Dear Friends:

At this week’s Board of Estimates meeting, we approved the City’s purchase of five apartment complexes in northwest Baltimore. This included the Pall Mall Apartments, a dangerous and extremely unsafe building which had been the scene of persistent incidents of drug activity and shootings over the past several years. Pall Mall residents and their neighbors often lived in fear, walking through hallways crowded with drug dealers, in a building with broken locks on the front doors.

This building was in my Council district and two years ago, I saw firsthand the deplorable conditions at Pall Mall Apartments and the surrounding Pimlico neighborhood. It had become a full-scale open-air drug market, overwhelming area residents and providing a real challenge to city police. After visiting the area, I immediately called a meeting with city agencies, community leaders and other stakeholders to tackle the situation. The owner of the property was an absentee landlord who received millions of dollars in federal assistance from HUD, while failing to perform even routine maintenance. In July 2005 the city took action, revoking the landlord’s multifamily dwelling license, subjecting the Pall Mall Apartments—and four other buildings in west Baltimore that were also poorly-maintained—to HUD foreclosure. Currently, about 10,500 families in the City live in HUD-regulated projects, but too many are notoriously rundown and crime infested, often due to landlords’ neglect. And public health and safety problems in properties like this frequently spill over into the rest of the neighborhood. In this instance the whole community was affected—and the whole community became engaged. And now, the City will demolish all of these buildings that for so long have been a source of blight in their communities, making way for new development that will include affordable housing.

Thanks to the persistence of the many Pimlico and Park Heights residents who are committed to revitalizing their communities, this area of Park Heights that was once a scene of blight and violent crime will be transformed. Such community engagement can achieve similar successes elsewhere in Baltimore, making the city healthy and safe neighborhoods for all our citizens.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
President, Baltimore City Council

City Council This Week

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Hearing: Executive Appointments Committee, Robert Curran - Chair
5:00 PM Du Burns Council Chamber, 4th floor, City Hall
EA07-0219 Frederick H. Bealefield, III Police Commissioner of Baltimore City
This hearing will be broadcast live on Cable TV 25.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Hearing: Taxation and Finance Committee, Helen Holton - Chair
9:45 AM Du Burns Council Chamber, 4th floor, City Hall
07-0837 Sale of Property - SWS Potee Street 35-11 FT SE of Bristol Avenue (Block 7027J, Lot 013)

10:00 AM
07-0775 Sale of Property - NWS Pulaski Highway NEC of Moravia Park Drive (Block 6202, Sheets 3 and 4, Portion of Lot 2/22)
07-0838 Sale of Property - A Descriptive Property Located at Block 1265A Lot 007
 
10:30 AM
07-0591 Retirement Systems - Precluded Investments - Republic of Sudan
 
11:00 AM
07-0317R Informational Hearing - Retirement Benefit Enhancement
 
11:30 AM
07-0757 Retirement Systems - Defining Job Removal
 
12:00 PM
07-0830 Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System - Purchase of Prior HABC Police Service Credit

Hearing: Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee, James Kraft - Chair
2:00 PM Du Burns Council Chamber, 4th floor, City Hall
07-0576 Unsafe Vacant Structures - Posting Against Trespass
07-0739 Baltimore City Hispanic Commission
07-0754 City Property - Naming the Playground on Grove Road to be the Arthur F. Fedeli, Jr. Playground
07-0763 City Property - Naming Squad 40 Truck 12 BC 5 RA44 Fire Station, located at 3906 Liberty Heights Avenue, the Marion C. Bascom Fire Station
07-0755 Signs on or Affecting Public Property - Enforcement by Housing and Community Development

Hearing: Budget and Appropriations Committee, Jack Young - Chair
4:00 PM Du Burns Council Chamber, 4th floor, City Hall
07-0836 Supplementary General Fund Capital Appropriation - Department of Housing and Community Development - $3,000,000

November 1-9

CollegeBound Foundation's Fall High School College Fairs
Held at various city schools, 410-783-2905.

Friday, November 2

Fridays After Five: National Aquarium in Baltimore
501 E. Pratt St. 5pm-8pm. Discounted admission to the aquarium.

Saturday, November 3

Station North Artists Flea Market
1800 block North Charles Street 9am-2pm

Women’s Health Symposium
Coppin State University, 2500 W. North Ave. 7:30 am- 5:00 pm
Includes free health screenings, a master fitness class, cooking demos and more. Register at
www.ahealthybet.com

Baltimore Ravens Autumn Harvest
M&T Bank Stadium, Lot H, Light Rail side of stadium
Meet players and cheerleaders and receive 2 free bags of groceries while they last.

Community Greening Project: Parks and People Foundation
Volunteers will plant 300 trees at the Jenkins Senior Living Community and the surrounding Violetville community. 410-448-5663 www.parksandpeople.org

Hampstead Hill Academy Clean-Up
500 S. Linwood St., 443-827-0751 or email sueuniques@aol.com

"Rehabbing a Home in Baltimore" Panel Discussion
Pratt Library Light Street branch, 1251 Light St., 10 am 410-396-1096
www.prattlibrary.org/locations/lightstreet

Sunday, November 4

BMA Free Family Sundays
Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, 2pm www.artbma.org

Wednesday, November 7

Fall Career Fair
Strayer University White Marsh Campus, 9409 Philadelphia Rd., 2:30pm-5:30pm 443-472-2768.

GROW Workshops to Help Strengthen Your Community's Volunteer Base
Carrie Murray Nature Center, 1901 Ridgetop Rd., 5:30pm, 410-396-7900