City Hall

I read with keen interest The Sun's editorial, "An unjustified ban" (Feb 4), regarding efforts to keep Baltimore activist Kim Trueheart out of City Hall. The editorial makes several interesting, solid and instructive points for Ms. Trueheart and other private citizens who regularly attend City Hall seeking to hold top officials accountable. I was totally dismayed, however, as to how The Sun could side with City Hall and the police over Ms. Trueheart, inasmuch as the facts in the case clearly show that Ms. Trueheart did nothing wrong or unlawful to warrant the police placing her under arrest.

A report by a consultant hired by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration paints a dire picture of future city finances — opening the door for Baltimore officials to propose widespread cuts, including to city employees' health and pension benefits. The report by Philadelphia-based Public Financial Management Inc. concluded that Baltimore is facing a structural deficit of nearly $750 million over the next 10 years. It pointed to pension and health care costs as the two biggest drivers of the city's projected deficit.

Baltimore activist Kim Trueheart was back at City Hall last week after a judge lifted a ban on her presence there that was at least unjustified and possibly illegal. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who often bears the brunt of Ms. Trueheart's criticism of city government, has said if it was up to her, the trespassing charges against Ms. Trueheart would be dropped because City Hall "is the people's building. " It would be easy to chalk the whole thing up to a mistake by someone in the police department and declare no harm, no foul.

Holding cut-outs of activist Kim Trueheart's face, protesters objected at Wednesday morning's Board of Estimates meeting to her ban from City Hall. "I was with Kim Trueheart a week ago when she was arrested trying to attend this very meeting," fellow activist Mike McGuire said. "As anyone who has been around City Hall knows, Kim is quite a fixture. With her banning from City Hall, and her subsequent arrest, she couldn't be here. We wanted to make sure she was present at least in spirit.

A judge on Wednesday lifted a ban prohibiting political activist Kim A. Trueheart from entering City Hall — and she promptly returned to the building, where she attended the mayor's news conference. At a District Court hearing Wednesday morning, Trueheart, 55, of Baltimore rejected a deal that would have put her misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct charges on an inactive docket. Trueheart said she did nothing wrong and wanted the opportunity to be cleared of wrongdoing.

Kim Trueheart, arrested for attempting to enter City Hall, is undoubtedly guilty ("Activist jailed, barred from City Hall," Jan. 24). She has often been witnessed attending meetings of the City Council and Board of Estimates where she regularly questions city leaders, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, on decisions that were seemingly taken in back rooms before the meeting started. She is an acknowledged advocate of open government who has demanded that Baltimore adhere to laws requiring disclosure of funding and policy decisions and the processes that led the them.

The Patriots' coach might be a sore loser, but Boston mayor Thomas Menino has sportingly made good on the losing bet he made with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on the AFC Championship game.  A package filled with goods from Boston's public markets arrived at Baltimore City Hall on Friday. Inside were cannoli, ravioli, various packaged goods and an assortment of seafood, including mussels, scallops, oysters -- and four live lobsters. Rawlings-Blake, who was not in Baltimore on Friday, will be making a visit next week to the Cottage Avenue Community , the Park Circle transitional housing program for homeless families she chose as the recipients of the package.

Activist Kim Trueheart, a vocal critic of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration who was arrested and jailed Wednesday after trying to enter City Hall, said Thursday that she was dismayed that police officers would attempt to keep a citizen from a public building. "I'm upset and disappointed in the police force of Baltimore City," said Trueheart, 55, who was released early Thursday morning. "One of the supervisors said City Hall is a private building and I have trespassed on a private building.

A frequent critic of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration was arrested and jailed Wednesday morning when she tried to enter City Hall to attend a public meeting. Officers told the activist, Kim A. Trueheart, 55, of Baltimore, that she had been banned from the building. Trueheart was held at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Facility on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct until Thursday morning, when she was released, the facility confirmed. "I'm home ... Thank you lord!

When it comes to disclosing to residents how their city's money is spent, Baltimore rates a grade of B+, one of the highest grades among 30 cities in a new report released by the Maryland PIRG Foundation. Only three cities received an A: Chicago, New York and San Francisco, with the first two singled out as models for the rest of the nation's cities. The report issued grades based on the ability of city residents to be able to track budgets, contracting grants and requests for quality-of-life services.