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Protesters 'occupy' Howard Street Bridge just south of North Avenue Thursday in march against unemployment. Trucks may be seen crossing North Ave. Bridge in background, while Jones Falls Expwy. traffic moves under bridge, foreground. (VoB Photo/Courtesy, Good Jobs Better Balto.)

NATIONWIDE  PUSH
NETS LARGE CROWD
ON  BUSY  BRIDGE

By Anthony C. Hayes

A peaceful but passionate crowd numbering about 150 gathered Thursday at the busy intersection of Howard Street and West North Avenue, joining others across the nation in a national day of protest.

Their march across the Howard Street Bridge was touted as a call to “bridge the gap” against corporate greed and unemployment. Similar events were held in at least 30 other U.S. cities. ^[2]

Protesters hoped to call attention to the plight of the unemployed while decrying congressional moves which have effectively blocked the President’s jobs plan. Other issues of concern expressed by the protesters included proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Lisa Lucas-Alston, one of the event’s organizers, told Voice of Baltimore, “We want to let people know how decaying bridges and roads are symbolic of our failing system.”

In addition, Congress needs to “stop killing jobs bills,” she declared.

John Fleissner, a senior at nearby Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), said he became aware of the protest from a flyer he saw on campus, but that most of his classmates seemed “apathetic” to the event.

“Everyone is busy with classes and social commitments,” he said, acknowledging that he was happy he had taken the time to have his voice heard, despite recognizing what he called “the divide between students and unions,” both of whom were represented at the event.

“The unions have their own interests,” Fleissner added.

Julie Fischer, a Baltimore poet who happened to be in the area for a reading Thursday night at Cyclops, a book and music venue in the Station North Arts District not far from the Howard Street Bridge, said she had no idea what the demonstration was about, but was “happy for the actual visual of the protest.

“It’s good,” said Fischer, “that so many people are willing to take to the streets to have their voices heard.”

Asked about future demonstration plans, Julie Ferris, communication specialist for Good Jobs Better Baltimore, a local nonprofit community group whose stated goal is “to get Baltimore’s economy back on track and make every job in Baltimore a good job with pay and benefits that support our families,” said a follow-up protest is planned for December 1, when the Maryland Public Service Commission is scheduled to review a potential BGE merger.

“This merger will kill jobs in this area,” asserted Lucas-Alston. “BGE said it wouldn’t, but it will.”

Tony Hayes may be contacted at mypoetrypage@yahoo.com

READ AP ACCOUNT OF BRIDGE PROTESTS NATIONWIDE  (click here) ^[2]