Baltimore Mayor Says ‘I’m Not Going to Resign’ Despite City’s Most Violent Year

Despite that the city has experienced the most violent year for decades, not to mention the city’s widely failed response to the recent riots, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says she will not resign.

The mayor was a guest on a Baltimore radio talk show to discuss her solutions to the city’s mounting violence, in particular the addition of a small company of federal agents who the mayor hopes will help step up police response to the growing mayhem.

The mayor was asked during the interview if it bothered her that few seem to have much confidence in her leadership.

Rawlings-Blake insisted that, in the last few weeks, she has “seen a lot of progress” and by that she meant tax dollars going to “recreation centers” and spending on schools. The mayor also went on to tout the “recreation capitol plan that’s going to invest over $130 million in new recreation centers.”

But the mayor then complained that too many citizens were “harping on the negative.”

“Baltimore is in a tough time right now when it comes to crime,” the mayor admitted, “We’re focused on it; we’re working on it everyday looking for new resources to bring to that fight and we’re going to continue to do that.”

Despite the city’s continuing failure to solve the crime, though, Rawlings-Blake said she isn’t going anywhere. “But I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to resign. That’s not what Baltimoreans do. When times get tough we hunker down and get busy and that’s what I’m doing.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.