Baltimore approves port worker relief money, fundraising for Key Bridge victims

Baltimore’s mayor-controlled spending board approved $1 million in relief funding Wednesday for workers affected by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse and the resulting, near-total shutdown of the port.

The Board of Estimates also granted emergency approval to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs to fundraise in support of the families of six victims killed last week when the bridge collapsed. The office began raising money last week and so far has brought in close to $500,000.

Both items passed the five-member spending board unanimously.

In the early morning of March 26, a 112,000-ton cargo ship, the Dali, plowed into the Key Bridge, toppling the 47-year-old structure into the Patapsco River in seconds and sending six construction workers to their deaths. Seven construction workers were filling potholes on the bridge on the night shift when the ship allided with one of the bridge’s support columns, destroying the 1.6-mile structure. One member of the construction crew survived.

The $1 million in relief for port workers is modeled after a pandemic wage subsidy the city has administered before, MacKenzie Garvin, director of the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, explained at a news conference after the Board of Estimates meeting. The program, which is limited to residents of Baltimore, allows workers to receive a subsidy while remaining with their current employers, Garvin said. Businesses are eligible to receive up to $22,500, covering a maximum of three employees.

The city estimates the money could provide subsidies for around 130 workers, a small fraction of the total 8,000 people state officials estimate have been impacted by the port closures.

Mayor Brandon Scott pledged after the meeting that the city will continue to look at ways it can support workers and the families impacted by the Key Bridge collapse in the coming weeks.

“I want to be clear that this funding is just an initial move,” the first-term mayor said. “It is not nearly enough to cover all of the businesses or workers that will be impacted, but it is an important first step.”

The city’s move to support dockworkers and longshoreman at the port comes as lawmakers in Annapolis have taken similar steps in the last week to approve legislation that would provide aid to small businesses, wage replacement for workers and scholarship funding for the children of victims in the bridge collapse, among other measures.

The federal government’s Small Business Administration has also set up two local offices to help business owners apply for aid, and other help could be on its way.

Meanwhile, Catalina Rodriguez Lima, director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs said the city is prioritizing needs for the families of victims right now, services that could include funeral expenses, legal and immigration fees and other day-to-day costs to support families, many of which have lost their main income provider. Rodriguez Lima said the city will provide more information later on the timeline for distributing the relief money to the families and said the fund will close on May 31.

City officials are typically barred from soliciting donations as “gifts” for other people, and Rodriguez Lima sought approval from the Board of Estimates for an exception to support families impacted by the collapse. The nonprofit Latino Racial Justice Circle raised an initial nearly $100,000 through a GoFundMe before passing the money over to the Office of Immigrant Affairs pool.

The six men who died in the collapse, workers with the Baltimore County-based construction firm Brawner Builders, had each emigrated to the United States from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador or Mexico. They were Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35; Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26; Miguel Luna, 49; Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38; Jose Mynor Lopez, 35; and one as-yet-unnamed man.

Last Wednesday, the bodies of Fuentes and Cabrera were recovered from a red pickup truck in 25 feet of water. A search continues for the bodies of the other four men, as city, state and federal agencies are also working to remove the wreckage of the bridge and the Dali from the Patapsco River.

Crew members on the Dali sent out a mayday distress signal within minutes of the collapse, allowing traffic police enough time to halt traffic across the bridge with seconds to spare before the crash. Members of the construction crew, though, never made it off.

The city’s fundraising drive is one of numerous currently soliciting donations to support the families of victims in the collapse and people who have lost work at the port.

Adam Willis

adam.willis@thebaltimorebanner.com

Adam Willis covers city government for The Banner, including the impacts of the large COVID-19 stimulus package that Baltimore received from the federal government.

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