Land Of The "O"

06/23/2025

📢 Baltimore City Gov Update – What You Missed This Month!
Quick recap of major updates from the past month 👇🏽

💰 FY26 Budget Passed
The $4.6 billion city budget is locked in! It boosts funding for immigrant affairs, vacant housing, traffic safety, and oversight. The City Council made several amendments to the mayor’s original plan.
🔗 https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/baltimore-city-council-passes-budget-with-additional-funding-for-immigrant-affairs-oig/

🔥 Extreme Heat & Eviction Protections
Baltimore declared a Code Red Heat Alert from June 22–26 due to triple-digit temps. Cooling centers opened, and:
🏠 Residential evictions were paused under a new law that activates during excessive heat.
🔗 https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/code-red-heat-alert-issued-in-baltimore-june-22-26-2024/
🔗 https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/evictions-in-baltimore-postponed-due-to-excessive-heat-law/

🌊 Harbor Diesel Spill Response
A large diesel spill in Harbor East prompted emergency action. Mayor Scott and Gov. Moore addressed the public as cleanup and environmental monitoring began.
🔗 https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/diesel-fuel-spill-cleanup-efforts-continue-in-baltimores-inner-harbor/

♻️ New Environmental & Safety Laws
As of June 1:

Maryland ended subsidies for trash incineration

Expanded speed camera enforcement on I-83

Broader property tax relief for blind residents
🔗 https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-new-laws-environmental-taxes-incineration-june-2024/

🏠 Housing Support & Expansion

Rental Assistance Portal has reopened to help residents at risk of eviction

Mayor introduced the Housing Options and Opportunity Act to grow housing availability
🔗 https://bmorechildren.com/rental-assistance
🔗 https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/news/press-releases/2024-06-11-mayor-scott-announces-housing-options-and-opportunity-act

🚓 Police Reform & Opioid Lawsuit

West Wednesdays events continue, spotlighting calls for police accountability

Baltimore secured a $45 million opioid settlement from CVS
🔗 https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/19/west-wednesday-baltimore-police-tyrone-west/
🔗 https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/baltimore-reaches-45-million-settlement-with-cvs-over-opioid-epidemic/

🧑🏽‍💼 City Leadership & Court Disruptions

Khalil Zaied sworn in as Director of Public Works

Mayor Scott served jury duty

Global Microsoft outage forced Maryland courts to limit operations to emergencies
🔗 https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/03/khalil-zaied-public-works-director-baltimore/
🔗 https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/microsoft-outage-maryland-court-system-down/

📰 Stay informed. Stay involved. Stay Baltimore.

10/16/2024

The program is open to individuals, nonprofits and developers. Under the program, the city sells vacant homes and lots it owns to individuals and community groups for $1, with prices rising to $3,000 for developers. Applicants must show they have $90,000 available for renovations, they must renovate the property within a year and, for individual buyers, they must live in the property for another five.

The 459 city residents who applied by June 30 were part of a priority application and review period during which their applications were considered while others were set aside. Those others included 942 applicants who are not Baltimore residents. Of those, 365 are Maryland residents, 570 are from outside the state and seven are from outside the country.

The first phase of a Baltimore program that aims to resurrect vacant homes by selling them to prospective homeowners for $1 drew applications from 459 city residents - only 11 of whom ended up qualifying.

10/16/2024

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/online-petition-grows-calling-for-leadership-change-at-department-of-juvenile-services

Support is growing through an online petition calling on Gov. Wes Moore to replace his pick to lead the Department of Juvenile Services.Vincent Schiraldi, secre

09/24/2024

Five downtown Baltimore businesses are in the process of cleaning debris and trying to determine if they can reopen after a fire Sunday impacted each of them.

09/17/2024

The last audit of the fund, completed in 2019, raised red flags about how grants are administered and awarded.

09/17/2024

Baltimore Youth Kinetic Energy Collective, or BYKE for short, teaches teens skills and provides them income. Leaders say the nonprofit’s work is a response to inequities in transportation and resources, and saved cyclists $300,000 last year through their free repairs.

09/10/2024

The rapid change in temperature caused a thermal inversion, bringing bacteria from the bottom of the harbor to the top.

After being exposed to sunlight, the bacteria caused algae blooms, which quickly sucked up the oxygen in the water.

“This is a natural occurring event,” Dahlenburg said. “Normally what you'll see is this happening in ponds, because ponds are a more closed system. The water is very stagnant in a pond. And the harbor, unfortunately, acts like a pond at times because we dredged it so much.”

Weather conditions caused an algae bloom and depleted dissolved oxygen levels.

09/10/2024

Oh!

Musician and producer Ed Baldi hopes that the Hemingway Room, located in the private event space at Little Havana, will help to strengthen Baltimore’s reputation as an important East Coast jazz city.

09/06/2024

" heavy police presence could be seen outside of Joppatowne High School Friday afternoon after an apparent fight inside the school.

In a statement, Harford County Public Schools said in part, "The Harford County Sheriff's Office has responded to the school for an isolated incident on campus today. There was a fight on campus to known parties. A weapon was brought onto campus and used in the incident. The HCSO and HCPS are working together to get this information to you."

The school was evacuated after the incident. The HCSO said the incident was isolated, and not an active shooter situation. "

A heavy police presence could be seen outside of Joppatowne High School Friday afternoon after an apparent fight inside the school.

09/05/2024

I love my city but he's not wrong! 😂😂😂

Source:

A new viral video shows just how run down and 'shiddy' Baltimore has become.

09/05/2024

According to the Department of Justice, Gillespie for about 7-years carried out a bribery scheme.

Typically Gillespie charged property owners 10 to 15 percent of what they owed in exchange for making the outstanding fees go away.

Gillespie would access the City's record database, and either mark the obligation as paid, or postpone
the payment due date, which in turn stopped property liens from going into effect.

Source:

Joseph Gillespie worked in the City's Revenue Collections Department, dealing with property owners who faced losing their property in tax auctions unless certain fines were paid off.

09/05/2024

The Baltimore Rhythm Festival is celebrating a decade of the revival of its free outdoor festival on Sept. 14 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

All are welcome to join both indoors and outdoors at the Baltimore City Public Charter Montessori School located in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. On Sept. 13, the eve of the festival, there will a concert celebrating Nigerian Afrobeat and positive energy highlife at the 2640 Space.

The Baltimore Rhythm Festival will feature a variety of performances, workshops, and experiences designed to inspire joy and community and demonstrate what the city can be when it comes together. All performances and workshops are free and open to the public.

Source:

The Baltimore Rhythm Festival is celebrating a decade of the revival of its free outdoor festival on Sept. 14 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.