Mayor

Bob Flickinger plants petunias under the town welcome sign, mulches around the trees at the park and mows the lawn for widows and for his church, where he also helped to save the day-care center. He chauffeurs people to the airport. And when Oscar A. Fogle Jr. had a medical crisis relating to his kidney transplant, who do you think drove him to the hospital in Baltimore and stayed half the night? "He's taken me to dialysis a couple times, to the doctor in Baltimore," Fogle says. "I didn't have anybody."

ANNAPOLIS -- The Baltimore Zoo is so strapped for cash that it has been forced to sell waterfowl to other zoos and can't afford to buy the rhinos, zebras and other animals that would bring alive a new $4 million African watering hole exhibit.And, while officials say they'll have to take even more drastic steps if they don't get more money, the zoo's future apparently has been thrown into jeopardy by a dispute between the governor and the mayor of Baltimore over the zoo's ownership.The flap began last month when Gov. William Donald Schaefer announced in his State of the State address that he wants the state to take over ownership of the zoo, a move designed to save the city money.

The speaker stepped up to one of two microphones set up in the aisles of the auditorium of Edmondson Westside High School. "I kind of feel like I'm on American Idol," he allowed. "Are you going to sing for us?" asked Mayor Sheila Dixon, flashing a smile as the audience laughed. The colloquy occurred last week, partway through the first of a series of "Neighborhood Conversations" the new mayor plans to hold around the city. Seven weeks into her abbreviated 10-month tenure filling out what remains of the term of now-Gov.

WHEN SEVERNA PARK student Edward Morris left home two years ago for his first day of school, like thousands of other kids, he rode his bike. But that's where the similarity ends. The middle child of Newth and Sue Morris was no youngster on his way to elementary school, but a 19-year-old headed for college in Santa Barbara, Calif., by way of Seattle - about 3,600 miles of pedaling from Anne Arundel County. He made it to class in 39 days. Morris and his traveling companion, his 23-year old brother, Newth IV, chose their close-to-the-road means of transportation because they were "bored, and wanted to do something crazy."

On Nov. 2, Baltimoreans will vote to decide who will lead the city into the new century. Recently, Democratic mayoral nominee Martin O'Malley and Republican candidate David F. Tufaro talked to City Hall reporter Gerard Shields of The Sun about how to improve life in the city.How can you as mayor stop the exodus of businesses from the city?Martin O'MalleyI think you've got to be tough. I really want to partner with business leaders in Baltimore City, but I really need to say ... you are not a business leader if you take 500 jobs out of the city during a transitional period from one mayor to another.

A newly appointed commission will study the advisability of revising the 1708 Annapolis city charter to grant the mayor greater power over the government.The five-member panel, selected last week by Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins, will examine whether the mayor's authority should be expanded or whether that power should be vested in a city manager, said Roger "Pip" Moyer, who was mayor of Annapolis in the 1960s.Mr. Moyer will lead the commission. The other members are Ward 7 Alderman M. Theresa DeGraff, City Administrator Michael D. Mallinoff and residents Hillard Donner and Harvey Ennis.

THE WARMTH OF the Tampa sun shining on Mayor Martin O'Malley as he watched the Ravens stomp the Giants in the Super Bowl can't compare to the intensity of the rays a Baltimore Sun editorial beamed on the mayor after his recent attack on Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. During an interview with a Sun reporter, O'Malley unleashed one of the most vitriolic and uncivil tirades I've ever heard a mayor direct at another elected official. The mayor cursed the state's attorney for refusing to go ahead with a clearly doomed prosecution of a police officer accused of corruption.

In a work session last night on revisions to the Manchester town charter, the Town Council began to shift power to the office of the mayor.After a brief business meeting, the council met to consider the first draft of revisions to the town charter. When the charter revision is completed, the town code will also be revamped.Three council members said last night they favor rescinding a key provision of a controversial charter amendment passed last year. That amendment increased the council's power to fire the town manager, at the expense of the mayor's power.

Sparks are flying again in a debate that has bedeviled Annapolis government officials for decades. Should the city's 1708 charter be changed to give the mayor greater power over the affairs of the town?The debate, which dates back at least to 1965, surfaced about a month ago during Salary Review Commission meetings when several aldermen complained that the current "weak mayor" system leaves the city government adrift.Previous efforts to change the scope of the mayor's power ended in defeat, but this move appears to have more strength.

The mayor giveth and the mayor taketh away.Earlier this week, Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke was feeling less than generous.Still steamed over his inability to muscle the votes in the City Council to approve his pick for comptroller, Mr. Schmoke yanked a handful of $25 tickets to the Annual J. Millard Tawes Crab & Clam Bake today in Crisfield -- after bestowing them earlier on council members.The mayor's campaign had invited council members and others to be his guests at the schmooze event of the summer's political season in Somerset County, all expenses paid, including bus transportation to and from there.