountable for these unconscionable price hikes that we all have to experience, so affordability, but then there’s another issue. It’s a public safety issue that I hear at community meetings. Doesn’t matter if I’m in Woodlawn, Towson, Dundalk, anywhere, Pikesville, Reisterstown is speeding and aggressive driving. Unbelievable. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 3:34
that’s that’s my county complaint. I go down on that highway and I’m seeing people race. There’s no, they’re not fake racing, it looks like they’re racing for a lot of money. Looks like they got $500 waiting at Security Square, and they’re in Towson, and they’re whoever gets there gets the money, like it’s like a cannonball run,

Izzy Patoka 3:51
or they race you to the next stoplight. I see that happening, you know, they’re aggressive, they’re weaving past you, and then they’re right next to you at the traffic signal,

Nestor Aparicio 4:01
I don’t leave home without it happening before I get anywhere. I, I drive a mile or 10 miles, something weird’s going to happen that puts me in jeopardy. And, but I don’t know what you, what can a county executive do about that? Where’s the couple

Izzy Patoka 4:13
of things? So we can add additional speed cameras. We need the state legislature to give us enabling authority to add more speed cameras, not near right now. We can only put them near a school within close proximity to a school, not where the one by

Nestor Aparicio 4:28
NDP nailed me down here. I got the ticket on that one.

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Izzy Patoka 4:33
Well, do you have a heavy foot, Nestor? No, not at all. My wife drives

Nestor Aparicio 4:36
100 times faster than me, and I’m always the one that gets the ticket. So I listen, 45 on that beltway now on the top side with all the construction. I am, I’m 10 o’clock, 2o’clock and I’m going to speed limit because I don’t want to be part of the problem, I want to be part of the solution. Yeah, you know that.

Izzy Patoka 4:53
Yeah, and you know, interestingly enough, Nestor, I every community meeting I go to, I start my remarks with this question. Raise your hand if you have not experienced aggressive driving, and I’ve never had a single person raise their hand. Everyone has experienced it, and it’s going to stop the other on the on the interstate. We need our state police being a little bit more aggressive, and in making sure that they’re they’re going after these aggressive drivers, the racers, you know. I don’t, I can’t say that I’ve ever seen any of these people that are racing on 695 pulled over. Now, maybe I’m just missing something, but

Nestor Aparicio 5:35
I agree with, we all

Izzy Patoka 5:36
see it, and certainly we

Nestor Aparicio 5:38
myself, if I videotaped it, what would even be like,

Izzy Patoka 5:41
yeah,

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Nestor Aparicio 5:42
everybody’s got dash cam, I mean, you can see all of this happening now. What are we doing about it? It’s like the bikes in the city, which is that’s not your problem, but that, but you know, but it is a problem, you know. And I think part of the county executive thing, and you’ll speak to this as a guy who worked in the city, and you don’t really see the delineation between the county and the city, because you’ve been a sitting councilman on the border, to know that there is, there is no imaginary border, we’re all the same people, we’re traveling back and forth, and that’s what makes county and city government have to work together, is and I work closely

Izzy Patoka 6:14
with my city partner, Councilman Yitzi Schleifer, because we share the each side of the boundary, it’s an unnatural boundary, it’s just a straight line, but we share. I talked to him almost every night about issues that are important, that are regional issues, but local issues as well. And I can tell you, as County Executive Nestor, I’m going to focus on our inner Beltway communities. I think we’ve, we’ve turned our focus, our gaze to the newest, shiniest object out in the excerpts, and we haven’t really focused on our inner beltway communities in decades, and I’m going to change that. For example, I’m a basketball coach, I coach 15 and 17 year olds in rec ball, and we don’t have, we don’t have any space, we were depend totally dependent on the schools, so if Sudbrook Middle School, which is a magnet art school, if they have a display in there in the gymnasium, we’re out of luck, and so we need standalone rec centers, we need them inside the Beltway, we have 1000s of kids that that need, and older adults, you know, because rec is not just specific to to young people, but let’s talk about young people for a minute. I get asked this question about, you know, what’s going on in Towson all the time, and so to really address that, I think you know we’ll need to have a stronger law enforcement presence in, you know, the Towson town center, and I think the sheriff’s office can be a major player in that. Right now, they’re limited to courthouse space and prisoner transport. I think they, they’re, they’re trained, they can assist the police department. They did it on Thirsty Thursdays, and Thirsty Thursdays. I’m surprised I didn’t see you there, Nestor. They were selling shots of tequila for $1 and it had, you know, that caused 1000 young people to show up at this place wanting it, and I think it was the green turtle, only had 300 seats, so that put 700 young people on on York Road, and the sheriff’s office helped us in a big way to kind of quell that, so I think we need to make sure the management is working hard, a lot stronger law enforcement presence, and back to the rec ideas. We need to have much more, more rec space. St. Pius is a great opportunity in the Towson area, and I’m going to make sure that we follow up and acquire that for additional ball fields, and that’ll create positive time for young people. Like I said, I’m not just a casual observer or working in the abstract, theoretical, hypothetical. I’m working in the real world, because I’m out with my, my, the players I coach, and I have lifelong relationships with these young men, so it’s, it’s, it’s been a great experience for me, and I hope a good experience for the guys I coach.

Nestor Aparicio 9:07
Councilman Izzy Patoka is our guest here, a Baltimore positive WNSD. He’s running for Baltimore County Executive on the Democratic side of the ticket, june 23 We’re encouraging everyone to vote. I’ve had many of the candidates on, talking about many of the issues, I’m a Baltimore County resident, business owner, a voter, a graduate, you know, all of that stuff. So, to be vested in all of this, and you want to run, and this, and this seat that’s now open, I can’t not talk to you about Kathy Klos Meyer and the procedure that put her there, and the importance of the job that that whole as a resident I still don’t understand that I know I’ve talked to you about it once I’ll talk to you about it again but just what the last year and a half has represented for the county that’s felt a little less directed than perhaps Johnny O was at the time

Izzy Patoka 9:58
yeah well you know. Was Kathy was a legislator in Annapolis, and now taking on the executive level, and you know, she brought on a team of people that she felt comfortable with, and you know, county executives a difficult job, and I will say that for me, if I’m lucky enough to win this, and I believe I will, and I believe that our message resonates, you know, I bring experience at the executive level, in the mayor’s office, as a senior part of the mayor’s office, in the governor’s office, eight years senior level, directing cabinet secretaries, that prepares me well to be county executive, and more importantly, Nestor is that we have difficult budgets ahead of us. You know, as Chief of Capital Budgeting for Baltimore City, where I authored and managed $3 billion plus budgets. I, the person that did the same exact job in Baltimore County, unfortunately died at a very young age, so Baltimore County asked me to step in and author and manage their $3 billion capital budget. I’ve also authored large and complex operating budgets for multiple agencies, including the governor’s coordinating offices, and so with tough budgets ahead with the unpredictable federal government, and you know, Trump being so irrational sometimes, and I’m trying to be kind, and the difficulty, the state budget’s really going to be tight in fiscal 27 which starts July one of 2026 and then fiscal 28 is going to be increasingly more difficult, and that’s the following year. We need somebody who understands budget, who can look at the recommendations of the budget director, because and make it an executive budget, not a budget director’s budget. And I think you know, in some cases, maybe that’s what happened with with the county executive, but I think all none of the other candidates running for executive have anywhere near the budget experience that I have, none of them have nearly the the executive experience directing cabinet secretaries in the state of Maryland, directing agency heads at the city of Baltimore, and so you know these are real skill sets that you need, and your question about, you know, your question about leadership over the last year and a half, you know, I think when you, you’re likely to see more of that if you don’t have someone with experience, Matt drafting budgets, managing budgets, having budget discipline, but still providing the things that communities need, and also the ability to direct agencies and make them work in coordination with one another.

Nestor Aparicio 12:55
Why was Kathy attractive to you? You know, as from a vote perspective for county executive,

Izzy Patoka 13:02
well, we were trying to, we had five six candidates, and you know, we all had a candidate that we were interested in, and the ability to gain four votes for that candidate was a challenge, and you know, not everybody’s first choice was able to garner four votes, including mine.

Nestor Aparicio 13:34
Well, it clearly, it was there, was consternation. This wasn’t Don Mueller, just which it was easy when Kevin died, Don was running the can, and it happened. I was shocked by, because I’ve known Don all my life, but, like, I didn’t know the process, and we’ve now kind of done it twice in the last decade, kind of, sort of, right? And look, you know, the one

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Izzy Patoka 13:53
thing I will say, Nestor, is there is a steep learning curve to be county executive, and you know, if you take someone who works, you know, some of the candidates that are running have don’t have the level of experience. We got one candidate working, you know, writing papers about it, and you know defining that as experience, that’s not experience, that’s you know writing papers. And we have other candidates that don’t have nearly the leadership skills that are necessary, and when you don’t have that, you don’t have a county running like it should, and like I said, given the experience that I’ve been lucky to be afforded over the course of 30 plus years at this, I think that if you want Baltimore County to have leadership that understands how to move a county forward. There’s really only one real choice

Nestor Aparicio 14:46
that’s you, Izzy. Yes, that’s what you’re gonna say. The seven to nine councilmanic districts that the change that probably could have, should have happened here, 20, 3040, It could have happened at any point. Mean, it’s happening now. That makes the role of county executive any different. I mean, you sit in one of these seats, if there’s nine people coming to the county versus seven serving districts better. I’m assuming it’s something you think is a good idea, going from seven to nine, being that you served, and you’re like, hey, more is better, and having less kids in the class is sort of a better thing for the county. I don’t know that that’s true, and we’re paying more people. I know that we had all sorts of issues about pensions, which we can get into, but is seven to nine a good thing for the county? And well, it was my legislation,

Izzy Patoka 15:31
so yes, it’s a good thing. It’s a great thing, and you know why didn’t happen over the past 70 years, Nestor, because it was an incredibly heavy legislative lift, the others running for county executive, like Julian Jones, didn’t show up for the vote. He chose to be absent during the vote. Pat Young voted against it, and I think the reason that they, they didn’t support it, just quite candidly, is because the developers don’t like having to have manage nine council members, they were comfortable with seven, and so when you, when you’re, when that is who you’re trying to be supporting or be beholding to you’re not going to support nine, you’re not going to show up when the vote counts. And it was a difficult, difficult political lift. I took tons of body punches on this, Nestor, but if you look at what’s happening now, we have 30 candidates running for council. We have the most diverse set of candidates that we’ve ever had in the history of Baltimore County, we have age diversity, we have religious diversity, we have gender diversity, and we have racial diversity. 30 candidates from all backgrounds running for council, that’s never happened in this 70 year history of Baltimore County. You know, and I’ve never been afraid of difficult political, different, difficult legislative lifts, like I said, my colleagues, Jones and Young, did not support expanding the council in their, in their legislative actions, and another one that was really, it’s just a head scratcher in Baltimore County, Nestor, we can shove 100 we used to be able to shove 115 students into 100 seats, 115 into 100 seats. That’s bad math. That’s point eight five students per seat. Jones and Young voted against it. They want.. I had a simple bill, one student, one seat, that was called the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. Jones and Young voted against it, and Nick Stewart had action items to, to not support it. And again, I think it leads to who, who are you serving? Are you serving teachers, students, and families, or are you serving developers? And I think that all three of these opponents serve developers, that’s why they did not support one student, one seat. They wanted to shove as many students into a classroom as possible, and you know what, Nestor, that’s why they didn’t get the endorsement of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County and education support professionals, and that’s why I got the endorsement of teachers. I’ve gotten the endorsement of CASA in action because of my support of immigrant communities. I got the endorsement of the Sierra Club because they believe I’m the best choice to be to be a good environmental steward for Baltimore County, and I’ve got the endorsement of Free State Equality, because they believe I’m the best choice to address LGBTQIA issues, and you know, we all applied for it, we all filled out questionnaires, we all filled out questionnaires, and we all did interviews, and these professional organizations and these advocacy groups, based on my experience, based on the things I’ve done over the course of 30 years, decided that I was the best choice, and the others were not the best choice to be county executive for Baltimore County.

Nestor Aparicio 19:17
Is Patoka is our guest. He is a sitting councilman on the west side, he’s running for the full side, a Baltimore County executive. The election is the 23rd of June. Please get involved, roll your sleeves up, make sure you’re voting. Key Bridge still a part of the county, you know, the date went down. I was down in Florida, I saw Johnny O was the first thing I saw, 630 in the morning. I put on CNN, our county executive was the first face I saw that morning in the darkness as the bridge went down, which was unthinkable a couple years ago, and then it was bipartisan, and we’re all in it together, and we’re all in it together now. It feels like it’s not my bridge, it’s your bridge. Whose bridge? It’s not Trump’s bridge, it’s not the state’s bridge, it’s Wes’s bridge, but it can’t be if they get done in time. I am, I’m not shocked by this, because. Such an overwhelming, incredible project to have to do under duress, but where are you on the key bridge of what you’re happy about or unhappy about? And what would a county executive under your stewardship look like differently than where it is right now?

Izzy Patoka 20:16
Well, you know that we galvanized around the key bridge, and like you said, we’re less galvanized now, and a lot of it is when politics kind of interferes with good public policy. For me, I’m, you know, I’m focused on Patoka administration will be focused on two things: good public policy and putting communities first, and so, you know, in the some of the bills that I talked about that I passed that my colleagues did not support, some required bipartisan action, and so in this very fractured society we live in today, for some reason bipartisan is a negative word, and so sometimes in order to move forward we have to work together, we can’t be pointing the finger, and right now I don’t know what’s happened in terms of, you know, how we view minor things and how we view major things, like the key bridge, but somehow politics gets in the way of it, and so in a Patoka administration, you’ll see bipartisan action, you’ll, you know, we’ll, everybody has a seat at the table, and we’re trying to make progress, we’re trying to make, get from point A to point B, and if you circle around point A, because you’re pointing the finger at everybody, and you can’t get to point B, then we’ll never have a key bridge that’s done in an efficient time, and, and within a reasonable budget.

Nestor Aparicio 21:46
What can a county executive do? I mean, you know, if you’re in that chair six months from now, what can you do when it’s a federal gig, right? And it’s really a state gig, but it’s screwing up your, it’s screwing up Costas and Dundalk, it’s screwing up Trade Point. I mean, there’s a lot of things that are screwed along east side of town,

Izzy Patoka 22:03
yeah. No question, it’s screwing up the whole region, and so work with the other county executives and make sure that our local issues are heard. So, for example, for me, I want to make sure that the voices in Turner Station are heard, I want to make sure the voices in Dundalk are heard, I want to make sure that the voice of Trade Point Atlantic is heard, one of our leading employers, and not only that, work with my other, my count, my colleague, county, my counterpart, county executive, that we’re talking to the governor and making sure he understands at the very local level, because Nestor, look, I’ve worked in the governor’s office, I’ve worked at the local level for Baltimore City and Baltimore County, and when you’re in the governor’s office, use because you’re not going to community meetings every night, you don’t understand the local, you don’t have as clear a view as of the local nuances as the county executive or county council members, so all of that has got to be in the discussion, you know, the the traffic considerations you may hear about it, but you may not necessarily be experiencing, because sometimes you know you can hear about something, you know, one of my call, one of my opponents, you know, has very little experience, but writes a lot of papers about things, but to experience is the way you really need to understand it, and the best way to be able to work on it.

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Nestor Aparicio 23:34
Is it Patoka’s here? I’m gonna give you final shot here as city councilman running for county executive, but we’ve talked about important issues and all that. Your platform for people, for communities, give me the give me the stump speeches to the polls, or at least mail in, and make sure you get your right ballot if you’re mailing in. But we have till june 23 here, and it’s been a long race for all of you, and it’s a crowded race, and it’s a crowded field. It’s an important election, and I want you to speak to that.

Izzy Patoka 24:02
Sure, and I’ll talk a little bit about what differentiates me from the other candidates, and also what my administration will do, because it will follow some of the things that I’ve done over the course of 30 years. Number one, Nestor, I go to community meetings every single night of the week, I don’t skip a day, every once in a while I get a day off, and I do it because one, I enjoy going to community meetings, and I like to help communities move from point A to point B and understand things at a very local level. The people that will work in the Patoka administration will also go to community meetings every single night of the week and understand things at a very local level, and they will be part of the signature agency of the Patoka administration, called the Office of Community Conservation. That office will have sector coordinators, executive coordinators that report directly to the county executive. They’re not going to report through different layers of government. They’ll be at community meetings every night. That office will also have. Have a community attorney that will help communities with minor legal issues, and use law students to also help communities with minor legal issues. The office will have a rural coordinator, it’ll have regional coordinators inside the Beltway addressing those needs, and then also outside of the Beltway in the older communities that are out that that are aging will also have an LGBTQIA executive coordinator, we’ll have a sustainability coordinator, we’ll have a Main Streets coordinator, making sure all of the radial streets that emanate from city center to some other place, like York Road, like Bel Air Road, like Harford Road, like Reisterstown Road, have strong commercial corridors, so they, that will be the signature agency. They’ll be empowered to direct agencies to make sure that if a pot, that if a street needs to be to be resurfaced, and it doesn’t, and there’s community sentiment behind they’re going to tell the department they’re going to direct the department of DPWT to make that happen. I’m also going to reorganize, do restructure the permits department, because permits take too damn long, and so that office will not only have a restructuring where instead of having linear review going from one agency to the next agency. There’ll be simultaneous review. In addition to that, there will be two high-level ombudsmen that will help shepherd permits that are stalled through the process. Man, I hear that

Nestor Aparicio 26:36
everywhere in the region, permits to businesses a real problem everywhere.

Izzy Patoka 26:40
Yeah, that’s going to change under Patoka administration. I talked a little bit about speeding and aggressive driving, that’s going to stop under Patoka administration. There’ll be more recreational opportunities for young people, and basically, there’ll be two primary pillars of the Patoka administration: one will be good government, good public policy, and the other pillar will be putting communities first, and they must be good pillars, because I hear the other candidates that are running against me start to use the terms that I’m using, using the ideas that I’m using in their, in their pitches. So, you know, I, I am flattered by it, but the difference is, I know how to do it, and they know how to write about it, and speak in the theoretical about it. So, look, I think that you know right now the feedback on our campaign is outstanding. I think we are the front runner. I think I’ll just leave it at that. I see your signs, I

Nestor Aparicio 27:41
see all the signs out there. I drive around the county, I live in the county, work in the county, play in the county. If you live in the county, the election is june 23 Izzy Patoka is on the ballot for Baltimore County Executive. You can find his platform out on the web, you can find him on the front of Baltimore Positive at the end of this piece, or hear it on the radio. Is he always good to visit with you? I’m sure I’ll see you at Mako this summer, one way or another. I’m sure I’ll see you out on the on the trail here the next couple of weeks as we get closer to june 23 Good luck to you, man. And I, as I always say to all of you, the Teddy Roosevelt and me appreciates all of you who are in the arena and actually putting yourself out there and running. So good luck to you, man.

Izzy Patoka 28:19
Thank you, Nestor. I have one favor to ask you.

Nestor Aparicio 28:21
No, what’s the favor? What do you need? What do you need me to do, besides vote for you?

8

Izzy Patoka 28:24
Can you save me a crab cake when you’re on that tour?

Nestor Aparicio 28:27
Well, absolutely. I mean, yeah, I mean, I, you had listen, I invited you out for the crab cake this week here in Arbutus, and you’ve had a death in the family, and you had to go out, so I owe you a crab cake either way. Citizen Nestor owes Citizen Potoko crab cake. Fair enough,

Izzy Patoka 28:41
fair enough,

Nestor Aparicio 28:41
and crab cake of your choice, of course, but it’ll be in the county, so I’m not going to take you down to Coco’s, you know, Faith Lee’s is in the county now, speaking of permits over at Fishmonger’s Daughter, one of the best cities crab cakes now in the county as well. So, hey, I got Costa’s on the north side, east side, so I got you covered, man, like a baseball diamond, I’ll get out there, boy, you will never suffer a poor crab cake with me. My thanks, Izzy Pato, for coming on. Thank you. Good luck to all the candidates out there running for Baltimore County Executive. You can find Izzy and everyone else at Baltimore Positive. Everyone who wants to come on, if you are a candidate and want to come on for any elected position, you’re Nestor at Baltimore positive.com Find me quickly, because the election’s in a couple of weeks. I’m Nestor. We are WNSD AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore, protecting and promoting democracy, trying to save it. Quite frankly, we’re Baltimore positive.