October 3, 2005

Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley on September 28 announced that he is running for Governor of Maryland in the Democratic primary. O’Malley, 42, if successful would oppose Republican Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. in 2006.

His announcement set up a potential race against Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a former mayor of Rockville (MD), a Washington (DC) suburb.

O’Malley, a 1985 graduate of Catholic University, is a 1988 University of Maryland law school graduate. Mayor of Maryland’s largest city since 1999, O’Malley was a Baltimore city council member from 1991 to 1999. He also was a legislative fellow from 1987 to 1988 to U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD).

District of Columbia Mayor Anthony A. Williams said no to a run for a third term and will leave office in 2007. Williams, 54, came to the government of the nation’s capitol in 1995 as its chief financial officer.

Currently President of the National League of Cities, Williams said he was most proud of improving respect and recognition of the nation’s capitol. Williams is credited with leading the economic revitalization of the District and bringing major league baseball back to the city.

Richmond (CA) Mayor Irma L. Anderson, Chair of the Conference Children, Health, and Human Services Standing Committee participated in a strategic planning session with other local and state elected officials to define and structuralize an operational definition for a local health department. Anderson, a retire nurse practitioner, lent her voice to the project being sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the National Association of County and City Health Officers. “This project represents a important step to solidifying and then inform the public about the core components and services that can and should expect from their local health departments,” said Anderson during the day long strategy session.

Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi’s recent State of the City Address focused on these key themes: ethics, schools, housing, and a safe and clean city. Over the last few years, Fabrizi has tried to position Connecticut’s largest city for a prosperous future and expand economic growth and development. By directly addressing these issues, Bridgeport is making progress. The city’s economy growth has been stalled and its infrastructure has been neglected. With the mayor’s focus on addressing the city’s greatest needs has resulted in the overall growth rate that exceeds the statewide average.

Recently, Fabrizi and the city’s school superintendent attended the first Mayors’ Institute on School Design held in Washington (DC), sponsored by the American Architectural Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and the Conference of Mayors. His participation in this meeting as well as the Mayors’ National Education Summit are all part of his long term strategy for “sustained growth economic development that overtime will bring larger dividends for the city.”

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim was in attendance when the 2005 Broad Prize for Urban Education was announced at the Library of Congress on September 20. The award is the largest education prize in the country and has been given to the most outstanding urban school districts. Often educators call it the Nobel Prize for Education. The previous three winners have been Houston, Long Beach and Garden Grove.

The $500,000 prize is awarded annually to honor the country’s urban school district making the greatest improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. The money goes directly to graduating high school seniors for college scholarships. Four runner-up urban districts received prizes of $125,000 each and these districts were Boston, San Francisco, Aldine (TX) and New York City.

“Norfolk’s success can be attributed to the district’s strong leadership and the solid partnership with the school board, unions and community. It is clear that they have made education a priority for all students, and that commitment is evident in their academic results,” said Eli Broad, chairman of The Broad Foundation. The mayor has been actively involved in working with the school system in its efforts to improve the quality of education throughout the city.