A Tale of Two Cities: Baltimore
Gately, Gary. 2005. “Two Views of Baltimore
Compete for Public Money.” The New York Times,
July 6. (http://nyti.ms/hWXvER ).
East Baltimore is a blighted neighborhood two
miles from a planned hotel in the Inner Harbor
tourist area.
•Vacant & abandoned houses
•Homeless
•Working poor
•Failing public schools
Inner Harbor
•Shopping
•Hotels
•Convention center
•Baseball stadium
•Football stadium
•Restaurant pavilions
•Aquarium
•Science museum
Steve Ruark for The New York Times
The more prosperous areas of Baltimore include the Inner Harbor.
Steve Ruark for The New York Times
Le'Vonia Adell, left, prayed with the Rev. J. L. Carter, center and the Rev. Calvin Keene on a run-down Baltimore
Street. The pastors are part of a group fighting the city's plans to build a new Convention Center hotel.
Arguments for Using $50mil for
redevelopment
City
• East Baltimore community
did not have feasible plan
• Stay competitive in
convention tourist business
• City would make profit
East Baltimore Community
• City should be in the
‘business’ of neighborhood
development
• Poor neighborhoods with
more than 16,000 vacant or
abandoned buildings need
help.
• Declining tourist business
• Private hotel corporations
would not invest their own
money
East Baltimore Development Inc.
http://www.ebdi.org/about
• Nonprofit partnership of public and private
institutions (U.S. Government, the State of
Maryland, the City of Baltimore, The Annie E.
Casey Foundation, Johns Hopkins Institutions,
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation,
The Atlantic Philanthropies and many others)
• Acquisition and Relocation Project (relocated 584
families to healthier neighborhoods and cleared
31 acres)
• Home Repair Program (21 owners have chosen
this option)
• MICA students moving to East Baltimore will
face a mostly blank canvas But here are some
ways to paint community back into the
picture.
• East Baltimore Redevelopment Project a
Model for Effective Eminent Domain
• Relocated Residents Speak Out