We are just a week away now from the Maryland and Baltimore City primary elections, and all this week we are taking time to bring the people of Baltimore interviews with candidates for City Council. Today conversations with candidates for two City Council districts -- District 6 and District 8, both on the west side of town.In this podcast:1:28: First, District 6, which runs from Roland Park to Forest Park and includes Ashburton, Park Heights and Pimlico. The incumbent city council member, Sharon Green Middleton, never responded to our invitation to the podcast. So today we’ll hear from Mark Hughes, a career educator who challenged Middleton in 2011. He lost that election but is running again, he says, because little has improved in the 6th District over the last five years.Helen Holton represents Baltimore’s 8th District in City Council. But she decided not to seek re-election, so the race is wide open. District 8, on the west side of town, includes Edmondson Village, Allendale, Uplands and Irvington and several other neighborhoods. Three Democrats accepted our invitation to talk about their candidacies — David Maurice Smallwood, Reggie Fugett and Kristerfer Burnett — as well as one Republican, Joseph Brown. 17:50: David Maurice Smallwood34:40: Reginald "Reggie" Fugett48:31: Kristerfer Burnett1:10:43: Joseph Brown