Rawlings-Blake Delivers State Of City Address

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has news for city residents about the state of the city.  The mayor delivered her annual address Tuesday afternoon.

Political reporter Pat Warren has the key points.

Funding for city government continues to be a number one issue.  That has put the mayor in the difficult position of not only bearing bad news but carrying it out.

The city is in a money crunch and in the year since taking office after the Feb. 4, 2010 resignation of Mayor Sheila Dixon, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has locked horns with public safety unions, police and fire, over pensions.  She has struggled to get support on the City Council for a controversial bottle tax and has shouldered the load for the city's most recent responses to snow emergencies.

Now, within the grip of a continuing deficit, she declares the state of the city.

"Baltimore spends more on employee benefits than we do on our entire police department.  If we bury our heads, if we fail to deal with this fact, public safety will suffer," Rawlings-Blake said.

Baltimore residents have a positive opinion of the city.

"I love it here," said one.  "I love most of the neighborhoods."

But there are problems, too.

"What I don't like is the killing," said Sean Brown.  "It's definitely an issue.  Everything else is fine."

"This path is guaranteed to have bumps and obstacles and even hardships, but if we stay strong and stick with it, it will take us where we need to go," Rawlings-Blake said.

Rawlings-Blake is also calling on all of the residents of Baltimore to take that path with her. 

The mayor also introduced an initiative to streamline the sale of city-owned property.