From her seat on Baltimore's City Council, Sheila Dixon has watched others run City Hall for nearly two decades. Starting this week, it's her turn.
Dixon, who begins serving the remainder of Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley's term tomorrow, vows that her administration's approach to government won't be a radical break from the past. But she'll bring a bevy of new ideas to the office, including better trash pickup, a more holistic approach to crime and a renewed emphasis on neighborhoods beyond the Inner Harbor.
Just how much of her agenda she can accomplish in the next year, when virtually everyone at City Hall is a candidate for something, could say much about the direction that post-O'Malley Baltimore will take on issues such as crime and education.
Dixon's progress will also help voters decide whether she deserves a full, four-year term. All city officials, including Dixon, are up for election in the Sept. 11 Democratic primary, the race that counts in a city where Republicans make up just 10 percent of the electorate.
"Cleaner, greener, effective, efficient, transparent government, working in partnership with the community and enhancing many of the initiatives that we've been working on," Dixon said when asked recently to define her broad goals for the city. "I'm driven by finding a solution to the problem and not accepting excuses."
Dixon, 53, has offered few specifics about what she hopes to accomplish during the term, which ends in December unless she is re-elected. As soon as this week, though, she is expected to release a report crafted by her 47-member transition committee that will contain plans for fighting crime and improving schools and blighted neighborhoods.
Broad themes have emerged, including that she expects city departments, including trash collectors and police, to work together more closely. She has indicated that more development money will be directed to frequently overlooked neighborhoods - Park Heights, for instance - and that building below-market-value homes for low- and middle-income residents will be a priority.
Dixon's greatest challenge, though, will be navigating the supercharged political atmosphere of the next several months, with a large field of candidates already gunning for her job before she's had a chance to settle in. Missteps - and problems outside her control - will be magnified by those opponents. On the other hand, Dixon will have the power of incumbency and the ability to take credit for progress -even if sometimes that progress is not directly of her doing.
"Her opponents have done what I did, which is to announce before she becomes mayor, meaning that in the public's mind she's not just a mayor, she's a candidate," said former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who beat Mayor Clarence H. Du Burns in 1987, and served three terms before O'Malley succeeded him in 1999. "She's got some great advantages, if used properly, because she will be able to demonstrate executive leadership over the next few months."
Burns, like Dixon, was a City Council president who took over as mayor when then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer was elected governor.
City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., Del. Jill P. Carter, former high school principal Andrey Bundley and Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway Sr. have said they will run for mayor. Baltimore Comptroller Joan M. Pratt, City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr. and several others have expressed interest.
For months, Dixon has lived under the cloud of an ethics scandal involving city contracts that were awarded to a company that employed her sister. Last week, the city's Board of Ethics said it would not pursue an investigation into Dixon's involvement in those contracts. A city grand jury indicted the owner of the company, Mildred E. Boyer, in December, but prosecutors have not said whether the investigation is continuing.
If more people are indicted in the case, or if Boyer is tried this year, it could be a significant distraction for the new mayor. But Dixon is pushing ahead, building an administration, she said, on the foundation set by O'Malley. Many of her key aides - including her chief of staff, police commissioner and deputy mayor for economic development - have come from O'Malley's team. Dixon will also continue CitiStat, an O'Malley program that uses data to measure how well city departments are performing.
She has said that implementing the city's recently approved comprehensive master plan will be a key part of her administration. The document, crafted by O'Malley's planning department, sets goals for creating affordable housing, making the city more pedestrian-friendly and increasing job training programs. The plan ultimately will lead to a citywide rezoning.
"The previous administration sort of put the ball in motion," said Mark Washington, executive director of the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello Community Corp., who offered a litany of neighborhood priorities for City Hall - more police, continued attention for Clifton Park and more business development along Harford Road, among others. "I'd like to at least see a stronger voice given to communities in a meaningful way by the incoming administration."
Dixon's most closely watched proposals will be the ones that deal with crime, especially given the recent spate of violence. There were 275 killings in Baltimore last year, six more than in 2005. So far this year, the number of killings has averaged about one a day.
"One issue she should have to address, whether she likes it or not, is crime and homicides," said Matthew Crenson, a political scientist at the Johns Hopkins University. "She's going to have to come up with some sort of strategy."
Many of Dixon's crime initiatives have become public, including a more collaborative effort to target young repeat offenders. Judges, prosecutors, parole and probation officers and police are to aggressively monitor their actions. As part of that effort, Dixon has retained O'Malley's police commissioner, Leonard D. Hamm.
What is less clear is whether the new approach represents a departure from the zero-tolerance policing advocated by O'Malley. Dixon was once a strong ally of Schmoke, who frequently clashed with O'Malley on the council. Dixon and O'Malley initially had differing views on drug enforcement, with Dixon favoring Schmoke's emphasis on treating, rather than arresting, dealers and addicts.
Asked recently if she thought O'Malley's approach of targeting quality of life crimes had worked and should be continued, Dixon said, "I think it's a balance. People in our neighborhoods want to have a quality of life, but if you go and arrest everybody" that may be diminished.
"I still support having a quality of life and going after those individuals, but I think the focus also has to be on going after individuals like the gentleman who was arrested the other day for killing the police officer."
The suspect, Brandon Grimes, 21, had a prior record of 17 arrests, Dixon noted.
O'Malley and Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy are bitter rivals, and some felt that their inability to work together hurt crime-fighting efforts. Though not perfect, Dixon's relationship with Jessamy appears to be better, and the incoming mayor has said she will try to restore trust between City Hall and the prosecutor's office.
"In the next three months, Mayor Dixon needs to address the huge violence issue, because we're not going to get a handle on the murder rate without a serious plan to address youth violence," said City Council Vice President Stephanie C. Rawlings Blake, who is expected to be elected council president to serve out Dixon's term. "She has enough experience with government and the people in government to be expected to make some changes."
On education, Dixon, like O'Malley, appears to be focused on rehabilitating school buildings. Dixon is lobbying for a larger share of state school construction money - part of a $400 million fund O'Malley has pledged to set aside for every school system in the state. Dixon has interviewed candidates for three open school board seats and will make the appointments jointly with O'Malley.
How closely Dixon will follow O'Malley's path is unclear. The two have enjoyed a good relationship publicly - they ran together in the 2003 primary election as "partners in progress." O'Malley has declined to say whether he is supporting Dixon for mayor this year, and many inside City Hall say there has been limited communication between their offices for months.
Dixon, a longtime advocate on health issues, surprised many city observers late last year when she broke with O'Malley and said she could support a proposed citywide smoking ban. Though she has not promised to sign a ban if approved by the council, she said last year that she was "leaning toward supporting it" and added that she did not believe bans in other cities have adversely affected their economies.
Dixon represented West Baltimore as a councilwoman for three terms starting in 1987. She has served two terms as president of the council, winning citywide elections in 1999 and 2004. Born in Baltimore, Dixon attended public schools, obtained a bachelor's degree at Towson University and a master's degree in educational management at Hopkins. The former elementary school teacher filed for divorce last year and has two children.
"I'm a hands-on person," Dixon said recently in describing her management style. "I believe whatever we put our minds to we can accomplish. I also subscribe to thinking out of the box and coming up with new, creative ideas, but not throwing out things that have worked."
john.fritze@baltsun.com
Q & A
Celebrations aside, this week's inaugurations are also about the transfer of power from Mayor Martin O'Malley to incoming Mayor Sheila Dixon. Here are answers about how that shift will occur:
When does Dixon become mayor?
According to the city charter, Dixon will become mayor automatically after O'Malley resigns, which he will do after being sworn in tomorrow as Maryland governor. O'Malley will officially take his oath in the Senate chamber in the State House and then again at a public ceremony.
Does Dixon have her own inauguration?
Yes, Dixon will have an inauguration and a swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, the day after O'Malley's. She will be mayor in the interim. When William Donald Schaefer was sworn in as governor on Jan. 21, 1987, then-City Council President Clarence H. Du Burns was not sworn in until Jan. 26.
Who swears in Dixon?
Frank M. Conaway Sr., the clerk of the Circuit Court for Baltimore.
What happens then?
Once Dixon becomes mayor, there is a vacancy in the council president's office. The City Council will meet Monday to vote in a new council president and, most likely, a new vice president.
And then?
Dixon and the new council president and all other city officials are up for election Sept. 11 in the Democratic primary.