Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

by JOAN JACOBSON

A Martian landing at the Baltimore City Council last night wouldn’t have had a clue that a dramatic political change is afoot, not just for the council, but for the city at large. The president — Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, is to become mayor in just a few weeks, but her subdued tone at Monday night’s meeting, conducted at breakneck speed in just under an hour — was so understated that the Martians would have packed it in and raced home in time for the Simpsons, thinking they had come to the wrong Baltimore.

Rawlings-Blake knows she must deal with intense public resentment over the $83,000 annual pension her predecessor Mayor Sheila Dixon will receive as part of a plea deal that ended a years long corruption probe. She has told the Baltimore Sun she’ll be looking at ways to reform city government ethics laws and the pension plan for elected officials.

But if the 39-year-old lawyer and self-described “government nerd” is going to blow the lingering clouds of improriety away from City Hall, it was clear in the ornate, high-ceilinged council chamber last night that she won’t be doing it with much public panache.

For her first council meeting as mayor-to-be, Rawlings-Blake wore an understated black pants suit with a yellow blouse, conducted the meeting quietly and only occasionally showed a flash of personality, once complimenting a visitor on a hot pink sweater, saying that pink was her favorite color. Later she wished two councilmen happy birthday.

Near the end of the meeting, she alluded to her new job by saying, “This has been a sad and challenging time for the city.” No kidding.

Just last month, Mayor Sheila Dixon was convicted of stealing gift cards meant for the poor, then cut a sweet deal with prosecutors and the judge to get her conviction wiped out in four years and get out of an upcoming perjury trial. She gets to collect a hefty $83,000 annual pension and is in line for a state pension too, which will leave her with an annual income of something like $100,000. As part of this package, though, she has to quit her day job as mayor. That’s where Rawlings-Blake comes in. She will become mayor on Feb. 4.

Otherwise, the meeting jetted along, with the council introducing and approving bills on storm water management, closing streets for recreation, requiring recording devices in police cars, naming an alley “Jazz Alley” in West Baltimore and tightening reporting laws for scrap metal dealers.

Although one of her fellow council members will replace her as council president, none of them indulged in any any grandstanding or attempts at eloquence (Oh, for the days of oratory by Councilman Kweisi Mfume).

Maybe grandstanding is a thing of the past. I remember when Wally Orlinsky was council president in the late 1970s and early ’80s. He was a well-spoken poet who enjoyed showing off. I once saw him fill his coffee cup from a spigot of boxed wine before he went up on the podium to conduct official city business.

Then again, Orlinsky was indicted for taking bribes from a hauling contractor and served time in federal prison, so perhaps we’re better off with opaque government nerds.

Last night, when Rawlings-Blake ended the meeting after all of 55 minutes, she was surrounded by television cameras and reporters as she headed to her office. As their TV lights brought her lip gloss to a high sheen, you could hardly hear her soft spoken answers to their soft-ball questions as she told them she was “blessed to have good working relationships” with her fellow council members. By 6 p.m. the council chambers were nearly empty – and the Martians long gone.