A great deal is set to change after this Tuesday’s election, but one thing in Baltimore is staying the same: the amount of members on the City Council.
A group of advocates celebrated the results of a ballot measure which could have cut the number of councilmembers almost in half. Voters denied the measure, keeping the membership at 14.
“The voters of Baltimore City were loud and proud in their opposition to Question H,” said Ricarra Jones, political director for 1199 SEIU, as she began a Thursday afternoon news conference.
Folks at the Thursday celebration said downsizing the council would have left Baltimore vulnerable to wealthy interests. A coalition of opponents – dubbed ‘Baltimore City Not For Sale’ said in a news release it knocked on more than 3,000 doors.
“We proved when we educate and organize voters, we win. When we fight, we win,” said Courtney Jenkins, president of the Metropolitan Baltimore Council of AFL-CIO unions.
Susan Russell, a volunteer with Jews United for Justice, spoke to voters about declining the measure, and said the effort to defeat it was due in part to the work of hundreds of volunteers.