Ertel kicks off council campaign
While five-term councilman Vince Gardina ponders his future, the first of what could be a handful of candidates interested in the 5th District Baltimore County Council seat is having a campaign event tonight.
Mike Ertel, a West Towson resident and former president of the Greater Towson Committee, is holding a $75 per person campaign event tonight at the Towson University Alumni Club. He will run as a Democrat in the primary election next September.
Recently, Ertel spearheaded a successful effort to lease a portion of the former Baltimore County Detention Center property. The land near the corner of Bosley Avenue and Towsontown Boulevard will be used to build a private community pool facility that will offer some access for local recreation and parks councils and county senior centers.
Ertel said he has spent the last couple weeks going door to door in part of the district which stretches from Perry Hall to Towson.
“It’s a large district, and it’s going to take knocking on doors to hear what the concerns are and get out my message,” Ertel said.
That message, he said, includes the nuts and bolts of constituent services — busted curbs, potholes and school overcrowding. But Ertel said he has some others ideas, including the creation of a town center for Perry Hall.
“There’s no real main street for Perry Hall,” Ertel said. “I think people would like to have a place like that. Maybe there is some project that could be done that could become downtown Perry Hall.”
Ertel said he’d also like to see the council stop taking a back seat to strong executives and “be more proactive as a body and have its own countywide agenda.”
Gardina, a Democrat, is raising money and is said to be strongly considering running for the 7th District Senate Seat currently held by Republican Sen. Andy Harris.
Ertel said he will likely run for the office even if Gardina goes for a sixth term.