[CPEO-BIF] A Visit to East Baltimore (MD)

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

[To download a formatted two-page 700 KB PDF file of Lenny Siegel's 
report, with photos, go to http://www.cpeo.org/pubs/EastBaltimore.pdf. 
To download a formatted, four-page, 1.4 MB PDF file of Rosa Hart 
Burenstine's resident's view of the East Baltimore Redevelopment 
Project, go to http://www.cpeo.org/pubs/RosasStory.pdf.


A Visit to East Baltimore

Lenny Siegel
August, 2007

On May 26, 2007, I visited East Baltimore, the area where my late father 
was born nearly a century ago. My host was Rosa Hart Burenstine, leader 
of Baltimore Community for Environmental Justice. She took me around her 
neighborhood, showing me residential streets, abandoned industrial 
properties, and the massive East Baltimore Redevelopment Project (EBRP). 
Normally I write up such visits myself, but Rosa so eloquently tells a 
hopeful story of urban renewal that CPEO has decided to publish her 
write-up of the EBRP partnership instead.

I would be uncharacteristically silent, however, not to make some key 
observations about the opportunities that lie ahead for greater East 
Baltimore, the neighborhoods on the periphery of the EBRP. As Rosa 
points out, the entire area has suffered decay and depopulation, the 
results of economic decline, environmental pollution, crime, neglect, 
and racism. But my windshield tour convinced me that the neighborhood is 
on the way back. Though many of the old row houses that constitute the 
neighborhoods are vacant and boarded or bricked up, the buildings 
generally appear to be structurally sound, with attractive facades. The 
pervasive litter that I have seen in other inner cities is absent. The 
entire area appears to await rebirth.

Economically, two forces could act as drivers of such an area-wide 
revitalization. First, the bioscience-led EBRP can serve as the anchor 
project, from which economic activity and civic pride can spiral 
outward. Second, the 2005 round of military base realignments is 
expected to bring 28,000 new households to Maryland. Most of the new 
Defense workers will be employed to the north at the Aberdeen Proving 
Ground, and to the south at Ft. Meade, but the city of Baltimore still 
expects to absorb about 2,500 of those new households. Furthermore, it 
expects to benefit indirectly from the regional boom.

Ideally, I believe that the city and the state of Maryland should work 
to maximize the influx to already developed, but depopulated areas such 
as East Baltimore. If they don't, then the Defense-induced boom will 
quickly overcome Maryland's pioneering efforts at smart growth, fueling 
a new level of urban sprawl. Local leaders are already working on plans 
to encourage and accommodate growth, but it won't be easy. It will 
require investments in infrastructure, education, public safety, and 
environmental cleanup.

It will also require active programs of housing rehabilitation, perhaps 
modeled after those already in the works at the EBRP. The project plans 
to offer directly impacted residents subsidized financing for both 
rehabilitation and first-time home purchase. It's too soon to know how 
well those will work, but they are clearly intended to make it possible 
for current residents (including those displaced temporarily by 
construction) to live in a physically and economically revitalized East 
Baltimore.

East Baltimore Development Initiative (EBDI) officials explain that some 
70 percent of the housing units in its project area are vacant. Typical 
row houses are two to three stories and range in size from 800 to 1800 
square feet. While some are beyond repair, the typical vacant unit can 
be rehabilitated and brought up to code for an estimated $135,000 to 
$175,000. Most occupied units also require work. EBDI estimates that 
such units will require about $75,000 for core code improvements, energy 
efficiency, and lead paint remediation plus $25,000 for comfort and 
amenities.

If the partnership spirit described in "Rosa's Story" - that is, diverse 
interests negotiating to ensure that each benefits from a major 
public-private undertaking - is applied to the revitalization of the 
larger area around the EBRP, then Baltimore can serve as a model for 
urban renewal on a grand scale.



--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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