Update from Mayor
Good evening - I want to give a quick reminder that City offices are closed
tomorrow, Tuesday, March 25, in observance of Maryland Day. Trash and recycling
pickups are a normal schedule. Transit will run on a normal schedule and Pip
Moyer will open regular hours, but Stanton Center will be closed.
I want to thank Downtown Annapolis Partnership for their work lifting up the City
of Annapolis for Maryland Day, bringing Poe, the Raven’s mascot and historic
reenactors downtown on Friday ahead of the weekend Maryland Day festivities.
In addition, the Pride of Baltimore II was berthed at City Dock for the weekend
and we thank them for bringing history alive for visitors with onboard tours. Pride
is here through tomorrow - actual Maryland Day - so there’s still time to get a
good closeup look at this replica Baltimore Clipper, a kind of topsail schooner.
Known for it speed and agility, the Pride of Baltimore II has sailed more than
250,000 nautical miles and visited 200 ports in 40 countries!
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Tomorrow evening, Alderwoman O’Neill is hosting a community listening session
for members of the Clay Street Community. It’s at First Baptist Church on West
Washington Street. I’ll be there too, alongside Chief Jackson of Annapolis Police.
Last week, the neighborhood was rocked when an altercation turned deadly at a
school bus stop, which took the life of one man and injured an 11-year-old child
who caught a stray bullet to the foot.
We all know this is unacceptable. We also know we have an outstanding police
force under Chief Jackson. He has focused his policing efforts on prevention and
engagement. He used his academic expertise to examine root causes. He came to
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Annapolis to put that work into action with social interventions, alongside support
and resources to at-risk individuals and families.
We’ve continued with youth programming through not only the police
department, but also with site-specific programming in vulnerable neighborhoods
through our Recreation and Parks team. We have trained our officers to prioritize
communication over occupation and sent out teams from our No Harm Violence
Interruption team and Naptown Anti-Dope program.
APD works well with partner agencies and the States Attorney to make sure we
get bad guys off the street.
I know we are using all the tools in our toolbox, but we need the public to come
out and tell us what we are missing. This kind of gun violence, and the complete
disregard for the presence and proximity of elementary school children, is the kind
of dysfunction a neighborhood can NOT and should not have to tolerate.
We invite members of the Clay Street community to come out and join us at this
listening session. In order to maximize turnout, Annapolis Police will provide
childcare and refreshments.
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On Thursday, the City will unveil two e-buses at an event at Pip Moyer Rec Center.
These are new all-electric buses that will replace two diesel buses that have
reached the end of their service life.
The event will begin at 1 p.m. with a short program of speakers followed by a
showcase of all our e-vehicle fleet offerings:
● the 22 passenger e-bus will offer free rides so that people can experience a
very quiet and very smooth ride;
● our six-seater GEM carts, better known as the “ten-minute trollies” that
