Dixon says goodbye
In her final email newsletter, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said “It's difficult to find the words to describe what it has meant to lead this City” and “I love this City. Thank you for allowing me to serve you.”
The statement includes no apology, which some have asked her to make. Dixon will step down next week. She was convicted of a theft charges in December and pleaded guilty to perjury earlier this month. The final email lays out what Dixon views as her accomplishments.
Read Dixon's email at the jump.
The statement includes no apology, which some have asked her to make. Dixon will step down next week. She was convicted of a theft charges in December and pleaded guilty to perjury earlier this month. The final email lays out what Dixon views as her accomplishments.
Read Dixon's email at the jump.
| It's difficult to find the words to describe what it has meant to lead this City: to lay out a vision for a cleaner, greener, healthier, and safer Baltimore and actually see that vision come to pass; and, to wake up every morning and feel both the blessing and the burden of so many hard choices and know the impact they can have. But if I had to choose just a couple of words to describe my administration, the amazing staff that so humbly served me, and our many, many partners in the community, I would simply say this: we cared. Though it sounds trite, in the world of politics it's hard to lead with your heart versus your ambition, but we did. As I look back, there will be many great accomplishments for me to be proud of, but this one, perhaps, is the greatest of them all. Every other accomplishment we made was a result of this simple action. When it came to crime, we focused on saving lives not on statistics. We targeted individuals that were the most violent offenders, created a gun registry to keep illegal guns off our streets,and spent countless hours on the ground in our communities. The loss of one life is one too many, but I am proud to say that we experienced a lower homicide rate in the last two years than we have in the past two decades. We focused not just on bricks and mortar, but we focused on developing people. We invested in our citizens from prenatal care all the way to the end of life. We taught our children how to play volleyball and invited them to play free video games at ESPN Zone through our PEACE (Pledge to Engage Actions Considerate of Everyone) Baltimore initiative while we visited our seniors on Mother's Day and traveled all across the City to host free workouts through Be Fit Baltimore. In 2008, with the input of community and advocates for children and the poor, we moved $14 million dollars in funding for afterschool programs from the supplemental budget to the base budget. By moving funding into the base budget for the first time, programs such as After School Matters, Home Visiting for Pregnant Women, and Community Schools, were guaranteed funding each year. This step signaled that these programs were not ancillary; rather, a core part of our City's priorities. These are not the programs that one chooses for political gain because the results are not reaped for years, sometimes even decades, but we knew the return on our investment from human development was too precious to let it pass us by. We cared for those who weren't yet able to care for themselves. When there were snow storms and many of us had the chance to stay home from work, there were city employees that literally walked through the snow to ensure our homeless population sought shelter. We had the courage to believe that we could end homelessness through our ten year strategic plan and as a result we have made huge strides. We now have a record number of shelter beds for homeless individuals. Over the past two years we have placed more homeless individuals in permanent housing than ever before. This year, construction began on Baltimore's first permanent shelter for 275 homeless individuals, and we have created Baltimore's first 24-hour, year-round housing resource center. Block by block, we cared for our neighborhoods. We fixed our streets. The City has repaved or repaired a record number of lane miles, over 600, over the past three years through its Operation Orange Cone initiative. We cleaned our streets. Each year, thousands of residents from all over the City joined us to rake leaves and pick up trash at our annual Spring Clean Up and over the past couple of years we have increased mechanical street sweeping services by 32%! We attended countless community meetings to talk to residents about single stream recycling and our One Plus One initiatives, helping them understand the benefits of recycling. As a result, we doubled recycling in 2008 and AGAIN in 2009. We helped communities transform vacant lots into gardens, pulling neighborhoods together to breathe life into their communities and we reinvigorated our nation's oldest existing environmental program, the Afro Clean Block, to challenge citizens all across the City to clean and beautify their neighborhoods. In 2008, we created the Mayor's Office of Sustainability to create a roadmap to ensure that we meet the environmental, social, and economic needs of Baltimore without compromising the ability of future generations to meet those needs. Now, according to SustainLane's 2008 rankings, we are one of the most sustainable cities in America. We planted seeds for our future. Baltimore, there is an energy and vibrancy in our City that is rapidly gaining momentum as more and more young professionals, empty nesters, entrepreneurs, and artists are discovering the hidden jewels of our City and the authenticity of our charm. Our downtown now ranks 7th in the nation for population density and 8th for number of residents that make more than $75,000 a year. We have made getting around downtown easier and greener through the launch of the Downtown Circulator, and soon, our City will be connected from east to west by the Red Line. Everywhere you look in Baltimore you see development. From the Westside Superblock to advancing the development of EBDI, we made investments that will bring jobs, vibrancy, and economic success. We even changed how people see Baltimore. Despite the challenging economic times, Visit Baltimore's convention sales bookings have increased. In Fiscal Year 2008, the sales team booked 451,608 future room nights, 70,000 more room nights and an 18 percent increase over bookings in Fiscal Year 2007. And these are just a few of our accomplishments. Much more of the fruits of our labor will be realized way beyond this year or even our lifetime, but I am so thankful that we have had the opportunity to plant the seeds. As I prepare for my final days in office and reflect, I am thankful for my dedicated staff and all of our community partners. I am humbled by all that we have been able to accomplish in such a short period of time and I firmly believe we have built a foundation that will reap progress and change for Baltimore for generations to come. But out of all our accomplishments, the one I am most proud of is, perhaps, the simplest of them all: we cared for people. It is because we led by our hearts and we cared that we were able to accomplish all other things. As I learned through my career in public service-through my successes and my failures, through my good times and bad times- in life, if you can accomplish that one thing, the one that is the greatest one of all, that's all that really matters. I love this City. Thank you for allowing me to serve you. |
Comments
Ya.. I'm sure that gun registry took a lot of criminal guns off the street.. NOT..
Gun registries are simply a useless Placibo to satisfy the ignorant among us, and make it look like the government is doing something. They have never worked ANYWHERE in the world, why would it be any different in Baltimore.
Posted by: Bill | January 31, 2010 2:23 PM
So long Dixon, you shan't be missed.
Posted by: Sean O'Donnell - Baltimore Republican Examiner | January 31, 2010 4:19 PM
I am a frequent traveler to different parts of the city and can see the impact of Mayor Dixon on each of those communities.
Just a few years ago some neighborhoods had alot of boarded up homes but now the houses have been torn down, refurbished or a garden was planted in the open space, thanks to Mayor Dixon.
Looking at the medians just a few years ago it just concrete but now I see flowers, roses, lillies, cactus and small bushes, thanks to the leadership of Mayor Dixon.
I use to think that the trees in Baltimore grew plastic trash bags but now I noticed that those trash bags are now gone thanks to the leadership of Mayor Dixon.
My neighborhood didn't have trash cans on the corners but thanks to the leadership of Mayor Dixon we have trash cans that are dumped weekly.
Recycling is a major initiative that my mother and elderly neighbors participate in, thanks to Mayor Dixon.
Travelling across the city I noticed that several communities who didn't have signs identifying them are now up, thanks to Mayor Dixon.
The city is cleaner and greener, thanks to Mayor Dixon.
I saw the new buses that travel across certain sections of the city that are free and that's because of leadership of Mayor Dixon.
Yes, the murder rate is down and this happened on Mayor Dixon's watch.
Mayor Dixon accomplished alot more than she is given credit for.
I am aware that she has made mistakes but who hasn't.
Posted by: Bell Walls | February 1, 2010 7:10 AM
When you plant seeds you're suppose to water them. You also have to make sure that tares and not planted among the seeds, and you prepare for the harvest. She harvested for herself and the city did not reap anything but higher taxes and fees, and pay raises for cronies. She attended townhall meeting that of people that were favorable to her and they weeded out the people who had negative things to say. I love the way politicians throw figures around without verification and proof of how they derived at those figures. She's gone, because she fell victim to the oldest crime of all "Lust of the Eyes, Lust of the Flesh, and the Pride of Life and she still hasn't repented all you hear are excuses out of her mouth.
Posted by: Robert | February 1, 2010 6:37 PM
Sheila - take yourself and a pension you do not deserve and PLEASE, please move far, far away. You will not be missed and the city that you love so much but refuse to apologize to will be much better without you in it. You are a disgrace and I do not know how you can even show your face in public. Yes, Sheila, go and reflect about how you screwed over the Baltimore taxpayers...laugh all the way to your bank account if you must, just do it from afar. You are not welcome in this town. Well, your cronies who were enjoying the free ride with you may, but the taxpayers? Nope, you are done here. See ya!
Posted by: Ravyne | February 4, 2010 11:06 AM