San Francisco Mayor Lee coming to Baltimore to make good on Super Bowl bet

On Friday, April 26, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will welcome Mayor Edwin M. Lee of San Francisco to Charm City as he fulfills the friendly wager made prior to Super Bowl XLVII. As part of the traditional Super Bowl bet, the mayors wagered a day of service in their opponent’s city.

According to an April 22 release from Baltimore City, Mayor Lee will be traveling to Baltimore to help revitalize vacant lots, renovate a police station, and read to third graders at a Baltimore City school.

The two Super Bowl mayors will begin their day at 10:00 a.m. with a tour of Faidley Seafood in Baltimore’s historic Lexington Market. Lexington Market has been operating continuously for 231 years.

Mayor Lee will learn how to make Faidley’s world-famous crab cake sandwiches, as well as Maryland’s state sandwich, made with soft-shell crab.

“We agreed to a Super Bowl wager that would highlight the strengths and spirit of our respective cities,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake.

“Because the Ravens won the Super Bowl, we have an opportunity to share with the world some of our best food, and the great work AmeriCorps members are doing in our communities.”

Mayor Lee replied:

“Although I do wish the Super Bowl resulted in a San Francisco 49ers victory and had required Mayor Rawlings-Blake to visit San Francisco, I look forward to cracking some Baltimore crab and joining AmeriCorps in the Service Bowl.”

“I believe this day of education and service will strengthen the relationship between our two cities and promote a call of service to our communities.”

After visiting Faidley’s Seafood, Mayors Rawlings-Blake and Lee will be joined by Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Joe Briggs of the NFL Players Association, Navarro Bowman of the San Francisco 49ers, and hundreds of AmeriCorps members for a day of service in Baltimore.

Service activities will include:

• revitalizing a vacant lot through Baltimore’s Power in Dirt initiative;
• participating in a tutoring session as part of Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s Third Grade Reads initiative;
• painting and repairing a police station; and
• a reading and tutoring session at Cherry Hill Elementary/Middle School.

Examiner.com actually received a personal note from our friends at Reading Partners, the implementing partner of Baltimore’s Third Grade Reads initiative and a Bay Area-founded literacy intervention program, to remind us that Mayors Rawlings-Blake and Lee will provide one-on-one reading tutoring sessions to students at Friendship Academy at Cherry Hill in coordination with Reading Partners, a national nonprofit literacy program and AmeriCorps national service partner.

Reading Partners is the implementing partner for Rawlings-Blake’s Third Grade Reads initiative, the goal of which is to ensure that all Baltimore students are reading at grade level by the end of third grade.

“A strong foundation of reading skills is critical for future academic success,” said Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake.

“Reading Partners is an essential part of the Third Grade Reads initiative. We all need to work together to ensure all students are reading at grade level by fourth grade.”

Times and locations of activities are:

• 10:00 a.m. – Cooking at Faidley’s Seafood in Lexington Market, 400 West Lexington Street
• 11:30 a.m. – Kick-off event for Day of Service and Power in Dirt revitalization of vacant lot, 200 North Carey Street
• 1:00 p.m. – Painting and repairing of Western District Police Station, 1034 North Mount Street
• 2:35 p.m. – Third Grade Reads tutoring session, Cherry Hill Elementary/Middle School, 801 Bridgeview Road

–Richard Webster, Examiner.com / Source