It was standing room only as a group working to make Baltimore a better place to live brought its plans to improve the city to Mayor Catherine Pugh Wednesday night.
There were more than 1100 people in attendance. Violence, school funding, immigrant rights, and safety were just a few of the topics discussed.
"The increased lawlessness in our city, the lack of jobs, the school funding, and the fact that the city residents are not trusting of the police department," said BUILD member, Antoinette Mugar.
Build stands for Baltimoreans United In Leadership Development. All of its members are dedicated to making Baltimore a first-class city.
"We get to address the city officials to see what we can do to address the issues that were having we want resolutions," said Erica Hamlett of South Baltimore.
People of all ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds gathered to share with their city leaders, their fear that Baltimore, is never going to be the city it can be.
"It’s about policing, it’s about police reform, it’s about better jobs for those who live in Baltimore it’s about building a better Baltimore for everybody who lives here," said Fr. Bruce Lewandowski of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church
Lewandowski is now working on a parish I.D. program that would offer immigrants rights they say they don't have and alleviate the fear many have of deportation and the police
"Our parish would produce ID cards for our parishioners and the city and the police department would recognize that id as an official id of the city of Baltimore," he said.
All the demands BUILD came to the mayor with from school budget reform to safety, to violence reduction were immediately accepted by Pugh.
"It's important to be on the same page if an organization is going to work with the city and the city is going to work with the organization that are building the city all about jobs, all about youth, all about violence reduction, it’s a plus," said Pugh.
BUILD also wants to help Pugh craft a crime-fighting plan that involves the community and cracks down on corruption.
