Homeowners in need of City Tax Sale Help can call the hotline: 410-396-3556
FIRST HEARING - COMPLETED! MONDAY, JUNE 23RD, 9:30AM - Was Open to Public
Federal District Courthouse - 101 W Lombard St, Baltimore, MD 21201
THE CASE MOVES FORWARD TO DISCOVERY!
Read the Judgement Here
ECO AND MARYLAND LEGAL AID -
PURSUING A LANDMARK LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY
CLAIMING TAX SALE SYSTEM - AS IT’S CONSTRUCTED - IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Why do we care about Tax Sale?
Because in addition to the byzantine rules of the sale facilitating highly-sophisticated investors to rip the equity life-savings out of lesser-sophisticated, low-income communities, it also tangles and clouds titles of vacant properties so terribly that it makes them, in many cases, too onerous to acquire and develop.
AND THAT IS HOW YOU GET 15-30,000 VACANT PROPERTIES.
We’re hoping to change that with this case.
Read an in-depth explanation here.
Read the Complaint as filed here.
Early Spring: getting and combing City government tax sale lists for at-risk Midtown-Edmondson residents
Spring: Outreach - flyers, meetings and 50 homes door-knocked in advance of the this year’s tax sale
All Year: Pushing anyone and everyone who’ll listen for a more commonsense, fundamentally fair, City Tax Sale system
Significant Issues Remain on Key AMTRAK and the MDOT Projects
Mulberry Street Closures and Construction
Set to Begin
South Vent Facility Designs Updated -
Will Green Space Be Freed Up?
Second Look (Updated) Design Image
Second Look (Updated) Design Image
CommunityMap —>
First look (60%) design image
What Does Constructing a Major Tunnel Under Baltimore Look Like…
to Midtown-Edmondson?
A PLAYGROUND CAPTURED AND MOVED WITHOUT COMMUNITY INPUT
Playground Relocation and Possible Augmentation
The little green rectangle on the map is Midtown-Edmondson’s only facility of any kind for kids. Amtrak was locating their “muck bin” directly across the street, their truck routes all around it, and their construction staging area just next door. The ECO pressured them about moving the playground, so they’re planning to do so now - without consulting the community or the ECO about where. They’re just doing it. And they’re locating the playground not where the community wants it - at a new pre-K facility, but instead on another spot adjacent to the construction staging area. That’s Justice 40, Environmental Justice. Not.
A NEIGHBORHOOD HEAVILY IMPACTED
Talk of Community Partnerships Await Fulfillment
From the beginning of Amtrak’s presence in West Baltimore, the ECO has sought to reach out to the federal entity and its contracted community consultants, to attempt to forge agreements, understanding, any sort of partnership with the federal entity. But at each turn Amtrak has listened politely, and then promptly ghosted us. Midtown-Edmondson is, and will be, experiencing the vast majority of all disruption from this decade-long project, yet Amtrak has sought no partnership at all with the community. One of our board members even signed a memorandum of understanding requiring Amtrak to seek consultation and input at certain benchmarks in the design process. None of that has happened though.
PARTNERSHIPS, PLANNING AND PROGRESS
with
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ENTITIES
We…
Work with our development arm, HUB West Baltimore Community Development Corporation and the Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development, among others, to…
HELP Get Subsidies in Place for Development Entities
PLAN for Affordable Housing Creation and Preservation
COORDINATE Development Strategies and Locations
THE GOAL:
No developer is left out on an island, and no community member is left behind.
TOGETHER WE’LL PROSPER
FOR MORE INFO, PLEASE VISIT OUR DEVELOPMENT ARM
HUB IS…
Development Driven
Equity Focused
Transportation Catalyzed
Read All About The Proposal on Its Dedicated Website:
Why shouldn’t Metro (subway) be the preferred mode for East-West rail?
It’s…
the cheapest
the fastest to build
by far the fastest across town (6 minutes to the Harbor, 16 minutes to Bayview)
the least disruptive - during construction and while operating. By utilizing the heavily-underutilized existing metro crosstown tunnel - it will ensure virtually NO downtown disruption during construction, and NO street-life-killing surface disruption once it’s running (unlike light rail).
So why are we settling for MDOT’s stapled together rehashes of 10-year-old light rail proposals?
Subways drive development in ways that light rail can only dream of. It’s time for Baltimore to join the 21st century Northeast Corridor and stitch together a functional city-wide Metro system.
See your ECO team discussing the proposal on Maryland Public Television’ “State Circle” Program here (hit playlist, then look for 7/14/23 at 13:25).
Read an article about the proposal in the Baltimore Sun here.
Read an article that in part discusses the proposal in the Baltimore Banner here.
Read an article about the proposal in Maryland Matters here.
See a recording of a June 1st presentation to Transit Choices here.
Highway to Nowhere Reality Setting In
Summer 2023:
Lots of Hopeful Talk and Press Conferences
Winter 2024:
Serious Questions About The Only Grant that was Submitted -
One of the key goals of the City’s Sept 2024 grant submission: To take down the bridges over MLK, a project requested by a developer and expected to cost in excess of $60 million.
The things that many in the community worry about:
a) further isolation of West Baltimore from downtown
b) misuse of funds intended for communities to restitch back up their fabric.
US Senators Van Hollen and Cardin are joined at the podium in Midtown-Edmondson by Congressman Mfume, Congressman Ruppersburger, Mayor Scott, Councilman Bullock, MD Transportation Secretary Wiedefeld and others. There was great talk then of how Baltimore is going to use the federal 2021 Infrastructure Bill to make a Highway to Nowhere reimagine a reality. But now, six months later, we’re staring down the prospect of missing the deadline entirely for capital funds. Will any of these leaders lead us to a successful proposal and capital funding in time?
ECO President Joe Richardson with Maryland Senator Van Hollen - whose been a big supporter of community efforts in the Rt 40 West corridor. However, he would know that the window is nearly shut to get any capital funding from the program he specifically designed for the Highway to Nowhere, and got inserted into 2021 Federal Infrastructure Bill.
