'Baltimore Will Get Better' | Council President Nick Mosby, 73rd Baltimore City Council Sworn Into Office
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The 73rd Baltimore City Council was sworn into office Thursday morning along with Council President Nick Mosby.
The ceremony was held in the War Memorial Plaza in front of City Hall.
Mosby was sworn into office by Mayor Brandon Scott followed by the new members of the city council.
Afterwards, Mosby delivered a speech recognizing Baltimore's past policies and movements that created some of the socioeconomic issues today, including the nation's first racial zoning laws, deindustrialization of the city and the infamous 1937 realigning, when neighborhoods were color-coded to guide mortgage lenders in granting loans. During that time, Black neighborhoods were marked "red" to indicate they were risky.
"Good public policy is what will begin to eradicate the structural racism that creates health and economic disparities throughout our city. Good public policy will create safe spaces for our children to learn and play. Good public policy will create the opportunities for employment and small business creation and growth. Good public policy will create and expand smart transportation options for all citizens and visitors. Good public policy is not the stuff of unicorns or some real cosmic explosion," Mosby said. "We don't need a miracle to change or improve the conditions in Baltimore. We need us."
As the city will start 2021 with a more than $14 million deficit, Mosby said there's no money or time to waste.
"The stakes are too high and the needs are too great to squander this opportunity and this moment," he said. "Baltimore deserves better and Baltimore will get better."
Mosby also address equity and making sure all Baltimore residents have the same opportunities regardless of which neighborhood they live in.
"We cannot be a great city of our hearts, until every resident has real opportunity to prosper," he said. "The little girl dreaming for her future in her bedroom in Reservoir Hill should have the same opportunities for success as a child across the street in Bolton Hill and the little boy playing in Carroll Park should have the same environmental protections as his peers in Patterson Park. The families on Biddle Street need to see values in their homes rise, the same way those on Charles Street do."
