As a veteran of Baltimore City politics, over the past four decades, I’ve had the good fortune and sometimes misfortune of attending nearly every State of the City Address delivered by our mayors during that time. Good fortune, because in many instances, the stories being shared highlighted milestones and laudable achievements, and the mayors delivering them were also being celebrated for their success. In some instances, misfortune, because many of the tales told were poorly composed and, more than a few times, fabricated in ways that lacked honesty or integrity. However, to say the least, the most recent State of the City speech, so skillfully delivered by current Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott, is certainly one for the “Good Fortune” column.

While I did not have the occasion to attend this year’s speech in person, as I have dozens of others (my invitation no doubt snagged by my all too effective email spam filter), I bonded instead with my hundreds and maybe thousands of neighbors and fellow Baltimoreans huddled together in a shared and familiar space called “YouTube”. That’s right, YouTube, that thing that feeds entertaining content to your phone, or your work computer (when your co-workers are not noticing, because they’re busy watching YouTube as well, or Heaven forbid, TikTok). In a further programming note… next year, the Motion Picture Academy’s 98-year-old coveted Oscars ceremony is leaving network television to broadcast on YouTube and is expected to attract record-breaking audiences.

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So, I rejoiced when informed that our mayor and Baltimore City were taking a giant leap into the future of communications in favor of a more pluralistic means of providing access to many who had heretofore had to get these messages secondhand.

I can’t say that I missed crowding myself with others into the Baltimore City Council Chambers to sit and more often stand cheek to cheek with the other hundred or so lucky insiders who wielded their influence for a chance to “mask up” (anyone remember Covid-19?) to be in the room.

Though some still complained about the YouTube broadcast, suggesting it was cold, impersonal, and lacked a certain level of intimacy, from my perspective, it was an effective way to display and leverage Baltimore’s investment in technology, talent, and broadband infrastructure while demonstrating what inclusive and transparent government could look like.

But to get back to the content of the speech, I must say that Mayor Scott and his team hit all the high notes and never once got “off key”.  From the opening remarks by Baltimore City’s Chief Administrative Officer, Faith Leach, to remarks delivered by Mayor Scott and others perched on an iconic city bus stop bench, the message was well-crafted, relevant, insightful, believable, and inspiring.

The string of facts and figures presented by Mayor Scott, as prefaced by his wife and Baltimore’s First Lady, Hanna Scott, is cause for celebration, but as she readily conceded, it is only the first step on a long road ahead. However, perhaps more encouraging was the litany of projects on the launch pad for the days and months to come. Innovative and progressive plans to address Baltimore’s rapidly declining vacant dwelling rates through creative financing. Tax relief for older adults and legacy homeowners to stem displacement and further stabilize our historic neighborhoods. Aggressive approaches for repairing roads and neighborhood streetscapes and removing graffiti. And support of existing initiatives that create new pathways to careers and employment through apprenticeship and workforce readiness opportunities.

I was particularly impressed by the participation of an array of citizens from across the city, who lent their voices to this speech. The authenticity with which they shared the progress in their neighborhoods, their organizations, and in some cases, themselves had made due to or supported by the mayor, his administration, its policies, and programs was more good fortune.

A pitch-perfect chorus of Baltimoreans reflecting the ethnic, generational, geographical, theological, and sociological diversity that collectively puts the charm in Charm City. Each presenter offers a glimpse at what is at once both present and possible when people and their government choose to row in the same direction.

Regardless of the storms brewing 35 miles to our south in Washington, DC and even the wars raging abroad, last Tuesday, March 31, for One Hour and Thirty-nine Minutes, thanks to Mayor Brandon Scott and the dedicated people that work for and with him, we had confirmation that just maybe things will be better in Baltimore, Maryland for the next few years…