Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott wants to build on historic progress on city's big issues

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is touting a historic year for the Charm City, especially in its fight against violent crime.

In 2025, the city has seen continued drops in crime, particularly homicides. There's also been progress in bringing down the amount of vacant properties and infrastructure investments.

But in a one-on-one with WJZ on Tuesday, Scott said that while it's important to acknowledge the achievements, it's even more important to build on them.

Drop in crime

Thinking about when he was first coming up with his crime reduction strategies, Scott said people didn't believe in him.

"People laughed, they said it's impossible, that the only way we could do it is if we went back to just locking up everybody," the mayor said.

But now Baltimore is on track to have its lowest homicide tally in nearly 50 years, standing at 134 as of Tuesday morning.

That makes homicides down more than 30% from this time last year. Non-fatal shootings are down more than 25%.

Scott wants to see the numbers continue to decline, "I'm thinking about how we can be even better. This isn't celebratory for me, this is look at what we were able to do."

The mayor said the city's Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan is successful because it doesn't rely on just one thing. The effort is fueled by partnerships with various agencies, non-profits, and most importantly the community to help identify areas with the most pressing needs.

Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates is an important piece of the puzzle, but Bates earlier this month wrote a letter saying his office would move to sever ties with the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE).

Scott said he and Bates have met about this since then and the two are still ironing out issues.

"[The news coverage] that folks saw did not stop the police department from sending cases to the state's attorney," Scott said. "It did not stop the Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS)."

The mayor is still working to expand GVRS to the whole city.

Scott's crime reduction strategies has made many national headlines this year. 

WJZ asked him if he's thought of any kind of national office or position, but he said he's only focused on "being the best husband, father and mayor he can be."

Progress on other longstanding issues

Mayor Scott said bringing down the city's number of vacant properties continues to be a big priority for him.

He said the number of these properties stands at 12,300, which is a 24% reduction from 2020.

The mayor's longterm vacant property reduction strategy lies in his Reframe Baltimore plan, a bold $3 billion initiative that looks to eliminate all of these properties over 15 years.

The plan also involves boosting affordable housing and revitalizing neighborhoods.

Scott is also betting big on making major infrastructure investments, proposing a $932 million capital budget for the upcoming budget cycle.

It's one of the biggest in decades.

"No one person or one administration was gonna end [these problems] in one term, or two terms for that matter," Scott said. "We have to make sure we are level setting, but also accomplishing real change. We're doing just that."

Scott is hoping to get help on all of these issues from state lawmakers in the upcoming legislative session, even as lawmakers will deal with a $1.4 billion budget gap.

"We understand the fiscal situation the state's in, but they also understand the need to make sure that the state's economic engine -- the city of Baltimore -- has investment. We'll just all be working together to accomplish all the goals that we can," Scott said.

The legislative session begins on Jan. 14.