Hyattsville Election ’21: Interview with Joseph Solomon, mayoral candidate

See correction notice below story.

Hyattsville’s 2021 election season is here, and with 20 candidates running for five ward seats and the mayor’s office, it may be the biggest election the city has ever seen. All week long, Route 1 Reporter will be introducing you to as many of the candidates as possible in a series of video interviews. Over the past week, Route1Reporter has interviewed 15 of the 20 candidates running. Today, we start to unveil this interviews, focusing on the race for the mayor’s office, which has three candidates competing for votes in incumbent interim Mayor and Ward 1 City Councilor Kevin Ward, Ward 5 City Councilor Joseph Solomon, and city politics newcomer Austin Martinez. One of those three will secure enough votes to serve out the last two years of the term of former Mayor Candace Hollingsworth, who resigned last year. 

Route 1 Reporter’s interview with Solomon is below. 

In these interviews, each candidate was asked the same six questions. The questions were not shared with the candidates beforehand. The questions are also fairly broad, providing candidates an opportunity to introduce themselves and describe their approach to local government policymaking. 

Hyattsville’s election season concludes May 11, 2021. 

Theis:
Hello. My name is Michael Theis, editor and publisher of Route1Reporter.com. I’m here today with Ward Five City Councilor, Joseph Solomon, one of three candidates running to fill out the last two years of the term of former mayor Candace Hollingsworth, who resigned last year. In all, Hyattsville has 20 candidates running for five ward seats and the mayor’s office. This interview and others are intended to be a broad introduction to their candidacies and to their approach to local government policy and policy making. Let’s begin. Joseph, how are you doing this evening?

Solomon:
I am well yourself. I’m doing okay.

Theis:
First question. Tell me a little bit about yourself. What do you do and how did you come to live in Hyattsville?

Solomon:
Thank you. I am a technology consultant for federal projects, federal state, or local projects. And I implement large enterprise resource planning software which basically helps companies and government agencies to manage large companies across various States various counties and manage that data especially HR financial records. So we do management project management system implementation and security folks.

Theis:
Okay. And how did you come to live in Hyattsville?

Solomon:
I came to live in Hyattsville after a very traumatic experience for my life with policing. I talk about it on my campaign website, under my campaign built on faith platform. And I talk about how that experience sort of took me out of sort of the honeymoon phase of my mid twenties to realize that, you know, life is real. And There are situations out there that require greater attention. I never intended to be involved in politics at all until I went through that experience and I was sitting peripherally contemplating my next steps after being successfully found, not guilty out of that situation and realizing that, you know, we needed a new group of leaders who would pay attention to issues that affected different types of communities.

Solomon:
And I decided as I was sitting there, I think I saw the Gazette, it had a headline that said a Wild Wild West. Who’s gonna run. And it talked about the two vacancies in the city of Hyattsville. I lived at that time in Green Meadows and I didn’t know that it was outside of the borders of the city of Hyattsville. But nonetheless I started following the council meetings. I came, I visited the council meetings and I was with my best friend. He said, you know and he understood the experience and what it meant to me. And he said, you know, you should really get involved. And Maybe you can make the change. And so I quickly learned that I didn’t live in the city of Hyattsville, but my lease was up at the location I was staying at.

Solomon:
So I moved in here in Kirkwood. And shortly thereafter I ran for council and I think since then leading on a rush record for social justice issues, but also for local community issues, such as, you know, the basic things that a council member and the mayor have to be concerned about streets traffic calming code enforcement. But of course to me and there is policing as well and not attacking the police but ensuring that there’s accountability and transparency.

Theis:
Okay. The second question you have, if you touched on this a little bit towards the tail end of your last answer, but why are you running for Hyattsville City Council?

Solomon:
For mayor?

Theis:
Oh yes, Mayor as a part of the Hyattsville city council? Yes. Why are you running for mayor?

Solomon:
The mayor is treated gets treated as a member of the highest school city council, but according to our transit, not necessarily a part of the city council yes.

Theis:
Note taken, thank you.

Solomon:
I am running for Hyattsville city council because I think that we will have to build better post COVID-19. And that means building better for families and communities with we see that childcare costs are through the roof. And in this time we understand that families, especially those with children are home. They’re working from home have children in the house. And some of them would like to take advantage of, of childcare options, but there are a few and the ones that exist are extremely expensive, I want to help to alleviate some of that burden. Additionally for our seniors we’ve seen that seniors have struggled. The digital divide has been exacerbated by COVID and we have seniors struggling with, how do I, you know, how do I schedule an appointment using this app on my phone, a vaccination or a testing appointment using my phone?

Solomon:
How do I order groceries using using my cell phone because, you know, we have to be in the house and everybody wants to be protected. But that comes at a cost of breaking that digital barrier. And I want to make sure that we’re protecting those individuals and also you know, just with when you look at crime crime and the economy, there is a correlation and we anticipate forecasters, I should say, anticipate a recession post COVID. I think Hyattsville can roll through that period and not fall into a recession. But the relationship with crime is that when there aren’t enough jobs you do see an increase. And I want to make sure that as we grow, as we build, and we look at economic development, we’re growing in all sectors in the city of Hyattsville, we’re building everywhere that we have a percentage of the jobs associated with that development for Hyattsville residents. And that way we can ensure that those who need jobs here don’t have to look at alternative methods. They can find opportunities here. And I said, if Hyattsville, and it’s better for us because we continue to grow our tax base. And we continue to ensure that there is investment opportunities here.

Theis:
Okay. Third question. What is the most pressing issue facing Hyattsville right now? And what policies would you pursue to address it?

Solomon:
I think that there are a a number of issues impacting the city of Hyattsville. So I, I would not highlight any individual issue. I think our schools needing to ensure that we are on time on schedule with the, with the construction of new schools is, is a high priority. I think that issues surrounding the environment, climate change and how we are making sure that our city is sustainable is extremely pressing. I also think that as I, as I talked about, you know, the core of my platform building back post COVID is is an extremely important issue because we’re looking at a certain dips, our treasurer reports, every council meeting and certain dips and return rates on our property taxes so there are a variety of issues. And I just, I really believe that with my eight years of experience and relationships develop over the course of that time period that I can help us to build in the right direction post COVID 19, I think the COVID vaccination and testing site that, that I helped to to bring to the city of Hyattsville is an example of that that comes from eight years of relationships knowing the right people to reach out to and helping us to move forward on a project like that.

Theis:
Okay. A fourth question. What is a unique skill or perspective you would bring to the job if elected?

Solomon:
I think there are a couple. As you see with me. I like to really think about, and sort of stratify my answers along the a bunch of different lines. So a is you know, as I, as I talked about my career in my background professional background, it masters in computer science, a bachelor’s in computer science from Morehouse, undergrad, Rutgers graduate school. I think I understand technology issues and more importantly, project management or how to get large things done. And I think when we look at all of the things that the city of Hyattsville needs to take into account I think that my skillset has prepared me well to be able to deliver on those. And if I was wearing my consultant hat, I would say on time and on budget. But I also think that my, my unique experience with policing as an African-American male and understanding the sentiment of minority communities I understand that it is not the sentiment of those communities that they disliked police. I understand that the call is really for more transparency and greater accountability. And I understand, I think I understand best how to walk that line. And I think we showed that with some of our more thoughtful responses on policing issues here in the city of Hyattsville.

Theis:
Okay. Almost all of the city council races and the mayor’s race this year are competitive. Why should people vote for you specifically?

Solomon:
I think that people should vote for me because I’m a, I’m a council member with the probably largest and broadest legislative portfolio over my eight year span on council. I’ve been a leader and I think that we look for leadership in a mayor. I think that people should vote for me because if you look at my platform, it’s one of the most detailed platforms that we’ve seen from any person running for office in the city of Hyattsville, including the mayor’s office. But more so, more than just because of the detail there, but because it really speaks to the issues and concerns here in the city of Hyattsville. and I think that when we look at who’s best positioned to be able to deliver on these things over the course of the next two years we need our relationships.

Solomon:
We need to be able to leverage our relationships with the County council with the school board in order to deliver on those things. I’m proud that I do have those relationships. My campaign is endorsed by three members of the County council our school board member and I want to be able to pull us together in order to deliver on some of the major, the key pieces that we have here in the city of Hyattsville that we want to get across the finish line.

Theis:
Okay. The final question is…

Solomon:
And if either of those things may change…

Theis:
What was that?

Solomon:
So I said, and in two years, you know those, those seats and those people may change because there’s, there’s an election at the County level after that. So I think if we’re looking at the next two years that we want someone who has the relationships and the focus to help us move forward I’m your guy,

Theis:
Last question this evening: Many hot button issues, in our national political discourse are at their heart local issues, such as police policy, education, policy, or debates over renaming landmarks and parks. How do you identify politically in a national context, such as democratic, Republican, socialist, libertarian, progressive, or conservative, or any other term that may suit you, and how do those values inform the policies you would pursue here in Hyattsville?

Solomon:
This is another great question, but it requires a very long answer. So I will start here. A) I am a Democrat. I am the vice-president of the Prince George’s County, young Democrats, and I’m grateful that they still allow me to hold that title at the age of 35. And I’m also a member of a sort of junior trustee program that we established in honor of the passing of one of my close friends, Joseph Lynn Kitchen, who was the president of Maryland Young Democrats. He passed away unexpectedly last year and the party was gracious enough to stand up a Memorial program for young professionals who wished to be more involved with the party. That being said I do think one of my greatest political mentors and once I got involved in politics, he’s a former mayor in the city of Rochester.

Solomon:
When we were having a conversation, I mean, I explained to him, you know, these words progressive, conservative, liberal, far right, far left. I said, you know, they’re sort of losing their value in the modern context because you have people who are progressive but are, you know, fiscally more conservative, socially, progressive fiscally conservative. You have people who are socially progressive on most issues, but then on some issues they’re less progressive. And so he said to me, one of the, one of the greatest pieces of wisdom that he gave me was that those words are sort of deprecated at this point therefore my generation and he was in his sixties now, seventies. And he said your generation will have to define itself along new lines. And I think that if you look at my track record on the on the city council and in Hyattsville it has been to be a leader on social issues.

Solomon:
But it’s also been to walk that line and understanding that it politics, isn’t a zero sum game. We do need to push on ensuring that things like non-citizens voting that there are protections or members of our community undocumented members of our community with our interactions with police. So that’s what we’re sanctuary city. We did need body camera reform and we needed we needed to have a mandate around body cameras in the city of Hyattsville. And you mentioned you know, nationally, you know, when we look at domestic terror, we needed to have a resolution, but also a call to action around domestic terror. And those have all been issues that I’ve been a leader on. But the basics of how of understanding the function of city government also is a requirement.

Solomon:
And those are not issues that you can go to, that you can lean to the left or you lean to the right on, you know, our budget is a fixed budget. Are the concerns on residents around, you know, we need traffic calming or, you know, we need a stop sign here or trash needs to go, those are not left and right issues. Those are issues that require diligence and an ability to listen to the public and, and ended up for a solution. So over my years, I’ve been versatile enough to, to deal in all of those arenas. And I think that it’s important that we continue in that direction. The final point that I’ll add to that question, because, like I said, it was a very, very, very broad question that requires, I think a little bit of nuances, you know it’s not just us as a council being able to, you know, some of the things that you mentioned too the renaming, the police reform the domestic terrorists, not just us as a council, lifting our voice to say, Oh, we, this is how the city of Hyattsville feels.

Solomon:
I think that what we’ve seen with the pieces that I’ve passed, that we’ve taken it to the next level. We’ve not just owned at least that this is what the city of Hyattsville built, but we’ve also said it to our neighbors, surrounding jurisdictions, and to the County and to the state. “But we also think you guys should do this”. And I think that they responded, and that’s the kind of regional leadership that the city of Hyattsville needs. On the renaming, not only that we choose to rename our park but the County Council picked that up and created a legacy renaming commission, which announced I would serve as chair. On body camera reform. Not only did we pass that, but the state of Maryland created a task force and asked me to serve on that task force for body camera reform. And they also passed this year a mandate for officers statewide on body camera reform and on domestic terror.

Solomon:
It wasn’t enough that we pass a resolution saying Hyattsville is appalled by the acts that took place in January of this year. And we have a concern about domestic terror. We took the next step to call them the state to create a task force on domestic terror. And I’m proud to report that the state is moving forward. There was legislation introduced on creating that task force by Senator Malcolm, Augustine. And I will be testifying providing testimony on behalf of what we passed here in the city of Hyattsville about what we pass here in the city of Hyattsville to to support the establishment of that task force. So I think that’s the type of leadership that we need, and that’s what I’m offering to the city of Hyattsville as your next mayor.

Theis:
Excellent. Well, counselor Solomon at this point, I don’t believe I have any further questions I would like to thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us tonight and to everyone out there watching on route one reporter, thank you for watching along and or May 11th get out there and vote.

Solomon:
Yes. Take care, Hyattsville.

Correction: An earlier version of this article said Solomon was a Ward Four city councilor. He represents Ward Five.