City Council committee holds hearing on Baltimore's squeegee workers
BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City council members on Wednesday demanded answers from city leaders about what's being done to deal with the challenges of squeegee workers.
Representatives from several city agencies including the police department, the law department, the Mayor's Office of African-American Male Engagement, the Baltimore Police Department and the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office had to answer questions or testify.
Davion Hodges, a former squeegee worker who said he started working at intersections when he was eight years old, now works at an area hotel with help from the city. He testified in the hearing.
"If they want people off the corners like they said, they know what to do," Hodges said. "Most people really need housing, most people might need clothes, most people might need to go get their ID. It's just that, their ID, but their ID costs money."
Lance Smith also testified. He too is a former squeegee worker who now works at an area hotel thanks to assistance from city agencies.
"We like to be looked at as more than a number, not just as a squeegee kid," Smith said.
Debate about the streetside window washers erupted in early July when a 48-year-old Dundalk man was shot and killed after allegedly getting out of his car and swinging a bat at the workers at an intersection downtown.
City councilman and committee member Eric Costello represents the district where the shooting happened.
"Two lives were destroyed today and one person is dead because we have failed to adequately address this situation," Costello said at the time. "As a government, we have failed everyone here by allowing these circumstances to continue to occur."
A 15-year-old boy is charged with murder in the man's death. He was arrested a week after the shooting. His lawyers say the boy feared for his life and that his first-degree murder charge should be dropped.
Attorneys J. Wyndal Gordon and Warren Brown claim the teen was making money to support two younger brothers and a sister. He would make $95 to $200 a day and had been squeegeeing for several years. The teen lives in Essex but attended high school in Baltimore City, the lawyers said.
Given the extensive history of squeegee workers in Baltimore, city elected officials are again trying to find new a solution to an old problem.
"I think the council and the public deserve a full honest account of what's working and what's not working," Councilman Mark Conway said.
Deputy Mayor Faith Leach said staff members interact with squeegee workers at dozens of intersections every day—trying to get them off the streets and connect them with vital resources like counseling for trauma, jobs, and even housing.
"We develop what we call an individual development plan with every young person that we see," Leach said. "So, right now, on those corners at President and Lombard, we are going out into medians and we are connecting with those young people and getting them to sit down with us."
Council member Zeke Cohen floated the idea of even providing children with a universal basic income so they wouldn't have to find ways to make their own money. Leach said that's an idea that's being looked into.
Officials say at least 40 former squeegee workers have been placed into jobs and the city points to Davion Hodges and Lance Smith as success stories.
"Everything is good, and the one thing I like is that they are for us," Hodges said of his current supervisors.
An attorney with the city's law department testified that she believes squeegee workers have a constitutionally protected first amendment right and the city can't move people.
The official said the city has to strike a balance between public safety and the squeegee workers' rights to be on the street.
