Baltimore Brew

Artscape 2026 attracts large crowds despite the gloomy weather. Good art, music & food - featuring Baltimore-bred talent - triumph over rain and drizzle. tinyurl.com/88x5brh8

A kinder approach by @ICEgov to immigration enforcement? Not so for a Maryland mother who - despite being on the legal path to a green card - was arrested and whisked away last month by ICE agents. tinyurl.com/2f63r6nj. @DHSgov, @EROBaltimore

Citizen activist Joan Floyd raises interesting Q involving @ElectRyanDorsey's push to repeal term limits for City Hall electeds: "Why in the 3+ years since his first repeal effort, didn't he collect signatures to petition the issue back onto the ballot?" tinyurl.com/y22upj53

Bill to repeal term limits in Baltimore hits choppy waters. @blanchard4bmore introduces an amendment to keep term limits, but extend council members’ to three terms instead of two. tinyurl.com/y22upj53 Chair Dorsey recesses committee w/o calling for a vote.

About that deteriorating sewage line that serves west, northwest and central Baltimore that's been under repair since a 2016 street collapse . . . tinyurl.com/4kt7xnma City officials yesterday rejected all three bids on the project “due to unexpected financial limitations."

A historic downtown pumping station will be rehabbed, while a crucial Westside sewer project is delayed. tinyurl.com/4kt7xnma The differing fates today of two big infrastructure projects – one serving downtown and the harborfront and the other centered in West Baltimore.

.@MayorBMScott releases his Second Term Action Plan. tinyurl.com/9m26xtfh Adding a sixth “pillar,” the modernization and maintenance of Baltimore’s infrastructure, Scott's plan “turns ambition into accountability,” says City Administrator Faith Leach.

Despite serving for only 6 months, a former @MayorBMScott aide was credited with 89 days of work - and $62,000 in pay - AFTER leaving City Hall. Details from @OIG_Baltimore report as records battle between watchdog agency and Scott escalates. tinyurl.com/p24zykem

Inspector General finds 15 city executives were kept on the payroll after they left Baltimore government tinyurl.com/p24zykem Mayor’s office says the @OIG_Baltimore report “sensationalizes” a common HR practice.

Baltimore’s most popular trash and recycling facility – on city-owned land long coveted by a developer – can be closed and not relocated as long as certain conditions are met, says final report by @MayorBMScott's Task Force. tinyurl.com/3xedvft8

DPW's Sisson Street Trash Transfer facility could close within three years - if renovation of the Reedbird facility is finished and other conditions are met by then, the final report by @MayorBMScott's Task Force says. tinyurl.com/3xedvft8

Due to a scheduling conflict, @MayorBMScott won't be attending tonight's Maryland Party, the networking extravaganza in Las Vegas where developers mix with MD politicians under flashing lights and poolside cabanas. But his 4 top aides will be there. tinyurl.com/s933dzjp

The Baltimore County Council pension bill: Too little too late. tinyurl.com/4vjxu233 Complicit in a convoluted pension grab, lawmakers are trying to save face now . . . with a bill that could set the county up for a lawsuit. [OP-ED]

Yes, Baltimore, we can have nice things - that big Middle Branch project is taking shape tinyurl.com/2unzatu2 Wetlands are being returned to their marshy glory, but with hiking/biking trails and other features to delight nature lovers and uplift neighborhoods. By @DanRodricks

Plan by @MayorBMScott for her watchdog office would "eviscerate its independence," @isabel_cumming said in a statement today. tinyurl.com/c5w5vnrk The legislation he is proposing “is not accountability, it is control.”

.@MayorBMScott previews legislation that cripples the independence of Baltimore’s inspector general. tinyurl.com/bdfbdrvr Announcement comes as @WSJ on page1 describes “taxpayer outrage” over mayoral spending and his battle with @isabel_cumming over access to City Hall records

The latest Baltimore speed camera locations and a new program targeting oversized trucks. tinyurl.com/5d26v3rw

UPDATE: At Council mtg, @ElectRyanDorsey on the history of Baltimore term limits: "In 2022, a wealthy man who doesn't live in Baltimore City and who has a lot of media control shelled out a lot of money," he notes, meaning Question K funder @WeAreSinclair chair David Smith.

Council members weigh in on why they're voting no on the IG records access bill. tinyurl.com/ys5f3evv "I am a humongous fan of our Inspector General," @odetteramos said, but "I cannot pass a law that we have not had that deliberative process on."

UPDATE: The Baltimore City Council voted 13-1 to keep the Inspector General records access bill in committee, thereby killing the bill's chances to come before city voters in the November general election. tinyurl.com/r23vm88f. @MarkConway4th, @Zeke_Cohen, @MayorBMScott