The Inner Harbor area of Baltimore City is being terrorized by "black youth mobs" and city and state officials are "covering it up," according to one Baltimore County Republican.
"This has been going on for years," said Del. Pat McDonough, a Middle River Republican who also represents part of Harford County.
"I have a responsibility as an elected official to bring this to the public's attention," the delegate said, adding that "roving mobs of black youth are responsible for the attacks."
A spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake declined to comment directly to McDonough's remarks.
"Del. McDonough's sad and racially-charged publicity stunt is not deserving of a response and Mayor Rawlings-Blake is proud of the men and women of the Baltimore Police Department for reducing crime to historic lows. As an elected official, Del. McDonough should show more respect for the work our police officers do with the community to make Baltimore safer," spokesman Ryan O'Doherty wrote in an email.
McDonough said he and his wife were recently driving through the Inner Harbor area when they witnessed "a mob of nearly 100 people "battling" in the middle of the street. It was a pretty frightening sight."
McDonough cited recent violent episodes in the city including shootings during New Years Eve celebrations and beating of a man on St. Patrick's Day as evidence that the city is a dangerous place to visit.
"People, retired police officers, have been calling me telling me this has been going on for a long time and the city and the mayor are covering it up," McDonough said, adding that he believes Gov. Martin O'Malley should send in Maryland State Police to assist in patrolling the Inner Harbor area.
He also said the area should be declared a "no travel zone."
"The State Department does it all the time for people traveling to the Middle East and other areas," McDonough said. "People need to be alerted that there's a danger."
Rawlings-Blake's administration objected to McDonough's assertion that it was covering up crime downtown. In January the mayor, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Dr. Andres Alonso and Baltimore police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III held a press conference heralding the city's achievement in reducing juvenile violence.
According to a news release, last year the city reduced youth violence by 37 percent over the previous two years, while reducing juvenile arrests by 60 percent in the same time period.
McDonough's use of the term "black youth mob" in interviews and a press release emailed Wednesday has drawn attention because of racial overtones. The delegate was questioned about his word choice Thursday morning on WBAL 1090 AM.
"If this was a bunch of skinheads doing this the reports would say it's a bunch of white skinheads," McDonough said in an interview with Patch. "I could have said Chinese youth but that would have been inaccurate. That would be dishonest."
"People are preoccupied with race," McDonough said. "They are not preoccupied with public safety."
McDonough said there have been other incidents involving mobs of white youth in the Fells Point and Canton areas of the city.
When asked why he didn't put out a press release decrying youth violence in general, McDonough said: "Those incidents were a rarity."
McDonough criticized Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake as being more interested in promoting the Baltimore Grand Prix than dealing with the issue of youth violence.
"If she would dedicate that energy and resources to youth outreach, community centers and better intelligence tools for police, I think the city would be a lot safer," McDonough said.
O'Malley Friday downplayed McDonough's comments and said the city is safer.
"Baltimore City has reduced crime by a greater percentage than any major city in America in the last 10 years," O'Malley said. "Pat should come and visit some time."
There are other pathologies out there, sir: materialistic anomie, drug and alcohol addiction, chronic depression. Funny how these little painful bumps in your Happy Valley Highway are aggravated by poverty, which is the same in West Virginia as it is in East Baltimore. Good luck to you and your family. I raised three boys to healthy adulthood in Baltimore and they are wiser and less judgmental, but none the worse for the experience. You have called me an idiot on several occasions. Would you sauce it up a little? You don't exactly sound like a Nobel winner when you repeat the same insults. Pardner.
If you are the person you claim to be and you bolted and headed for the hills. I see that as cowardice. If your forbears, bolted and headed for the hills you need to reclaim what was yours. The suburban lifestyle is doomed and, if you are as smart as you claim to be, you know it in your core. Truth never hurts and I respect the sauce. Frankly--and earnestly--you can keep your mainstream Fox News cant and keep it real. It is utter garbage. I have great respect for your latest post. All coming from an idiot. Pilgrim.
How the newspapers and TV have misrepresented the efforts of the urban poor is nearly criminal.
Why is this kind of super-resourcing not part of public policy? I mean, we sometimes spend tens of thousands of dollars to treat lesions smaller than a thumbnail. Some folks here even call the circumstances of the urban poor pathological, call it cancer--and then begrudge treatment. I have no beef with you, ParkvilleHoney.
Are you going to back off your former extreme vitriol now and talk about "SOME low-life scum"? Not fences. No robocops. No menu of sidewalk sandwiches. Not armed to the teeth and loaded for bear. In that case, I have no quarrel with you either. Otherwise, it's me and you at High Noon.
You want to do away with due process? What about blowing people up with drones? Cultural norm? You know you are painting with a push broom here.
Schools do not produce anything. People are not widgets or cars, circuit boards or vats of polymers. School grow people. They finish what families start and what communities cultivate. You are asking too much of schools. At the very least you are regarding schools and an education as commodities. They are not commodities. There is no unambiguous evidence that charter schools do a better job than public schools. There is no fast and true evidence that an outsourced teaching workforce is better than a unionized one. Schools do not work so well these days, I'll grant you. The pursuit of a solution is a far more complicated venture. We could work on this here on Patch, if anyone is interested.
Thanks for not hating me any more.
Obviously, the world is full of producers--in Indonesia, in China, in India--who consume very little. Who is buying all of the products?
http://innerharborviolencenightmaresonlightstreet.renthandy.com/
Now do something abut it..... if you care.
Is that so hard to swallow? Apparently. Do you people who 'fear' for your lives by roving bands of black kids downtown realize that: 63.4% of the city (and don't you perry hall nimby's EVER call it yours) is Black, and this year 10/196 homicides so far involved Whites? So (let's do the math, PHHS probably taught it to the Whites...) 5.1% of murder victims were White. 36.7% of the population here is White. ARE YOU DAFT? You have to A) Do drugs B) Sell drugs or C) Tell police about A &/or B to be killed. This society POSIONS it's minority youth. Kids are jerks, everywhere. Social media/ technology is a big player these days. Check your terminology, check your privilege, and check your internal biases (we ALL have them. Yes, even YOU) And stay FAR away from my city, please, at least until you can look at people and see humans.. Your ticky-tacky houses don't resonate here.
I like your perspective. Jump in on one of the live threads.