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TAYA GRAHAM: A break that isolated the city economically and extended Baltimore's historic use of segregation laws. In fact, it was white flight and the wealth that followed, that left Baltimore with failing infrastructure and underfunded schools. And it was the evolution of racist police strategies like zero tolerance, which the Department of Justice found was unconstitutional which further aggravated the city's social ills.
BALTIMORE RESIDENT: In everyone, it's 40, 50 eviction orders on people's doors and everybody around here works.
TAYA GRAHAM: But even in Klacik's county, Trump officials are making lives more difficult for the residents by profiting off it. This is one of nearly a dozen apartment complexes owned by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. In 2017, tenants filed a class action lawsuit alleging his company was using unpaid late fees to start evictions, and allowing unsanitary conditions to fester.
BALTIMORE RESIDENT: Like, most people are working and trying to budget their money. Most people are working two jobs nowadays to survive and you're hitting somebody with a $80 late fee, that's taking food from out my kid's mouth.
TAYA GRAHAM: We reached out to Klacik on Twitter for comment. In summary, she responded that Baltimore City is poorly managed, and that reporters are behind the ball on these issues. For now, city officials say they will continue to spend resources battling the flow of trash from outsiders and hoping that their efforts will not be in vain.
COUNCILMAN KRISTERFER BURNETT: You know, I imagine they drive into a place that's pretty clean and pretty safe after they're done dumping in our communities. It's problematic and, like I said, the narrative that we've seen in the national media over the last few weeks isn't fair.
TAYA GRAHAM: This is Taya Graham and Stephen Janis reporting for The Real News Network in Baltimore City, Maryland.
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