UP FROM THE EAST SIDE
How 23 years in Baltimore politics led to Jack Young becoming the city’s mayor — at least for now
Jack Young’s 23-year rise to the top of Baltimore’s political pyramid has hardly been meteoric. But after beginning his City Council career in 1996 with residents of his own district plotting his downfall, Young has endured through redistricting, a criminal case that brought down a mayor, a riot that ended the reelection ambitions of another, and a generational shift in the city’s politics that followed the disorder.
Now a scandal over children’s books Pugh’s leave of absence has the title of ex and a case of pneumonia have brought officio mayor. “But I still think I’m low a third mayor — and thrust Young, the running myself ragged. And I’m going to council president, into the city’s top job slow the pace down because number one, for some indeterminate period. I want to keep stabilizing the city.”
Young has spent his first two weeks in The 64-year-old Bernard C. “Jack” the new job adjusting to the pace. Young is the first politician to emerge
“I think I’m prepared for this,” said from East Baltimore and reach the Young, who during Mayor Catherine mayor’s office since Clarence “Du” Burns
in 1987. Young doesn’t hold a college degree and speaks casually even in formal settings, resorting frequently to double negatives.
Former Councilman Carl Stokes, a longtime friend, said Young’s style has led plenty of people to look down on him, just as they did Burns.
“There are other people who quite frankly are demeaning to Jack as if he’s not sharp enough or something to be the mayor of the city,” Stokes said. “They are so wrong.”
Above all, those who’ve worked with him say Young is dedicated to constituent service, troubleshooting the problems residents have that threaten to make their lives miserable: garbage not collected, a