Baltimore City Council

The Washington Baltimore Olympic Bid Committee met a critical deadline this week when the D.C. Council passed a resolution Tuesday supporting the group's effort.The Baltimore City Council passed a similar resolution in November.Without the resolutions, the coalition's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games would not have been considered by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The resolutions are due to the U.S. Olympic Committee by Dec. 31.The resolutions also state that both councils acknowledge the USOC expectations and requirements regarding governmental participation in the bid process.

The Baltimore City Council granted preliminary approval last night to a Howard County developer to buy three parcels of land that will comprise Wyndholme Village, a planned gated community exclusively for the hearing-impaired.Jim Lancelotta, owner of Lancelotta and Associates Inc., plans to build a 927-apartment complex in the 5200 block of Frederick Ave. for hearing-impaired people over age 50.Plans show that the apartments would be surrounded by courtyards, bike paths, dining rooms, a bank and a grocery store.

RAISED VOICES, bared fists, name-calling -- just another meeting of the Baltimore City Council. Such storminess has happened often enough in recent years for Council President Lawrence A. Bell III to issue a code of conduct for members. Good for him.Perhaps the council will be more passive since its meetings apparently will no longer be televised on cable TV, that city department having succumbed to the budget ax. But Mr. Bell is taking no chances. Among other things, he is ordering these elected officials to refrain from impugning the character of other members, refer to one another only as ''council person'' or ''colleague,'' and to sit down and be quiet when the president is trying to speak.

Keeping a tiger in the living room may soon be harder than it once was. And chickens clucking in the front yard? Not without a permit. Under a proposal introduced yesterday in the Baltimore City Council, owners of farm and exotic animals would have to get a permit from the city's Health Department to keep their pets. The Health Department received 110 complaints in the past year from neighbors upset over unusual pets, said Baltimore's acting commissioner of health, Francine J. Childs. Now the agency wants the authority to enforce the city code that requires owners to properly care for those animals.

SHOULD the Baltimore City Council have nine single-member districts? While I would welcome and encourage an opportunity for further discussion of this issue, and while I commend the League of Women Voters for its interest in and vigilance regarding Baltimore City government, I do not believe a ballot question with a specific number of single-member districts is the correct procedure at this time. As a former president of the Maryland Association of Counties, and as the current Baltimore City Council representative to both the Maryland Association of Counties and the National Association of Counties, I am familiar with the issue of size of the local legislative body (be it council or commission)

It could have been a scene from a period movie: people arriving at Baltimore's historic Senator Theatre, dressed in fringe, feathers and raccoon coats. However, this was a birthday party, celebrating Homeland's 75th anniversary in roaring '20s fashion."Isn't this fun?" exclaimed "Homeland 75" co-chair Barbara Stevens. She was in full flapper fringe and feather boa, while her husband and co-chair, Jim, 23-skidooed in red suspenders and a bowler.Many of the 250 guests were Homeland residents, including Nancy O'Donnell, who's lived there 60 years, and Barbara Steinmann, who wore her mother's 1929 wedding dress.

The Baltimore City Council approved a new plan to reduce trash collection to once a week, passing one of the mayor's top legislative priorities on an 8-to-5 vote. "It is really a mind-set; people have to change," Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said after the vote. The legislation also increases recycling pickup to once a week, from once every other week, a move that fits with the mayor's goal to promote a "greener" city. The new plan goes into effect July 14 and coincides with a broader shift in collection routes, which will mean almost every neighborhood will have a new trash day. Those dates will be unveiled in coming weeks.

I lived in a close suburb of Detroit from mid-1970 through April of 2001. During that period of time, I watched Detroit go from a city ranked fifth nationally in population to one that is now only a shell of city and is essentially bankrupt. During the 1970s and 1980s, Mayor Coleman Young tried to institute policies that failed miserably and added to the downward spiral. They included hiring policies that dictated to companies how to do business in the city that only resulted in higher costs to all involved ("Good intentions don't create jobs," May 22)

New positions Comcast names Harris public affairs director Comcast Cable Communications appointed Kenneth E. Harris director of public affairs for its operations in Baltimore, Howard and Harford counties. Formerly an account consultant with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Washington, the Baltimore resident is a member of the Baltimore City Council and the Governor's Task Force on Crime Control. Sparks to head marketing at Towson Town Center Towson Town Center hired Cheryl Sparks as marketing manager for the Rouse Co. suburban mall.

A preview of the 6th District race for Baltimore City Council that appeared in some Thursday editions did not list some of the public service activities of Stephanie C. Rawlings Blake. She also serves on the boards of the National Aquarium, Maryland Science Center, Living Classrooms, Greater Northwest Community Coalition, Parks and People Foundation and Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. Swaths of affluence and deep poverty cut across the three City Council districts of Baltimore's northwest reaches.