Dispatch from our Annual Meeting
On May 9th, the Orokawa Y hosted local dignitaries and our neighborhood for the West Towson Neighborhood Associations annual meeting. Roughly 30 neighbors and board members joined State Delegate Cathi Forbes, State Senator Mary Washington, the Y Executive Director Jovan Custis, and Assistant Commander Deneisha Seaman of the Towson police precinct. Here are some highlights of the information shared:
State Delegate Cathi Forbes focused on her role in the State Legislator working on education and economic development.
The Maryland State Economy faced a $3 billion shortfall for a number of reasons. However, a major impact to the Maryland budget comes from expected job cuts for Federal workers. Delegate Forbes shared that 10% of the Maryland workforce is a Federal government employee. As these jobs are lost, Maryland loses the tax revenue and spending power in the State. The Legislator put together a budget that helps to bridge the gap by doing things like freezing unlaunched University spending programs and reducing existing funding by 10%, recalibrating tax brackets, and increasing tolls.
Delegate Forbes also shared the success and expansion of the community schools model as part of the Maryland State Blueprint for education.
The Y’s Executive Director Jovan Custis highlighted capital improvements to the Y such as new equipment and made the appeal for the neighborhood’s financial support of Y camps. He mentioned that 200 families required assistance to ensure that their children had access to free summer camp.
State Senator Mary Washington focused on the impact of instability at the Federal level on the State and what the State government is looking to do to offset the impacts.
Senator Washington shared the impact of the pause in Medicaid reimbursement and how that created a $400 million gap in the State budget. Though reimbursement resumed, Senator Washington shared that legislative effort was needed to cope with the short term hole created.
Senator Washington further built on the impact of Federal job reductions in Maryland and highlighted that the State expects 50 thousand fewer jobs in the State next year. She highlighted that the neighborhood was investing in a Federal Job Loss Resource Hub to help displaced Federal workers.
In response to a quest, Senator Washington mentioned her work to help curb increasing energy costs by better holding BG&E accountable to not charge customers for infrastructure upgrades.
In response to a question, Senator Washington shared that she hadn’t seen any increased manufacturing activity in Maryland as a result of tariffs. Instead she pointed to the Port of Baltimore still working to recover from the dual hits of COVID and the Key Bridge collapse. She raised concerns that continued tariffs could impact the volume of goods through Baltimore’s port.
Assistant Commander Deneisha Seaman of Towson’s 6th precinct provided an overall stable to positive picture on crime in the area.
Overall crime is stable in the area with the most problematic major crime being burglary and car theft. Assistant Commander Seaman shared that the most frequently targeted makes were Kia, Hyundai, and Acura. She also shared that there was a cyclical uptake of daytime robberies primarily by groups of out of State women.
Assistant Commander Seaman also shared success in bringing new officers onboard to help fill staffing gaps.
In response to a question, she said that the data didn’t reflect increased traffic incidents since the legalization of marijuana.
Board President Bill Smith ended the evening by sharing Baltimore County Councilman Mike Ertel’s regrets and thanking the board members from West Towson Neighborhood Association.
