Baltimore Young Adults Express Dissatisfaction With City
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore listeners got an ear full as young adults voiced dissatisfaction with the city.
Pat Warren reports they broadcast their complaints on WOLB Radio Tuesday.
WOLB calls it "The Summer of Us." Much has been said about the unrest that led to violence in Baltimore.
"Everyone is at the table saying youth had the uprising and youth is doing all of the different things," said one. "We want to have youth healing the city, as well."
The dissatisfaction was apparent.
"I again hope that we don't miss this opportunity to sit down at the table," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
"Yes, we have been to those meetings and our voices have not been heard--even when we project them," said one caller.
"There is no investment in the black community to people who can actually do something with the money," said another.
"I think the main problem we have is a lack of trust," said a caller.
"It's not just what happened in the last two months. It's been happening for years from what I'm hearing from them. This has been happening for years," said Pastor Westley West, of Faith Empowered Ministries.
West,who's in his 20s, was on the front line of the peaceful protests surrounding the death of Freddie Gray. He tells WJZ there's a broad spectrum of concerns that should be addressed.
"They don't feel as though they're important," he said. "We found them to be some of the sharpest, smartest individuals there. However, they focus more on the hurt than the solutions."
"We don't trust anyone. We don't trust the police that come in our neighborhoods; we don't trust the politicians that say they are about us. How many people have said they're about us? How many people have had that platform and said, `We're going to do this for you guys; we're going to do it; we're about you.' How many people have said they were grassroots and they are not," said Leslie Napper.
Mayor Rawlings-Blake urges cooperation.
"We have to look at all of ourselves as resources and figure out a way that we can work together," she said.
The mayor said on-air she looks forward to future conversations.
A new project called One Baltimore is coordinating a citywide effort to resolve immediate and longstanding problems.
