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Headlines:
GBC, Presidents' Roundtable To Conduct Management Studies for
Mayor O'Malley
At the request of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, the Greater Baltimore Committee has agreed to partner with the Presidents' Roundtable, an organization of leading minority CEOs, to conduct management studies of potentially five key city agencies.
O'Malley attended the Dec. 10 meeting of the GBC board to outline his objectives for an independent evaluation by private-sector CEOs of five Baltimore departments - Public Works, Housing and Community Development, Recreation and Parks, Health, and Fire.
The GBC and the Presidents' Roundtable will launch immediate studies of three agencies - Public Works, Housing and Community Development, and Recreation and Parks. Once those studies are proceeding satisfactorily, the CEO groups will turn attention to potential studies of the fire and health departments.
"We're optimistic and welcoming to the mayor's request. We now must focus on execution, so as to exceed Mayor O'Malley's expectations with our results," said GBC Chairman John Morton III, president of Bank of America, Mid-Atlantic Banking Group.
"Mayor O'Malley is asking Baltimore's business leadership to play a critical role in defining management issues for the city's government of the future," said GBC President Donald P. Hutchinson. "He can be assured that we will do everything we can to support our new mayor's resolve to deliver responsive, efficient and effective government services."
The GBC and the Presidents' Roundtable immediately began efforts to recruit CEO volunteers from each organization to head study teams.O'Malley is initially asking for studies in durations of 90 - 120 days. He is seeking recommendations for "fiscal and management efficiencies that could be implemented to provide a better delivery of government services in the most cost-effective fashion.
"I am confident that a fresh review of these departments, with the quality of management expertise that business CEOs bring to the table, will produce substantive results," wrote O'Malley in a letter outlining his request.
O'Malley pledged the "full support" of all city department heads and agencies in assisting the study teams with their work. He added that he sees a valuable reservoir of energy and talent within the ranks of city employees and is asking business leaders to help him develop a management plan that best draws on the workforce's strengths and inspires achievement.
In his meeting with GBC board members, O'Malley said he is drawing from the example of the recent administration of former Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell, whose substantial reforms of city government operations were driven by partnerships with the city's businesses in crafting management strategies. O'Malley thanked the GBC for introducing him to Rendell's former chief of staff, David L. Cohen, who made a presentation to O'Malley and to two GBC groups to outline how Philadelphia approached reform.
"Government isn't a business, and government can't be like a business," said O'Malley. "But there are things that government can do to operate in a more efficient and businesslike way."
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Reducing Homicide: GBC to Fund Prosecutor, Other Aspects of Kennedy's
'Operation Safe Neighborhoods'
The Greater Baltimore Committee, in an effort to back up its call to make reducing homicide and violent crime a top city priority, announced that it will fund a full-time special prosecutor and other equipment and services for 'Operation Safe Neighborhoods.'
The GBC will award $145,147 to the multi-agency law enforcement effort that employs strategies and tactics similar to those used in Boston and elsewhere to reduce murder rates by more than 50 percent.
'Operation Safe Neighborhoods,' which was developed through Harvard criminologist David Kennedy's work with Baltimore's Safe and Sound Campaign, focuses resources from 14 law enforcement agencies on the behavior of 3,000 - 4,000 individuals in a few dozen groups that are responsible for more than half of the city's homicides.
The GBC award is the first from the GBC's newly created special homicide-reduction fund. Responding to an appeal from GBC Chairman John Morton III, 11 prominent members of the GBC pledged combined contributions of $500,000 over two years to launch the fund.
"Baltimore City's murder rate, in addition to bringing almost daily tragedy to city neighborhoods, has become a nationally recognized detraction from our region's many economic strengths," said Morton.
The GBC's goal is to reduce the region's homicide rate by 50 percent by the end of the year 2002.
Specifically, the GBC award will fund a full-time prosecutor to prosecute arrests made through 'Operation Safe Neighborhoods.' It will also fund equipment, investigative software, training and communications efforts associated with the initiative.
"The grant is greatly appreciated and an important statement of confidence in the operation and in our public law enforcement agencies' committment to making it work," said Hathaway Ferebee, executive director of the Safe and Sound Campaign, which began working with Harvard's Kennedy in spring 1998 to develop 'Operation Safe Neighborhoods.' Implementation of Kennedy's strategies began in August 1999.
If the strategy is successful, decreases in the homicide rate should begin to occur sometime in the early summer of 2000, after a series of arrests, law enforcement action and communication to members of groups with prior histories of violence, Ferebee estimated.
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- How GBC Funding Will Be Used
- Additional full-time prosecutor (one year): $80,340. Prosecutor will be assigned to the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office, with cross designation to the U.S. Attorney's Office, and will prosecute 'Operation Safe Neighborhoods' cases at the state and federal levels, working with the Firearms Investigation and Violence Enforcement (FIVE) unit and Project DISARM.
- Surveillance equipment, investigative software, training: $14,807.
- Communications: $50,000. For communication support ranging from billboards to a variety of printed material used to reach key target audiences in the city's "hot spots."
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- Contributors to GBC Homicide Reduction Fund
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Hippodrome Gains Pledges of Support From Governor,
Key Baltimore Senator
The Hippodrome Performing Arts Center drew pledges of support in October from Gov. Parris N. Glendening and members of the Maryland Senate's Finance Committee who toured the Eutaw Street theater.
During the 2000 General Assembly session Hippodrome advocates will seek an $11.5 million state grant and $10 million in revenue bond funding to help finance construction of the $53 million project, considered a catalyst for more than $300 million in private investment to redevelop Baltimore's west side. In previous sessions, the state has granted $3.5 million for Hippodrome planning and design.
In an Oct. 21 speech to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Gov. Glendening made a strong verbal commitment to supporting Hippodrome funding and pledged additional state funding for other elements of the west side project.
"Working together with Baltimore City's new leadership, we are going to take this area off the endangered list and put it on the exceptional list," the governor said in prepared remarks.
"If we can't step up with $15 million, then shame on us," said Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee following an Oct. 5 tour of the Hippodrome and a presentation by
GBC President Don Hutchinson and other supporters of the project.
The Hippodrome, and its role as a west side catalyst, "is a good example of government aid leveraged by strong private investment," said Bromwell.
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GBC to Host 'Olympic Glory' Reception Jan. 25 At Science Center
The GBC will launch a series of year 2000 'Business After Hours' receptions with a spectacular IMAX presentation and personal appearances by Olympic athletes on Jan. 25 at the Maryland Science Center.
A 5:30 p.m. networking reception, where GBC members can meet Olympic athletes from Maryland, will precede a 6:15 p.m. IMAX showing of 'Olympic Glory.' The event will also feature an update from the Washington-Baltimore Regional 2012 Coalition on its efforts to bring the Olympic Games to the region. To attend, contact Sharon Cooper-Kerr at 410-727-2820, x-35.
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GBC Member News:
- GBC Members Cited for Biotech Impact in Maryland
Three GBC members, the American Red Cross, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, were among companies and institutions recently cited by Business Facilities Magazine for contributing significantly to Maryland's ranking as 14th in the nation for the presence of biotechnology companies.
Research conducted at these facilities has had a significant impact on the quality of life in the U.S., according to the magazine. Maryland was also cited for its involvement as a direct investor in start-up companies.
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- Baltimore to Host American Bus Association in 2001
More than 2,000 travel executives are expected to spend a week in Baltimore in January, 2001 during the American Bus Association Convention. The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) and the Maryland Office of Tourism Development are planning three spectacular "special" events, as well as sightseeing tours, welcome services, familiarization trips and a dine-around night. To participate in this effort, contact Lisa Hansen at BACVA, 410-659-7047.
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O'Malley Embraces GBC Suggestion To Draw from Philadelphia Model
By enlisting business involvement in evaluating the management of key city agencies, Mayor Martin O'Malley has embraced the suggestion from the GBC that his administration draw on business expertise in developing a strategic plan for the city and establishing public-private partnerships.
O'Malley said his attendence at the GBC's Oct. 8 board meeting to hear how business played a key role in Philadelphia's recent turnaround, prompted his interest in drawing on partnerships with business to improve city management and service.
"I'm going to invite a lot of private-sector people into government. That's what they did in Philadelphia," O'Malley has said.
At the GBC's invitation, O'Malley joined GBC board members for a presentation by David L. Cohen, chairman of the law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, who served for five years as chief of staff to Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell.
More recently, at the GBC's Dec. 9 Business Outlook program, Cohen outlined to 200 GBC members the teamwork with business that was a central element of Philadelphia's operational and fiscal turnaround during the Rendell administration.
"The parallels are almost eerie," said Cohen in comparing Baltimore today, as O'Malley begins his term, with Philadelphia eight years ago, when Rendell began two terms as mayor and crafted a partnership between business and government that helped engineer that city's fiscal turnaround.
"Baltimore now sits where Philadelphia was," said Cohen, citing projected future structural city deficits for Baltimore, a consensus for change among its citizens and a "new, dynamic mayor."
After seven years of balanced budgets, Philadelphia now enjoys a surplus, said Cohen. "Our lesson is pretty clear. You can make city government more efficient."
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Community Court Gains Operational Agreement
The GBC and government agencies that will operate the Community Court of Baltimore agreed in November upon an operational plan for the court, which will bring swift and visible justice to nuisance crime offenders.
The GBC has been working with state and local government leaders since 1995 to create the court. A legislative review of the plan by the General Assembly is expected to be complete by the beginning of the 2000 legislative session.
A significant hurdle was overcome when the two agencies vital to the operation of the Community Court - the Judiciary and the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services - agreed upon additional resources and operational changes that will make the court logistically viable and fiscally feasible.
A formal operational plan and a letter of agreement have been delivered to the administration's budget reviewers and legislative leaders.
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