NYT: A High-Tech Center Moves Into Baltimore, and Residents May Be Driven Out
Following is from the New York Times:
By MELODY SIMMONS Published: June 17, 2007
BALTIMORE, June 16 — For nearly three decades, Charlotte Johnson witnessed the drug dealing and violence on the streets in front of her modest row house in East Baltimore. She rode it out only to face a new challenge today — the community' transformation under the largest planned urban renewal in the country, which could soon drive her out of the neighborhood.
It' like taking a piece of my heart out,said Ms. Johnson, 54. All I’m asking for is just to give me a house in the place for the house you are taking.â€
Ms. Johnson is one of 400 families awaiting relocation as workers clear part of the 100-acre site for the $1.4 billion project. It will convert the once-blighted neighborhood into a biotechnology research center linked to the nearby Johns Hopkins Hospital. It will also include 2,200 new and renovated housing units and generate 6,000 jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the city and state.
City officials believe the project could play a major role in turning around the city and attracting additional development.
Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/us/17baltimore.html
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This NYT article did not even
This NYT article did not even mention the all powerful term Eminent Domain
"Over the past year, workers
"Over the past year, workers from East Baltimore Development have helped relocate 396 families from the site, showing them homes and apartments available for purchase and rent in surrounding city neighborhoods."
396 families is a lot of people... maybe 1000 people. It's bad enough that they are moving out an entire community, but it seems insulting that the average price that they are offering people for there homes is $150,000. It is a multimillion (if not billion) dollar project where housing costs are expected to start at $250,000.