Tufaro

Returning from its summer break last night, the Baltimore City Council picked up where it left off in June -- introducing bills to grant property tax breaks to two proposed downtown developments.The council introduced a Schmoke administration measure that would provide tax breaks for a proposed $124-million, 600-room Westin Hotel on the former News American site at 300 E. Pratt St.The second bill, also an administration measure, would benefit a planned $90-million office tower and parking facility on land owned by Baltimore City Community College at 600 E. Pratt St.They are the latest projects for which developers are seeking payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs)

GIVE ME YOUR tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to cry `racism' at the drop of a hat." That's not the inscription inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. But it should be.So they came Monday morning. My people, the black people, to once again charge this newspaper with being "racist" in its coverage. The claim this time is that we are running negative articles about black mayoral candidates and only positive ones about the leading white mayoral candidate, 3rd District Democratic Councilman Martin O'Malley.

Up to 100,000 Baltimore voters will cast ballots Tuesday to select the city's 47th mayor, concluding an often combative 12-month contest, the first in 28 years in which no incumbent is seeking the post.Democratic City Councilman Martin O'Malley faces Republican David F. Tufaro to determine who will lead Baltimore into the next century.Voters in the overwhelmingly Democratic city will also elect a new City Council president, city comptroller and 18 council members, including races in two districts where Republicans are pushing hard to become the first GOP members on the council in 60 years.

Baltimore mayoral candidates will meet tonight in a public forum at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the first of at least four debates to be held before the Nov. 2 general election.But Republican mayoral contender David F. Tufaro is complaining that his Democratic opponent, City Councilman Martin O'Malley, is backing out of neighborhood forums in which the two had been scheduled to meet.Though O'Malley has agreed to the four joint appearances, he has declined to join Tufaro in six other forums sponsored by neighborhood organizations, Tufaro said.

Making their second joint appearance in five days, Gov. Parris N. Glendening and Democratic mayoral nominee Martin J. O'Malley toured a revitalized Cherry Hill shopping center yesterday and pledged to strengthen city and state ties.Glendening dedicated $1 million in state money to add six "hot spots" in Baltimore to a crime-fighting effort in city neighborhoods. The governor said the state will also pay $5 million to improve roads around the former Procter & Gamble Co. plant being redeveloped in Locust Point.

Republican mayoral nominee David F. Tufaro welcomed the mayor of Jersey City, N.J., to town yesterday, hoping that some of his fellow Republican's success against overwhelming Democratic odds will rub off next week.Tufaro, a Roland Park developer making his first bid for elective office, faces Democrat Martin O'Malley in the Nov. 2 general election.Bret Schundler stunned Jersey City in 1993 when he was elected mayor in a city in which Republicans are 6 percent of registered voters -- half of Baltimore's figure.

During the taping of a television show last night, Baltimore's two mayoral candidates started out warily, but then attacked each other's positions on crime, vacant houses and troubled schools.Appearing on WBAL-TV's "A Bottom Line," scheduled to air Saturday, Democrat Martin O'Malley and Republican David F. Tufaro discussed a wide range of issues and listened to the audience describe the city's problems.Asked by the show's host, Kweisi Mfume to discuss their differences, each gave a short speech on how happy they were to have won last month's primary.

Filling his most prominent transition team posts, Democratic mayoral nominee Martin O'Malley has appointed a politically connected lawyer and a prominent banker as chairmen of his support staff.Richard O. Berndt, 56, a managing partner with Gallagher, Evelius and Jones, and Joseph J. Haskins Jr., 51, president of Harbor Bank of Maryland, will lead the O'Malley transition team if he wins Tuesday's general election against Republican David F. Tufaro, O'Malley said yesterday.While Tufaro criticized the appointments because he said they placed too much of "an emphasis on downtown," he continued building his transition team, largely from the staffs of Democratic mayoral candidates who lost in September's primary.

Republican mayoral candidate David F. Tufaro plans to outline his proposal today for reducing Baltimore's stubborn crime rate, calling for swift punishment for people caught with guns and giving community groups a say in which nuisance crimes should be targeted by police.His 19-page document addresses dozens of city ills and possible solutions -- from reducing the number of desk-bound officers and moving them to the street, to using a civilian review board to deal with police misconduct.Early in his campaign, Tufaro, a Roland Park developer, acknowledged knowing little about police aside from what he had learned in casual conversations with patrol officers.

Former Democratic mayoral contender Carl Stokes said yesterday that he would serve as Baltimore's housing commissioner if Republican mayoral nominee David F. Tufaro wins Tuesday's general election.The former East Baltimore city councilman who finished second in last month's Democratic primary, however, was quick to note that he doesn't expect to go to City Hall with Tufaro.Tufaro, a Roland Park developer making his first bid for public office, faces a challenge in trying to beat Democratic nominee Martin O'Malley next week.

One of Baltimore's historic cotton mills will become the city's newest apartment and office building if a local developer can secure funding and zoning approval for the conversion. Developer David F. Tufaro of Terra Nova Ventures has a contract to purchase Mount Vernon Mill No. 1, a vacant, four-level mill at 3000 Falls Road in the Jones Falls Valley. A price has not been disclosed. Tufaro wants to turn the mill into about 80 apartments, 24,000 square feet of office space, a restaurant and on-site parking.

So this is what it feels like to be on the other side of the bulldozer. Some of those fighting plans to build a huge senior citizens complex on prized Roland Park open space are developers who live in the neighborhood and who, on occasion, have built or torn down buildings over fierce community opposition. One of them could fairly be accused of subverting democracy the old-fashioned way, by stuffing the ballot box, though it must be noted the "democracy" in question was Columbia, so big wup. Among the developers who suddenly find themselves on the NIMBY team: * Martin Millspaugh, who led the agency that organized the Charles Center and Inner Harbor renewal projects.

One of every four registered voters in Baltimore are expected to cast ballots today in an election that will bring the most sweeping changes to City Hall since Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke came into office 12 years ago.City election leaders fear that rain forecast for the area could diminish the turnout of voters being asked to select the city's 47th mayor.Baltimore also will pick a new City Council, choosing the president and filling four vacancies on the 19-member body. In addition, City Comptroller Joan M. Pratt will seek a second four-year term that could boost her for a future mayoral bid.The name of Democratic Northeast City Councilman Martin O'Malley, 36, will top the city ballot as he faces Republican mayoral nominee David F. Tufaro, a Roland Park developer making his first bid for elected office.

Baltimore's mayoral hopefuls worked the crowds yesterday at city churches and Halloween events, as the two candidates entered the final stretch toward Election Day tomorrow.Democrat Martin O'Malley and Republican David F. Tufaro had a fairly light schedule in their campaigns, which have survived an often brutal 12-month mayoral race that had as many as 27 candidates."We've said and done about everything we can," said Tufaro as he campaigned at the Baltimore Zoo. "There isn't much more to say."

Up to 100,000 Baltimore voters will cast ballots Tuesday to select the city's 47th mayor, concluding an often combative 12-month contest, the first in 28 years in which no incumbent is seeking the post.Democratic City Councilman Martin O'Malley faces Republican David F. Tufaro to determine who will lead Baltimore into the next century.Voters in the overwhelmingly Democratic city will also elect a new City Council president, city comptroller and 18 council members, including races in two districts where Republicans are pushing hard to become the first GOP members on the council in 60 years.

THE RESULTS will not be in for another two days, but Baltimore's tiny Republican Party has already won in the city's general election. For the first time in decades, it fielded candidates who campaigned hard and could not be ignored by Democrats.The challenge now is for the party's strongest contenders -- mayoral hopeful David F. Tufaro and council candidates Robert N. Santoni Sr. and Joseph Brown Jr., to stay the course, regardless of the outcome on Tuesday, and continue their activism in civic affairs.

Filling his most prominent transition team posts, Democratic mayoral nominee Martin O'Malley has appointed a politically connected lawyer and a prominent banker as chairmen of his support staff.Richard O. Berndt, 56, a managing partner with Gallagher, Evelius and Jones, and Joseph J. Haskins Jr., 51, president of Harbor Bank of Maryland, will lead the O'Malley transition team if he wins Tuesday's general election against Republican David F. Tufaro, O'Malley said yesterday.While Tufaro criticized the appointments because he said they placed too much of "an emphasis on downtown," he continued building his transition team, largely from the staffs of Democratic mayoral candidates who lost in September's primary.

Baltimore's mayoral candidates met face-to-face yesterday for their last scheduled debate before Tuesday's general election as they tried to show their differing agendas to city voters.During a debate on the Larry Young Morning radio show on WOLB-AM 1010, Republican mayoral nominee David F. Tufaro criticized Democratic challenger Martin O'Malley for raising $1.3 million in campaign contributions. Much of the money came from businesses, including some who have contracts with the city, Tufaro said.

Former Democratic mayoral contender Carl Stokes said yesterday that he would serve as Baltimore's housing commissioner if Republican mayoral nominee David F. Tufaro wins Tuesday's general election.The former East Baltimore city councilman who finished second in last month's Democratic primary, however, was quick to note that he doesn't expect to go to City Hall with Tufaro.Tufaro, a Roland Park developer making his first bid for public office, faces a challenge in trying to beat Democratic nominee Martin O'Malley next week.

DAVID Tufaro is the best thing that has happened to Baltimore's Republican Party in decades. He's not going to win his race for mayor on Nov. 2, but he could provide the impetus for turning the city's GOP into a legitimate opposition party.He has been the most impressive Republican candidate for mayor since the days of Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin in the early 1960s. If Mr. Tufaro has staying power, he might succeed in winning some local office for himself. Certainly, he has blazed a path for other "new" Republicans who are sure to follow in his wake.