Commentary

Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins is due in federal court on Wednesday to answer to an indictment accusing him of conspiring and making false statements to illegally acquire machine guns for a local gun range owner. Immediately after his initial appearance, the sheriff should turn over day-to-day operations to someone else in the sheriff’s office and take administrative leave until the case is resolved.

In deciding to set aside a proposal to ban the sale and use of gasoline powered leaf blowers, the Montgomery County Council is jeopardizing the health of its citizens and especially its lawn care workers, many of whom are people of color. The Council’s Transportation and Environment Committee voted for the proposal, but the full Council has tabled it, which means the proposal is on hold.

It is time for Baltimore to put one of its prime assets — vacant properties — in the bank. Yes, our vacant properties are an asset. They are land, which Malcolm X called the “basis of freedom, justice and equality.” A land bank authority for the city would accelerate the pace of community investment and move communities closer to the kind of progress Malcolm X had in mind.

It is poignant that, as we mark the 55-year anniversary of the landmark Fair Housing Act, creating the government’s duty to affirmatively further fair housing, and as the Biden administration seeks to strengthen this mandate, the City of Baltimore demonstrates a continuing failure to give this obligation the weight it deserves. This act requires that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and any recipient of federal funds through HUD must not only not discriminate but they must take “meaningful actions to overcome patterns of segregation and foster inclusive communities.”

The landlord of my first apartment had been avoiding returning my security deposit for weeks. I was a polite 23-year-old but insistent about what I was owed — I think I may have implied a knowledge of real estate law and thrown in a “forthwith” or two. Unable to find a legitimate reason to just keep my money, he instead implied that the real problem was me, exaggeratedly wiggling his neck when he spat the word “attitude” like he was an extra on “Good Times.”

Mayor Brandon Scott, like most of us, is clearly frustrated by the levels of gun violence in Baltimore, including Sunday night’s attack on two young people, a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old, on the 400 Block of East Pratt Street in the Inner Harbor, which sent both teens to area hospitals. The mayor has probably used the word “unacceptable” more times than one can count and would no doubt offer less polite phrasing if he thought for a moment it might lower the victim count.