The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • A2

THE BALTIMORE SUN NEWS MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016 ELECTION 2016 RACE FOR BALTIMORE MAYOR After-school money pledged Candidates promise to create jobs and to boost programs for kids By Tim Prudente The Baltimore Sun A key advocacy group on Sunday pressed Democratic candidates for Baltimore mayor to pledge to create at least 15,000 jobs and double funding for after-school programs if elected. Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, or BUILD, asked the leading Democrats to make the guarantee before about 700 people at Coppin State University. The candidates agreed to create the jobs over four years and to spend annually an additional $8 million on afterschool programs by their final year in office. "We look forward to holding them accountable," said Rob English, the lead organizer of BUILD. Businessman David Warnock said he would put people to work demolishing vacant houses in Baltimore.

He also wants new laws to scrub a defendant's arrest record if he or she is not convicted of a crime. "We will write the great turnaround story," he said. State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh said she wants to reinstate a program in which the city sold vacant homes for a dollar.

She said she would focus on creating job opportunities for released prisoners. "Everyone who wants a job should have a job," she said. City Councilman Carl Stokes said he would create thousands of jobs in his first year as mayor. He said the jobs exist, but the city must expand training programs to modernize its workforce. He spoke of expanding child care for workers and rebuilding the school system.

"This city has turned its back on children, particularly black children, and the one institution that can turn their lives around is a complete failure: the Baltimore City public schools," he said. KENNETH K. LAMBALTIMORE SUN Democratic Baltimore mayoral candidates, from left, Catherine E. Pugh, Carl Stokes, Sheila Dixon, Elizabeth Embry, Nick Mosby and David Warnock faced questions from a BUILD panel on its One Baltimore agenda during BUILD'S candidate accountability assembly. Former Mayor Sheila Dixon said she would triple training programs for those seeking work.

She also said the next mayor must reduce crime to ensure skilled workers stay in the city. "We have to get crime down. Baltimore has to be safe so we can retain people," she said. Dixon said her house was recently burglarized. Lawyer Elizabeth Embry also said she would train former prisoners and expand afterschool programs to keep teenagers out of trouble.

"Between 3 and 6 in the afternoon is when ldds are being arrested and victimized," she said. City Councilman Nick Mosby said he wants to sue lead paint manufacturers. Money from court could be used to put people to work removing the dangerous paint from old homes, he said. The candidates all spoke of increasing foot patrols among officers to build relationships between police and neighborhoods. They also said they would carefully review a proposal to provide tax increment financing for the massive Port Covington development proposed by Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank.

The candidates said they would seek commitments that Under Armour would reinvest in neighborhoods and hire locally. They said they would support the proposal only if school funding levels are maintained. Also attending the BUILD forum were Reps. Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen, competing in the Democratic primary to fill the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Sen.

Barbara A. Mikulsld. Both Senate candidates spoke of bringing jobs to the city. About six weeks remain before the primary election. tprudentebaltsun.com Green reigns at city's St Patrick's Day parade Rain kept crowds down but it didn't dampen the fun for Irish and non-Irish alike Colin Campbell The Baltimore Sun Michael O'Shea sold his namesake Irish bar and restaurant on Charles Street 14 years ago, but during the Baltimore St.

Patrick's Day parade festivities, you might never know it. Each year, O'Shea returns to his old digs and stands with a microphone atop a stage on the sidewalk outside, an unofficial "Reviewing Stand North," from which he emcees the first leg of the parade. To hear him tell it, the stage was former Baltimore mayor and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's idea, back in the 1990s. "He said, 'Why don't you do a reviewing O'Shea said.

Tfou know everybody that comes by' As he spoke, a boisterous sea of green slowly filled the street. Thousands of runners in the Shamrock 5K stretched their legs, while parade marchers gathered at the Washington Monument Bar employees carried keg after keg of Guinness, Harp and Smithwicks into an alley to set up a small beer garden. Dan and Erin Bindel, of Perry Hall, sipped National Bohemian before the run with their daughter Caitlin Cech. "You've got to hydrate," Dan Bindel joked. "And we go to Phillips afterward to rehydrate!" For some, the anticipation of the day is as good as any of the marching bands, bagpipes and floats.

That's the case for Margie McClure, 55, of Catonsville, who covered her eyes as her saint." The rain picked up about 3 p.m., sending some parade watchers diving for umbrellas and others scooting under building awnings. Some kept clapping and dancing to the Irish step music in the rain. Mary Cate Sweeney, Kathleen Egan and Karrie Egan laughed and high-fived passing step dancers as they did jigs of their own in the downpour. "A litde rain isn't going to spoil our fun," Sweeney said. Karrie Egan was in town on spring break from Naples, Fla, to visit the others and attend the parade Sunday.

Her aunt, Nancy Egan, said she was glad to have the family together for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, especially following the death of her mother. "It reminds me how important family is," she said. Seven-month-old William Sprague donned a green hat and a "My 1st St. Paddy's Day" bib as he watched the festivities from the arms of his mother, Andrea Sprague of White Marsh.

His older sister, Ryleigh, 6, watched nearby. As the rain subsided and the final marchers passed on their way to the Inner Harbor, Brian Schwarzkopf began taking down the shamrocks he had put up all over a Charles Street bus shelter. Schwarzkopf, 53 who said he is Irish despite his German last name wore a kilt and green Mardi Gras beads. The bus stop has been his group's "spot" for the parade since 2000, when it snowed and they flocked to it for cover. It came in handy this year, too: Dry inside, they enjoyed bottled water, beer, cookies and muffins.

cmcampbellbaltsun.com twitter.comcmcampbell6 AMY DAVISBALTIMORE SUN Miriam Higgins, left, and Margie McClure, both of Catonsville, were in great spirits despite the rain that dampened some of the St. Patrick's Day parade. 15-year-old daughter, Cally McClure sprayed her short blonde hair green for the festivities. The two come with a group of about 10 each year. Sometimes they run in the 5K; sometimes they don't.

(This year, with a light drizzle falling, they elected not to join the masses running down Charles Street.) "It's so much fun hanging out," Margie McClure said. "Everybody has busy lives, but today we get to hang out with our friends." Humans weren't the only ones decked out for the occasion. Roux, a 12 -year-old golden-doodle, rocked two green bows, a feather boa around her neck, and a spritz of green dye in her coat for the parade. "This is a tradition," said her owner, Kim Bettencourt. Bettencourt, 45, a former chef for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, brought Roux through the crowd and up the steps of the Baltimore Basilica to introduce her to Archbishop William E.

Lori's puppy, a 6-month-old golden retriever named Bailey. At the 10:45 a.m. Mass, Lori spoke to a packed basilica about St. Patrick's missionary work. "It's wonderful," he said after.

"It's a real community celebration in honor of a great GOOD WORKS Arts therapy program caters to youngsters with special needs "It's incredible what Borimetchkova has done here," Parker said of the program. "She's giving kids a place where they can go and be themselves. It's a much-needed activity for ldds and caregivers and parents, as well." Will Rhodes, the executive director of the Karina Association, the umbrella organization that oversees the program, is working to get Karina Cafe qualified as a medical day care facility, which would open up a variety of funding possibilities for the nonprofit. Currently, most of the program's funding comes from donations, fundraisers, grants, and a $977 fee for each of several therapies offered per season, Rhodes said. The program runs two seasons one from September through December, and another from February to June, Rhodes said.

To lessen costs, Borimetchkova offers recreational activities for $12 per hour, she said. of Mays Chapel United Methodist Church in Timonium. Her vision for Karina which is an acronym for knowledge, awareness, recognition, inclusion, nurturance and acceptance was to create a place where young people with developmental disabilities could socialize while enjoying the fruits of expressive arts therapy. "There is a huge gap in the mental health system for young people reaching the age of 18 and above," she said. "The Karina Cafe model is cited as being one of the most effective methods in giving an individual with developmental disabilities the maximum opportunity to make developmental, functional and behavioral gains in early life." The program operates Saturdays from 1 p.m.

to 4 p.m., while a new Monday version, held at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Parkville, conducts sessions from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. During the sessions participants with special needs are exposed to a variety of arts, including painting, photography, musicdrum circle and poetrystorytelling, dancemovement and comedy. Some of the volunteers have no background in caregiving other than knowing that their services are welcomed and needed.

Melissa Parker has been lending a hand at Karina Cafe for just over a month, but the Sparks resident knows first-hand about the difficulties of caring for ldds with special needs, including her son, Luke, who has autism. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. The disorders are characterized by difficulties, in varying degrees, with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors, according to the website autism speaks.org. By Nelson Coffin For Baltimore Sun Media Group You might call Biliana Borimetchkova the proprietor of Karina Cafe, although she buys or sells no products there. The barter she uses is human kindness, served from a cadre of volunteer caregivers and therapists to children and young adults with developmental disabilities.

In her native Bulgaria, Borimetchkova was founder of a program that placed abandoned children with disabilities into group homes. After moving to the United States, she became a caregiver to a Towson girl who suffered from physical and intellectual disabilities. As she worked with the girl, Borimetchkova realized some young people with special needs especially those reaching adulthood might face an isolated existence as they age. Two years later, in 2012, Borimetchkova opened Karina Cafe in the Worship Center.