Mayor

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

I agree with Del Pat McDonough for telling it like it is ("Baltimore and bigotry," May 22). He is the only delegate who has the guts to tell the truth. He was just calling it as it was. You have no right to get on him for that. Delegate McDonough didn't do anything wrong, the mob did. By the way, I didn't need anyone to tell me what color the mob was. I knew just by hearing the 911 tapes. It is amazing to me, when black people do bad things, The Sun will always blame it the other guy. And yes, if the mob was white, The Sun would have been all over it along with the mayor, police, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton.

NBC Sports says it had 170 employees in Baltimore this week to cover the Preakness, and from the looks of the TV package it presented, all of them earned their keep. NBC's network coverage started at 4:30 p.m., and it hardly ever sagged for more than a minute or two right up until the start of the race some two hours later. And that's no mean feat given that the horse racing world is essentially on hold until the start of the race on the day of a Triple Crown event. What I am saying is that once you show the infield crowd dancing to Maroon 5, overhead shots of the Inner Harbor and Pimlico, ground level shots of the grandstand, women in hats, tables full of crab cakes, Black-eyed Susans all in a row, and the horses in their stalls, what do you do for the other hour and 50 minutes?

State Del. Pat McDonough told the Sun last week that he wasn't going to back down from claims made in a press release that 'black youth mobs terrorize" downtown Baltimore. And in his Saturday night radio show on WCBM (AM-680), he not only made good on that pledge, he ratcheted up the rhetoric ripping Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake while vowing to bring the issue of downtown public safety to the front burner of public consciousness with a "news conference" Tuesday -- and other actions to follow.

During my time in office, members of the downtown business community and other citizens urged me to take action against the area known as The Block. Since the end of World War II, The Block has been a concentration of strip clubs and X-rated bookstores. However, by the 1990s, The Block acquired a reputation for attracting people engaged in drug dealing, prostitution and other unsavory activity. Pressure mounted to close the last remaining block of what once was three blocks of sex-based entertainment.

Today in New York, I am wearing an autographed "Baltimore is Best" necktie in memory of former Governor and Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer, which signed necktie was sent me by this amazing advocate for Baltimore. While I am profoundly sad to have heard of Don's passing, I am simultaneously profoundly proud of the "Maryland memories" which his unique style and effervescent personality allowed my wife and me to share. Edward B (Woody) Ryder IV, Greenlawn, N.Y.

Editor: Patrick McGrady is my neighbor. I have known him for almost 26 years. I'm supporting him for mayor of Aberdeen because I trust him and his family. They are honest, God-fearing, and hard-working. Patrick will work tirelessly to get Aberdeen back to basics: clean water, safe streets and low taxes. Aberdeen will have a bright future if we elect Patrick McGrady. Gisele Knapp Aberdeen

The other night I was awakened at 2 a.m. by a robocall from the "mayor and city council of Baltimore" alerting me about the upcoming hurricane. I am thoroughly disgusted and very angry about it - even more so because I couldn't speak to anyone in city government on Sunday. When I called the City Hall operator I was given the number for the mayor's office of constituency, which, of course, was closed. I wonder who was responsible for this snafu... Naomi Walpert, Baltimore

Here's what I want from Baltimore's next mayor: I want a cheerleader - someone who is willing to be on the street, meeting and greeting citizens every day, complimenting them on good deeds and taking them to task for their bad deeds. A person who finds ways to unite the diverse elements of our wonderful city. I want a CEO who recognizes that the city needs talented folks to manage the agencies, people whose first loyalty is to improving the health and well being of the city of Baltimore, rather than to the mayor and the mayor's ambitions.

If Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's decision to strip City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young of his tickets to a Ravens playoff game didn't make it clear enough, the list of those who have been invited to share the city skybox this season confirms it: One of the perks of being Baltimore's chief executive is that you get to run the municipal equivalent of the popular kids table in a middle school cafeteria. The guest list, recently released by City Hall in response to a Sun public information act request, includes the mayor's family and friends, her political supporters and fellow politicians who vote her way. And as Mr. Young learned after publicly disagreeing with her about the Baltimore Grand Prix, favors bestowed can also be withheld.

Visitors to Baltimore's downtown on summer weekends will see up to 50 additional police officers, a show of force aimed at preventing a repeat of St. Patrick's Day, when hundreds of youths battled and a tourist was beaten — scenes the mayor described as "a black eye for the city. " Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake toured the streets around the Inner Harbor and downtown for two hours Friday, the first night of increased police presence. During the late-night walk, she made her first public comments since reports that the disturbances on March 17 were far more extensive and more violent than police had initially described.

Three members of a key City Council committee say they oppose Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposal to more than double the city's bottle tax — enough to kill the bill. That has angered supporters of the bill, who accuse Councilman Carl Stokes, the chairman of the council's Taxation, Finance and Economic Development Committee, of holding back public education. The tax increase is part of the mayor's plan to fix dilapidated schools. Stokes is one of the three council members on the five-member committee who oppose it. "Councilman Stokes is standing as a roadblock toward improving the quality of our schools for our children," said Bishop Douglas Miles, chairman of the interfaith group Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development.

Death came for Arunah Shepherdson Abell on April 19, 1888, just 27 days before he would have celebrated the 51st anniversary of the newspaper he founded in Baltimore in 1837. Abell, who was in his city townhouse at Charles and Madison streets near Mount Vernon Place, had retired about 9:30 the night before, "fully himself in all save physical activity," reported The Sun in a news article the next morning announcing his death. "DEATH OF MR. A.S. ABELL. THE END OF A USEFUL LIFE.

During my time in office, members of the downtown business community and other citizens urged me to take action against the area known as The Block. Since the end of World War II, The Block has been a concentration of strip clubs and X-rated bookstores. However, by the 1990s, The Block acquired a reputation for attracting people engaged in drug dealing, prostitution and other unsavory activity. Pressure mounted to close the last remaining block of what once was three blocks of sex-based entertainment.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has once again looked outside Baltimore government for a chief of staff, tapping Maryland Labor Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez for the position. "I want to build on the strength of her vision," Sanchez, 43, said in an interview Monday after the mayor made the announcement. "She's had great success at reducing crime and building up the public schools. " Sanchez — Rawlings-Blake's third chief of staff in less than three years — will succeed Peter O'Malley, Gov. Martin O'Malley's brother.

William J. Schmidt, a former department store buyer who later became director of administration for the Housing Authority of Baltimore City, died Monday at his Bel Air home of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 79. The son of a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. actuary and a homemaker, William Joseph Schmidt was born in Baltimore and raised on Aisquith Street. He was a 1951 graduate of Mount St. Joseph High School in Irvington and earned a bachelor's degree in 1955 in business administration from what is now Loyola University Maryland.

The Mayor and Housing Authority of Baltimore's insist that they cannot pay court judgments for victims of lead paint is unconscionable, unjust and completely unacceptable. I am shocked and outraged that the Mayor of Baltimore and the Housing Authority of Baltimore will not stand up for the most vulnerable citizens of Baltimore: the children. How can the Housing Authority and the Mayor turn their backs on the victims and disregard the rule of law? The Mayor and the Housing Authority Board members have taken a solemn oath of office to uphold the laws of the State of Maryland and they should do just that, uphold the law. What is more troubling is the clear pattern of mismanagement by the Administration and the Housing Authority on the issue of lead paint.

Appearing relaxed while trying to quell talk of a hidden motive behind his decision to resign in three months, the city's blunt-spoken police commissioner did at least concede Friday that he was pushed out of the job. "Look, I was absolutely influenced in this decision," Frederick H. Bealefeld III said. But it wasn't by city officials or a as-yet-undisclosed issue. It was his wife, Linda, and 16-year-old daughter, Erica. Said Bealefeld, his eyes tearing, "They're ready for me to come home.

Editor: As a Perryville Town resident of over 30 years, I could not be more pleased with the leadership provided by Mayor Jim Eberhardt. Through his tenure the town finances are in fine shape, the infrastructure especially water and waste water are strategically and structurally sound and the staff employed in the town office and department of public works is extremely competent operating within a service mentality. On the occasions that I've had to inquire regarding town business, I have always been treated courteously and received correct information or prompt attention.