Mayor Scott on crime rates, DPW, issues at BOPA, MLK Day parade

Today, another installment of our monthly Midday with the Mayor,  in which Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joins Tom to take questions on key issues facing the mayor, the city and the people of Baltimore. There were 40 fewer non-fatal shootings in our city last year than in 2021, but only four fewer homicides. More than 70 people in the Western district received help with housing, employment and other services through the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and that district became safer. The city plans to expand its Group Violence Reduction Strategy to the Southwestern district soon. Late Friday afternoon, the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts issued a press release implicating the Mayor’s office in the decision to cancel the annual Martin Luther King Day parade. That was followed by a letter to the BOPA board from Mayor Brandon Scott demanding that the director of BOPA, Donna Drew Sawyer, resign. Following reports that she had resigned, the BOPA board issued a statement saying that she had not resigned. The Mayor Tweeted that the MLK Day Parade will take place at noon on January 16. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joins Tom on Zoom from his office in City Hall…Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.