Editors’ Note

Sheila Dixon was inaugurated as the 48th Mayor of Baltimore in January of 2007 and is the first woman to ever hold this position. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman elected as City Council President, after serving for 12 years on the Baltimore City Council as a representative of the fourth Council District. She has been named one of Baltimore’s Most Influential Leaders by the Baltimore Business Journal, and was recently recognized for the third time by The Daily Record’s Circle of Excellence as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women. Dixon serves on several boards, including the Urban Health Initiative, the Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, and the Living Classrooms Foundation. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Towson University and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Given Baltimore’s significant transformation over the past years, do you feel that there is a broad understanding and awareness of what the city is really all about today?

I believe there are some pockets of the city where it is understood and they really get it. But my wish would be that the average citizen would understand the magnitude of how far we’ve come. I don’t have a sense that we’re there yet. I think it’s crucial and key to moving the city forward that all the citizens understand the magnitude of where we are and where we’re heading.

You were once a teacher and understand education well. Do you feel that the education system is working effectively? Can you highlight some of your educational initiatives for Baltimore?

In serving as city council President over the past seven years, and in working with an administration that has a great partnership, I think my leadership has brought about more accountability. We collaborated to create an operating committee, which helped to guide the schools through some very difficult financial times. We’ve also made real strides in the rehabilitation of the schools. We have a backlog of over $1 billion in maintenance that wasn’t done over a 20- to 30-year period. Now, with our surplus in the past three years, we’ve put money into the pot. In addition, we’ve made progress in our elementary school test scores and grades. We’ve downsized the public schools, and helped facilitate what we call our specialized schools through a master plan in which we’ve identified industry sectors that we feel are the areas of growth in the city. Now young people will see that, if they focus on telecommunications, finance, hospitality, engineering, or medical biotechnology, they can create a future for their lives that is more promising. Charter schools have been a big thrust throughout my leadership as City Council President – and now as Mayor – because we need that balance. One reason we lose middle-class families is schools. Charter schools have been somewhat of a lifesaver for families, because they give them another option. Last but not least, the city has stepped up through the past two years, in helping with after-school programs as well as with community schools.

You’ve also been focused on property tax reform. Is that progressing the way you had hoped? What is your outlook for actually being able to push reform in that area?

I created the Blue Ribbon Committee last year to study this. The Blue Ribbon Committee will be coming out with their report and recommendations. Based on their results, we want to take the next four years and really begin a strategy to reduce our property tax, which is the highest in the state of Maryland. We hope to have a referendum on placing slot machines in non-residential areas of Baltimore, so that the revenue from those slots could go to reduce our property tax.

What are your plans regarding affordable housing?

We recently passed a charter change, which created an affordable housing trust fund patterned after one in Washington, DC. We plan to balance growth in the city so we can maintain affordable housing and workforce housing. We also passed a comprehensive rezoning initiative to make sure that as we create these communities, we don’t create communities of “haves” and “have-nots,” but instead create very diverse communities of all income levels, because I think that’s going to help us deal with some of the ills of poverty that we face.

Is the minority- and women-owned business sector one that you feel is strong and growing in the city?

I believe that we have the infrastructure to create an even better environment for minority- and women-owned businesses. I think that there’s a prime opportunity for me as Mayor to really get our city agencies to refocus their efforts on becoming more inclusive. As a city, we need to recognize that most businesses hire people who look like them. We have an opportunity in all of our industry sectors to grow in that area. We have an opportunity to attract minority- and women-owned businesses to set up shop in Baltimore, because I think we have the best infrastructure for small businesses.

What role do you plan to play as Mayor in improving public health?

We have a very aggressive strategic plan, as it relates to health care for city residents. My theme is a cleaner, greener, healthier, and safer city. We just put out a promotion through the health department about 10 basic things that families can do to live healthier lives. We signed a smoking ban for restaurants that triggered the state to pass a similar bill. We have a whole host of awareness efforts that we’re working on relating to diabetes and heart disease. So health is one of the big priorities.

How important is it for you to strengthen the relationship with the private sector and business leaders?

It’s very important. We must reach out and work with the private sector, and that’s not only the business community, but also our foundations, religious communities, and universities and colleges. Over the past 10 months, I’ve had a series of meetings with these groups, relating to crime, education, and other issues in order to ensure that our agendas are the same.