The ongoing plague of the “squeegee workers” or “squeegee kids” in Baltimore has been dragging on for years with almost no constructive action being taken by the municipal government. (I will include your usual reminder that these little extortionists are neither “workers” nor “kids” in many cases.) Mayor Brandon Scott has been telling everyone since last year that he and his team have been working on a “squeegee collaborative” plan to address the issue and this week some of the first details of the plan leaked out to the press. The limited specifics we’ve seen thus far do little to inspire anyone’s confidence, to say the least. Rather than dealing with the obvious and ongoing crime wave being perpetrated by these “workers,” Scott’s plan appears to be more of a social rehabilitation program while blaming the drivers for these problems as much as the moochers who are perpetrating the actual misdeeds. (Fox News Baltimore)

The mayor’s office released some details Thursday about Mayor Brandon Scott’s “Squeegee Collaborative” plan ahead of its official rollout next week.

Monica Lewis, a spokeswoman for Scott, said squeegee kids will develop a “code of conduct” in an effort to regulate themselves. Squeegee kids will be assigned specific areas, she said.

Lewis said a guaranteed income program will be made available to young men who do not engage in the activity. She said police would continue to enforce criminal activity by both squeegee kids and drivers.

The fundamentals of this plan seem like something out of a satirical film. Certain corners will remain “open for business” for the squeegee workers, but they will supposedly be trained in “self-policing” to prevent confrontational incidents from turning violent. Older squeegee “kids” at corners where their operations will be prohibited will be offered a “basic guaranteed income” to keep them away from the corners.

In other words, they will be paying known criminals not to commit crimes in some areas and asking the rest of the criminals to “police themselves.” What could possibly go wrong? Thiru Vignarajah, a federal prosecutor and former mayoral candidate called the plan “half-baked.” He sees this scheme as being “part of the culture of low expectations” that exists in Baltimore and doesn’t believe the city should be “paying people not to commit crimes.” (Why couldn’t they have elected that guy?)

Fox News asked some of the drivers who will be impacted by the plan what they thought about it. One simply said, “Being paid to stay off the corner is not going to work.” Another said, “I just feel like they shouldn’t have to pay people to not do something that they shouldn’t be doing.” That sounds like a rather obvious response to me.

We don’t have the rest of the details yet and we probably won’t have them any time soon because the Mayor continues to refuse to take any questions on the subject. Everyone is apparently expected to just keep hanging around and waiting for the city to put an end to a dangerous blight that impacts commuters every single day.

Keep in mind that what these so-called “workers” are engaging in is blatant extortion. People have literally been killed on those corners and countless vehicles have been damaged by the squeegee workers when drivers refuse to submit to their demands. There is nothing “productive” about any of this and it is literally a case of organized crime. And yet the Mayor and the City Council are more worried about the squeegee kids than they are about the commuters who are simply trying to get around the city and participate in society in a productive fashion. And it’s a disgrace, plain and simple.