City On Fire - Standing Down

Well, the drama continues to unfold in the City That Bleeds. Earlier today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that she would not seek reelection. This comes just two days after she and other members of the Board of Estimates agreed to hand over $6.4 million to the family of Freddie Gray.

In the midst of an already eventful week, this came as a bit of surprise. Rawlings-Blake would have been campaigning against several other challengers in the 2016 election, most notably, former infamous Baltimore Mayor, Sheila Dixon. It was thought that Dixon would have given Blake a tough run regardless. But now with Blake stepping out, as hard as it might be to do so, you have to believe that Dixon will be Baltimore's next Mayor.

So, the big question is why did Blake decide to bail out of the campaign. As expected, she gave the predictable answers at the press conference.....Gotta spend more time with the family, the campaign will be distracting, her effort needs to be focused on leading the city, blah, blah, blah. While these things sure sound good, I think there might be some other reasons why she's dropping out of the race.

No doubt, her opponents were going to blast Rawlings-Blake for her handling of the April riots (or "unrest" as she likes to call it). During that period she looked totally overwhelmed and her leadership abilities were heavily criticized. The Mayor also appeared very uncomfortable when she was getting grilled by reporters during and after the riots. So, I really don't think that she was looking forward to reliving that ordeal during a heated Mayoral campaign.

And while still mayor for another 15 months, Rawlings-Blake will likely have to face another round of "unrest" with the upcoming trials of the six police officers. If any or all of the cops are found not guilty, all hell will break loose in and around the city. And when this happens, the Mayor will be in a no-win situation. If she plays hard ball with the rioters (highly unlikely), she will be criticized for for not being "down with the struggle". And if she takes the "stand down and give 'em room to destroy" approach again, she will be blamed for the massive damage that the city will inevitably absorb.

One has to wonder what would have happened if Rawlings-Blake would have never given the thugs "room to destroy". Perhaps if the cops were allowed to defend themselves and arrest the "kids" who were assaulting them, order could have been somewhat preserved. But instead, the chaos escalated and Baltimore was telecast around the world as a lawless city with no leadership.

When the dust settles after the next round of riots, it could take years if not decades, to repair the damages. So, not only would Rawlings-Blake be heavily criticized in the aftermath, she would also have the unfathomable task of fixing things. When you put things in that perspective, it's not so hard to understand why she decided to bail out. Think of it as jumping off of the Titanic and into a lifeboat...

kw