Political Outsider Wants To Represent Downtown Annapolis On City Council

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Patch invited all candidates for Annapolis mayor and City Council to complete a candidate questionnaire. We are posting their responses verbatim before the primary election on Tuesday, Sept. 16, and the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

We will share all of our candidate profiles and election news at this link. More election information is posted here.

Name: Ben Bramsen

Elected Office Sought: Annapolis Ward 1 Alderman

Political Party: Democratic Party

Profession: Sr. Regional Director in After School Education

Age On Election Day: 42

Website: https://www.benforannapolis.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572137501704

What makes you the most qualified candidate for this position?

I've spent my adult life in leadership working tirelessly making decisions that are in the best interest of the teams that work for me, and I see no difference from that as I work for the extraordinary people of Annapolis. When it comes to formal political background, I have none. In comparison to the other candidates, I'm just an ordinary guy, but I feel that gives me a unique voice for those within the community that don't feel they have one.

How will you approach the planned construction of City Dock Park?

I'm in favor of something being done to mitigate the flooding. The Dock Street businesses and those around them have suffered for far too long having to deal with the now almost annual flood damage. I'm in favor of creating a beautiful, free for all green space that can be used for recreation by the community. What I'm not in favor of is using spot zoning to play favoritism to specific businesses. I'm not in favor of using money to turn City Dock into an extravagant project that appeals to the financially elite while I see so many within our community struggling to pay for groceries. The City Dock project should be something that benefits everyone within the community, not just the fortunate few.

How will you address crime in Annapolis?

Crime and poverty have well known, deep connections. We can’t address crime if we refuse to address poverty and income inequality. We can do this through a multitude of programs. We should be utilizing and revitalizing community based programs that give alternative activity opportunities to Annapolis youth, allowing them opportunities to express themselves in healthy ways. We need to improve and increase mental health and social services to provide alternative outlets to those that are struggling. We need to create safety nets for our working class, working poor, and underprivileged communities so one bad week at work isn't enough to put them out on the streets. Doing this can create a system that allows the Annapolis Police Department to focus on the urgent matters that we need them for the most.

How will you address affordable housing and public housing in Annapolis?

There's a lot of conversation from other candidates specific to low-income housing, and that's absolutely necessary, but it's not the only solution to our affordable housing problem in Annapolis and Ward 1. We've got to also work to actually fill the housing we already have, and to make it more affordable. Rental units should be priced at a true market price to fill the unit, not priced to gouge residents for as much as possible. We can do this through common sense policy that incentivizes those that are filling their units while also penalizing those that are sitting on units for extended periods of time for max rental price instead of appropriately pricing them per the market to fill quickly. We must also more strictly enforce the current Short Term Rental policy already in place, and create stricter requirements for the number of STR units that can be in a neighborhood.

How do you plan to balance development and historic preservation in the city?

Historic preservation is a core identity of Annapolis. From a personal standpoint, it's one of the top reasons I made the personal choice to move here. And from an affordable living standpoint, historic preservation is one of the driving factors in maintaining what little affordable housing we have downtown, because it's preventing investors from coming in, purchasing units, and turning them into luxury apartments. From a business development standpoint, I think we need to allow ourselves to review what is being asked to be revitalized. It shouldn't take a local business owner a full year and thousands of dollars to fight through the system so they can replace a rotting floor with a safe one, or plumbing collapsing onto itself with new pipes, just because their business is in a historic building. We need to recognize the difference between renovating to revitalize and renew compared to totally changing the facade and structure of a building. If we can’t, we'll continue driving the small, local businesses, which are the heart of Annapolis, out of downtown to be replaced with large corporate entities.

How should Annapolis respond to the ongoing cuts to federal jobs and grants to local governments?

Our number one priority is that we need to continue to focus on the most important aspect of our city, which is the underprivileged and underserved community, as they're the most at risk with these cuts. That may require hard budget decisions being made on pet projects or luxury additions that have been added on to necessary projects, but we cannot let our most vulnerable community continue to suffer in the name of luxury based progress.

What else should voters know about you and your platform?

I'm running to offer a voice to those that feel they don't have one. We are actively pricing out so many valuable members of our community at an increasing rate. It's becoming too expensive to live here and too difficult for younger people, working class people, and lower income people, to be able to call this amazing city home. Because wealth is disproportionally disadvantageous to people of color, we are destroying any opportunity for growth through diversity by failing to address the very real problem of affordable living. If we continue to ignore it, this amazing city is going to quickly see the financial ramifications of doing so.