In Baltimore the wrecks stretch for blocks in every direction. Shattered windows, buckling walls, sometimes just a façade, propped up by the houses on either side.
The vacant streets are punctuated by the odd meticulously-kept home; a living city slowly turning into a ghost town.
Baltimore has tried to deal with the tens of thousands of abandoned houses that mar the city. They’ve been refurbished. They’ve been raffled for $1. They’ve been demolished. But the number of vacant houses keeps growing.
There were radical efforts to seize abandoned homes and sell off city-owned property. In the nineties, $100 million was poured into some of the most troubled areas. Now the city is trying another approach: jump-starting the housing markets in healthier neighborhoods.
As Baltimore faces a $52 million budget shortfall, there is a more urgent need than ever to deal with the vacant homes, which still require public services like fire and police patrol.
47,000 vacant properties.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
The whole city of Baltimore is not worth saving.
ReplyDeleteA lot of DC developers/builders have been buying up entire blocks of old rowhouses. We get them for about 1-2K a piece, but only willing to buy entire blocks. Plan is to turn 2-to-1, and eventually gentrify. I know guys who've got deep pockets, and we've been talking about this(and doing it) for the past 5 years. It'll come.
ReplyDeleteabout time someone decided
ReplyDelete