Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and 16 members of his staff are out and about this month – Scott to coastal Georgia and others fanning out to Texas, the West Coast and over to Europe to attend conferences and participate in industry-sponsored events.

The price: $52,341, of which $39,941 will be borne by city taxpayers. And buried within those totals: $412-a-day room charges, $2,200 individual registration fees and two deputy mayors ensconced in Europe.

Those deputy mayors, Letitia Dzirasa and Khalil Zaied, are currently in Rotterdam, Netherlands, at the Planetary Health 2025 Meeting. They left on Sunday and will return to Baltimore over the weekend.

“Participants can look forward to cutting-edge scientific presentations, integration of arts, extensive networking opportunities and engaging social events,” says the conference’s website.

“That’s the health of our water system, transportation fleet, buildings, etc.,” Dzirasa and Zaied explained in the travel request forms they submitted to the Board of Estimates. “This serves as an opportunity for knowledge,” they further noted.

The price for airfare, hotel, meals and incidentals is $7,300. The Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health will pick up the tab as a third-party sponsor. The institute was established last year with money from Bloomberg Philanthropies, which graduated Scott in its leadership class of 2022.

Scott himself is the recipient of another sponsored trip. Next week he heads to Savannah, Ga., the guest of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, whose Chesapeake Connect program encourages local electeds “to explore and learn from a region outside of our own.”

He won’t be alone. Three aides, led by Chief of Staff Calvin A. Young III, will accompany Scott.

The Metropolitan Council will chip in $5,100, including all of the mayor’s travel costs, while taxpayers will foot the $5,700 bill for his aides.

• Agency budget freeze doesn’t apply to cross-country trips by Mayor Scott’s top aides (4/10/25)

While the mayor is down South, five members of his Performance and Innovation “I-Team” will forsake live-streaming and instead fly out to Las Vegas and Dallas to attend industry-sponsored conferences.

At Resorts World in Vegas, the future of AI will be the focus of five days (October 12-16) of breakouts, workshops and roundtables for Jason Howard and Alejandro Sosa. Meanwhile, colleagues Sandhini Ghodeshwar, Joale Jupiter and Zain Islam-Hashmi will be stationed for four nights at the Service Design Global Conference outside of Dallas.

Costing $11,709, the two conferences will help the I-team “transform internal systems and culture” in Baltimore government, the Board of Estimates was told.

How? By providing “a unique space that aligns directly with the work we do to improve resident experiences and improve city services,” says the I-team.

(FYI: The BOE approved these and the other travel requests without peep of discussion or comment.)

Arts and Entertainment

The Urban Transformation Summit is an elite, invitation-only affair hosted by the World Economic Forum.

This year City Administrator Faith Leach will participate in the October 21-23 Summit in San Francisco about “how vibrant 24-hour economies can drive inclusive growth, attract investment, improve livability and strengthen cultural vibrancy.”

No doubt she will talk about her boss’ new-found ambition to make Baltimore an arts and entertainment hub, spearheaded by his newly created Mayor’s Office for Arts, Culture and Entertainment. Going out to San Francisco will cost $1,409, according to BOE records.

With room rates topping $375 and $410 a night and six-figure registration fees, the week-long stay by four Scott aides will cost taxpayers $18,118.

The city’s Administrative Manual (AM-240-3) states that “approval of more than 1 person from an agency per event will normally not be granted” by the Board of Estimates.

But last week the BOE approved travel for four members of the mayor’s arts and entertainment office to attend the Adobe MAX Creativity Conference in Los Angeles. With room rates topping $375 and $412 a night and six-figure registration fees, the week-long stay will cost taxpayers $18,118.

The justification for four attendees?

In the words of Ashton Phinney, a former Recreation and Parks community aide now on the arts and entertainment payroll, “The conference will provide an opportunity to enhance my creative practices, acquire advanced design skills and apply innovative strategies that will strengthen the City of Baltimore.”

Alissa Ferguson will simultaneously head to Houston to attend the AfroTech Conference.

Hired in July as the arts office’s strategic operations coordinator, she said her mission is to “gain direct exposure to program models, technological integration and operational strategies that can be adapted to Baltimore City festivals and events.”

Because the hotel rate and related fees/taxes are $339 above the per diem government rate, the BOE last week approved $1,016 more for her out-of-town lodging.