I-170 A Scar From a Dark Past

I-170, The Former I-170, I-595, Interstate 0, Highway in the Ditch, Highway to nowhere, and the Franklin-Mulberry Expressway. These are just a few of the nick names given to the 1.5 mile stretch of U.S. 40 that randomly becomes an expressway in West Baltimore just before Downtown. If there were as many solutions for this roadway as there are nicknames we be in much better shape.I-70 was supposed to go beyond its current terminus through Leakin and Gwynns Falls park, meet Hilton Parkway, and have a spur called I-170 that would run between route 40 (Franklin Street Westbound and Mulberry Street East bound) and eventually end at I-95 near Caton Avenue where there are still ghost ramps as evidence. Work began on I-170 by destroying hundreds of middle class black row homes along Franklin and Mulberry Streets to make room for I-170. The neighborhoods of Harlem Park, Midtown Edmodson, Upton, Murphy Homes (Now Heritage Crossing) used to connect to the neighborhoods of Carroll South Hilton, Franklin Square and Poppleton. These neighborhoods have now become crime ridden and blighted.
A part of I-170 opened in 1976 under the assumption that I-70 would extend to meet I-95. Well funny story the city opposed the I-70 extension so much that it was canceled and the part of I-170 was eventually renamed as a part of route 40. I-170/Route 40 was constructed below grade and its cross streets have bridges going over them no interchanges and some of these bridges are for pedestrians not cars further tearing neighborhoods on either side of the freeway apart. Space was left for a rail line in between the directions of the freeway. Not surprisingly the neighborhoods have decayed significantly since the construction of the freeway. Public Housing high rises built after World War II also contributed greatly to the decline of these neighborhoods.
Today this section of West Baltimore has seen an unprecedented amount of interest as far as investment goes. The Red line of Baltimore's Regional Rail Plan will run through the corridor, there has been redevelopment in Harlem Park, and Murphy Homes and Lexington Terrace high rises have been replaced by the mixed income communities of Heritage Crossing and Townes at the Terraces respectively. Perhaps the biggest level of investment has been University of Maryland's new biotech park in poppleton.
Now where does that leave the former I-170? The same place it was when the roadway opened minus the name change to Route 40. Since the neighborhoods surrounding the corridor have a long way to go something should still be done. And that something is? Dismantle the whole road and reroute all traffic to Franklin and Mulberry Streets just like it was before the whole interstate revolt started and rebuild the homes that were demolished to build the freeway. The bridges that are pedestrian only would be reopened to vehicular traffic literally sewing the neighborhoods back together. The Red line will be underground where the freeway is now so as not to interrupt the neighborhoods as should all rail lines present and future. With the dismantling of one of the biggest highway mistakes these neighborhoods will once again thrive.

Clifton Park: This Could be a Gem

Well for the most part Clifton Park is a gem. It has everything; 1n 18 hole golf course, a swimming pool, wading pools, tennis courts, historic buildings, a lake with a High School on top of it. OK now that's a little weird to say the least. Whose Idea was this? Building a school on park land? Over top of a lake for that matter.

The school, Lake Clifton High was built in 1970 and in 1985 the under crowded Eastern High closed and its students were to moved Lake Clifton High which was also under crowded. The influx of students from Eastern High didn't help much to refill the school. The school now houses two smaller schools as part of the city's plan to breakup traditional high schools and replacing them smaller career oriented schools. The school right now has problems with violence, low test scores, and high drop out rates. The school needs to be torn down and Lake Clifton should be rebuilt and restored to its former glory. The two schools should move to the Samuel L. Banks and Thurgood Marshall Campus.

Now the neighborhoods surrounding the park should take full advantage of their proximity to the park allowing them to further improve. Property Values are not what they could be, home ownership is not what it could be, the condition of the housing stock is also not what it could be is the commercial areas on main thoroughfares that leaves much to the imagination. Now don't get me wrong many neighborhoods surrounding Clifton Park have done a great job in keeping out crime, maintaining home ownership, rehabbing houses and have retained and added new population. They include Lake Montebello, Ednor Gardens-Lakeside, Belair Edison, and Mayfield. There is however a neighborhood that needs significant reinvestment and redevelopment to insure a great future for itself and the reputation of Clifton Park.

That neighborhood is Coldstream, Homestead, Montebello. Coldstream Homestead Montebello is the neighborhood to the west of Clifton Park. It has some historic housing and well kept housing but there are a lot of dilapidated row homes, unbuffered industry, and commercial corridors that offer that leave lots to the imagination. In short the neighborhood in its current form is stagnant. The neighborhood in its present form will continue to experience population loss, a decaying housing stock and a loss of home ownership in occupied properties. What's needed is comprehensive redevelopment in a large portion of the neighborhood.
This is basically what is called for in the community master plan but I think it needs to be done on a grander scale. Almost everything not eligible to be an historic district should be demolished and redeveloped but current residents will remain just with a brand new home that they themselves own whether or not they were home owners before hand. Industrial land should be rezoned as high rise condos that offer views of Clifton Park and Lake Montebello. These condos will raise property values here and neighboring communities but existing residents can have their properties taxes frozen. The commercial areas will also be redveloped and given stricter zoning codes that forbid billboards and bars on the windows. The communities main street will receive streetscape enhancements such as planted medians and brick crosswalks. Also Coldstream Park,Montebello and Abbotston Elementaries will be a moved into Baltimore City College's Building after that school is relocated.

The resurrection of Lake Clifton and the redevelopment of Coldstream Homestead Montebello will certainly give Clifton Park the status of "gem".

Edmondson Village: This Could Get Worse Before it Gets Better

The Buzzards are starting to circle around this one. First lets start off with a history of the neighborhood. The Edmondson Avenue area was basically nothing until the bridge over the Gwynns Falls was widened and replaced in 1910. The decades following World War I Baltimore saw a surge in new housing along Edmondson Avenue in the today's neighborhoods of Edmondson Village, Rognel Heights, Uplands, Allendale, Hunting Ridge and Ten Hills. The Great Depression did however slow the development in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

After World War II the development of Edmondson Village was a complete white middle class row house suburb. Further into downtown however the African American neighborhoods were grow tighter and congested by the day because the segregated housing market only allowed them to live in certain places. In the 1950s some unconventional real estate agents all across the country sought to make a buck by using a technique now known as "blockbusting" putting a black family into an all white block and using their fears to spur white flight. The real estate agents then bought the homes from whites at below market rate and then sold them to black buyers at inflated prices. This made Edmondson Village's population switch from completely white to completely black from 1955-1965.

Fast forward to 2007 Edmonson Village still has a lot of original residents who bought their homes in the blockbusting era. They have grown old and are having a tough time with the upkeep of their ever aging row homes. Crime has reared its ugly head in the neighborhood and home ownership is decreasing. Signs are appearing that say "we will buy your house for cash." Problem is many of these "buyers" are companies who go to into the house, do minimal work on them, and rent it out.

To make Edmondson Village the stable community it's always been it needs to remain a neighborhood with a healthy housing stock and a high rate of home ownership as does any neighborhood. A good way to do this would be for the city to use programs that it already has like "project 5000" and "healthy neighborhoods." "Project 5000" can sell homes for next to nothing under the condition that the buyer does a full rehab and can either sell it or live in it. "Healthy Neighborhoods" provides resources for existing home owners to better maintain their properties. Since urban decay hasn't set as bad as it has in other parts of the city redevelopment need only be minimal consisting primarily on buildings directly on Edmondson Avenue and the Edmondale Apartment complex.If steps like these aren't taken Edmondson Village may have a bleak future.

*Update the Baltimore City Planning Department has come with a master plan for the Edmondson Village area including Edmondson Village, Rognel Heights, Allendale, and Saint Josephs. It describes basically what I've described in this post. Maybe someone in city hall is reading this blog.

Baltimore's Next Big Up and Coming Neighborhood.............Orangeville??

Yup Orangeville, the blocks are set in place for this to explode whether anyone knows it or not. Orangeville is an area of Baltimore in the far central east consisting mostly of an industrial park and a tiny residential neighborhood with 282 residents in the middle according to the 2000 census. Now I'm sure you may be asking yourselves why here? Well I'll give you three reasons: location, location, location. The Baltimore Regional has orangeville at the crossing of the red line and the purple line (existing MARC lines) and huge swaths of land banked for a multi modal transportation center. Major roads such as I-895, Pulaski Highway, Erdman Avenue, and Edison Highway are at Orangeville's door step.

I'd like to give you a brief description of some of Orangeville's surroundings. It may not look like much now but wait 5 or 10 years. To the south and west are the distressed neighborhoods of Ellwood Park/Monument, McEldery Park, Biddle Street all of which are poised to make a turnaround after the Johns Hopkins Biotech Park in neighboring Middle East. To the north is the former Claremont/Freedom Public Housing communities and the future Orchard Ridge. Also is the former public housing project and present co op Armistead Gardens and Belair Edison.

The biggest indicator of Orangeville's promising future is the multi-modal transportation center. Transit Oriented development is where it's at these days. The old industrial Orangeville as we know it will soon be bought up and replaced with new high density mixed income mixed use development. Baltimore's regional transit plan calls for the "Red Line" Security Square Mall to Dunalk and all points in between and the Purple Line (existing MARC) the number of people passing through Orangeville on any given weekday is staggering. Since this area has always been industrial making it residential can bring population growth to a city that has lost 300,000 people over the past 50 years and new schools with it.