Zac Dingle's Platform For District 4

As a part of my managing style as CEO of Jumoke, Inc, I have always been conscious in understanding that there is strength in numbers. Therefore, I govern and manage with the understanding all opinions and voices matters; this is precisely how I plan on leading the 4th district at City Hall. I feel the 4th district in Baltimore City is the most vibrant and eclectic district in all of Baltimore City if not all of Maryland. As a true servant-leader I will manage the 4th in lockstep with the constituents of the 4th district, I will help to restore the energy and pride in every neighborhood community association in the 4th district. As your councilman I will absolutely be the voice for the seniors in the 4th district because they were the voice for me as a child and young adult growing up in the 4th. I feel that the 4th districts residents voice has not been heard over the past 15 years; our large city tax dollars are collected but our civic city services are sparse. I feel it’s time the 4th has a leader who will not only be a voice of the 4th district but also be a voice for the city.

I have toured some of Baltimore’s low performing schools with the new president of Baltimore Teachers Union and community wrap-around services is what each school was lacking. As your councilman I will hold monthly community meetings to teach any adult members how to provide wrap-around community services to the schools in our district.

Our schools, teachers, students and administrators require comprehensive wrap-around supportive services. I have been providing wrap-around supportive services in Baltimore City since then Governor Glendenning ordered Maryland’s kids back to Maryland and I believe education is the great equalizer. There is an African proverb that reads “it takes a village to raise a child” and part of any child’s rearing is his/ her educational life domain. There is also an African proverb that reads any child who doesn’t feel a part of a village will burn it down to feel the warmth.

As a district we are going to have to strengthen our commitment to our children and village as a wrap-around strategist I can teach the skills necessary so that any approved volunteer can enter our schools as a trained helper. Like any large city throughout the USA we have our societal problems that affect our children therefore we will be a trauma informed village as your councilman. Remember I get to teach my villagers how connect with its young in a therapeutic capacity.

I feel crime has gotten out of control in the 4th, I lost my brother in January 2013 to senseless violence in the 4th district a crime that has never been solved. I will not only be an advocate for the residents of the 4th but I will also be a community partner of Northeast and Northern Police District. I believe community policing is the way back to safe sound communities.

Our community youthful offenders are getting younger and younger and we know for a crime to occur you must have three variables a person willing to commit the crime, a victim and opportunity. As a community we can reduce crime and make our communities safer without trying to do the job of law enforcement. As director and youth coach for 12 years at Loch Raven Recreation Center I was essentially a crime stopper, because I knew for 3 hours a day after school from July 15 to November 1st, I had 300 youth boys and girls from Northeast Baltimore engaged in constructive activities. Essentially, reducing crime in the Northeast part of Baltimore City and County.

It saddens me to see Dewees youth field where I grew up playing baseball sparsely used as a galvanizer and developer of all things youth, I will jump start Dewees baseball for girls and boys. I also propose that one of the fields at Dewees be named after of one my teammates and good friends The Neil Prince Field. Sgt. Neil Prince courageously gave his life in the war in Iraq. Neil and I patrolled the outfield for years for Dewees travel baseball in 1980’s.

The 4th district is a large residential community with more homes than businesses. Moreover, we must assist our permanent underclass with economic skills and workforce development. As an employer of 70 plus individuals job training and skill development is vital to my workforce. Therefore, as your councilman I will offer workforce training opportunities throughout the district so that our unskilled laborers can gain gainful employment. As a district we must proactively support and promote small business and MBE growth throughout our district while strengthening our job force. We must strengthen banking relationships with our local lenders so that our businesses can take advantage of growth opportunities. Through my banking relationships as a business owner I have secured free home buying seminars to the residents of the 4th who want to go from renters to homeowners. As councilman this will be at the foreground of my administration small business growth, homeownership economic stability for our residents of the 4th district.

I will hold the city accountable to for road maintenance and repairs. Potholes and uneven roads cause damage to our residents’ vehicles, which ultimately lead to expensive car repairs and new tires. This is unacceptable to a district that bares a large tax burden for the city of Baltimore. My stepmother, aunts, uncles and community mentors of mine are getting older in age and they need their streets cleared promptly when the weather is in climate.

Many of my family members that live in the 4th are getting older and live on a fixed income. We must take steps to ensure our seniors city tax burdens aren’t forcing them out of their homes, while also ensuring that our seniors home repairs are affordable. Because our seniors in the 4th district are the bedrock of the city of Baltimore. They didn’t abandon the city and move to the county therefore it’s our fiduciary responsibility as elected city officials not to abandon them.