Westcott lays out his candidacy for District 1 Baltimore County Council seat in Arbutus

With the election on Tuesday, June 23rd approaching, we continue to discuss politics, government and platforms with candidates around the beltway. Nimrod Westcott joined Nestor at Sorrento’s of Arbutus to explain why he’s running for District 1 Council in Baltimore County to serve local businesses and citizens.

Nestor Aparicio interviews Nimrod Westcott, a candidate for Baltimore County Council District 1, discussing his platform and background. Westcott emphasizes the importance of supporting small businesses, improving mental health services in schools, and protecting utility rates from data center impacts. He criticizes the current system of public financing for campaigns, which he believes incentivizes candidates to prioritize donors over constituents. Westcott also advocates for better landlord regulations, equitable distribution of ambulance service funds, and county-led development to address the housing shortage. He shares his personal experience with a stroke, highlighting the critical role of volunteer fire companies in public safety.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Invite additional last-minute political candidates who contact him to appear on the show.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Schedule and record a segment with Harold to talk about crab cakes, loafers, and Sorrento.
• [ ] Canvass as many of the 24 polling places in District 1 as possible on Election Day to support voter turnout.
• [ ] Work with the county to pursue installation of traffic mitigation devices around Halethorpe Elementary School to protect students.

Introduction and Context Setting

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the sponsors and the theme of the day.
• Nestor encourages listeners to vote and highlights the importance of civic participation.
• He mentions previous guests and the changes in Baltimore County’s political landscape, including the increase in council districts from seven to nine.
• Nestor introduces Nimrod Westcott, a candidate for Baltimore County Council, and discusses the candidate’s platform.

Nimrod Westcott’s Background and Platform

• Nimrod Westcott shares his background, mentioning he grew up in Baltimore City but has lived in Arbutus for 26 years.
• He discusses his experience running for office, including a previous campaign for the state senate in 1998.
• Nimrod explains his decision to affiliate with the Democratic Party and his belief in serving the people over the party.
• He outlines his platform, emphasizing the importance of small businesses, mental health in schools, and protecting utility rates.

Campaign Strategy and Community Engagement

• Nimrod talks about his campaign strategy, including door-knocking and delivering campaign literature himself.
• He shares anecdotes about his interactions with voters and the importance of personal engagement.
• Nimrod discusses the challenges of running a grassroots campaign and the need for transparency in political funding.
• He highlights the importance of addressing community needs, such as traffic mitigation and affordable housing.

Challenges and Opportunities in Baltimore County

• Nimrod addresses the issue of traffic safety and the need for speed mitigation devices in school zones.
• He discusses the impact of business closures on the local economy and the importance of maintaining population density.
• Nimrod talks about the role of volunteer fire companies and the need for equitable funding distribution.
• He shares a personal story about his stroke and the critical role of emergency services in saving his life.

Final Thoughts and Encouragement

• Nestor and Nimrod discuss the importance of democracy and the role of citizens in shaping their community.
• Nimrod emphasizes the need for honest and transparent leadership in politics.
• Nestor encourages listeners to vote and stay informed about the candidates and issues.
• The conversation concludes with Nestor expressing his support for Nimrod’s campaign and the importance of community involvement.

Nestor Aparicio 0:00
Welcome home. We are WNST A of 1570 Towson Baltimore. We are Baltimore Positive, positively here at Sorrentos of Arbutus. We’re in the beautiful west side of town. We’re still in the county side. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery. My previous guest, Kate Parrish, took my – she took my pony – she took my ass to take ponies from my Maryland treasures. I still have my boardwalk and my birds and my Key Bridge. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery, in conjunction with GBMC, keeping me healthy and alive. And I’m trying to avoid the crinkle cut French fries and the gravy out here, but once Bill Cole from Cole Roofing gets here, all bets are off with an Arbutus man. Being out in the southwest side of town today, I’m inviting another political candidate, and I would encourage everyone a vote, vote by mail, vote by fiat, get there Tuesday, do whatever you need to do. The election’s coming up. I’ve tried to have as many courageous citizens, our fellow citizens in the counties and the cities who are running, Republican, Democrat, black, white, male, female, east, west, north, south, whatever it is, onto the show to talk about democracy, talk about city. Lord knows that I am, I am a disgruntled American and a disgruntled Marylander. Can’t say that I’m a disgruntled county citizen or taxpayer of Maryland, but I’ve got my beefs and I bring them to the air every day, but I’m not doing what this guy’s doing, which is running for office. I’ve had Mandy Remmel on. I’ve had Tom Quirk has been invited on. He was a former councilman this side of town. The county has changed dramatically in this cycle. If you’re unfamiliar and you’re a county resident, county voter, if you’re a county resident, not a county voter, shame on you, your lousy ass citizen, but get red shirt and vote, but nonetheless, if you are, we have nine districts now, nine councilmanic districts, up from seven. It has been a big change. It’s been a lot of mess. I’ve talked to Julian Jones, I’ve talked to Izzy Patoka, I’ve talked to sitting councilmen, I’ve had Pat Young on, he’s running for county executive, so I’ve addressed a lot of that, but there been only a handful of people, Mandy was one of them, and a few other people that aren’t already in politics that are putting their hand up in the air and saying I’m in. Nimrod is one of those people, he wrote to me, and you came to me on a on a spam trap on my email on on all my social media, and I would just beg anyone, don’t write to me on social media. Nestor Baltimore positive.com throw me, find me. But it took me about a week and a half to get back to you, and I apologize, because I would have had you on earlier in the month and giving you more time. Stronger Together is the platform, and Westcott the fifth, that’s Nimrod Westcott the fifth for Baltimore County Council. I had a chance to meet him. You’ve been, you’ve been campaigning right here at Sorrento since I got here. How you doing, brother? Nice to know you, man.

N.Westcott 2:47
I am better today than I was yesterday, and I’m grateful for that, Nestor. Thanks for having me. You call,

Nestor Aparicio 2:52
started calling me nasty Nestor when you came in here, and then I had a business owner over here, George. And then this lady over here said, ‘My dad’s Jim Zimmerman, he’s at Western Maryland. We’re taking. did you win her the lottery? Your old man loves me. She’s gonna come right over nasty effing Nestor. Yeah, that’s probably right back. So you’re a Baltimorean.

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N.Westcott 3:17
Yes,

Nestor Aparicio 3:18
you grew up over here.

N.Westcott 3:19
I’ll actually, I grew up in Baltimore City, but I’ve lived in, in right in this area of Arbutus for about the last 25 So, I’m doing the

Nestor Aparicio 3:29
show in your hometown,

N.Westcott 3:30
pretty much. Yeah. Oh, yeah. If you’re

Nestor Aparicio 3:32
from Catonsville, Arbutu, I don’t know where the delineation is, and I don’t want to fight with you all about what’s Lansdown and what’s our be. I do know we can’t fight about where the city and the county lines are. I learned that I was over at Honeys in Halethorpe, which is on your side, right? That’s would be in your district, right, in the county side, right.

N.Westcott 3:48
Well, that’s in the county, yes, yeah.

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Nestor Aparicio 3:50
So, but the city was two blocks from her place, so I grew up on the east side of the county, where there was a county city line, and you had to live there to sort of know or know their phone numbers, because that’s what really changed along the county in the city line. So, how far into the city did you grow up?

N.Westcott 4:04
I grew up in the, in the, in the, in the city. I was in the city. How

Nestor Aparicio 4:08
long you been in Arbutus?

N.Westcott 4:09
I’ve been in Arbutus since 2001 about 26 years. 2000 I’m sorry, about 26 years. There’s a funny story, though, when I moved the two to Arbutus, because it had been Arbutus before, before I moved there. Now, about a year after we moved into Arbutus, moved into Arbutus, right in the Making Choice Village, we got a little postcard from the post office telling us, “Hey, you don’t live in Baltimore, you live or in Arbutus, you live in Hailthorpe. So, in that I think there was a change with the post office and they changed things, and so they consult with solid consolidation, so we look, you live in Hailthorpe, and if you want your mail, that’s what you need to put, put that’s what you need to put in your correspondence. Now look, the funny thing is, when we moved here, my boys went to a Beautycelementary. In Arbutus Middle School, we were like a one-minute drive from right here in downtown Arbutus, but the post office says, “Hey, you live in Hailthorpe, so put hell for your mail. So, hey, since I want my mail and it’s their game, that’s what I go with. I don’t even know anything

Nestor Aparicio 5:13
about this side of town, but I know that, like, I there is an argument for whether you’re really from Arbutus or Halethorpe. Now, I’m from Dundalk, but I grew up thinking I was in Essex, but there’s no Essex is over the bridge, right? And then I moved out to Perry Hall, because my son went to Perry Hall, and they said Perry Hall, you’re in White Marsh. And then, no, no, the post office is Nottingham, and I’m like, ain’t nobody’s ever said I’m from Nottingham, Nottingham is a post office, that’s it. It’s nothing else but a post office, because nobody ever claims it as their hometown. Arbutus’s and Catonsville are these institutional places, much like Dundalk. When you think you’re from there, you’re proud of it, even if you don’t like it, because you’re like, I’m from RB, it’s Schwartz. I was texting Jim Schwartz, that Super Bowl champion, Jim Schwartz, man, he’s so proud of being from Arbutus. You don’t ever want to say Halethorpe or Catons, no Arbutus, dude, straight up.

N.Westcott 6:10
And even, even from Marylanders that don’t necessarily live in this area, in the area, if you say you live in health, listen, where’s that? Where is that? You say Arbutus? Hey, oh, you’re down in Cape, heard of that? Yeah, you’re near Catonsville. You near Cadence Valley. Yeah, that’s it. Arbutus, that’s what that’s what I always go with. Now, I tell them, “I live in Arbutus. So,

Nestor Aparicio 6:29
you’ve been a resident here, I guess. Tom Quirk was your councilman for a long period of time. Tom’s been on the show many times, and I love Tom having Tom on, because I get straight what Tom thinks, I mean, you agree with him, disagree with him, he’s liberal on some issues, but that’s an interesting kind of democrat in this district, and I know I think none of us know anything about the county at this point, right, with the redistricting and with the gerrymandering, and with, I have no idea who’s going to win the county executive, I mean, these are these are interesting races all the way around, and I know you’ve thrown your hat in the ring. Have you ever run for office before?

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N.Westcott 7:06
Yes, I ran for the state senate in 1998 while I was living in, living in the city, so

Nestor Aparicio 7:11
long time ago, long

N.Westcott 7:11
time ago, and it was a much more.. and I ran as an independent. I’ve been.. I was in an unaffiliated voter mob pretty much my entire voting life only, and when I had to renew my driver’s license in this upcoming in November of last year, because, of course, that’s when my driver license expired, I decided to change my political affiliation to Democrat, because I understood having run as an independent and having to go through the process of getting what was then 3% of the of the signatures to make the ballot, that’s how I was

Nestor Aparicio 7:41
going to run in the city. I was going to get 4100 signatures, 410,000 registered voters in the city, back 20. That’s how this whole thing started for me, with sports, was you, so you were going to get signatures.

N.Westcott 7:53
I was successful in getting those signatures. They were 98 in 98 There were a lot of complications and challenges, but we, but the state of Maryland, Maryland Board of Elections decided they didn’t want that fight, because I was able to present enough information about how raggedy the city, Baltimore City’s Board of Elections, was keeping its records, as they said that they decided they didn’t want that court fight because they didn’t like they were going to win, so I made the general election ballot, and where I actually lost in the general election, but the process of being an unaffiliated voter, I’ve come to understand and know that with Maryland’s two-party political system, the way it’s set up, it’s set up for them, that if you’re not

Nestor Aparicio 8:33
participating, if you’re not on the ballot in the primary, right, right, really, you’re not,

N.Westcott 8:36
so if you really want the opportunity to do good for the people around you that you’ve got to affiliate with that particular party that you most identify with, and for me that’s the Democratic Party. When you write to me,

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Nestor Aparicio 8:48
you said you’re an outsider in the Democratic.. um, what does that mean? Like, you know, because I’ve had Mandy on, I’ve had Tom on, I’ve had all sorts of councilmen people from the Democratic Party on, and I’m a registered Democrat. I’m much prouder of being a Democrat than I would be of being a Republican at this point, which I could never be again in my life, given this trash that’s been before us the last 10 years. But that being said, the Democratic Party was something that you didn’t want to be a part of. Now you feel like, do you feel affiliate with what has kept you away from it, that’s what I’m asking.

N.Westcott 9:21
Well, what has kept me away from is my core belief that you cannot serve the people and the party at the same time.

Nestor Aparicio 9:28
Fair enough.

N.Westcott 9:28
We see, we see a lot of things that go on that are based on party, not the folks that just

Nestor Aparicio 9:33
said that without saying it. I’m like all the Democrats, they say the same thing, right, because they have to,

N.Westcott 9:38
pretty much.

Nestor Aparicio 9:39
That’s what you’re saying, pretty much. Yeah, it’s

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N.Westcott 9:41
the same on the other side. Also, sure, it’s the same on the also at my, at my core. Ever since I was 18, when I registered to vote, whether for the time that I went to school at Old Dominion University and Hampton University, when I was in Virginia, I vote. I’ve always, I’ve always voted, I’ve always voted, but I’ve never believed you can serve the people and the party. At the same time, okay, we need, we actually, what we need in here are Democrats that are going to say, “Wait, have you lost your mind? That’s not in the best interest of people that we represent, certainly not in the best interest of people in District One that I expect to vote for me and send me to the county council.

Nestor Aparicio 10:17
Where do you feel like Democrats have gotten it wrong? Where have Democrats angered you, even though you’re running as one, because I like to hear this, because I, Democrats have angered me too, you know, putting up a candidate for president four years ago without, without going to a ballot, that’s crazy, and the Republicans threw that back in their face and lost, lost a really key election at the highest level, that’s why these groups run on the country right now, is because the Democrats couldn’t figure out how to get their own party to vote for their own person.

N.Westcott 10:43
Well, I think the Democrat, that I think that the Democratic Party has, has much like the other side, they’ve lost touch with the folks like you see these folks sitting on the base, there’s really a disconnect from the community. One of the things I’ve done differently is I’ve gotten mailers in my mailbox, I’ve gotten mail by the ton on myself. On the other hand, I have literally, and I can estimate I’ve delivered about 14,000 pieces of literature myself and spoke to these voters. And

Nestor Aparicio 11:15
your door knocking?

N.Westcott 11:15
Yes, I’m door knocking. As a matter of fact, as I’m dressed right now, I was out a swamping

Nestor Aparicio 11:20
car. Go by your car. You have a campaign car.

N.Westcott 11:22
Yes, I have a campaign car. So, when I, when I parked that car, but

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Nestor Aparicio 11:26
when you drive through, you can, you can canvas your own district in your own car, right? Fully in one day on a tank of gas, right? I mean, you really can, but, but it

N.Westcott 11:34
takes a little more than that if you want to engage with the voters. So, for example, I just yesterday, I’m in the supermarket, and I was behind the young lady who started, who started talking to me, and I happened to mention that I was running for office. Were you wearing

Nestor Aparicio 11:49
it?

N.Westcott 11:50
I was. Yes, I was. Wait, you should wear it every

Nestor Aparicio 11:52
minute till Tuesday night

N.Westcott 11:53
out that I’m running for office, but she didn’t have a lot of information on the folks, and this is just five days out from the election. Still, doesn’t have a lot of information, lives in Catonsville. Still, does she? She was at the wise wise supermarket here in Arbutus. Still doesn’t just have a lot of information on the folks that are running. Okay, I’ve gone to homes where a home, for example, and that I’ve gone to three times now. I’ve been left anything in a box, because it’s full of campaign mailers. No one lives at that house, but a voter was a probably at some point. I wanted to take a picture of it and put it on social media and say, this is why it’s important that you get out to see these people. Okay, and this, and it’s what I say, is you know, it’s not a statewide race, it’s not a countywide race, it’s not a congressional race. And my photo, there’s a picture of the diction of the district on every part of on every piece of my campaign literature in Southwest, the district is not that large, anybody that wants to wants to represent you should be willing to come and see you,

Nestor Aparicio 12:54
basically it goes up to Social Security in the county from from the bottom of the county line, let’s say from where the Key Bridge used to be to, if you’re driving the Beltway, little part of it on the south end is in Anne Arundel County, little part of that, but then the other part of the Beltway that runs right on up to, let’s say, right where the Frederick exit and where Social Security is, it’s everything in the county on that boot, it’s literally the southwest boot of, and here’s some out to Ellicott City, and down there were Anne Arundel County.

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N.Westcott 13:25
Great, yes, a portion of Ellicott City is in District One. I didn’t, I didn’t know that until I started running, running for office. So I’ve been out

Nestor Aparicio 13:33
part of Ellicott City’s in Baltimore County,

N.Westcott 13:35
part of Ellicott City is in Baltimore County, District One

Nestor Aparicio 13:39
to drive approximately

N.Westcott 13:41
847 voters

Nestor Aparicio 13:43
running for Baltimore County City, you’ve done your research, no doubt about it. District One,

N.Westcott 13:53
and I’ve been out there to see them.

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Nestor Aparicio 13:54
All right, well, your platform is in a give me the make me vote for you. I’m not, I don’t know, registered district one, but make me vote for you. Why am I voting for you? What am I getting when I vote for you?

N.Westcott 14:06
As we talked with the business owner that was here just a short moment ago, before we went back live again, I want to incentivize small small businesses. This small businesses are contributing to the cohesion of our community and their job creators, as we all know. You vote, we’ve all seen the numbers that small businesses employ more people. The majority of Americans work for small businesses. Okay, understood. And many of them,

Nestor Aparicio 14:30
right near their home, in their own district, right? Sure. And

N.Westcott 14:34
when school districts,

Nestor Aparicio 14:36
the whole bit, right? Yes.

N.Westcott 14:37
And when those businesses start, start having issues, what kind of programs can this can the county invest in? Okay, to incentivize those small business, that’s an issue where I believe that we would be much better spending our money there than spending $2 million to finance campaigns for candidates that elect the public public financing, and if. For example, this state, this currently the county will have to take, will have to shell out an estimate, a little over $2 million dollars, if all the candidates have that have elected to take the public financing, they’ll loot the county’s treasury of over $2 million When the county faces a five five and $47 million revenue shortfall,

Nestor Aparicio 15:18
did you get funded, or are you funded in any way, or grass roots.

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N.Westcott 15:22
I’ve had 52 donors, 52 donors haven’t received a single donation over $200 and I’m financing my campaign myself with the authorization of my wife, however, who I have to discuss everything, everything she’s she’s keeping

Nestor Aparicio 15:35
us

N.Westcott 15:36
the excellent you’re running a

Nestor Aparicio 15:39
family campaign that’s kind of cool, man.

N.Westcott 15:41
And back to the platform, I want to make sure that our schools meet the needs of all of our students. The first campaign, first what I can, what I considered my first campaign official campaign event, I went to Arbutus Middle School’s Arbutus Middle School, which is a community school. I went to that first mental ever mental health night on march 5, because I wanted to learn more about how a mental health is being addressed for students, whatever student is going, going is going through outside of school, it doesn’t stop when they come to school, and the Mellon legislature recently passed legislation to make it easier for mental health professionals to get credentialed in the state of Maryland to work in schools, if they’re credentialed in other states, it makes it create an easier pathway for them to get credentialed in the state, because when you have students that are experiencing mental health challenges in our schools, it affects the learning environment, the teaching environment, it affects the entire school environment, and what they’re going through, just as they put on hold for the six and a half hours that they’re in school, so let’s make sure that our schools are, we have quality schools that meet the needs of all of our students, of all of our, of all of our students. Also, want to protect our, I want to protect our utility rates. Okay, we’ve got candidates in this district one race that have been financed to the help, bought and paid for by special interests, including these folks that want to put data centers in our community, and one of the things I talked about at a candidate’s forum was that if the center that wants to go into in Harford County is going to increase the rates of residents in Baltimore County, simply because what they do is they then go to the utility company, and because of the PMJ, the seller for the utility, for the utility manager for the grid, they go to eliminate, they negotiate a rate that’s less because they’re using up so much energy, and so to make that up, the regular guy, you and I have to have an increased utility rate, because of that, we want to put plans in place, or legislation in place that says, hey, we, we don’t pay for the increased rates for utility companies, you can’t reduce their rate based on the volume of you of electricity, they get a better deal, billionaires, yeah, let them pay their way,

Nestor Aparicio 17:57
right, and their business too,

N.Westcott 17:59
and they’re busy, yes, and when it goes to Stevens

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Nestor Aparicio 18:02
Avenue, shouldn’t be paying more, right? Elon Musk for energy.

N.Westcott 18:06
Absolutely,

Nestor Aparicio 18:07
I agree with that.

N.Westcott 18:08
And so, so let’s put some, let’s put some of the, some of that legislation in place, and let’s protect the rates of our of our rate payers, and let not the smoke and mirror statements of, we do, we’ve moved to protect utility rates when everybody knows I pay my own utility bill, no one pays it for me. I can see that my utility rates have gone up.

Nestor Aparicio 18:26
You wonder who really is advocating to keep that down, who’s trying, who’s looking out for you as it goes up, right?

N.Westcott 18:34
And that’s, and that’s another one of those areas where Democrats have failed.

Nestor Aparicio 18:38
I would agree with that,

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N.Westcott 18:39
that they, where they failed you and I, the voters who put them in office, because they, they need the campaign donations, they need the, they are incentivized by big business, major corporations against to do their bidding against what’s in the best interest of us, and that’s one of the things that got to be, gotta, that’s one of the things that we definitely need to put a stop to. Nimrod Westcott,

Nestor Aparicio 19:04
the fifth, is here. He’s running for Baltimore County Council in one. I am over here in Arbutus, his hometown. Sorrento of Arbutus is our host sponsor today for the Maryland Crab Gate Tour presented by the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with GBMC and Farnham and Dermer. Nimrod wrote to me about a week and a half ago. I didn’t find his email. If I have any last-minute candidates that are hearing this or out there, throw me a note, I’ll do my best. The notion that people are going to vote on Tuesday, what’s your Tuesday look like? I mean, you’re just going to canvas the local precincts here, and yes, we can

N.Westcott 19:38
on.. we will not be able to be at every where there are 2420 places in this district, and we will not be able to 14

Nestor Aparicio 19:48
hours. We’re open, 1314, 1313, hours, 13 hours, 7am to 8pm seven to eight. Not see, okay, seven eight. I haven’t had anybody on from a nap. There are 20,

N.Westcott 19:58
there are 24 there are. 24 polling places in this district, and we won’t be able to hit all of them, that we’re going to be hitting as much as many of them as we can. So, well, show your vehicle, people

Nestor Aparicio 20:08
know when you’re coming.

N.Westcott 20:09
Yeah, and also back to the platform. The other thing is, as a part of my platform, is I really, I want to make it harder to be a bad landlord in Baltimore County. Okay, you would not believe the way some people are living in rental property in Baltimore County, and you, you oftentimes think that it’s in, like, maybe apartment complex apartment communities, or or primary rental communities, but there are single-family homes that have bad landlords. Okay, there are also single-family homes, a landlord, if you, if you’ve got a home, a second home that I, that you’re renting out, you’re actually a small business in Baltimore County, so you fall under me wanting to incentivize my small business, wanting to incentivize small business, but we cannot have bad landlords, because bad landlords create environments where some of the most problematic issues of our society thrive, and we always want to think we want to look at maybe social economic status, but we have to look at those folks that are exploiting the exploiting the lack or the need of the most vulnerable of us, house and house and the housing that they’re presenting. Also, another, another thing that we can do in Baltimore County. I’ll ask you, Nestor, if you were, if you were adding on to your home. Okay, let’s say you were adding on to your home, and you laid a foundation for that home, and when you, before you put the, put a structure on top of it, who had, where do you put, before you even get started, where do you go to pull the pork permits?

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Nestor Aparicio 21:36
You got to go to the county, pull, you got to go to the

N.Westcott 21:37
county, okay? When you get the electrical done, and it’s ready to be inspected. Who do you go? Who do you call to inspect

Nestor Aparicio 21:44
it? The county. The county comes to

N.Westcott 21:46
inspect it. When you get the plumbing ready, plumbing done, it has to be inspected. Who do you call it inspected?

Nestor Aparicio 21:51
County.

N.Westcott 21:51
The county, Baltimore County, could be its own developer. It doesn’t need to be. It does. We don’t need county councilmen that say that they can’t be honest unless they’re taking taxpayer money to finance their campaigns, because that’s literally what they’re saying. If you listen to what they say, they’re saying, “Oh, because I’m taking public financing, I’m taking taxpayer dollars to line the street with signs, because if I take money from a developer, I’m going to have to be holding to the developer. I’m not beholding anybody that made a campaign contribution to me, and they’re not all outside of the district. Okay, it’s your personal integrity, shouldn’t be defined by who gives you money to run for office. Oh, that’s yeah, but that’s total nonsense. But the end, it’s worked. It’s worked in areas like Lexington, Massachusetts, worked in Portland, Oregon, it’s worked in Atlanta, Georgia, and it’s worked more closer to home in Montgomery County, where the county has been its own developer on projects. If the county were its own developer, it could ease its 19,000 housing shortage of 19,000 housing units. It could also eliminate the 20 30% profit that developers want to extract from the community, and also make it easier for its modern, moderate income earners, like first responders, police, teachers, to get a first home by being the seller of the home that we, that they built as part of a program of being a county employee.

Nestor Aparicio 23:20
Sure,

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N.Westcott 23:21
we can, we can move more teachers. I met a group of our teachers, a mother and three daughters, while I was out campaigning, and they all live in the same home. They’re all teachers at the same school here in Baltimore County, but they all live in, and they all live in the same home. The cost, and the ability, the ability to own a home has gotten to be gotten ridiculous, but county could do a lot in that area also,

Nestor Aparicio 23:46
and with recruitment and keeping the teachers as well. There you go, and that’s.. I hear that with teachers, doctors, all of that. With move around, Nimrod Westcott is here. Final shot for you, because I’ve talked to so many people. When you knock doors and you say, and they see you’re clearly a man running for office. I mean, you’re wearing it right now, as you should be, right? What, what do you hear the most of? I’m interested to hear that, because I’ve heard from people at the councilman level, state senator level, county executive, people running for these offices. As far as they’re knocking on a door, and some of them are knocking in Dundalk or Towson, places you aren’t, you’re over here in one on the southwest side. What’s the thing you hear the most from the most people here about a complaint? Or this is the way, if you’re my councilman, you can look out for me. I’ll give

N.Westcott 24:33
you an example. This is an example, and I’m going to tell you what it is, is that we’re not listening to them, the voters aren’t being listened to. That’s one of the biggest complaints I get. And a perfect example, I’m in Catonsville. Met a gentleman, and we were, and we were talking. He talked about, he asked me a question, and I answered the question. He says, “Well, you know, I asked one of your opponents who was here. Who had been to his home, also, and he said he asked the opponent, one of my opponents in this race, and they gave him the resume, didn’t answer the question, we gave him the resume, and here’s what I say, if you, when you, when you speak to someone who’s had a proximity to, who’s been had that close a proximity to power for that long, and has not, and and you still feel like you’re not being listened to by a person that’s now running for office, that’s an easy call, that’s an easy call. What

Nestor Aparicio 25:31
got you in was there a moment last year, year before you’ve been thinking about it, because you ran for office 28 years. Okay, what

N.Westcott 25:38
got me in was one problem primary this this whole pension thing when these guys went and I said, and I’m, oh, that was

Nestor Aparicio 25:49
filthy.

N.Westcott 25:51
I’m like, I live in the county, you gotta be.. I’m like, I just got a guy up in Hereford, he

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Nestor Aparicio 25:57
avoided me, he never wanted to come on the show. Koch, I don’t even know how to pronounce his name, Wade. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, just I’m gonna retire in the middle to make sure I get my pension right. I mean, it

N.Westcott 26:07
is.. it was

Nestor Aparicio 26:08
county politics has gotten a lot dirtier than I ever thought it was for me as a county resident citizen. I am incredibly disgruntled with the Kathy Kloss Meyer appointment. I thought that, that to me, that got my radar up two years ago to say, because I never felt that way about Johnny. Johnny to me, I’ve been dealing with Johnny for years. Johnny to this minute, if I text him, Johnny’s always been running up and up with me. Oh, so I can say that not everybody has been. Johnny was Johnny left the county. County’s gone downhill without Johnny, right? For whatever it is, so whatever we elect this week or six months from now, whoever, whomever it is, it’s got to go back to being better than it was.

N.Westcott 26:49
It’s got to be. It’s did

Nestor Aparicio 26:52
a nice job too. I mean, I think we’ve had Jim Smith. I think we’ve had decent leadership here over the course of time, and there have been times I’ve gone through in the county, the county, not your district, is the end. The city, I feel like the city’s gotten a lot better. And I tell Brandon that if he were here, you know, from when Jack Young had it, and when I lived in the city and lost my quarter of a million dollars, my property, because I couldn’t get my property away. I lived at the harbor, so I mean, I, that’s what motivated me to be the pissed off citizen sports washed-up radio guy, Nasty Nestor, to want to talk about this stuff, because it’s the most important thing that’s going on.

N.Westcott 27:24
It, it was just watching what I, what I characterize in a piece of a camp, my campaign literature as a legislative theft.

Nestor Aparicio 27:32
Okay,

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N.Westcott 27:32
they’re passing legislation to fatten themselves and then walk out the door. I mean, and while we can’t get speed mitigation devices in communities where kids, where kids walk to school or play. You just

Nestor Aparicio 27:47
mentioned the number one complaint. I’m glad it came up second or third, but the one thing I’ve heard from everybody running, everyone person to person, black, white, east, west, democrat, republican, all the way traffic citizens here are pissed off about the way people are driving in front of their houses. I’m way more.. I don’t live in a place where people are speeding by my house every day, but I get on a beltway every day. It’s insane what’s happened with driving in our community the last 15 years. Insane,

N.Westcott 28:19
right? Right. But, but we want to give $2 million to candidates to run for office, as opposed to making sure that kids can walk to school safely by putting some speed mitigation devices there. I’m at one of our community visibility events at Catonsville Middle School, and I was having a conversation with a crossing guard who also occasionally works at Halethorpe, I think I’m just, I’m, I’m thinking it was Hailthorpe Elementary School, where there are no, there are no traffic mitigation devices around Help, around, I think it’s Health Folk Elementary, I apologize, no traffic mitigation devices around that school, and I said, listen, if I’m successful, I will make sure that we make some efforts to get some traffic mitigation devices around health of elementary school to protect those kids, so

Nestor Aparicio 29:07
I, I’m thinking of the schools that I drive past that have those speed bumps, traffic mitigation, he’s running for office, speed bumps, what I call from Dundalk, yeah, so, but how those happen, I go back to my neighborhood in Colgate, East Point, East Side. The neighborhood over had a tragedy, and one day I went through that neighborhood. It was Johnny O’s old neighborhood, Eastwood. Every corner had four-way stop signs in a little row house neighborhood, and that happened 50, I mean, long time ago. And since my adulthood, I’m thinking of schools that I drive through around Towson. There’s be bumps around a lot of schools, a lot, a lot of schools, right. How does it happen? So, you get angry people in Halethorpe that say we need to have this in front of our, like, is it the council person that’s in charge of it, is it is it the police that say we’re having problems here, is it citizen. And then who at the county says we’re going to send the concrete crew out to put, I mean, you know what I mean, feels like it’s an eight hour job for a group of four people, and this is what they do all day, they work for the county, right? Like, how hard can it be to put the pour some concrete? I’m just asking, okay,

N.Westcott 30:16
it’s well, here’s what they always go back to, whether or not the funding exists to do it, okay, but and is

Nestor Aparicio 30:25
it in the budget?

N.Westcott 30:26
Is it in the budget? And you and you could go to to the transit department for the further county and say, hey, we want to do a do an impact study here to see what the effect of these mid speed mitigation means when I was when speed mitigation devices, the reason I say mitigation devices is because it doesn’t always have to be, it doesn’t always have to be speed bumps, right? It could also be the, it could also be the school crossing camera signals that say to you, when the, when the lights are flashing, you have to slow down, what

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Nestor Aparicio 30:56
they do in front of NDP up airs, give me a damn ticket every time I go through, and unless you don’t drive on the road anymore, that’s what I’ll do. Bumps, and they gave me a ticket.

N.Westcott 31:06
Well, yeah, were you speeding?

Nestor Aparicio 31:10
I can’t hear you. I didn’t think I was okay.

N.Westcott 31:15
Yeah, but the process, the process needs to can can definitely be streamlined. It doesn’t, it doesn’t have to, it doesn’t have to be that, that, that arduous, but you are convoluting about

Nestor Aparicio 31:30
people talking. Yes,

N.Westcott 31:31
they’re folks talking about traffic, that’s a

Nestor Aparicio 31:34
story. I don’t know what the election can do about that, but I do know it’s been on everyone’s tongue, that and the thing for the county as a whole, which is people leaving, is your district shrunk? Obviously, they’ve all shrunk, because there was.. it went from seven to nine, so there’ll be less people. But just in a general sense, or is there a flight in your district?

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N.Westcott 31:54
I don’t.. I’m not exactly sure if there’s a flight in the district, or how seriously is someone growing

Nestor Aparicio 32:00
district or shrinking district, that to make sure it’s not shrinking. I want to make sure

N.Westcott 32:04
we definitely want to make sure it’s not shrinking, but what I do know is that in this, in this district, when you talk about when we talk about the restaurant in Casey, we mentioned earlier that closed, when we talk about the

Nestor Aparicio 32:17
Dimitris, yeah,

N.Westcott 32:18
yeah, when we talk, when we talk about the Rite Aid that was down here at the corner that just closed the, and not, not half a mile away, the Walgreens up here that just closed. I see the businesses are leaving. Oh, and this, this business here is now is now vacant. This convenience store here is now is now vacant. They were in doing some work around some, the county was actually in doing some work around the road there recently, so we see we’re starting to see a lot of vacant business properties, and this is just in this small area. This is less than two miles, these two, these business from here to that Walgreens, that’s for business, that’s four businesses, and it’s less, it’s less than two miles, less than two miles, and what that suggests is what that suggests is the revenue pool is shrinking, which means that maybe the folks that took that traffic add to those businesses and patronize, patronize those businesses is getting smaller, so it’s possible that we are facing that shrinkage, it’s something that would definitely be looking at to find out how we can, how we can maintain and sustain our population, maybe even looking at maybe population density studies to see where we can better utilize the county as a developer with regard to housing, what fits, and when you look at some of the some of the and some of the areas of this county of this district are definitely less off than others, when you, for example, Lansdowne, Riverview, they just seem to be forgotten communities when it comes to develop, when it comes to development and county resources, so, and those are definitely some things that can be discussed, another thing that I’ve discussed publicly in candidate forms is a more equitable distribution of the 30 $37.2 million that the county is expected to take in from Providence, private insurers, and Medicare and Medicaid for ambulance services, with regard to an more equitable distribution for our volunteer fire companies. Our volunteer fire companies save the county millions of dollars in wages for personnel, health care costs, million, and also in equipment and facilities. And I know that in class, my fire mentioned that on the air in years in Klaus Meyer’s budget, she increased the funding for volunteer fire companies, but is it equitable based on the amount of lifesaving work that the county firefighters do do, in addition to our professional firefighters. I’ll share this story about my. Own experience. I suffered a stroke in 2019 I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, the least common and most deadly. Only about 20% of individuals have hemorrhagic strokes. 80% of them die.

Nestor Aparicio 35:14
Wow,

N.Westcott 35:15
that’s the, that’s the numbers on your

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Nestor Aparicio 35:17
miracle running for office. Pretty,

N.Westcott 35:18
pretty much. I mean, I couldn’t feed myself, I couldn’t toll it myself, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t write my own name. Okay, and at the at one point I couldn’t walk from where we’re sitting right now to that bench right there. Seven years ago, seven years ago now. Congratulations. Now my wife thought I was joking when I when I crawled up the stairs, she thought I was joking, but I wasn’t, so the both the volunteer fire company and the professional fire company came to my house, both at both of them, but both, both of them came to my house, and they made the decision, they made the decision that I should go to the university, the University of Maryland Shock Trauma, I live in, I live right around, I don’t live too far from here, which means we had to pass the stroke center at St. Anderson Hospital. We had to pass a stroke center and go another two miles, because based on their assessment, that’s where I should be of my condition, that’s where I should be, not at St. Anderson Hospital. So that’s what he took us, and I’m fortunate that neither my, I’m grateful that neither my wife or myself knew that there was a stroke center there, because the warden, she would insist that they take me right to Saint Agnes, right? So, but she’s, but we’re unaware of it, and I think that’s part of what helped my, what I helped my recovery, because I got that level of help at that location, and they were able to make that decision, so we, so I can tell you personally that they do life-saving work. Okay? Right? Right. Our volunteer company, this volunteer company, our Buddhist Volunteer Fire Company, oh, save right here. So we need to do so, and so when someone says, if someone says, where to say, “Hey, I think you’re that you’re probably be influenced by them. Oh, yeah, definitely. I’m definitely influenced by them. Too often, when we talk about public safety, when you sit here about public safety, you think about crime and police. You don’t think about whether or not an ambulance is going to be available to get to your home to get you to the right kind of help to save your life. Well, that’s public safety, also

Nestor Aparicio 37:22
big time. Nimrod Westcott, the fifth, is running for Baltimore County Council, and one. We are in one. We are in our beautiful, some beautiful Sorrento, his hometown, my adopted hometown, and Jim Schwartz’s real hometown. So, I get to give you a Maryland treasure scratch off. You’re going with Boardwalk, you’re going with Key Bridge, you’re going with ponies, are you going? I’m going with

N.Westcott 37:43
the ponies, you’re

Nestor Aparicio 37:44
going, everybody’s taking the ponies, Galileo. I might, oh, I got, I got one, everybody, all the girls have been taking the ponies. I’m gonna give you a pony right now. Good luck to you, and one. And I would just say, for anybody out there, the Teddy Roosevelt me honors you, and you’re throwing your hat in. You’re in the ring, you know what I mean. You’re not from the outside, you’re trying to go at it from the inside. Make sure you’re voting on the 23rd or before. Make sure you’re getting the right ballots. Everybody out there, you know how strongly I feel about democracy, which is bringing on candidates like Nimrod Westcott the fifth, who is running right here on the southwest side of town, in the, I should say, newly created one, one exists, but if you’re a Baltimore County voter resident, get yourself educated over the next couple of days, if you’re not, about new districting and the gerrymandering and everything that went on, so you know who you’re voting for and what their campaign platforms are about, and trying to make the county stronger, because I live here, work here, was educated here, own a business here. So, Baltimore County’s important to me. Even you folks out here in Arbutus are important to me. How about that? Even though I’m from Dundalk, awesome. Well, stay, step back, take a break. I had a delicious crab cake here. It is the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. It is presented by our friends at the Maryland Lottery, conjunction with GBMC, who is trying to save my life, but keep me off the French fries out here at Sorrento’s and over Pizza John’s and everywhere else, as well as Farnham and Dermer. They can save you. They saved my plumbing last month. We had a little flood. Also, HVAC. If it’s getting bad this weekend, call them ahead of time. If you know your thing’s gonna break down the first 100 degree day, don’t wait to call Zach. 410 36777 I am Nestor, we are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. Back, we’re gonna get Harold on, talk crab cakes, talk loafers, talk Sorrento. We’re here in Arbutus, we are Baltimore positive. Stay with us,