Some news stories leave you unsure of whether you should laugh, cry, or just shake your head in amazement.
In that connection, here is the beginning of Luke Broadwater\’s article in today\’s Baltimore Sun:
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is in San Francisco this weekend to be sworn in as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors – a position she says she\’ll use to advocate for fixes to Baltimore\’s entrenched problems.
“The systemic issues we have in cities … are problems we cannot solve alone,” she said in an interview. “I intend to use my role as president to advocate for those very specific needs, whether it\’s food access, education, poverty or neighborhood investment.”
Rawlings-Blake will become the first African-American woman to hold the influential leadership position, and the first Baltimorean.
Many see her election as a positive development – both for her and the city – but others question whether it will cause her be out of town too much in the aftermath of April\’s rioting.
“It\’s a nice feather in her cap,” said John Dedie, an assistant professor of political science at the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex. “But I think the people of Baltimore want her in Baltimore out doing things. After 9/11, one of the messages [former New York Mayor] Rudy Giuliani said was, \’Keep shopping. Keep going out. Keep our economy going.\’ … She needs to be focused on bringing Baltimore back.”
I read that and I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who oversaw a riot in which she tied the hands of police – 160 of whom were injured to one extent or another – while street thugs rioted, looted and burned, explaining that “(we) gave those who wished to destroy space to do that”… is now being rewarded with the “honor” of heading the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Then I remembered that the conference is among only medium and major-sized cities, therefore is controlled by Democrats…which does not change the senselessness of Ms. Rawlings-Blake being given this position, but does make it more understandable that such a thing could happen.
There must be a dozen punch lines to this story. And not one of them is funny.
Let me end with a note to John Dedie. Do not feel bad that Ms. Rawlings-Blake\’s duties in this position might keep her out of town a lot. It just might be the best thing that could happen to Baltimore.
