Courtesy Citybizlist – The difference in both tone and substance between Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s State of the City address on Monday and the President’s State of the Union was striking in how little one had to do with the other.
The President’s proposals on the budget and the economy were a world away from the gritty problems the Mayor has to contend with in the Baltimore City.
While the President perhaps could afford to be general in laying out broad themes, Rawlings-Blake rightly resisted that temptation by focusing on the reality of Baltimore’s budget crisis.
The Public Financial Management Report warning of insolvency if the city doesn’t address its pension and health care liabilities wasn’t news. Fixing the City’s long-term fiscal health is necessary and obvious to many; however, many politicians have chosen to ignore it.
Still, Mayor Rawlings-Blake deserves much credit for tackling these issues.
