Sandtown Winchester: A Tale of Two Cities

Since the mid 1990s, Sandtown Winchester or "Sandtown" for short has been something of a "Tale of two Cities" on the one hand, there are the new and rehabbed homes brought to us by the Enterprise Foundation located mostly in the Neighborhood's eastern edges. However, there's the rest of the Neighborhood that includes Gilmor Homes and distressed homes between Gilmor Homes and Monroe St. the Neighborhoods western border. As I continue my ongoing series on Old West Baltimore, I'm going to attempt to unify Sandtown and make the whole Neighborhood as sought after as the section that's been redeveloped by the Enterprise Foundation. 

Like all of Old West Baltimore, the latter half of the 20th Century was not kind to Sandtown. As "second hand Suburbs" such as Edmondson Village and Park Heights became available to Black Residents via blockbusting, the overcrowded Sandtown emptied as Residents who could afford it relocated. This left Sandtown in shambles as close to half of its housing stock became condemned and boarded up with no end in sight. Residents left behind in Sandtown lived in extreme poverty with a deteriorating housing stock and a City that was too broke to provide them the essential services they needed.

Enter Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, given the success he saw with redeveloping Charles Center and the Inner Harbor (pictured above), he thought why not Sandtown? This marked the first time, that serious reinvestment money was being devoted to an Inner City Neighborhood not located by the Harbor. Given the City's financial woes, Mayor Schmoke needed some series financial backing from the private sector. This is where the Enterprise Foundation comes in. After Jim Rouse retired from the Rouse Company (his name should sound familiar from his involvement in Charles Center and Harbor Place) he formed the Enterprise Foundation, a charity that provides affordable housing to Residents and Communities in need. Obviously, Sandtown qualified for this. 

The result was a joint venture between the Enterprise Foundation and Nehemiah Homes. Nehemiah Homes agreed to demolish 210 dilapidated homes in Sandtown and rebuild with brand new affordable homes for purchase where the demolished homes once stood. Ryland Homes acted as the builder and in order to speed up the progress they opted to use modular homes. Despite Sandtown's reputation for crime and drugs, these homes sold faster than they could be built. Why? Because there wasn't anywhere else where somebody whose income was $11,000 could buy a house. Now just any house, a brand new town house with three bedrooms, two baths, full Kitchen, and central air. In short, they were selling dream homes and in this case the three rules of home buying; location location location appeared not to apply. 

It's been about 20 years since the first Home Owners moved into their homes and one question the Schmoke Administration wondered was;  Could this project and ones like it produce long term positive results? Well given the appearance and general mood in the redeveloped area of Sandtown I'm going to say yes. These new homes are immaculate, with manicured lawns, white picket fences, window treatments, shudders, planted trees, and not a single new home is boarded up. The pride of home ownership is a wonderful thing and it appears that the Owners of these new homes have discovered this. 

Now don't get me wrong, I don't like everything single nuance about the homes in Sandtown. I believe that all involved parties had hoped that their success would spread like wild fire into existing parts of Old West Baltimore like it did in the Harbor. Obviously this has not happened and the only real additional success stories in Old West Baltimore come from other large redevelopment projects.  I also find these new homes to be very plain and lacking of character. This is no real surprise considering they were modular homes sold to moderate income buyers.

Now like I said at the beginning of this post and in the title, Sandtown is a tale of two Cities. Roughly two thirds of the housing stock is old, dilapidated, vacant, and crime infested. I also said that new housing hasn't spurred much reinvestment in the Community at large and I think I know why. I think there's a lot more new housing in Baltimore City today than there was in the 1990s that isn't near a large segregated public housing development (Gilmor Homes) Albemarle Square, Broadway Overlook, and the Hopkins Biotech Park provide affordable housing alternatives that are perceived to be much safer than anything in old Sandtown. I think you know where this is going. It's time that Gilmor Homes be redeveloped. 

One thing I have always championed in this blog was for the discontinuation of large concentrated islands of Public Housing. Instead I would like to give assistance to Residents currently in Public Housing who are upwardly mobile (in School or Entry Level Jobs) become home owners. Gilmor Homes has been the site of multiple shootings throughout the years and a very violent drug gang that with dozens of members that terrorized Gilmor Homes. These dealers have since been arrested so I think now is the best time to redevelop Gilmor Homes as new Town Homes with a mix of incomes that offer the opportunity of Home Ownership for moderate income Residents who wouldn't have had the opportunity otherwise. There will still be a public housing building but that will be for Seniors only. It will include a mix of independent and assisted living options.

Like I said earlier, I think the current new housing in Sandtown is very plain and bland. When redeveloping Gilmor Homes, I think the new town homes in its place should have a lot more character. I believe new homes throughout Broadway Overlook, Albemarle Square (pictured above), and Greektown's Athena Square be used as models for more attractive new housing in Sandtown.

Now we come to the housing at the western edge of Sandtown. There are a lot of boarded vacants here as well as homes that have been demolished with nothing but overgrown vacant lots in their place. I don't want Sandtown to be nothing but new housing so I want all of these vacants to be rehabbed and sold. Personally, I think that with Gilmor Homes redeveloped the market for a rehabbed or "vacant shell" in Sandtown will increase. I had said that the growth spurred by the Nehemiah Homes of the 1990s hasn't spread like similar tactics had in the Harbor. Well I think the problem was Gilmor Homes and if they're redeveloped and a new thriving development with a high percentage of Owner Occupied Homes, I think ALL of Sandtown will then turn a corner. 

Since the 1990s, Sandtown has been a Tale of Two Cities; It's time that we unify the whole Neighborhood as a mixed income (like the one pictured above) haven that it was in its heyday, it can only hope help the rest of Old West Baltimore by doing so.

Upton: Bottoms Up!

 Continuing with my series on Old West Baltimore, it's time on moved on to Upton. I guess you can say my last post on Pennsylvania Avenue was on Upton but Upton is an entire Neighborhood and Pennsylvania Avenue is just one street. The two go hand and hand; Pennsylvania Avenue can't come back if the Neighborhood of Upton doesn't come back and the Neighborhood of Upton can't come back if Pennsylvania Avenue doesn't. With synergy created from both Heritage Crossing and the proposed State Center redevelopment the reinvestment and redevelopment of Upton should start from the "bottom" and work its way up.

It's not uncommon for Retail and Residential projects to work hand and hand in achieving a common goal. I believe that the homesteading in Otterbein (pictured above) played a key role in the come back of the Inner Harbor. Sure, Harbor Place could have been successful as a Tourist and Retail Destination on its own but in terms of making it a hot spot for Residential Growth, Otterbein was ground zero which created a ripple effect from Federal Hill to Station North to Canton to Pigtown. With Upton, I'd like to think of Pennsylvania Avenue as Harbor Place and Heritage Crossing as Otterbein. Not that I want Upton to turn into an exclusive over-priced yuppie area, but the model used for the Harbor produced one thing that Upton needs and doesn't have; Population Growth.

Just like with any Neighborhood Upton has its own unique set of assets and challenges. So when deciding on how to move forward with a development oriented Master Plan for Upton, one must look at both a come up with a solution that highlights the assets and does its best to eradicate the problem areas. With that in mind, I have created three zones (excluding Pennsylvania Avenue) for Upton. First there's the "Preservation Zone" then there's the "Reinvestment/ Cluster Redevelopment Zone" and finally "The Major Redevelopment Zone.

First lets start with the Preservation Zone. It's quite obvious that the Preservation Zone includes Marble Hill. Marble Hill is the locally recognized Historic Preservation Zone for the northeastern edge of Upton as well as Madison Park. The name Marble Hill comes from the fact that the Grandiose Row House Mansions have marble front steps. In addition these homes have some of Baltimore's most beautiful architecture and it hasn't been spoiled by ill fated 1970s "urban renewal" attempts. Baltimore's Black Elite occupied this area centered along Druid Hill Avenue and McCullough St. in fact the first house purchased in Old West Baltimore was located on McCullough St. in Marble Hill as is Thurgood Marshall's birth house. In addition to Residences, Marble Hill also housed Offices for Black Lawyers, Doctors, and Entrepreneurs. Although Marble Hill's Historic Designation is confined to the northern blocks of Druid Hill Avenue and McCullough St. I'm making the Preservation Zone from Dolphin St. to Laurens St. Despite being the area of Upton with the fewest vacants, Marble Hill does have some boarded up Row Homes. However, the Preservation Zone is just what the name suggests; absolutely no building in this area may be demolished. I think as Bolton Hill's popularity continues to make Madison Park an up & coming area, Marble Hill may not be far behind it.

Next we have the Reinvestment/Cluster Redevelopment Zone. This, like the Preservation Zone will focus on rehabbing existing homes. However, if a row of homes is too far gone to rehab demolition would not be the end of the world. This zone is located between Dwuid Hill Avenue ad Pennsylvania Avenue. The goal here is to minimize relocation of existing Residents. This area has more vacants than Marble Hill but isn't the worst in Upton. Even if every home still standing in the Reinvestment/Cluster Redevelopment Zone is rehabbed and saved, there will be new construction here. There are vacant lots in this area from previous demolitions which will make room for new construction. New construction will look exactly like the existing Row Homes in the area. In fact, some of the new construction might be attached to existing homes to create a truly streamlined look between old and new. 

The last zone of Upton is the worst. So it's only fitting that it be called the Major Redevelopment Zone. Here is where the homes are mostly vacated there has also been lots of demolition already making the area a ghost town. On the flip side this is the greatest opportunity to give Upton a face lift with a huge area of new housing and new housing types. It's also adjacent to Heritage Crossing, a proven success. The redevelopment area will stretch from Pennsylvania Avenue to Fremont Avenue to Harlem Avenue to Mosher St. Town Homes and Apartments will be built like those found in Boradway Overlook, Orchard Ridge and Albemarle Square. These will be majority Home Ownership some of which will offer Home Ownership subsidies. The southern part of the 800 block of Edmondson Avenue will be redeveloped as a low to mid rise Public Housing Senior Building not unlike those recently built in Harlem Park.

There are those who think Old West Baltimore is too far gone to see redevelopment and population growth. I disagree with those people because I feel a synergy that's being created from the State Center Redevelopment and Heritage Crossing that will allow Upton to grow from the bottom up.

Pennsylvania Aveune: We All Want the Same Thing

In its heyday Pennsylvania Avenue was the epicenter of Baltimore's Black Community. Anchored by the Avenue Market, the Royal Theater and the Sphinx Theater as well as countless Jazz Clubs, Restaurants, and Doctors' Offices. The surrounding area known as Old West Baltimore was a true mixed income community with the well to do Residents living in the Marble Hill area while working class Residents living closer to Downtown in what was known as the bottom. Obviously, Pennsylvania Avenue and Old West Baltimore have fallen on hard times during the past several decades but I can say with certainty that everybody wants the same thing for Pennsylvania Avenue; for it to be restored as an ares that is draw for the entire Baltimore area as a cultural haven for the Black Community Past, Present, and Future, for a revitalized Pennsylvania Avenue to act as a catalyst for population growth in Old West Baltimore as a whole, and to eradicate the crime and drugs that have plagued the area for far too long.

The downfall of Pennsylvania Avenue and all of Old West Baltimore for that matter was over crowding. As Baltimore's Black Population grew during the great migration, the amount of land in which they were allowed to live in remained the same. Larger houses were divided into apartments and in areas where public housing high rises would later be built, slum conditions began to appear. As the white flight to the suburbs began, the City Neighborhoods that Whites lived in were emptied and then Blacks, who could afford it moved in. This left only poor Blacks in Old West Baltimore and "urban renewal" efforts such as erecting public housing high rises such as McCulloh Homes and Murphy Homes as a means of slum elimination failed drastically. One by one businesses began leaving Pennsylvania Avenue leaving this once cultural mecca virtually abandoned. The good news is, there are signs of hope popping up throughout Pennsylvania Avenue that may signal a larger scale renewal of the area.

First is Heritage Crossing. Heritage Crossing was built on the site of the demolished Murphy Homes. These new Town Homes are a welcome addition to the Community and have provided a solid home ownership base for the area as a large portion of the homes are Market Rate Home Ownership. 

Next we have Bakers View, a Town Home Community in Druid Heights that's selling like Hot Cakes. These Town Homes have a starting price of $169,000 with some of them being set aside for affordable home ownership. Some of Bakers View has actual Pennsylvania Avenue frontage. Like Heritage Crossing, Bakers View is turning out to be a suburban oasis in the middle of a desert of urban decay.

Photo From City Paper

Next there is the Avenue Bakery. This may seem small but the fact that an independent business was willing to build a new building along Pennsylvania Avenue and plant a seed in the ground the way the Avenue Bakery has is huge. In fact Owner James Hamlin loves to say "It's not just about the Rolls" a big reason Mr. Hamlin has decided to build and open his Bakery that is also a a great spot for Breakfast and Brunch on Pennsylvania Avenue versus another part of town is because he's dedicated to being part of Pennsylvania Avenue's rebirth. If every vacant storefront on Pennsylvania Avenue had an entrepreneur like James Hamlin readying to invest in it, Pennsylvania Avenue would be the most sought after address in the City.

Photo From Biz Journals.com

Next there's the redevelopment of the Sphinx Theater. The site of the Sphinx is set to become a Baltimore land mark once again, this time as a Sports Museum for Black Athletes. Like the Avenue Bakery this is a tremendous commitment to bringing life back to Pennsylvania Avenue from other parts of the area. Museums represent a proud history and that is something that Pennsylvania Avenue has and the more people know it, the better. It would have been great to have the Great Blacks in Wax Museum and the African American History Museum on the Avenue instead of their current locations. Another Museum that should open along the Avenue could be a Museum of Black Music. 

Another great sign that Pennsylvania Avenue is poised for a turn around is that there are murals and monuments all over the place. This proves that Residents, Politicians, and everyone in between know the significance of Pennsylvania Avenue and all the history that goes along with it. There's the Royal Theater Marquis that's been rebuilt, the Billie Holiday Statue, and countless Murals on Buildings. The Murals show that the area has a flourishing Arts Community and these talented Artists should be the cornerstone of Pennsylvania Avenue's rebirth. Another way to bring the Avenue's history to life could be something along the lines of the "Hollywood Walk of Fame."

Now that I've told you the many ways Pennsylvania Avenue is beginning to show signs of life it's time to take it a step further by giving everybody what they all want; An Avenue that's once again the epicenter of the Black Community in Baltimore while at the same time drawing other parts of the City to the Avenue to eat great food, hear great music, and see great exhibits. 

The first thing to do would be to redevelop Upton Courts, at least the part that has Pennsylvania Avenue frontage. This ill fated urban renewal attempt has robbed the Avenue of opportunities to expand Retail uses and takes away from the character that the 1890s architecture provides to other parts of the Avenue. In the place of the portion of Upton Courts with Avenue Frontage will be Apartments and Condos with ground floor Retail/ Entertainment that bare the same Architecture as the original buildings that line the Avenue.          

Next we must rebuild the Royal Theater for a new generation. The Royal was the crown and jewel of Pennsylvania and all of Old West Baltimore and I think in order for the Avenue to come back strong, the Royal has to be there to anchor it. The Royal will be just one of many first run theaters and clubs that will pop along the Avenue in the future to bring back the Community that abandoned it decades earlier. Behind the Royal is what is currently Robert C. Marshall Park. Right now the park is just grass, I'd like to see it turned into a Public Square, like that found in Union Square. This new public square will be renamed "Upton Square  complete with trees, benches, and picnic space. 

New Buildings will be built, but with the exception of Upton Courts, no further buildings with Avenue frontage will be torn down. Pennsylvania Avenue is an historic district whose buildings bring out that history. If everything were new, the magic would be harder to recapture. Now there are some buildings that aren't original but will not be torn down because they serve the Community so well. such as the Upton Boxing Center, Shake & Bake Family Fun Center, and the YWCA.

A huge concern regarding the Avenue is security. There is a lot of crime that plagues the area and that has to change before Businesses and Customers alike begin flocking back in droves. This may not eradicate crime in any way but removing barred glass from windows and doors of Retail establishments will create the illusion of safety. Around the Harbor, Cops ride around on Bikes as well as foot patrols. This same kind of "face to face" Law Enforcement will help to ensure the safety of everybody around the Avenue.

Yes I can say with complete confidence that everybody wants the same thing when it comes to Pennsylvania Avenue; for it to be the epicenter of Baltimore's Black Community just like it was in its heyday and to foster population growth all around Old West Baltimore. Now it's time to get what we want.

Old West Baltimore: A Series of Reinvestment and Growth

Old West Baltimore (Harlem Park, Upton, Sandtown Winchester, Madison Park, and Druid Heights) must be the bygone and left behind area of the City. Yet at the same time, it's one of the most history packed and potential packed areas of the City. Somebody just has to remind everybody how great this area was and how great it could be. Obviously one post can't cover all of Old West Baltimore which is why I'm going to do a series highlighting certain areas and how they can be reinvested in which will bring down the crime rate and bring Population Growth to an area of the City that has been losing Population for close to half a century.

Recently, before I had the idea to do this series I wrote a post on Harlem Park, below is that post and there will be more to come concerning Old West Baltimore. Enjoy!

Harlem Park: Don't Wait for the Red Line

There are some parts of Old West Baltimore that have seen lots of reinvestment and redevelopment on both the public and private sectors. They include Upton's Marble Hill District, Druid Heights, and the eastern edge of Sandtown Winchester, and Heritage Crossing. On the flip side there are areas that have not seen much in the way investment including the western edge of Sandtown Winchester, Upton that isn't the Marble Hill District, and Harlem Park. Although Upton and western Sandtown do require a lot of work I will discuss them in the future, today is all about Harlem Park.

 Harlem Park's biggest problem is population loss. It seems as though if Residents want to live somewhere else they simply move away rather than try to put down roots and improve the Neighborhood. As of the 2010 census Harlem Park is about 45% vacant. When I say that vacancy and population loss is the biggest problem that Harlem Park faces I open a HUGE can of worms as to why the population has dropped so dramatically but how can Harlem Park begin to experience growth if we don't get to the root of the problem?

 There may be a small glimmer of hope for Harlem Park. The redevelopment of the West Baltimore MARC Station shows the southern border of Harlem Park slated for redevelopment as the Red Line construction begins TOD make eventually take Harlem Park by storm but that could take years, personally I think Harlem Park should a draw on its own.

 As I'm sure you're aware, Harlem Park wasn't always in bad shape, in fact it was once one of Baltimore's finest Gentlemen's Communities housing some of Baltimore's business elite most of the year except for the summer when a large portion of Residents left the City for their summer homes. At the turn of the 19th/20th century, the mostly White German Neighborhood of Harlem Park began to see White Flight both to the west where Neighborhoods such as Easterwood Park and Rosemont were in their infancy or to the north where the Roland Park Company was building large estate homes in what would eventually be Guilford, Homeland, Original Northwood, and the titular Roland Park. 

 Although White Flight was in full swing before the start of World War I, Harlem Park was still thought of as an elite Gentlemen's Community only now it was becoming home to Baltimore's Black elite. Although new Black Residents were paying a pretty penny for their new homes perhaps more than a comparable home in a White Neighborhood would fetch, I wouldn't call this "blockbusting" since there were no corrupt Realtors trying to make a quick buck off of White fears and the lack of housing options in the Black Community. 

 By the roaring 20s Harlem Park (as did all of old West Baltimore) had turned into a mixed income Black Community with wealthier Residents living in the grand row house mansions while Residents who were more working class took residence in the "alley homes." Pennsylvania Avenue served as a Downtown Area for Old West Baltimore as a whole featuring the City's best Jazz Clubs and Movie Houses. 

 By the 1930s the Great Depression had taken its toll on Harlem Park, there were fewer and fewer well to do Residents as they had either moved west beyond Fulton Avenue into the Easterwood Park and Rosemont Area (white Residents from there were moving to Edmondson Village) or the depression had taken its toll and Residents who used to be more well to do had become poor. 

 After World War II, the White flight to the suburbs and the subsequent Black repopulating of White Neighborhoods on the outskirts of the City was in full force. Since Harlem Park is not and hasn't been on the outskirts of the City for decades, its population was beginning to thin out as there was no real source in which a new population influx could be found. Another blow for the Neighborhood was what was then called "slum elimination" which was actually the erection of the notorious public housing high rises of Murphy Homes and Lexington Terrace.

 Slum elimination can come in many forms, in the 1950s and 60s it came in the form of Interstate Construction. I feel bad calling it "slum elimination" because to construct the "interstate" that effects Harlem Park it wasn't slums that were eliminated. It was working class and middle class homes between Franklin and Mulberry Sts. The Home Owners who lived where the proposed interstate was going were given very little for their homes and given that so many people's net worth is wrapped up in their homes, the once middle class Residents became poor thanks to this supposed "miracle interstate."

 This "interstate" turned out to be a curse, it was supposed to connect to I-70 when it was extended into Leakin Park to meet I-95, the spur near Harlem Park would connect I-70 to Downtown. Harlem Park at the time was hanging on a delicate balance between minimal blight and turning into a major slum. This "interstate" was the final nail in the coffin not only for Harlem Park but Old West Baltimore as a whole. To add insult to injury, the connection was never completed thus making what was built complete useless, this "I-170" is what's known as today's "Road to Nowhere."     

 Today the damage done by generations of poverty and poor policy planning have taken their toll. Harlem Park's vacancy rate as of the 2010 census is 45% which doesn't include all the vacant lots providing eye sores and a hot bed for trash. It's no secret that Harlem Park is suffering and the City is letting it go to the dogs as a Neighborhood that can't be saved. Me? I have yet to find a Neighborhood that isn't worth saving. It's time for Harlem Park to see its day in the sun.

 Lets keep in mind that as part of the Red Line construction there is a proposal for redevelopment of the Neighborhood's southern borders with high density Apartments or Condos or TOD if you will. Given how often the Red Line is tweaked and with funding and construction dates constantly being delayed, I'm not holding my breath for progress on that front. Even so, Harlem Park is an entire Neighborhood that needs help, and doesn't start and stop at the Red Line. I would also like to point out that as the title suggests, I want Harlem Park to be a draw on its own.

 When creating a Master Plan the first thing to do is draw on the Neighborhood's strengths. Other than the obvious (close to the proposed Red Line) I can think of two others; first the "block parks" and the new Senior Apartments recently built. Most if not all square blocks in Harlem Park have parks behind the Row Homes. Although they've become a liability as they've become littered with trash and drug litter. I think that these block parks can be an asset once again. Neighborhood Residents can reclaim control by planting flower gardens and vegetable gardens that could be sold at Farmers Markets. Also there have been two brand new Senior Apartment developments known as Edmondson Commons and Harlem Park Gardens. These two developments have been a great help in Seniors in the area on fixed income find clean affordable housing that meets their needs. These two success stories can be used as building blocks for reinvestment and redevelopment in the Neighborhood. Properties around these development should be first thus allowing new housing and rehabbed housing to spread like wildfires.

 I can't describe the strengths of Harlem Park without discussing its weaknesses too. Harlem Park has a fleeting population, problems with drug addiction, high crime, high unemployment, lack of quality retail, and a lack of constant City Services. I think a decent portion of these problems can be reduced if not solved by investing in the Neighborhood's housing stock a la Sandtown Winchester. Sandtown has seen a good amount of redevelopment and reinvestment in its housing stock with help from the Enterprise Foundation. The benefits are contained only within the effected areas. It hasn't had the domino effect people would have liked but that just means that other areas need that same intervention.

 Harlem Park is due for that very same attention and I think it will spur growth by all stretches of the imagination. One great thing about the Enterprise Foundation is that it employed existing Residents to build the new homes which provided jobs to the Community. Baltimore has a large amount of unemployed construction worker, an issue I came head to head with while helping a gentlemen run for City Council last summer. Sure, there are lots of development projects in the works across the City but they have snubbed the local Construction Unions by bringing in outside workers. This will not be allowed when rebuilding Harlem Park, Harlem Park will be a local grass roots efforts from start to finish. This will also allow for Job Training for those looking to learn the construction trade. New and rehabbed homes and the jobs they bring may solve other problems that Harlem Park suffers. Crime and drug addiction thrive in poor Neighborhoods where there are a lot of vacants and a lot of Residents are unemployed. With Residents at work and new Residents moving in who are also employed, the drug trade and the crime it comes with be dealt a major blow.

 We've seen how Sandtown & Marble Hill can benefit from large investments in the housing stock which in return brings jobs to the Neighborhood, Improves the appearance of the Neighborhood, and can help erode crime from the rehabbed and redeveloped blocks. Now it's time for Harlem Park to benefit the same way, everybody knows it's overdue.

Walther Avenue Streetscape Enhancements

  In the City's northeastern corner, one will find Walther Avenue. Walther Avenue holds significance as one of Baltimore's first roads designed as a "grand suburban Boulevard" with wide expansive lanes and a large median dividing each direction of traffic. When annexed by the City in 1918 Walther Avenue was just beginning to be developed and when it reached build out it didn't and doesn't look any different from the Suburbs in the County everybody was moving to. Today Walther Avenue, though located in the City is all suburb. The road itself and the infrastructure is showing its age and this post will be dedicated to making Walther Avenue streetscape as beautiful and eye popping as the show case homes located on it.

There has been a nationwide trend of repopulating suburbs that are on the edge of a City. Walther Avenue is no different. Most of the Neighborhoods locating along it have experienced population growth in the past decade. Considering that Baltimore as a whole lost between 25,000 and 30,000 Residents in that same time period for Walther Aveune to post population growth shows that area is sought after. The though behind areas like Walther Avenue gaining population is due to the fact that they're very close to highways and Downtown but the Neighborhood itself is very green, quiet, and expansive.

The majority of homes along Walther Avenue are Single Family Detached with some duplexes and few Row Homes and Apartments mostly located on the northern end of the street. The homes on Walther Avenue have fared much better than those in say, Forest Park which was built around the same time for a variety of reasons. First, the homes on Walther Avenue are smaller which makes them less expensive to maintain and that makes it less feasible for them to be turned into group homes which tends to have a blighting influence on the Neighborhood. Home Owners are looking for a Neighborhood with Single Family Dwellings that are owner occupied, something that Walther Avenue has and Forest Park is losing out on. Also the homes on Walther Avenue although compact have a lot of the character and design details found on sprawling Estate Mansions.    

As Neighborhoods age, home owners take great care to keep their homes in great shape both inside and out, if they don't the Neighborhood becomes blighted and that leads to a slew of problems that over time become harder and harder to solve. In addition

to private home owners having to step up to the plate, so does the City. In a City that's as financially strapped as Baltimore that's easier said than done. This is where Walther Avenue could use some help. The road itself needs to be repaved and striped, the sidewalks need to be retrofitted, the median could use more flowers and shruberry,  there aren't enough street lights and the traffic signals look old and weathered.

In recent years wider roads like Walther Avenue have gotten streetscape enhancements or money has been budgeted for roads to get them in the future. These include roads include but aren't limited to; Charles St. in Mount Vernon and Station North (pictured above), Northern Parkway between Reisterstown Road and Roland Avenue, Reisterstown Road and Park Heights Avenue above Northern Parkway and Harford Road in the Lauraville and Hamilton Commercial Districts (pictured below). It should be noted that Harford Road is the Commercial Drag that serves Walther Avenue as well.

Walther Avenue is a long road so doing the streetscape enhancements all at once would be a bit daunting. That's why I have decided to break up the work into four phases the first of which will stretch from Harford Road to Moravia Road. This will go through the historic Neighborhoods of Arcadia and Beverly Hills. The traffic signals at Parkside Drive and Moravia Road will be replaced with  moder ones that feature "count down" pedestrian signals and brick crosswalks. Once above Herring Run Park Walther Avenue should be narrowed down to one lane in each direction with the extra lane reserved for on street parking and a dedicated bike lane. In every phase, the street lights will be replaced with newer modern looking ones. 

The second phase goes through the Neighborhoods of Moravia Walther and Waltherson. Waltherson percentage wise was one of the City's largest gainers in population outside of Downtown. The boundaries of Phase II will be from Moravia Road to Frankford Avenue. Between Echodale and Frankford Avenues, Walther Avenue widens to three lanes. This will be narrowed down to two lanes as part of the goal to make room for more on street parking and dedicated bike lanes. The traffic signals at Echodale Avenue and Frankford Avenues will be replaced in this face. The median will also be enhanced with additional flowers and shruberry. This may be a good place to encourage Residents to plant vegetable gardens of their own. 

The third phase runs between Frankford and Glenmore Avenues in the Glenham Blehar Neighborhood which also reported a loarge population gain. This part of Walther Avenue is where the pavement is in the worst shape and in come parts, the median has no landscaping whatsoever. Obviously this will be remedied by the streetscape enhancement project. The traffic signals at Hamilton, White, and Glenmore Avenues will be replaced in this phase. Also given that this section of Walther Avenue has Glenmount Elementary/Middle and Brudick Park, care should be taken to reduce speed given the high pedestrian activity here. Traffic calming such as "chokers" at crosswalks can help in Drivers reducing speed.

The fourth and final phase of the Walther Avenue streetscape enhancements runs from Glenmore Avenue to Northern Parkway in the Rosemont East Neighborhood. This is the part of Walther Avenue that has the highest amount of Apartments and Row Homes. This also has the only Commercial Building along Walther Avenue which is a Family Dollar. The traffic signal at Northern Parkway will be replaced during this phase. Again Walther Avenue will be narrowed to two lanes in each direction from three in order to provide on street parking and a dedicated bike lane. Walther Avenue ends at Northern Parkway in the Overlea and North Harford Road Neighborhoods both of which gained population in the last 10 years.

In the far northeastern corner of Baltimore lies Walther Avenue, a grand suburban boulevard with beautifully maintained homes and lawns. If given a streetscape enhancements, Walther Avenue will truly be eye popping.