Politics & Government

Baltimore City Council Live Blog

Live blogging the Baltimore City Council's regular meeting.

UPDATE (6:00 p.m.)—Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposed Baltimore City Council redistricting plan is up for its second reader before the council.

Councilman James Kraft, D-District 1, is speaking against the bill. He was the chair of the Committee of the Whole that reviewed it.

Kraft is critical about the plan for dividing neighborhoods, especially Highlandtown and Upper Fells Point. Doing so, he says, will divide the city's growing Hispanic population.

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He continues to be critical of the plan because he says that it doesn't take into account neighborhood interests. He sites the Butchers Hill neighborhood as an example.

"At the end of the day I know this bill will pass—the votes are there to do that," Kraft says.

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Councilman Nicholas D'Adamo, D-District 2, praises the mayor's plan.

"I don't have anything to gain. I don't have anything to lose because I'm not running again," D'Adamo says.

He says he doesn't believe any political games were played with the redistricting.

"I think everybody should be happy," D'Adamo says. 

Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, D-District 7, argues that the bill is "packing" by removing two predominantly white districts and replacing them with three predominantly black districts. She argues District 7 is losing "resources" such as the 25th Street Station and 36th Street, aka the Avenue. 

"I'm not going to rubber stamp an illegal map," Conaway says.

Mary Pat Clarke, D-District 14, says that she is losing two districts in Pen Lucy that she "dearly loves."

Clarke says she hopes prison population numbers will allow her to retain some of the precincts that she is losing.

The new districts, if given final approval, go into effect on April 1.

Councilman Carl Stokes, D-District 11, Kraft and Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, D-District 7, are voting against the bill on second reader.

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Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, D-District 14, introduces a resolution to hold a hearing with the Maryland Criminal Compensation Injuries Board  before the Baltimore City Council.

According to the resolution, the hearing would "highlight how that board assists crime victims, explain what victims should do in order to take advantage of this assistance, and discuss with representatives of the city's justice related agencies ways to ensure that crime victims are aware of their rights."

The resolution was moved to committee.    

 

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Brief agenda tonight for the council but the meeting is under way.


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