Mayor Details Her Future Plans For Charm City
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- State of the City. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake lays out her future plan for Charm City.
Christie Ileto has more on the vision she laid out Monday.
With all of the excessive force cases that came to light last year, it's no surprise that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake started off her speech by saying that police body cameras were coming this year. She also talked about ways to keep kids off the streets in the city and to put Baltimore back to work.
At the top of the mayor's agenda: restoring the public's trust in police following citizens' complaints of officers' alleged use of excessive force.
"It only takes a few bad actors to damage the reputation of the entire city," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. "We are working to bring body cameras to the police department.
The pilot program is expected to come this year and one city councilors have long been pushing for.
"Well, it's never too late to do the right thing," said Mary Pat Clarke, Baltimore City Council.
"I think that anyone that thinks that body cameras is the end-all, be-all is a fool. It's one piece to an extremely large pie," said Brandon Scott, Baltimore City Council.
The mayor also proposed selling some downtown garages to build more rec centers for kids and highlighting a $1 billion investment to some of the city's oldest schools---despite city schools' $60 million shortfall.
But is that enough?
"Still, the city itself, as a government, is not putting enough into education as it should," said Carl Stokes, Baltimore City Council.
The mayor is also pushing a $1 million innovation fund to help grow tech companies here in Baltimore.
The mayor also touted the city's growing economy by highlighting how the unemployment rate has been slashed by a third since she took office.
