NEWS
By James Drew | October 27, 2009
The Baltimore Board of Ethics should review whether city employees have violated ethics statutes by soliciting money for a nonprofit group without receiving approval, a city councilman said Monday. In a letter to the board's chairman, Councilman William H. Cole IV asked the ethics board to examine the activities of the Baltimore City Foundation, an organization created primarily to help finance city projects for the needy. The request followed the publication Sunday of a Baltimore Sun investigation that detailed questionable transactions by city employees using foundation money.
NEWS
By James Drew | October 25, 2009
A few times a week, Lenwood M. Ivey leaves his small office on the ninth floor of the Equitable Building and strolls the two blocks to the city Finance Department to sign checks drawn up by a city clerk. As president of the Baltimore City Foundation, he puts his name behind several million dollars each year for programs that the city identifies as worthy. The foundation - a private nonprofit formed in 1981 to raise money, primarily to benefit city programs for the underprivileged - helps pay for projects such as a summer jobs program for youths, funeral expenses for homicide victims and home smoke alarms for the needy.
NEWS
By Peter Hermann | October 22, 2009
In the tangled and insular world of Little Italy, where trivial spats can erupt into bitter battles that require the police and courts to resolve, it should come as no surprise that a meeting about crime can lead to fears about hidden agendas and misplaced loyalties. Giovanna Blatterman, a community leader, political gadfly and longtime rabble-rouser, organized Tuesday night's Community Crime Summit that attracted a standing-room-only crowd to the basement hall of St. Leo's Church and a bevy of city officials, including a councilman, the health commissioner, a zoning supervisor, the liquor board chairman and a police commander.
NEWS
By Timothy B. Wheeler | September 26, 2009
The long-delayed Charm City Circulator Bus made a cameo appearance Friday in Harbor East, as city and business leaders kicked off a campaign aimed at encouraging workers and residents to ease the bustling neighborhood's traffic by taking transit or a water taxi, biking or walking. People who turned out for the event at the Katyn Memorial got a chance to hop aboard the new hybrid bus, but they still can't ride it anywhere. Production problems and a slumping economy continue to hold up delivery of the 21 buses it is acquiring, city officials said.
NEWS
By Lorraine Mirabella | September 22, 2009
City officials are moving ahead with plans to sell or lease the historic Senator Theatre to an operator who would keep it running as a movie theater or convert the 70-year-old landmark to a performing arts venue. In a request for proposals issued Monday, the Baltimore Development Corp. said it is seeking plans that would keep the 900-seat theater active, allow it to serve as an anchor for nearby communities and maintain the building's art deco exterior and interior features. The city purchased the financially troubled theater's mortgage in May after the owner, Thomas Kiefaber, was unable to make payments on a $1.2 million loan that the city had partially guaranteed.
NEWS
By Annie Linskey | September 20, 2009
Baltimore city government would be closed for five days between October and June as most workers participate in a new furlough plan that the city's spending board will be asked to approve this week to help plug a $60.2 million gap in the city's $2.3 billion budget. Firefighters and police also would have to accept furloughs or equivalent reductions to make the cost-saving program work, city officials said, but union leaders are resisting any plan that takes their members off the streets, arguing that further cuts to their agencies would endanger the public.
NEWS
By Annie Linskey | September 17, 2009
Baltimore's Board of Estimates approved Wednesday spending $17,828.50 in federal stimulus money toward food and party rentals at a rally promoting prenatal health, according to city officials. Mayor Sheila Dixon is to speak at the event, scheduled for Sept. 26 at Clifton Park, according to the Board of Estimates agenda. It is being organized by the city's health department to "raise awareness" about infant mortality in the city and will include "villages" where attendees can receive information about staying healthy while pregnant, financial planning, mental health, nutrition and how to care for an infant, according to the agenda.
NEWS
By Annie Linskey | August 29, 2009
Mayor Sheila Dixon plans to dip into the city's $13.5 million "undesignated surplus" funds, lay off about 100 city workers and implement across-the-board furloughs to close a $60.2 million budget shortfall caused by state cuts and declining city revenue estimates, according to union leaders who met with city officials this week and a budget document obtained by The Baltimore Sun. The plan also includes using $11 million to $12 million of excess funds...
NEWS
By Lorraine Mirabella | August 27, 2009
The long-planned revitalization of the area surrounding Oldtown Mall in East Baltimore inched forward Wednesday, as city officials approved funds to help relocate merchants and make way for mixed-use development. The Board of Estimates, the city's spending panel, approved more than $256,000 in moving expenses for seven small shops or businesses, among them a hair salon, a car wash and a tailor's shop, that occupy buildings the city has acquired. The city has been buying up property around the mall south of Monument Street at Orleans and Ensor streets as part of a deal to turn over a 5-acre parcel to a development group led by Continental Realty Corp.
NEWS
By Lorraine Mirabella | August 22, 2009
Baltimore's city-owned convention hotel opened to much fanfare and high expectations last August, with white-gloved waiters serving champagne in the blue-and-rust lobby, a jazz ensemble playing and the first guests marveling at the ballpark views. Tourism and government leaders praised the $301 million, publicly financed project as the much-needed ingredient to bolster convention business and elevate the city as a destination. But within months, the bottom fell out of the economy, weakening demand in the lodging and convention industries.