Violence Reduction Symposium -- Open Letter To Mayor Sheila Dixon

To The Honorable Mayor Sheila Dixon,


So far this week Baltimore City has seen nine shootings, including several teenagers, a stabbing, a dead body found in a vacant house, and who knows what else has not yet been discovered or reported. While we support Commissioner Bealefeld and the hard working men and women of the Baltimore Police Department, we also support the notion of good ideas not being limited to government.

I would like to propose a Violence Reduction & Prevention Symposium and work group. Baltimore city is blessed with some of the most brilliant minds in academia. It is now high time to assemble this brain trust, and tap into their collective wisdom to figure out where to go from here. Yes, progress has been made, but we are also taking a huge step back, and before you know it, we will have ended up right where we started. In a bloody and violent city where the majority of young people have no hope, and fear they will not live to see adulthood (yes it's true, talk to enough of them and you get a sense of this).

No more should Baltimore bear the brunt of shame disgrace on the national and international scene. If we are truly serious about turning things around, new and innovative steps must be taken. I envision multiple facets to the symposium including, an assembled body of professionals i.e. professors, retired and active law enforcement experts (not limited to our area, there are smart people elsewhere too), and public testimony and commentary, particularly from our endangered youth. In the end, a review of current strategy and adjustments, changes and recommendations should be the result.

Please let me know if this idea sounds feasible to you. I am making myself available as a volunteer to be used in any manner, whether publicity, promotion or planning, to help this effort.


Thank you for reading and thank you for your time.

God Bless Mayor Sheila Dixon


Most Sincerely;

A.F. James MacArthur

City Resident

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