Attack From Baltimore

Last fall I went with my wife and daughter to a knitter's convention in Baltimore. I had never been there. I enjoyed much of it, but griped that restaurants were overpriced, compared even to New York, and there was no such thing as a neighborhood bodega or pizza shop. I remarked in one post that Baltimore sucked and I've found that is a common search query that gets people to this blog. I am truly sorry, because since then I've become a big "Wire" fan. I'm also an admirer of the Baltimore Teacher's Union AND their City Council for standing up to the likes of Alouso Alonso.
www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.briefs16oct16,0,6214605.story
baltimoresun.com
Council eyes resolution to back teachers over impasse
Metro Digest
October 16, 2007
A dispute between the Baltimore Teachers Union and the chief of the city school system spilled into the City Council last night with the introduction of a nonbinding resolution supporting the union in the impasse.
Councilwoman Sharon Green Middleton, a former teacher and the wife of labor leader Glenard Middleton, introduced the resolution, which was sent to the council's labor committee.
Last week the councilwoman and her husband were among more than 150 protesters who protested a proposed change that could affect the way teachers use planning time.
Schools chief Andres Alonso wants principals to have the authority to require teachers to spend one planning period - about 45 minutes a week - collaborating with colleagues. The union says it considers the change a loss of planning time. Protesters at the school board meeting called for Alonso's ouster over the dispute.
Council members Bernard C. "Jack" Young, Kenneth N. Harris Sr. and Robert Curran voiced support for the resolution.
Middleton said she introduced the resolution to nudge negotiations forward. Adopting an argument often used by the teachers union, Middleton said teachers here have less planning time than their counterparts in surrounding jurisdictions.
City teachers have worked without a contract since July 1, after the dispute over planning time became a sticking point in labor negotiations. The resolution was at one point listed on the agenda for an immediate vote by the full council, but was