By Monet A. Stevens
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Only eight residents attended a Baltimore County Council public hearing last Tuesday to voice their opinion on County Executive Kevin Kamenetz’s proposed $1.98 billion budget for the 2017 fiscal year.
Jessica Skillman, a resident of the historic Sudbrook Park who was one of only four people who spoke, said she has been trying to convince the council to allocate money toward repaving the roads and sidewalks in her neighborhood.
Skillman said the homes in her section of the neighborhood were built in the 1940s and that there have not been any sidewalk renovations since then.
“It’s just really become an unsafe place for anyone to go,” Skillman said. “Streets are literally land-sliding after rains. Parents push their children’s wheelchairs on the same streets that crumble under their feet.”
Skillman said that after four years of complaining about the issue, the council has done nothing to fix the problem. Skillman said she has made calls to council offices, sent pictures of the damage, written letters, and used the council’s online system to file her complaints.
“They always told me they didn’t have enough money, or they’d say they’d come, and they wouldn’t,” Skillman said.
The Public Works Department, which would handle these kinds of repairs, would receive $113.39 million under the budget proposal before the council.
In addition to highway and equipment maintenance, the department is responsible for solid waste management, traffic engineering, transportation planning, engineering and construction. In spite of Kamenetz promises to make the county’s outdoor areas safe, Skillman and her community said they still feel left out.
Skillman said a 10-year-old boy was knocked unconscious recently when he was riding his bike in the neighborhood and hit gravel on the street.
Skillman, who has two young children of her own, said she hopes to see more cooperation between the county executive and the council to get the problem solved. Skillman said there seems to be some kind of “political road black where citizens are being punished.”
“We pay taxes, and we deserve a safe community to live in,” Skillman said.
The council assured Skillman that the county would fix the roads.
Former Baltimore County Council member Berchie Manley of Catonsville told the council that police officers should have marked, take-home cruisers.
“We need take-home police cars for all officers, even street officers,” Manley said at the hearing. “Our citizens support the cause, our police like the cause and now is the appropriate time.”
Manley said she has lived in Catonsville for over five decades and comes from a community with several police officers who have take-home vehicles. According to Manley, she has never had to lock her doors at night because she feels like those police cars provide a sense of security to the entire community.
— Rodney Brown contributed to this report.