Baltimore is taking steps to divest from policing and makes decisions about where to invest $22 million in reallocated funds. One proposal: use the money to support public transit.
Massive ongoing protests around the country and the world call for police defunding and reallocation of public funds to under-resourced black communities and communities of color. In Baltimore, demands were heard and met when City Council voted to cut $22 million of the city's $550 million police budget.
Martin Csongradi suggests that the slashed funds could end up with transit: "One area the city could consider investing into is the city’s transit system. For decades, unequal access to affordable transit options have weighed down Baltimore’s Black community and have exacerbated racial inequality in the city. An infusion of funds may help to bridge the transit gap." Tracking the history of unequal access to transit and white flight of the 1900s, Csongradi relates the transit decision-making and policy to systemic racism. Now is the time for the City of Baltimore to divest from policing and invest in transit, and by extension, racial equity.
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