Tougher guns laws, more sophisticated technology to fight speeders and extra funding for new treatment to help heroin addicts all will be part the city?s comprehensive legislative agenda for the coming session of the Maryland General Assembly.
The requests for increased state assistance and new laws ? to be announced by Mayor Sheila Dixon today ? are tempered by the new fiscal realities of tighter budgets, said Dixon spokesman Sterling Clifford.
“The mayor certainly is aware of the challenges facing the state this year in ,but the city needs to make progress.”
High on the mayor?s is agenda is money for drug treatment, including $5 million dollar to fund increased access to Buprenorphine, a relatively new medication to treat heroin addiction.
“We feel like we?re off to a very promising start,” City Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein said of the city?s efforts to offer Buprenorphine to city addicts.
“What were seeking is money for counseling and treatment to be used in tandem with Buprenorphine with the goal of stabilizing people.”
Discouraging speeders is also on the mayor?s agenda, with plans to request the state approve speed-sensing traffic cameras that alert drivers if they?re exceeding the see limit in all jurisdictions including Baltimore.
Money for new development of both parks and ailing city neighborhoods also will be touted in the coming session, including $3 million to build a town center in Park Heights, and $2 million for an overhaul of Rash Field, with hopes to turn the Inner Harbor attraction into a “premier urban waterfront park.”
Public safety is targeted for additional funding, with a request for an extra $2 million for the city prosecutors to try gun cases, and $7.3 million for community policing initiatives and foot patrols.
Missing from the agenda were tax initiatives proposed by the mayor?s Blue Ribbon Tax panel to alleviate the city?s dependence on high property taxes including a regional sales tax and commuter tax ? both that require approval of state legislators.
“Given the timing, I?m not sure there be an opportunity to introduce things this session,” Clifford said, “but I won?t rule it out.”
