Smile Bright Baltimore!

And you thought this blog would only be about physical redevelopment. This post is more about oral redevelopment. How can Baltimore continue to make a comeback if its residents aren't in good health? In Baltimore's poorer neighborhoods there is little or no access to dental care. Watching the news when a witness or a neighbor is interviewed I can't help but notice that their teeth are in dire condition, sometimes all gone. This goes for younger children too, when they reach adulthood they are sure to experience the same dental problems as their elders. Now the easy solution is for these families to just go out buy a toothbrush, toothpaste mouthwash, and floss. And then they can call a dentist, orthodontist and a periodontist make appointments, present their insurance card and write a check for their co payment right? Wrong
Many Baltimoreans have little or no dental insurance. Even if they're covered by the city, state, or feds it takes forever to clear through the red tape and the care is lack luster. What I'm proposing is an expanded federally funded system that covers all Baltimore residents without dental insurance. It would cover all the facets of oral health; bi annual teeth cleaning, x rays, crowns, fillings, root canals, dental implants, and braces. Now why such a focus on dental health? and why Baltimore? More and more medical journals site evidence that poor dental health leads to much more serious health problems in the long term. As for Baltimore this can be a pilot program for other major cities with a large population that doesn't have dental insurance. I'd call the program Smile Bright! In addition to Smile Bright there would be a huge increase in free toothbrushes and toothpaste paid for by the feds.
With Baltimoreans in good oral health they can truly smile bright.

Industry: Who Wants That in Their Backyard?

Baltimore may as well have been in the Midwest. Its story mimics the stories of "rust belt cities" like those found in Ohio or Missouri. Their citizens were employed in industry of all kinds. Industry of today is very different today than it was at its peek. Today industry is almost completely confined to industrial parks with sprawling parking lots that go on for acres. During the industrial revolution industry was side by side with row homes sometimes in row homes themselves. Back then industry was truly in people's backyards and some even wanted it there.
Almost all old Baltimore neighborhoods have an industrial past some more than others. Here's a brief list of neighborhoods, the industry they housed and the workers of said industry they also housed. The centrally located Camden station workers lived in Poppleton, Ridgelys Delight, Hollins Market, and Pigtown. Pigtown was also home to slaughter houses, that's what it was named after. East Baltimore and the Westside of Downtown both housed clothing workers the former mostly in cramped row homes and the ladder in more traditional factories.
Canton,just as its name suggests was home to canneries like the American Can Company. Fells Point housed shipyard workers who built ships that shipped all the goods and crafts built in the city and eventually joined Canton in the canning industry. Hampden and Woodberry grew side by side as mill villages producing everything from textiles, flour, and tobacco. Westport grew with the Iron Works factory and the Lowry Glass factory.
Breweries were ever present in all of East Baltimore, not just Brewers's Hill. Brooklyn/Curtis played host to an oyster canning factory, the South Baltimore Wheel company, and the Davison Chemical Company. No discussion of Baltimore industry would be complete without Bethlehem Steel. Although located in suburban Sparrows Point the majority of its workers lived in the city mainly in Highlandtown, Bayview, and Greektown. I'd like to point out that the location of Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point was kind of a precursor to the decentralization of jobs and the flight to the suburbs. If workers in industry were lucky they were card carrying union members. Unions negotiated wages, benefits and working conditions. Union dues were taken out of workers' pay checks a fee that was well worth it.
With factories and neighborhoods side by side the living conditions in these neighborhoods weren't the greatest. Smog, pollution, tight living quarters, disease, poor sanitation were the order of the day in these industrial neighborhoods.
It's easy to see why those who could afford it moved out. If you look closer into the history books, the flight to the suburbs didn't start after World War II. It started in the 1800s. Reservoir Hill, Bolton Hill, Upton, Union Square, Franklin Square, Harlem Park could all have been considered suburbs. The upper class moved to these "gentleman communities" either as summer homes or year round for plush public squares, their beautiful stately architecture, and most of all cleaner living spaces. They didn't want industry in their backyards. The old industrial neighborhoods remained well populated as immigrants came through Locust Point and migrants from the south came looking for work repopulated the city's core. It wasn't until after World War II that the "mass exodus" of the inner city occurred, this time it wasn't because of cramped quarters and pollution, it was because of the relative affordability of the automobile and racial change.
Those left in the city's industrial core were the poor and working class. It was at this time that industry in Baltimore began to dwindle. Technology began to replace jobs that people worked and outsourcing relocated jobs to third world countries shrinking Baltimore's industrial workforce by 75%. What little industry is left has been moved from residential neighborhoods to industrial parks mostly in the far eastern part of the city. This left the City's core with an excess of abandoned industrial land and the question was and still is what to do with it? The answer was and is gentrification. The new development along the Inner Harbor and surrounding neighborhoods has been on former industrial land.
The story of old industrial Baltimore makes it perfectly clear that no one wants industry in their backyard.

State Center Redevelopment: Why Isn't This Front and Center Stage?

Did you know that since early 2005 that there has been a massive proposal to redevelop and revitalize a sizable chunk of Baltimore's Midtown? Yup that's right and it's not Station North or Charles Center either. It's the sprawling State Center Office complex and McCulloh Homes public housing centered around the intersection of Howard Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with Eutaw Street running through it. Now an alert Baltimore Scholar like myself need not look far to find such a big, important exciting story like this right? Wrong I googled some Baltimore neighborhood whose name escapes me at the moment and some where way down the line was the link to a site called "sky scraper city.com", which is essentially a message board about large cities and in Baltimore's thread was a link to a draft master plan to redevelop the State Center site into high density, mixed use, transit oriented development. I was floored! I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of this before! No newspaper articles, no TV news reports, no nothing. I was and still am wondering Why this isn't front and center stage?I have found zero history on the site that the State Center, its sprawling parking lot and McCulloh Homes sit on but I can make an educated guess. The buildings came to fruition some time in the 1950s or 1960s as the personal automobile dominated transportation, the flight to the suburbs, and the interstate building frenzy began. The State Center is located in between Bolton Hill, Seton Hill, Upton, and Mount Vernon, four neighborhoods with beautiful stately row homes but they may as well be a million miles away. Bolton Hill and Mount Vernon have been able to whether the storm of urban decay that the last half of the 20th century brought. Seton Hill is benefiting from the revitalization of Downtown's Westside. Upton has not been so lucky however. Once the city's premier center for African American history and culture the neighborhood's story mimics that of many urban slums. As white citizens moved to the suburbs the homes they abandoned in neighborhoods like Edmondson Village and Park Heights were bought by more well to do African Americans leaving neighborhoods like Upton to rot thanks in no small part to the drug trade, Murphy Homes, and I-170. Today's Upton is a hopeful one, Murphy Homes have come down being replaced by Heritage Crossing and the city has come up with a master plan to revitalize Upton. They didn't even factor in the State Center Redevelopment when the master plan was created! The State Center redevelopment plan does not discuss the revitalization of Pennsylvania Avenue, Upton's entertainment and shopping district. State Center will have positive effects on this ailing thoroughfare.
Back to the State Center redevelopment. What the proposal is is for a mixed use, mixed income, high density residential, commercial, cultural, and recreational development on the grounds of the State Center and McCulloh Homes. This location was chosen because it would be transit oriented development. It is close to both the existing blue and green lines of the rail system and the proposed red line. The new development is slated to be called the "Eutaw District" since Eutaw Place runs through the development it is only logical to give it this name. In addition to aiding the afore mentioned neighborhoods it will aide in further reinvestment in Downtown's Westside. Currently the southern portion of the Westside has been the focus of the renewal effort and the northern end has remained rather quiet. With the new Eutaw District the northern portion of Downtown's Westside will surely get more attention. I have even bigger hopes for the neighborhoods surrounding the Euataw District. I would like the renewal to go all the way to Druid Heights and cross North Avenue into Reservoir Hill and Penn North. That's a long shot but seeing how the Inner Harbor gentrification has gone above Patterson Park it's not impossible.

As for the original question I posed of why the State Center redevelopment isn't front and center stage goes, after doing some more digging I've found plenty stuff as far as articles go. I think I was too air headed to take notice of it. It still hasn't gotten the news coverage I think it deserves and why that is is anybody's guess.

The 2 Different Worlds of Wabash Avenue

Wabash Avenue is a six lane parkway that runs in Northwest Baltimore. It cuts through the neighborhoods of Forest Park and Park Heights. It's a significant boundary because one side it has the suburban style rehabbed single family homes with manicured lawns that grace the forest park neighborhood. On the other side it contains vacant, boarded up, and dilapidated row homes and single family homes of Park Heights.
First let me give you a brief history of Wabash Avenue. Wabash Avenue was part of a bigger plan to extend I-795 inside I-695. It would have gone through Sudbrook Park running roughly parallel to the metro subway tracks and ending where Wabash Avenue meets Patterson Avenue. This was later scrapped leaving Wabash Avenue in its present form, a six lane parkway that cuts through Northwest Baltimore.
Wabash Avenue, like many city streets built in the interstate era is suburban in nature. Big reasons for the flight to the suburbs was decentralization of jobs, the ever growing dependence on personal cars, and the demand for new lower density housing. Meanwhile back in the big cities. traffic was growing ever more congested as the interstate building frenzy couldn't keep up with the metropolitan area's growth. The city began creating and/or widening existing thoroughfares as either a part of or in addition to an interstate. Wabash Avenue is a perfect example of these roads that were created to almost mimic suburbia with low density commercial or industrial uses along it. Other examples include Dundalk Avenue, Gwynns Falls Parkway, Hilton Parkway, Patapsco Avenue, Broening Highway, Edison Highway, Perring Parkway, and Morovia Road.One thing Wabash Avenue has in its favor is that it has the metro subway running parallel to it. This automatically makes it eligible for transit oriented development. The now industrial and retail corridor can almost instantly be transformed into mixed use high density residential and office with ground floor retail. In case you haven't figured it out from the trends of my previous post the now elevated metro subway will be berried under ground to free up more land. The road itself will be extended from Hilton Street to meet its stub that was meant to connect it to Liberty Heights Avenue. Wabash Avenue will be paved in asphalt rather than concrete and narrowed to four lanes allowing room for on street parking. Streetscape enhancements include new street lights, planted medians, brick cross walks, and updated traffic signals giving Wabash Avenue the title of "Grand Urban Boulevard." Wabash Avenue doesn't wait for transit to proceed with transit oriented development, the transit is already there!
This new wave of transit oriented development aide the two worlds on either side of it. The neighborhoods of Forest Park will continue to be haven for those looking to live in the city without the crime and urban decay associated with it. Park Heights will peak the interest of rehabbers and developers alike. Finally, the two different worlds of Wabash Avenue will become one.

Who Gets All These Newly Created Jobs?

Every time I turn around I hear about new jobs coming to Baltimore City. I think this is great, everybody needs money and jobs is how most people make money so therefore everybody needs a job. During the flock to the suburbs, many jobs were either decentralized or lost completely due to out sourcing and the invention of machines that do jobs once done by humans. This inevitably led to population loss and a rise in unemployment. New jobs would supposedly counter act this trend by giving jobs to these city residents who lost their jobs due to these outside forces. It seems like an easy fix right? Wrong The jobs that Baltimore and many other "rust belt cities" lost were low level, low wage industrial jobs. The new jobs that are being created aren't. They're higher skilled higher jobs with a higher level of training required. So the city does benefit by receiving new jobs and possibly new residents but the unemployment rate remains the same. The jobs that are needed in addition to the what is already being done is low level, low skill jobs. A large chunk of the city's population has no high school degree so their employment opportunities are limited. As I mentioned before that many of those jobs have now disappeared due to outside forces.

To Answer the Question I posed about who get these newly created jobs is the rich people with college degree. I will further discuss solutions to this in another post.

City Schools: A Gradual Building Replacement Plan

This is my largest post to date so bear with me. Pictures Coming as I obtain them

When it comes to the comeback and marketability of Baltimore City there are two gigantic elephants in the middle of the room. One is the violent crime problem and the other is the failing public school system. Not only is student performance awful but the condition of the school buildings themselves and the structure of the school system and city government is a mess as. The mayor has as little to do with student performance as possible, now this is no accident, it is setup this way so someone running for mayor can't point their finger at the incumbent. In Howard County where I come from, the County Executive could not get away with this. Also the school board can't keep its books straight and is facing a budget deficit.

Now this post isn't about really about student performance, the mayor's connection to the schools, or the school board cooking the books, it's about school construction. I'm sure you're wondering why build new schools when there are 85,000 students and the schools have space for 125,000 students? It's no secret that the city has got to close down many schools or they will lose state money because they run so inefficiently. Close to every school building in the city is in extreme disrepair and the maintance costs are staggering. What I'm proposing is closing two three or even four schools and placing the population of the schools in one brand new building.
Here's a break down of how it will be done by neighborhoods. I'm using the elementary/middle method as the city appears to be getting rid of traditional middle schools.

Here's a breakdown of how the city can build new schools of varying sizes while closing down old dalapidated schools at the same time.

Mount Royal/Bolton Hill Area
Close Booker T. Washington Middle
Combine Mount Royal Elementary/Middle and Midtown Academy and Eutaw Marshburn ElementaryMiddle school students in all elementary districts would go to new school
House them in Booker T. Washington Middle BuildingName new school Bolton Hill Elementary/Middle

Federal Hill/South Baltimore
Rebuild Thomas Johnson ElementaryClose Federal Hill and Sharp Ladenhall Elementaries and put them in new Thomas Johnson Elementary
Name new School South Baltimore Elementary/Middle (some students would attend francis scott key middle)

Highlandtown
Build new Highlandtown Elementary/Middle School would be a combinaton of both highlandtown elementaries and the middle school students in the district(Southeast and Canton middles would be closed)

Pigtown/Union Square
Combine George Washington, Stuart Hill,and Charles Carroll Barrister Elementaries
Build Washington Village Elementary/Middle Close Diggs Johnson Middle

Allendale/Edmondson Village/Rognel Heights
Combine Mary E. Rodman, Lyndhurst, and Rognel Heights
Build Edmondson Village Elementary/Middle
Close West Baltimore Middle

Walbrook/Fairmont/Mount Holly
Combine Edgewood,Alexander Hamilton,Belmont, and Rosemont Elementaries
Build Walbrook Elementary/Middle
Close Lemmel Middle

Harlem Park
Combine Harriett Tubman and Harlem Park Elementaries
Build Harlem Park Elementary/Middle combination of all three schools
Close Harlem Park Middle

Coldstream Homestead Montebello
Combine and close Montebello,Abottston,Coldstream Park Elementaries
Build Coldstream,Homestead,Montebello Elementary/Middle
Close Hamilton Middle

Brooklyn Curtis Bay
Close and combine Bay Brook, Maree G. Farring, and Curtis Bay Elementaires
Build Brooklyn Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle
Close Benjamin Franklin Middle

Park Circle
Close and combine Edgecombe Circle Elementary,Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary,and Kipp Ujima
Build Park Circle Elementary/Middle
Close Pimlico Middle

Park Heights
Close and combine Pimlico,Arlington, and Langston Hughes Elementaries
Build Park Heights Elementary/Middle (I'm aware there used to be a park heights elementary)Close Pimlico Middle

Southeastern Neighborhoods
Close and combine John Rurah, Holabird,Graceland Park O'Donnell Heights
Build Southeast Elementary/Middle
Close Southeast Middle

Upton
Close and combine Samuel Coolidge Taylor,Furman L. Templeton,William S. Pinderhuges Elementary
Build Upton Elementary/Middle
Close Booker T. Washington Middle

Sandtown Winchester/Druid Heights
Close George G. Kelson Elementary Redistrict to New Song Academy

Franklin Square/Poppleton
Close and combine Franklin Square, James McHenry,Lockerman bundy,and Bentalou Elementaries
Build Poppleton Elementary/Middle
Close Diggs Johnson Middle

Barclay/Charles North
Close and combine Barclay,Dallas F. Nicholas, and Harford Heights Elementaries
Build Charles North Elementary/Middle
Close Robert Poole Middle

Charles Village
Close and combine Margaret Brent,Waverly and Guilford Elementaires
Build Charles Village Elementary/Middle
Close Robert Poole Middle

Howard Park
Close and combine Ashburton,Grove Park,and Callaway Elementaries
Build Howard Park Elementary/Middle
Close Garrison Middle

Mondowmin
Close and combine Gwynns Falls,Windsor Hills,and Hilton Elementary
Build Mondowmin Elementary/Middle
Close Lemmel and Garrison Middles

Penn North/Reservoir Hill
Close and combine Westside, William S. Baer,and James Eager Howard
Build Reservoir Hill Elementary/Middle
Close Lemmel and Booker T. Washington Middles

Hampden and Medfield Heights Elementaries will now take grades 6-8

Northwood/Pen Lucy
Close and combine Lois T. Murray, Walter P. Carter, and both Northwood Elementaries
Build New Northwood Elementary/Middle
Close Winston and Chinquapin Middles

Govans/Loch Raven
Close and combine Goavns,Yorkwood,and Leith Walk Elementaries
Build Loch Govans Elementary/Middle
Close Winston and Chinquapin Middles


Hunting Ridge/Irvington
Close and combine Thomas Jefferson, Beechfield, and North Bend
Build Hunting Ridge Elementary/Middle
Close West Baltimore
Washington Hill/Butchers Hill
Close City Springs and General Wolfe Elementaries
Redistrict to Inner East Harbor Academy
Close Lombard Middle

Lauraville/Hamilton
Close and combine Garett Heights,Hamilton,and Cecil Elementaries
Build Laura Hamilton Elementary/Middle
Close Hamilton Middle

Forest Park
Close and combine Liberty, Calvin M. Rodwell, and Dickey Hill Elementaries
Build Forest Park Elementary/Middle
Close Garrison Middle

Cherry Hill
Close and combine Dr. Carter Woodson,Patapsco, and Cherry Hill Elementary/Middles
Build Waterview Elementary/Middle

Westport Area
Close and combine Westport,Lakeland, and Arundel Elementary/Middles
Build Inner Harbor West Elementary/Middle

Harford Road Area
Close and combine Glenmount, Woodhome, and Hazelwood Elementaries
Build Harford-Waltherson Elementary/Middle
Close Northeast Middle

Belair Edison
Close and combine Brehms Lane,Sinclair Lane,and Morovia Park Elementaries
Build Belair Edison Elementary/Middle
Close Northeast and Thurgood Marshall Middles

Mosher/Bridgeview Greenlawn Area
Close and combine James Mosher,Lafayette Street,Matthew A. Henson,and Robert W. Coleman Elementaries
Build Lafayette Square Elementary/Middle

Dunbar Broadway/Middle East
Close and combine Commodore John Rogers,Dr. Bernard Harris Sr,and Thomas G. Hayes Elementaries
Build Dunbar Broadway Elementary/Middle
Close Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle

Oldtown Area
Close and combine Dr. Rayner Browne,Collington Square,and Fort Worthington Elementaries
Build Oldtown Elementary/Middle

Upper Patterson Park Area
Close and combine Lakewood, William Paca, and Tench Tilghman Elementaries
Build Library Sqaure Elementary/Middle

*Update I'd like to add that when new schools are built that their athletic facilitis be put on the roof of the school building much like the Park Heights JCC and the proposed rebuilding of William Paca Elementary to free up more land for developement.

A Different Side of West Baltimore

West Baltimore has gotten lots of bad press over the years so it's easy for one to forget about the many great neighborhoods West Baltimore has to offer. It's easy for one to get wrapped up in what goes on in Midtown Edmondson, Rosemont, Coppin Heights, Edmondosn Village, Poppleton, Harlem Park, Franklin Square, and South Hilton. One forgets about Hunting Ridge, Ten Hills, Westgate, West Hills, Irvington, and Beechfield.These neighborhoods are clean, safe, and relatively affordable when looking at the whole metropolitan area. So why aren't these neighborhoods a hot commodity? When one hears the words West and Baltimore put together they head for the hills.
These neighborhoods were built around the same time as the Edmondson Village area with the widening of the Gwynns Falls bridge on Edmondson Avenue in the 1910s. These neighborhoods grew up side by side originating from the selling off of estates.The Neighborhoods that grew from the selling of estates consist of mostly single family homes with row homes sprinkled through out. For the most part, urban decay has stopped before reaching the doorstep of this community. Today the neighborhood serves a diverse array of residents both economically and culturally. Hopefully this different side of West Baltimore will become the backbone of West Baltimore and become a catalyst for additional investment and development.

Southeastern Neighborhoods: Stranded By Industry

Southeast Baltimore consists of Hopkins Bayview, Greektown, O'Donnell Heights, St. Helena, and others. These neighborhoods could have fared much worse than they have. Just as the title suggests they are stranded by industry. The sprawling industrial campuses of Canton and Pulaski parks invade the neighborhood as well as a section of the Dundalk Marine Terminal. This can also can be said about I-95 and I-895 both of which run through the area. Major thoroughfares include Eastern Avenue, Dundalk Avenue and O'Donnell Street.

These neighborhoods housed working class and middle class residents from the factories and Dundalk Marine Terminal. In the decades following World War II the industrial sector suffered a major blow across the country. The decentralization of jobs, computers, replacing workers, out sourcing of jobs have all had devastating effects on workers and their families. Pair this up with the interstate act ripping up city neighborhoods, Southeast Baltimore was sure to take a big nose dive. Sure there was decline but nothing like what it could have been.

Today the neighborhoods of Southeast Baltimore, like many are at a crossroads. How to revitalize. As city living becomes popular again, how can Southeast Baltimore get a piece? Well to answer that question one must look at Baltimore's biggest success stories; the Inner Harbor. The Southeastern neighborhoods today look a lot like the neighborhoods surrounding the harbor did before its renaissance. Both were small row house neighborhoods side by side with industry. As the Inner Harbor became a tourist attraction the neighborhoods were gentrified and the housing stock rehabbed and industry was redeveloped into glitzy new upscale apartments, condos, town homes, trendy shops, offices, restaurants and bars. Not that the Southeastern neighborhoods will mirror this but it's a good start. There is lots of out dated industrial land that could be better used as residential, retail, or commercial.Two industrial parks include canton and Pulaski throughout the neighborhoods that literally dip in and out of residential areas. I'm not saying we should abandon the parks completely, I'm saying that they can be scaled back from residential uses. The Canton Industrial Park should only remain south of O'Donnell street what remains of the park should be redeveloped into mixed use. The Pulaski Industrial Park, should only remain north of Lombard street, what remains south of Lombard street should also be developed into mixed use. I'm also proposing as I have in another post, the redevelopment of O'Donnell Heights. There's another thing these neighborhoods have against them and it's I-895. As I've mentioned in my interstate post I think that I-895 should stop at its first intersection with I-95. This will connect the neighborhood to the already thriving neighborhoods to its west.

The Southeastern neighborhoods may be stranded by industry for now but I'm throwing them a life raft.

Just a little updat O'Donnell Heights is being torn down and redeveloped. Also Athena Square, a new town home development is being built in Greektown.

Good Job!

There have been several instances where either the city or the developer has just plain gotten it right. I'd like to take this opportunity to give them my personal hats off.

Photo From Developer Website

Gateway South-Carroll Camden Industrial Park has long been an eyesore for motorists o I-95 and or 295 alike, and much of the land is vacant and under utilized. Ray Lewis is planning to build an educational center on the property. Other uses include a new Grey Hound bus terminal and upscale office and retail space.

Photo From Google Earth

Library Square-Revitalization first was strictly south of Patterson Park in Canton. Then it crept on the eastern and western side of the park in Highlandtown and Upper Fels Point respectively. Now revitalization has made it to the northern border of the park. The area still is in pretty rough shape but development interest is at an all time high. Patterson Park Community has come up with a master plan to filter development and improve infrastructure on the public sector.

State Center-Location location location, I'm going to dedicate a whole post to this

Johns Hopkins Biotech Park-In East Baltimore's worst cluster of neighborhoods there will finally be signs of life in the coming years. Not only will there a biotech park that will bring jobs to the city but the plan calls for 1200-1500 new and/or rehabbed housing units and a new school. This shows a long term vested interest in the community that is sure to pay off.

Uplands-The awards the development plan has received speak for themselves.

Albemarle Square-Jonestown was in the right place at the right time to benefit from Inner Harbor East, Fels Point, and Canton. Little Italy won't have to wall itself off from this!

Westport,Cherry Hill, Brooklyn-What? Yes I'm using these troubled neighborhoods as an example of planning success stories. All three have development projects in various stages of the "pipeline" to transform their waterfronts from abandoned industrial land to glitzy upscale apartments, town homes, retail, office, and hotel. Once the new waterfront development is completed though the real challenge will be transforming the existing neighborhoods from their current state but private will prevail.

New Song Academy-What better way to show case long term commitment and investment in Sandtown Winchester by building a new school for minds young and old alike.

Can the West Really Have Zest?

The Westside of Downtown Baltimore has largely missed out on the revitalization that has gone in the Inner Harbor, Charles Center, Canton, Fells Point, Mount Vernon, Federal Hill, and Locust Point. Until now, Billions of dollars mostly on the private sector are being invested in the westside on both rebuilding and reusing existing buildings. It's been called the biggest redevelopment undertaking since the inner harbor giving it a the new slogan "The West Has Zest" and I'm posing the question Does it Really?
First let me give you a breif history of Downtown's Westside. The Westside was always known as Baltimore's retail and shopping district. Lexington and Howard streets played host to Baltimore based department stores like Stewarts, Hutzlers, Hoschild Kohn, and Hechts. The afore mentioned department stores were each located at a corner of Lexington and Howard streets. while O'Neils was located at Charles and Lexington streets and Brager-Gutmans was located at Lexington and Park. Five and Dimes were as follows Kresge's across from Brager-Gutmans at Lexington and Park, also along Lexington street was a Woolworths and a Mcrorys.

All of these precursors to big box development thrived until the 1950s when the flock to the suburbs began. The world famous Lexington Market, the 225 year old public market also calls the westside home. There was also the Hippodrome Theatre and Lyric Opera House on the westside.The flock to the suburbs brought change to the shopping habbits of baltimoreans. The flock to the suburbs and the ever greater dependence on the auto mobile allowed the big department stores to open new branches in areas like Woodlawn, Catonsville, Towson, Rosedale, and Edmondson Village. By the 1960s racial change brought sit ins protests and riots to the department stores and racial integration at the downtown stores caused sales to drop as wealthier white shoppers went to the more convenient suburban branches. The1970s and 80s sale closure after closure of departments stores on the westside, by 1990 the scars of urban decline and decay had made their mark with the closure of the Hippodrome Theatre and all department stores and five and dimes. Even Lexington Market was in bad shape.

In 1999 mayor Kurt Schmoke had developed the "Westside Master Plan" a bold new plan to revitalize the troubled district. The Inner Harbor had become a tourist destination and its neighborhoods to the south and east had become some of Baltimore's most sought after addresses. The Westside however was still in decay in fact, the Inner Harbor and its glitzy rehabbed neighborhoods had probably taken away from the westside rather than helping it.

The Westside Master Plan had called for massive demolition of block after block of vacant building. One that the westside has always had going for it was the architecture and design of its buildings. Department store heads and shop keepers alike spared no expense when it came to the facade of their buildings. In short, the demolition of all these buildings would be a big mistake thus the Westside Master Plan was scrapped in favor of something that saves and reuses more of the existing buildings. Don't get me wrong there was and is still plenty of demolition in the cards for the westside but a lot less than was originally planned.

One thing the Westside Master Plan did do was spur interest on the private sector. Oriole Park at Camden Yards is part of the westside but it didn't spur a lot of additional investment on its 1992 opening. The reopening of the Hippodrome Theatre is arguably the biggest catalyst for reinvestment in the westside. Today the westside is right in the middle of its transformation, completed projects include; Social Security Building, University of Maryland, Enoch Pratt Central Branch, and Library for the Blind. Projects currently under construction include Centerpoint, BGE Building, Chalres Plaza, and UMB Housing. Future projects include Superblock, West Lexington Market, and two Convention Center Hotels.

The Westside has seen a increase in residential, office in cultural development. None of these alone can bring a critical mass of people like it did back in its hey day as a shopping district. Some ways to bring this back would be for it to offer things that the Inner Harbor and they city as a whole doesn't offer. This could include a department store, a multi screen movie, and more trendy upsacle boutiques. This would not resemble suburban big box development. It would fit the existing urban grids and be the ground floor or floors of a residential and/or office tower. Another problem is vechicular acess, there are sections of both Lexington and Howard streets that don't cars, both of these areas should be reopened to vehicular traffic. Also the Howard Street light rail needs to be relocated under ground as I've said before and I'll say again. Once the Westisde has the large groups of shoppers and tourists that the harbor does we can truly say that the west has zest.