Mary Pat Clarke
In the Spring of 1975, a Cloverhill Road mother loaded her youngest daughter into a stroller and began knocking on doors in the 2nd City Council District. She had just spent the previous years leading the Greater Homewood Community Corporation, an umbrella coalition of neighborhoods surrounding Johns Hopkins, working to establish Action In Maturity (AIM), strengthen our schools, and organizing the City Fair. That young mother was Mary Pat Clarke. With the help of many Tuscany Canterbury residents such as the Eberharts, Chafants and O’Briens, Mary Pat was successful. Forty five years ago, she was sworn into the Baltimore City Council.
It was an exciting time to be on the Council. She joined another community resident, Barbara Mikulski who would soon launch her City Council role into a run for the United States Congress. They were a dynamic duo! From shaping the debate on Harbor Place, to rent control, or passing residential permit parking and tenants right of first refusal, Mary Pat was an immediate and tremendous success.
Mary Pat Clarke
In the Spring of 1975, a Cloverhill Road mother loaded her youngest daughter into a stroller and began knocking on doors in the 2nd City Council District. She had just spent the previous years leading the Greater Homewood Community Corporation, an umbrella coalition of neighborhoods surrounding Johns Hopkins, working to establish Action In Maturity (AIM), strengthen our schools, and organizing the City Fair. That young mother was Mary Pat Clarke. With the help of many Tuscany Canterbury residents such as the Eberharts, Chafants and O’Briens, Mary Pat was successful. Forty five years ago, she was sworn into the Baltimore City Council.
It was an exciting time to be on the Council. She joined another community resident, Barbara Mikulski who would soon launch her City Council role into a run for the United States Congress. They were a dynamic duo! From shaping the debate on Harbor Place, to rent control, or passing residential permit parking and tenants right of first refusal, Mary Pat was an immediate and tremendous success.
She served in the Council from 1975-1983 and as City Council President from 1987-1995. She was the first woman ever elected citywide and was lead sponsor of the nation’s first “Living Wage” law. In 2004 Mary Pat ran an unsuccessful campaign for Mayor.
When Baltimore voters approved single-member City Council districts, Mary Pat ran again for office. In November of 2004 she was sworn into office in the newly created 14th District. Here we are sixteen years later, and Mary Pat has decided it is time for a new generation to fill her shoes on the Baltimore City Council.
We will miss her! What we will miss the most is really her greatest talent and accomplishment: Mary Pat has just shown up, answered our calls, stopped by our homes, and listened to us for the past forty plus years. She is known for her attention and caring for every constituent call or need. We have all seen her at our neighborhood meetings or just on the street with her trusted 3×5 note cards, taking every detail of our stories or complaints. Helping us, helping our neighborhood is just in her DNA.
Another Mary Pat Neighborhood Memory
My favorite Mary Pat story (which I hand-wrote on the newsletter but my handwriting being what it is, thought I should also type): Some years ago during a water main break, which necessitated a giant hole being dug in the middle of Tuscany Road, I walked down to it to see if the crew knew when water might be restored, and there’s Mary Pat up to her neck in the hole, checking progress. “Wow,” I said to her, “getting muddy!” “I do this a lot,” she said.
Ann Finkbeiner