After entering into a plea agreement, Mayor Sheila Dixon will resign effective 4 February 2010. I was never a fan of Mayor Dixon, as I voted for Keiffer Mitchell. The reports at the time of her varied shady dealings and clear ethical issues were enough to sway me then. When she was elected mayor, I personally thought that my fellow citizens were truly daft.
Surprisingly, though, the one thing that I expected from her never took place. She never made that one terrible gaffe while in office. Granted, I never found her to be a erudite speaker in public or on the airwaves. Still, she did not “screw up” as I had expected.
There were some policy changes that I still disagree with. While the tree-huggers who inhabit my fair city have been brainwashed into thinking that the change to trash pickup in this city was a good idea, I still despise it. I need not look much further than my neighborhood to see the rigorous enforcement of the various laws around trash that has clearly taken place.
Now, we await the assumption of the power by current City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Never have I been more dismayed over this turn of events. From the stories I have heard from her time in the Baltimore Office of the Public Defender to my personal experience attending social events where she has been present. In all of my dealings, she has always seem to me to be detached and somewhat annoyed to be where she is. To me, she offers nothing more than the cachet of her father’s last name.
Maybe Rawlings-Blake will be a surprise in office. I can only hope.
#1 by jwer on January 8, 2010 - 11:18 am UTC
Wait, are you saying you don’t like the changes in the trash rules because they’re issuing fines for people that don’t follow them?
I’ve kind of stayed out of the argument on this one because I generate little enough trash that one- or two-day-a-week pickup makes no difference to me, but frankly, if the city wants to make money by fining people for putting out bags of trash that get ripped open by rats, I’m all for it. They should’ve been doing that all along. That said, they’re still not doing it in my neighborhood.
#2 by JJT on January 9, 2010 - 2:10 pm UTC
I’m saying that I don’t like the changes because I have yet to see enforcement for uncovered trashcans or trashcans that are technically out on days that are not trash days in my ‘hood. In other words, the promise of better enforcement for these violations was merely lip service.
#3 by Paul on January 9, 2010 - 6:54 pm UTC
You’d think with the city desperate for money they would have stepped up enforcement.
I will say I like the new 1+1 collection. I also haven’t noticed any increase in trash in my neighborhood.
#4 by jwer on January 12, 2010 - 10:36 am UTC
Oh, OK then; agreed. I thought you were bitching because they WERE enforcing…