On Monday night members of the Baltimore City Council gathered for their first official meeting since the murder of Kenneth Harris. They spent much of the meeting honoring their fallen former colleague.
Harris served on city council for more than eight years. Black bunting hangs from the front of City Hall and inside the council chamber.
At Monday’s meeting the council passed a resolution honoring Harris. 'He is and has been a great city leader because he led from the grass roots up, and he led on behalf of people without a voice,’ said Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who represents the 14th District.
Fighting back tears, Councilman Nicholas D'Adamo of the Second District shared personal stories he remembers about Ken Harris. ‘I think of the conversations we had on the phone late at night. He used to be a jokester. He used to page Councilman (Keiffer) Mitchell late at night and put my number in,’ D’Adamo said.
Councilman Robert Curran called for a suspension of the rules, allowing former Councilman Keiffer Mitchell -- a friend and a political ally of Harris -- to speak. ‘If there's any legacy that we can leave for Kenny Harris, our colleague, is that we continue to fight for our safety of our citizens,’ Mitchell said.
He issued a call for someone to come forward, and help find the people responsible for Harris' murder. ‘He was taken from us in cold blood and we have to make sure that we bring justice not only to Kenny, but to (his wife) Annette, and (his children) Kenny junior and Nicole,’ he said.
Also at the meeting Councilwoman Clarke announced that on Wednesday night there will be a rally against crime, called ‘Enough is Enough.’ That is scheduled to begin at six o'clock, outside the Northwood Shopping Center, where the murder happened.
