In 2020, Karma O’Neill asked her representative on the Annapolis City Council for help recognizing the seniors, who had their graduations and end-of-school events canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When she didn’t get the response she hoped for, O’Neill stepped into the 2021 election, focused on being a listener to her constituents.
“I’ve always been a person that says: If I don’t like the way something’s being done, then I will step up and try and do it myself,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill, a Democrat, is running for a second term representing Ward 2 on the Annapolis City Council in the Nov. 4 election against Republican Kenneth Vincent, a former FBI special agent and current assistant coach for the Naval Academy’s men’s water polo team.
One of the candidate’s main policy priorities is improving transportation methods in the city, including traffic calming and fixing sidewalks. She currently leads the transportation committee.
The alderman said she also supports expanding the city’s micro-mobility program across Annapolis, as residents in many areas of the city cannot easily reach bus stops. She said the current lack of alternative transportation makes some residents feel like they live in a food desert, and that adding micro-mobility options can make affordable, healthy food more accessible.
O’Neill, who will be 55 on election day, said she grew up in Colorado, moved to Vermont for high school, and went to Roanoke College in Virginia. She said she moved to Annapolis in 1995 and has lived in four of the city’s eight wards.
The candidate, who is an events planner, said she then became involved in various city groups, including the Parents-Teacher Association at Germantown Elementary, the Maryland Seafood Festival, Anne Arundel County Public Schools Citizens Advisory Commission, and the Historic Annapolis Foundation. She also volunteers at a food bank in the city.
As an alderman, O’Neill said she has had the opportunity to help residents access services they need, such as addressing mold in public housing units and getting sidewalks fixed.
“It’s a very different job than the job I thought I was getting into,” O’Neill said. “At the city government level, is really about constituent services more than anything else. It is about identifying issues or problems with our current city code and how it’s affecting people and seeing if we can make change.”
O’Neill said she wants to make sure that the city’s budget is working for Annapolis residents. She thinks the council should study ideas for trimming the budget and introducing a 2% assessment rate cap on property tax increases, an item she did not take a firm position on. O’Neill said that because the city’s budget is reliant — about 65% — on property taxes, the council has to examine the impact a 2% cap could have on city services.
Brien Jones-Lantzy, a Ward 2 resident, said he has known O’Neill for about 20 years from working together on Hospice Cup, an organization that funds hospice care in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. He said that O’Neill is “completely dialed in to the community.”
“[O’Neill] truly understands … the concerns of a homeowner here in Annapolis,” Jones-Lantzy said. “She is truly an individual that you can go to if there is a problem or questions. She will sit with you; she will listen; she will help you any way that she can. If she doesn’t have an answer, she will tell you honestly: I don’t have an answer, and she will move forward and get an answer for you.”
Her competitor, Vincent, said he respects O’Neill’s work on the city council, but believes that his work as a federal agent and leading large teams sets the candidates apart. When asked about Vincent, O’Neill said the main difference is her time living in Annapolis. Vincent moved to the city in 2020.
The current alderman salary is about $18,500. The current City Council is considering raising alderman salaries to $32,000, starting for the next council. O’Neill’s campaign has raised $8,855 as of Sept. 7.
Have a news tip? Contact Katharine Wilson at kwilson@baltsun.com.
Annapolis candidates
The Capital Gazette will be profiling candidates for mayor and City Council in the coming weeks. Go to capitalgazette.com for more candidate profiles and to view a voters’ guide.
from Baltimore Sun https://ift.tt/6GxipUt
via IFTTT
