By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates (D) will host his second annual solutions pact town hall on May 20 at Huber Memorial Church at 5700 Loch Raven Blvd. The event is expected to begin at 6 p.m. and end at 8 p.m., addressing juvenile crime and empowering the youth.
The solutions pact town halls aim to give the community and local leaders a time and place to discuss solutions for a number of the public safety issues Baltimore is facing.
“We’re not just talking about ‘we need to lock up our children,’ but what are some real solutions to what the young people are going through,” said Bates. “We just want to sit down with the community to not only hear their frustration, but also to hear from any young people, hopefully, that will come out so we can hear what their frustration is as well.”
Residents who attend will be able to ask questions, connect their children with summer programs and get information on the different services offered by city agencies.
“This is your opportunity to be heard,” said Bates.
Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway (D-District 04) and several local officials from Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, the Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City Public Schools will be present.
“We want to have all the right people at the table to talk about how we can support each other, support our youth and make sure that we have real progress going forward,” said Conway.
Conway addressed what he believes is the lingering problem concerning juvenile crime rates in Baltimore.
“There have been instances where young people have been arrested in one day, released that same day and then get arrested again,” said Conway. “We want to make sure that in instances where they should be detained–and sometimes that is the case–we actually do that and our system is working correctly.”