Features - Crónicas

Solera Stands Alone at Fells Point Cleanup
Pledges More Cleanups Every Sunday Afternoon

Monday, July 28
Baltimore, Maryland - First District Council Candidate Angelo Solera was
alone in his efforts to clean up a business district on South Broadway
Street last Friday. Solera expected more participation after a creative
appeal to his opponents to “put our brooms where our mouths are,” and spend
a few hours on a Friday afternoon doing positive things for the district.

“People should expect more from their candidates” said Solera, “not only in
what they will pledge to do for the district, but in what they will roll up
their sleeves and do during the campaign. I’d say this turnout doesn’t
inspire confidence among the voters.”

Solera volunteers personally delivered Solera’s challenge, along with a pair
of rubber gloves bearing the opponents’ names, to locations as far as
Charles Center and Dundalk.

“I received one response from [Columbia-based attorney] Jim Kraft, saying he
had a family obligation. After the effort involved in creating this
opportunity, the others should have dignified the event with a response.
People in the first district care about its cleanliness and they want a
candidate who walks out of their house every morning and sees the same
streets they see, the same trash, the same grime, and the same neglect.”

Not easily discouraged, Solera has pledged to conduct a cleanup every
Sunday. The next “Solera Sunday Sweep” will begin on the 1800 Block of
Eastern Avenue and will coincide with the Grand Opening of Solera’s campaign
office at the former Funk’s Democratic Coffee Spot. The opening will begin
at 3:30. The guests will then pick up brooms and start cleaning, making
their way West towards Broadway again.

“My opponents are welcome to join the cleanup efforts as always,” Solera
said, “but I hope nobody minds me putting my name on it. After last Friday,
I’m just going to count on my staff and I showing up.”

Last Friday’s cleanup encompassed four blocks of South Broadway, and
consisted of sweeping up trash and cigarette butts from the sidewalks,
emptying and re-lining the hanging wastebaskets and pulling weeds from the
curbs.

“These streets are really neglected by the city,” Solera noted. “My son
[Juan Solera] and I disposed of a dead rat that was just sitting on the
sidewalk. As a public health worker, that really enrages me. On a Friday
afternoon, how many little kids are out playing that could run into this
dirty, diseased rat? Our kids deserve better. Our businesses deserve better,
and our neighborhoods deserve better.”

For more information please call: (410) 534-6856

At the Patterson Park's Virginia S. Baker, recreational Center (Baltimore St. and Luzern Ave), Angelo Solera, candidate for the 1st Councimanic district of Baltimore had a fundraiser on Saturday, August 2. More than 200 people showed up for the event where we saw African American marching bands, Native American dancers and musicians and many members of other minorities, incuding the Hispanic.

For more information or to volunteer, see www.angelosoleraforcitycouncil.com/ or call 410-534-3392 or 410-534-6856 Contributions may be sent to: Friends of Angelo Solera 11 South Potomac Street Baltimore, MD 21224