It is Bloomberg BusinessWeek Daily. We love checking in with mayors. They're the ones on the ground in cities and towns across the country. They're the ones who are making the decisions that affect the lives of people in their communities, and they hear from people in their communities when they're just walking down the street. Mayor Brandon Scott of Baltimore is one of those mayors, and he joins us now in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio. We should note that
the city has received money from Bloomberg Philanthropies. It is the philanthropic arm of Bloomberg Elipy, the parent company of Bloomberg Radio. Mayor, welcome to the program. Re elected in twenty twenty four, you've been mayor since twenty twenty. I want to start with the government shutdown, because you are pretty close to Washington, DC. You've got some folks in your community who certainly work there and obviously benefit from
people working in the government. The President making comments earlier today that we can expect layoff details in four to five days. How's the shutdown affecting your constituents right now?
Well, there's a lot of my constituents on uneasy right when you're thinking about over twelve thousand Baltimore we're in work for the federal government, either directly or on contract. And then when you think about what that's going to mean for them and their families, they're just not at ease right now. And folks want to go to work.
They want their government to be working. And of course then all our ratherdents who depend on programming and things that are just going to be out there that may not be having a direct impact as if yet father shut down, but as it continues and goes on, it would be.
What do you consider what do you consider your biggest problem in running the city? I mean Baltimore. You know we report about it a lot. It is the fourth most dangerous according to US News and World Report the summer, ranking Baltimore the fourth most dangerous city in the country behind Memphis, Oakland, and Saint Louis based on FBI data. They look at property crime, they look at murders per capita. But what are you as mayor. I'm sure there's a lot that's on your plate. What's top of mind?
Well, listen, violence is always top of mi us.
The reason why I got into office and we understand that we have a long way to go. But I know you guys know here Bloomberg the many years that we were number one on that list, and as you and I are talking today, I think it's the mode and the talversation around Baltimore and violence has shifted significantly. We have the fewest amount of homicide through any October
seventh on record today. That is a big change. When I said twenty twenty one, laying out our Comperhenceive Violence Prevention plan, that we were going to reduce homicide by fifteen percent from one year to the next, people literally laughed. Right now, it's down thirty percent from last year, and last year was a record reduction for us.
We're going to continue that.
How did you do it?
We did it throughout our conference's plan, which is which is a bunch of things. One first and foremost, we go and we identify those who are most likely to be the victim of perpetrator of gun violence, and we focus on them. We give them opportunities to change their life, and if not, we remove them via law enforcement.
And that's how we're driving down violence.
We're focusing on guns and the flow of guns into our city, going at the gun traffickers, those who are using guns, arresting them at my direction with the police department, turning them over to to our state's attorney and our Attorney General. We have historical levels of investment into community violence intervention where we have people who used to be on the other side of the law going out and preventing conflicts from escalating into violence.
All of it. We're going after gun manufacture.
People who understand where the problem the problem is. If you're pulling them in to help you, they.
Were the problem and now they're part of the solution, and what better way to do that?
Get us people to do that.
Well easy first and foremost, many people who have made that mistake don't want people coming behind them to make that and they know that we're growing this network of community violence intervention workers in our city. So the word is out that we want to give people a second chance to be a part of solving a problem that they once were causing.
The city, though in the crosshairs of the President he called it a hellhole. Last month, you and Governor Wes Moore said that law enforcement from the state will patrol some areas.
Has that begun, Yeah, that's begun, and that's the governor is actually restarting something that was ended by his predecessor.
Think about it like this.
You would not find any other state police department in any state in this country not operating at all in it only major city that's Baltimore City was the only jurisdiction in Maryland that a Maryland state police did not operate in the governor's restarting that, we're grateful for that support and to continue that work.
Are you open to the President sending National Guard troops to.
This We've been very clear about that. Why we know how to reduce violence in Baltimore.
We have reduced violence to its lowest levels ever recorded on record, even lower than the president's first term. The way that we have done it in partnership with our community, with our police department, with our station attorney Ourtorney General, and our federal law enforcement partners who work.
Beside us each and every day. That's how we should continue that work.
If the President wants to help us, he should restore grants and funding that was cut to organizations that helping that. Restore grants, I mean funding cut from those law enforcement agencies. This president has had the biggest of reduction in funding for federal law enforment agencies.
They should be restored.
What funding are you not getting?
So for us, we have.
Not been directly impacted as of yet. It's our partner organizations like for example, a Life Bridge helps them runs the Center for Hope that's a part of our CVI network that has programming around CBI's community violence intervention. They's lost a five hundred thousand dollars grant. The same thing for living classrooms. That's big work that is going to be not happening, whether it be a hospital based response,
our community based responders. We need a victim assistance for young people, getting those young people the services they need that helps to drivent violence as well.
What will you do though, if the President sends troops, well, listen.
Will be prepared to take whatever action that we can, be it legal, others, alongside our governor and our team, based on when, what and how the President does something if he does anything. But what we hope the President does is to continue to support those agents that are already working in our city and let them do their work and lit the law enforcement partnership that is driven us results this far.
Carrious all the way.
But even though crime has improved, even though you shared statistics that show they're the best that they've ever been. Like Carol mentioned, your city is still on a list that you don't want to be on. So I say to people out there who are saying, well, I would feel more comfortable if there were an increased law enforcement presence, and that could include federal trips.
Well, we had the National Guard in Baltimore in twenty fifteen following the unrested Freddie Gray.
It's one of the most violent years ever. It didn't help. Right, We have to remember this is not what those folks signed up to do.
Allow those folks who sign up to go after a gun, traffickers, murderers, robbers, car jackins to do their work and allow the other people to do their work. And listen, there are other lists, you know, there are many of these lists. We were on some list, on some list we weren't on. Aw the list that we want to be on is the list of who has the largest reductions. And you will be hard pressed to find a city in this country that's had a sustainable, long term reduction like Baltimore's had.
From a September of twenty twenty two. I mean it's twenty twenty three until now.
What do you see as what's wrong with politics today? What do you think is wrong with what some say is the Democratic Party not very clear in its mission and kind of stepping.
Up, well, very simply, I think that, And I ask.
You because I think there's a lot of forgive me, but there's a lot of folks who think there are politicians who become career politicians and things haven't changed and we need some change.
Well, I think that what folks have to understand is that for me, and I say this about the Democratic Party all the time, more recently, they have to let the folks that are closest to the problem be outfront and part of the solution, meaning they need to listen to mayors. The mayors are the ones that have to solve the problems. The mayors are the ones that have to meet the people in the grocery store. And we've proven in city after city at the city we know how to drive down crime, and you have.
To talk to people where they are.
We have to get out of being up in the sky with pie and the sky talk to people in real sense, real things that impact them and explain to them how these things are going to make their communities better.
How long do you want to be mayor?
I want to be mayor for as long as the residence of Baltimore will have me. This will be my second term.
Believe it or not.
I've been an elected office since twenty eleven, and this is I've been in city hall since two thousand and seven.
But you're a young man right now, Yes, a young man. I'll be forty two on my birthday. But this is about making my city better.
I got into this service because I saw someone get shot at seven years old and no one care and wanting to drive down that violence, to have vacant housing. Be it as lowest point in my lifetime in Baltimore. Something we're proud of, but we're not celebrating.
We have a lot of work to do and we're going to do it.
The reason I go back there is I do think we talked about this in media that there isn't a lot of you know, local publications anymore. A lot of newspapers have shut down, and so we get kind of the high in the Yeah, we don't need that, we get that view, but we don't It's why we love talking to mayors. But often people are mayors and then they move up and they go to governor and then they go to Congress and stuff. So I'm just curious, how long do you want to stay on that loco?
Yeah, well, everyone knows the endgame.
Everyone knows I don't want to be governor, and everyone in Baltimore knows that I will be quite okay if being the mayor of Baltimore is the last elected office I've had.
This is my dream job as a child.
I will hold it as long as the residents of Baltimore will allow me to do so, as long as I'm living within term limits.
Before we let you go because you have a train to catch to get home, Yes, and we want to be respectful of your time. The attracting and retaining business to the city, we know that's a economic development, is a way to improve cities. What are you doing right now to say Baltimore is open for business? Yeah?
I think that way.
We have to understand we had four billion dollars of investment into Baltimore. We have seven billion dollars investment coming too downtown Baltimore, whether it's t ro Price's new headquarters.
So under Armer's new headquarters, everyone knows throughout Downtown Rise Plan we are open for business in the City of Baltimore, re forming our permit process and reforming our zoning code, all the things that we need to do to help grow business in Baltimore, especially in the tech and life science industry that is taken off out of Hopkins and out of the University of Maryland, putting a lot of money and a lot of tech businesses out into the EFILM.
Any signs that we're headed towards a recession.
Well, we'll see.
We know that with terrorists and all the other things going, we just have to all be mindful of what's happening and prepare as we're doing our budgets. I've been talking to my brother and sister mayors to make sure that we're being responsible right now because we do not know yet what is to come.
So appreciate it.
Go for your train, yes, ma'am, thank you very much.
He's running for that train.
Well, well, be safe. Brendan Scott, the Baltimore Mayor, joining us here in our interactive broker's studio. As Tim mentioned earlier, that city has definitely received money from Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is of course owned by Michael R. Bloomberg, founder, A Bloomberg LP, and Bloomberg Philanthropies