Today a conversation with Baltimore City Mayor Catherine Pugh. She assumed office 11 months ago, and has undertaken a number of new initiatives in the areas of violence reduction and economic development. Earlier this month, Baltimore submitted a bid along with several cities across the continent to become the home of Amazon's second headquarters. A couple of weeks ago, the mayor and Governor Larry Hogan announced the next phase of the “North Avenue Rising” project, a $27 million dollar effort to improve transit and pedestrian options along North Avenue. Now that the mayor has chosen the members of the Civilian Oversight Taskforce, we'll talk about the status of the Baltimore Police Department's consent decree with the Justice Department; and the mayor's plan to curb violence in the city as the city mourns its 296th homicide this year.
We'll also talk about the mayor's plan to help the estimated 2,600 people experiencing homelessness in Baltimore. Some advocates for the homeless say that the city isn’t addressing homelessness in a meaningful way. Last week, the mayor said it might cost as much as $350 million to end homelessness in the city.
