Mayor doubles down on squeegee strategy; video shows beating in area targeted for ban
BALTIMORE -- Mayor Brandon Scott is doubling down on the new strategy to ban squeegeeing at six Baltimore intersections starting early next year. It will also provide monthly payments to some squeegee workers if they join training programs and agree to stay off the corners.
"We have a plan. There's support for the plan across the board," Scott said Friday.
He maintains those who break the law will face consequences.
"We enforce laws each and every day. You heard us talk about arresting young people who squeegee for some Cash App theft last week," the mayor said.
Dramatic images from Chopper 13 showed that arrest. You see officers chasing one suspect on foot before taking him into custody. According to charging documents, three squeegee workers took a driver's phone and tried to send more than $2,000 on his Cash App then fled when police arrived. They're accused of breaking into a home after they ran from police.
The alleged theft happened at the intersection of Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Washington Boulevard.
On Thursday at that same intersection, a driver said he witnessed squeegee workers beating a man. The witness declined an interview, but he said the violent encounter happened around noon. Police told WJZ they did get a call about an hour earlier of squeegee workers in the street but reported nothing else.
That intersection is one of the areas where squeegeeing will be prohibited starting in January.
"I think the work now is to work with BPD on thinking through community engagement and enforcement protocol. I think we have a really good road map on what we want to do. Now, we have to figure out how we dot the 'i's' and cross the 't's,'" said John Brothers of the T. Rowe Price Foundation at the news conference unveiling the squeegee plan.
A key part of the city's strategy is addressing why people squeegee. A professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work talked to many squeegee workers about their experiences. She spoke about it in a recent YouTube discussion.
"We had kids where they were saying, 'I am the only income for the family, and I have five brothers and sisters,' and they're 17 years old," said Professor Kyla Liggett-Creel.
She also noted, "Drivers are hitting children with their cars—like literally there's a young man who has been hit twice with a car and ended up in the hospital. All of his teeth have been knocked out, and he's broken his pelvis," she said. "Let's talk about that and the harm that's happening to the children."
The squeegee plan is expected to cost $5 million and rely on private and public funding.
Enforcement is expected to start on January 10th.
On concerns squeegee workers would just move to new intersections where it is not banned, the mayor said the plan can adjust and leaders will continue to monitor data on where squeegee workers gather.
