Three Baltimore mayoral candidates told the city's Muslim community yesterday that residents are experiencing increased violence and failing schools because of a lack of leadership at City Hall.
At a candidates' forum organized by the Baltimore Muslim Council, school administrator Andrey Bundley, Del. Jill P. Carter and City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. also fielded questions about police recruitment, education and dealing with neighborhood nuisances.
Mayor Sheila Dixon, who many believe is the leading contender in the Sept. 11 Democratic primary election, did not attend the forum. Dixon sent her chief of staff, Otis Rolley III, who spoke about Dixon but was not permitted to answer audience questions.
"We lack leadership in our city," said Mitchell, who discussed his proposals to hire 250 new police officers and to take control of schools as mayors have done in Chicago and New York. "There are two foundations that help any city to continue to prosper: public safety and public education," he said.
Though the mayoral candidates have yet to debate, they have been attending forums throughout the city, offering stump speeches and articulating broad platforms. Though the candidates do not always discuss specific ideas at the forums, some themes are beginning to emerge.
About 50 people came to the Morgan State University campus yesterday to hear the candidates for mayor and City Council president as well as about a dozen people who are running for council seats. The city's Muslim Council was created months after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 to promote Muslim involvement in civic life.
Carter discussed her campaign pledge to increase education funding to 20 percent of the city's general fund - in this past fiscal year's budget the city spent about 16 percent of its general fund on schools - and to do away with the Police Department's entire command staff.
"Only through better leadership will we have a better Baltimore," Carter said. "Before we can have safer streets, better schools and economic development in every neighborhood, we have to have insiders at City Hall who are working in the interest of the people."
Bundley, the only candidate on stage yesterday who has previously run for mayor - he lost to then-Mayor Martin O'Malley in the 2003 Democratic primary - focused on his plan to create a "mobile mayor's office" in which he would conduct city business in a motor coach that would travel around Baltimore.
"I'm going to be a leader on location. ... How can you say you care about the people, and you don't want to be near the people?" Bundley said. "It's about leadership, and it's about leadership right now."
Dixon did not attend because she was in Cherry Hill receiving the backing of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters, her latest union endorsement. City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, who is running to keep that job, did not attend and instead sent Israel C. "Izzy" Patoka, a former city official who now works in O'Malley's gubernatorial administration, to represent her.
The only incumbent candidate to show was Mary Pat Clarke, the veteran member of the City Council from the 14th District.
Michael Sarbanes, a community activist who is running for council president, talked about his plan to borrow $100 million for neighborhood revitalization and his crime proposal, which includes pay raises for police and a shifting away from specialized units.
"We are at a point in time where if we get it right, if we make the right investments, if we have the right policies and if we get everybody pulling together, our city and all its neighborhoods can be dramatically better than they are now," Sarbanes said.
City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr., who is also running for council president, talked about his 7 1/2 years on the council, suggesting that he has provided an independent voice on a council that has largely been seen as a rubber stamp for the mayor. Harris noted that he has been calling for a reduction in specialized police units for years.
"Government should be transparent. Government should be honest. Government should include the people," Harris said.
john.fritze@baltsun.com