photo copyright The Tribune Co. 2010

It looks like the dark days of the Dixon admin are finally ova. A piece in the Sun today, that truth be told, gets us pretty excited about the new Mayorz Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

We're hoping, based on her own plans that the days of a corrupt govt. in the city are over. We know through contacts that the po-leece <3 Miz. Blake and that she is planning on a new era of transparency in govt. But what really caught our eye was her commitment to improving/expanding on the Westside.  The new mayor, who takes office in Feb. is seriously down with improving the nightlife scene with some backing from her office.

We love the Westside, but it needs a bit of work. The city needs to get behind galleries like Nudashank and the Whole gallery. There is no reason why, being so close to the harbor, that the WS couldn't look like the area around Chinatown in DC. It needs more than Crybaby at the Hippodrome and failed Irish pubs. 

The best thing, in our opinion, that she has going for her is her age. Girl is 39! For a mayor of a major city, that's young.  She's a product of B-more and goes out to party.

From the Sun:  "Mark Wasserman, who coordinated development for former Mayor William Donald Schaefer in the 1980s, said Rawlings-Blake "has a real knack for planning and development" and "brings a perspective that is generational."

"She is younger. She wants to do things that will bring young people to the city," said Wasserman, now senior vice president of external affairs for the University of Maryland Medical System. "Part of her agenda is looking at what it takes to make people her age and younger want to be downtown - living downtown, working downtown, dining downtown."-

She seems to know what up. 

Now, for anyone who says that the Westside is a lost cause has not been to Station North. Less than a decade ago, the area around North Ave. was a wasteland. Dollar stores, liquor stores and shuttered theaters was all one looked forward to. Then came Joe Squared. And MICA. And Load of Fun. And the Metro Gallery, Wind-up Space, Hexagon, Cyclops,  Bohemian Cafe and soon Liam's and a new Mexican restaurant. Boom. That joint bumps now don't it? 

The same can be done with the Westside with a few tweeks by the city. 

Here's our 5 suggestions: 

1) Contact a few local young club promoters that know the scene.  Sit them down, plan a new venue or two. Same with the boutique owners. We can give you a list if you want. Re-brand part of the area as a fashion destination.

2) More police. Yeah. Sorry, that place just ain't safe to walk around sometimes. For ANYONE. 

3) Clean up that area in front of Lex market. Not the little vendors, but goddamn, use tax breaks to get a few major retail/dining businesses in there.  IT'S A BLOCK AWAY FROM THE ARENA! Ever see what the area around the DC convention center is like? 

4)  Do something awesome with the Mayfair theater. Think something like Ramshead Live!, but more dope. More Urban and now. When the junk is cleared away, use community service hours or non-profits to rebuild it. Hire former prisoners with construction skills, and put them to work with the community service kids to re-build that theater. Create jobs.

5) Get a major chain in that Maggie's whatever former Irish pub building. Think Dave and Busters, something epic like that. The clientèle is there. 

That's it for us. Anyone wants to add to this in the comment section, feel free and we'll send them over to Heronorzzz office. THIS DOES NOT A PLACE TO HATE ON SRB. CONSTRUCTIVE CRIT ONLY. H

Oh yeah, we think she's the hottest lady mayor in the country. We looked. :)