Politics & Government

Rolley Emphasizes Focus on City Neighborhoods

Mayoral candidate Otis Rolley III defends his service as former Mayor Sheila Dixon's chief of staff.

Mayoral candidate Otis Rolley III is originally from New Jersey, but his ties to Baltimore City government go back to the administration of former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

Rolley, a Cross Country resident, has served as planning director in the administration of former Mayor Martin O’Malley, and as chief of staff to former Mayor Sheila Dixon. It was his experience serving in those administrations that helped shape his desire to be mayor, Rolley said.

“At the end of the day, the buck stops with the mayor. And there were times in which it was frustrating because I felt like decisions were being made that weren’t necessarily in the best interest of the city in terms of our overall prosperity, overall growth,” Rolley said. “Sometimes it may have been the most politically expedient decision, or the best decision for the immediate kind of future, but not thinking long term.”

Find out what's happening in North Baltimorewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Some previous administrations' decisions Rolley disagreed with were the tearing down of the Rochambeau apartment building to build a prayer garden on Charles Street, and building the Hilton in downtown Baltimore that connects to the convention center.

“It’s more about inaction than failure of action. We’ve failed to make stern kinds of decisions around development. We’ve invested in real estate, and the real estate market, and tourism and that hasn’t created the jobs and opportunities that Baltimore needs to grow,” Rolley said. 

Find out what's happening in North Baltimorewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Rolley has also been critical of the current and previous administrations for not investing in neighborhoods or small businesses in a real way.

“Walmart, is another, I think, good example of a decision by the city to invest in Walmart and Lowes at the 25th Street Station—[that] was a direct statement to neighborhoods that neighborhood retail didn’t matter,” Rolley said.

Although Rolley has been critical of the current and past administrations, he too has been questioned about his time as Dixon’s chief of staff. Dixon resigned as mayor in 2010 as part of a plea deal. Rolley served as her chief of staff for about 10 months in 2007.

“I’m not the least bit ashamed or embarrassed about my time of service in the mayor’s office,” Rolley said. “I served the 48th mayor of Baltimore and the city of Baltimore very well, and I think the mayor accomplished more in my year of service with her than the previous mayor had kind of done in the previous three years.”

He praised Dixon for her commitment to constituent service, and defended comments he made on a local radio station describing the mayor’s service as inspirational.

“When I talk about what was inspirational, she was passionate about the city. She didn’t want to be anything but mayor. And she worked exceptionally hard and she pushed her staff to work hard,” Rolley said.

Rolley also pointed out that he left the mayor’s office nine months before Dixon was indicted, and when she went on trial he wasn’t called as a witness.

“Obviously I had no involvement with what was going on with the gift cards and the other foolishness,” Rolley said.

Name: Otis Rolley III

Age: 37

Hometown: Jersey City, NJ

High school: Lincoln High School

College: Undergraduate: Rutgers

Graduate: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jobs: Baltimore Department of Housing, Baltimore Department of Planning, Central Maryland Transportation Alliance and Urban Policy Development Consulting

Correction: The neighborhood Otis Rolley resides in was incorrectly reported in the original version of this article.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from North Baltimore