Mayor S Office

Everyone at City Hall claims to be back to work after that pesky corruption trial. And what a relief! For a minute there, it looked like it wouldn't be business as usual. Shortly after 12 jurors decided someone smart enough to run a city couldn't confuse $1,000 in gift cards with a long-dead flower arrangement, one of Mayor Sheila Dixon's staunchest backers seemed to bail. "I don't think she can continue to be mayor," Councilwoman Rikki Spector told reporters Tuesday. Spector came to her senses the next day and said she hopes the mayor will stay in office.

Say this much for Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III: He's willing to deliver on a bet. Bealefeld appeared on radio station 98 Rock on Tuesday morning to sing a karaoke version of Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman," honoring an agreement he made with the mayor's office after his all-male police team lost a marathon relay Saturday to an all-women's team headed by an official from City Hall. "Suddenly, every drug dealer in town is petrified," cracked host Mickey Cucchiella after Bealefeld cruised through his droll rendition of the song.

The Baltimore City Council asserted itself on a budget battle for the first time in more than a decade Thursday evening, stripping money from Mayor Sheila Dixon's $2.4 billion spending plan. The move is designed to press Dixon to restore money for recreation centers, pools and other programs by cutting $1.1 million from the mayor's other priorities. And it sends a clear message: This City Council has the votes to act independently. "I knew we'd get this," City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake said after the votes.

Baltimore City Council members are threatening to cut pet programs from Mayor Sheila Dixon's office as they scour the city's $2.2 billion budget for money to offset her proposed cuts to recreation centers, community pools and Police Athletic League centers. Tuesday evening, they focused on the mayor's Office of Neighborhoods, describing the $580,000 program as "duplicative" with the services already provided by the city. "If I had to make a choice and it was the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods or Parks and Recreation," said Councilman Edward Reisinger, "I can't see the rationale for laying off rec center directors."

Two city educators whose endorsements appear on the back of what federal authorities describe as a gang handbook recommended the leader's teachings to Mayor Sheila Dixon's education liaison. The mayor's office refused to elaborate on the meeting, saying it did not pursue the suggestion and has no knowledge of the book or Eric Brown, 40, the man authorities say is the leader of the Black Guerrilla Family. But the disclosure sheds light on how Brown's efforts might have been disseminated from behind prison walls.

After being invited yesterday to join more than 70 mayors for a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House today, indicted Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon was abruptly un-invited hours later, according to her spokesman. "We were really hoping that the mayor was going to make this meeting at the White House," said spokesman Scott Peterson. "But it does not look like it is going to happen." Peterson could not say why the mayor was un-invited to the meeting, coordinated by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

A day after becoming the first Baltimore mayor to be indicted, Mayor Sheila Dixon maintained a public schedule designed to show her steely backbone and close connections with the community - donning boxing gloves at a gym in West Baltimore and later giving heartfelt advice to underprivileged girls at a Boys and Girls Club in Brooklyn. "If you make a mistake today, you can get up the next day and keep focused with what you need to do," Dixon, a Democrat, told the Brooklyn group. She could have been talking about herself.

Here in the state capital, where politics is a spectator sport, a group of neighborhood activists and city aldermen - not to mention loads of residents who've turned out for community forums - is pushing for an overhaul at City Hall. Two city council members say they've been working hard to merge a pair of charter changes that would rein in day-to-day power that has become concentrated in the mayor's office. Another lawmaker thinks maybe appointing a blue-ribbon panel would help sort out whether a city manager or a strengthened city administrator would be more effective.

Most City Council members agreed last week that the city's worsening financial situation merits budget cuts, but they're not sure Mayor Sheila Dixon's list of $36.5 million in proposals is the best way to close the gap. Some want Dixon's office to take more of a direct hit from the spending reductions. Others believe the city should look at dipping into its rainy day fund to make up the shortfall. Councilman Bernard C. "Jack" Young, chairman of the budget and appropriations committee, said that next year he would like to shelve the mayor's Office of Neighborhoods, the Office of Criminal Justice, the CitiStat program, her homelessness programs and the planned Office of Sustainability.

City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake might be Baltimore's mayor-in-waiting, but there was no waiting yesterday. At 6:49 a.m. yesterday, her office issued an e-mail titled, "Council President Declares Victory in 9/11 'Run to Remember' Challenge." The 5K road race began 11 minutes later. The news release was embargoed until 7 a.m., but still! Don't runners usually cross the finish line before claiming victory? "I learned from working on campaigns that you declare victory as early as possible," said Rawlings-Blake spokesman Ryan O'Doherty.