Four big new personalities will enter Baltimore City Hall this week.

Like many of their predecessors, these four freshmen say they’re here to shake up the status quo. With expectations from city voters to get to work — and keep working — on mitigating many of Baltimore’s intractable problems, this bright-eyed gang of politicos hopes to make good on their campaign promises and deliver.

Here’s what you can expect from the new council members.

Mark Parker

The bilingual Lutheran pastor from Highlandtown follows the news religiously and knows this much to be true: His neighborhood has one of the highest concentrations of Latino communities in Baltimore, and they will likely be under increased risk of deportation and detention starting next year as President-elect Donald Trump reclaims the White House.

Mark Parker, 42, already is planning ahead. It’s somewhat familiar territory for the political newcomer, who served for 15 years as the lead pastor at the Breath of God Lutheran Church and works closely with immigrant populations.

But now with Trump and more Americans identifying immigration as a top priority, Parker said it’s possible Baltimore’s migrants will face more hostility this term.

“When one of us is under threat,” Parker said one afternoon last month while seated at Highlandtown’s Franchesca’s Empanadas, “all of us are under threat.”

Expect Parker to align himself closely with City Councilwoman Odette Ramos on many issues, including those involving immigration and housing; Parker said it’s a priority to continue working to revitalize neighborhoods along with partners at the Southeast CDC, of which he’s a board member. He’s also cited education as a key area where he’d like to see more City Council involvement, particularly adding classes for people hoping to learn English or Spanish and work opportunities for new city schools graduates.

Other possible Parker allies might include incoming City Council President Zeke Cohen, who endorsed Parker to fill his seat when he launched his campaign for the council presidency; Comptroller Bill Henry, who also endorsed Parker in the race; and City Councilman Ryan Dorsey, whom Parker said he’s gotten to know through a shared commitment to commuting around town by bike.

Zac Blanchard

A father of one — soon-to-be two — who lives in a Federal Hill rowhome with his wife, Zac Blanchard is a former Marine who was born in Louisiana and ended up getting a master’s degree in African studies. He’s a volunteer football coach at Digital Harbor High School and works at the Midtown Benefits Association doing economic development. He’s got a car but he only drives to the grocery store because, like Dorsey and Parker, he’s a bike commuter.

And while he is going to be a freshman council member, Blanchard isn’t letting his lack of experience temper his ambitious to-do list.

He wants to: reduce the number of vacant properties in his Central and South Baltimore district as quickly as possible; address what he says is rising violent crime in Federal Hill, Riverside and downtown without increased police intervention; improve city schools; build more dedicated bike lanes; reduce litter; and address the city’s high property tax rate.

And that’s just the stuff he thinks is reasonably possible. There are even more ambitious things the city could do to improve Baltimore (such as rip up the JFX and daylight the Jones Falls), Blanchard said, they just aren’t as reasonable.

“There’s something to be said for doing really dope stuff,” he said.

If all or any of this sounds like too much for City Council to do, let alone a political newbie, you’ll have to pardon Blanchard for not seeing it that way. When he knocked off incumbent Eric Costello in the May primary, he did so despite being outspent and with few friends in high places. Frankly, his win was a shock to everyone but Blanchard.

And if he can do that … well, why not all this?

Paris Gray

After his son, Parker, came into the world in June, Paris Gray took a few weeks off work — and considers himself lucky that he had accrued enough paid time off to cover his absence.

The new dad now realizes that Baltimore could have a better family and medical leave policy; it’s one of a few things he’d like to bring up as he starts his City Council term.

Gray, taking the reins from his boss, City Councilman Kristerfer Burnett, said he has no intention of filling his predecessor’s shoes. He wants to carve out his own legacy, one that’s centered on improving the effectiveness of city services. He views that as key to growing the city’s population, attracting more investment and beefing up city government agencies.

Burnett fired off a since-deleted social media post on his way out of office, calling out City Hall as “toxic;” Gray, 38, said he understood it to be lighthearted and wouldn’t let his colleague’s feedback deter him.

An outreach worker in Burnett’s office, Gray won his primary election race by a little more than 200 votes. He watched with relief a few months later as a majority voted down Question H, the David Smith-backed ballot initiative that sought to shrink the size of the council from 14 seats to 8.

But Gray said he hopes to change the minds of voters in the minority who either voted against him or who supported a smaller council. “The goal is always to improve the results,” he said.

On the issues, Gray said he counts agency oversight, budgeting, health, land use and public safety as priorities; he’d like a seat on any of those committees and hopes to work closely with Councilwoman Phylicia Porter and Dorsey on health and housing, respectively. He also said he looks forward to collaborating with his fellow council newcomers, especially Jermaine Jones, the former labor leader and fair wage advocate.

“We’re getting a fresh start,” he said about the council. “Baltimore City got it right, across the board.”

Jermaine Jones

Baltimore’s Oliver neighborhood has long felt like home to Jermaine Jones. The councilman-elect, 40, lives on the same block where he spent his childhood. His grandmother is just across the street. Both homes were rehabilitated by Jones’ uncle.

The family is a part of Oliver’s renaissance. Once the film locale for the fictional Hamsterdam in “The Wire,” the East Baltimore neighborhood has in recent years been the target of redevelopment. It’s work that Jones wants to build upon once he’s seated on the council. The labor leader will serve the 12th district, a diverse swath of East and Central Baltimore that now includes Harbor East.

If Baltimore hopes to attract residents to neighborhoods like Oliver, it will require more than just fresh housing stock, Jones said. The councilman-elect plans to push for investment in gathering spaces for the community.

“People see opportunity. People see a neighborhood turning around,” he said. “But people also want to feel safe, and people want to feel community.”

As a child in Oliver, Jones made use of the Oliver Multi-Purpose Center, but today the hulking building stands vacant. The city shuttered the center in 2023 after an inspection found mold, asbestos and other safety hazards.

Just blocks away, the Dawson Safe Haven Center is also closed. Named for the victims of a firebombing, the property was damaged by the leaking roof of a neighboring property, Jones said. The loss for the community has been palpable.

“There’s people moving in with kids,” he said. “You see them riding their bikes in the middle of the street. You’ve got to give them a constructive place to be a kid.”

With a new recreation center at least three years down the road, Jones has set his sights on a now infamous property — a two-story brick building, nestled next to Caroline and Hoffman Park, that was the site of a mass shooting that rocked the neighborhood earlier this year. Formerly a motorcycle club, the building was set ablaze after the shooting, a move police believe was retaliation.

Jones envisions a multipurpose community space in the gutted structure. He’s hopeful Mayor Brandon Scott will be receptive to the push.

“I think that’s a place where me and the mayor could have synergy,” Jones said. “While we have a mayor who cares about the youth and rec centers, I want to make sure the neighborhoods I represent have rec centers we can all be proud of.”