Rebuilding beats demolition!

In all the hoopla about Baltimore's mega projects such as Under Armour's new global headquarters the city needs to keep the spotlight on Governor Hogan's promise of $700 million for the redevelopment of Baltimore's dis-invested communities that he made in Sandtown in front of rolling cameras and a big yellow bulldozer.

The Department of General Services and the press have already dissected the promise and reported that almost none of that money is actually "new" money and that it was instead money already allocated to programs such as tax credits and the rental assistance program etc. It has become clear that the new money was mostly the sizable chunk of some $70 million added to the city's demolition program and that the Governor's heart was in demolition more than in rebuilding.

Eager Street deconstruction

After this somewhat sobering realization, it is time to think about the next steps. Housing Commissioner Graziano repeated on WYPR's Midday yesterday that his priority is rebuilding and that demolition remains "the last resort" where "rebuilding is not feasible". He emphasized that his department, i.e. the City will remain in charge of what will get demolished and that the State's Stadium Authority will only oversee the contracts for demolition. So far so good. Here are some burning questions:

• Can some of the big chunk of demolition money be converted to rebuilding money?
• Will demolition be done in a manner that uses the "Baltimore Protocol" developed in the Middle East area in conjunction with the EBDI demolitions behind Hopkins?
• Will demolition be done in a way that local people will get jobs and that the community will be strengthened?
• Will the community have a say in what gets demolished?
• What is the plan for areas where demolition occurred?
• Will the community have a say in planning the future of those demo areas?
• How can the community become an active player in future development for example through community land trusts?
• What is the historic preservation perspective in all of this?

Lets go through these questions in some more detail. 

"Traditional" demolition and dust control

Rebuilding: Graziano explained that restoring four houses can cost as much as a million and that redirecting the millions of dollars for rehab wouldn't get very far. Maybe this thinking needs some innovation. Maybe there are ways to rehab buildings far cheaper if it is done with local labor and sweat equity in an expansion and innovative adaptation of the Habitat for Humanity approach. Local community development corporations such as the one in Druid Heights have tried for years to create a rehab workforce to create affordable rentals at a far lower cost than the commercial approach with competitive bidding among for profit contractors. However, these organizations are cash strapped and are trying too many things already. A pilot program of local workforce development and the creation of a non-profit rehab company would be a great use of re-dedicated demo funds. A few millions invested this way would, indeed, go a long way! Community Land Trusts can be part of the rebuilding scenario.

Lead dust during demolition: The so-called "Baltimore Protocol" should absolutely be applied to any demolition where occupied homes are nearby. It requires extensive soaking of demo structures ahead of the backhoe, air testing, sidewalk sweeping and cleanup and it requires that rubble will have to be hauled away within 24 hours and before it can dry out and blow dust around.

DHCDC Director Roscoe Johnson tours Druid Heights to the Mayor in
October 2015

Still, "deconstruction" would be even better.

Manual deconstruction instead of mechanical demo: Graziano stated that Housing requested from the Stadium Authority to greatly expand the deconstruction pilot in which building materials such as bricks, lumber, marble stoops and possibly wood floors are salvaged and recycled instead of all tossed into a landfill. The process has been piloted by two groups in the past and is "impressive" as the Commissioner put it. Most importantly, it can be the front end of workforce development for the construction crews noted above. Re-entry folks (former addicts or convicts)  can begin with deconstruction and step up to construction (of potentially their own future homes).

 

Community participation: Hogan's announcement has been blasted for having occurred without community consultation. The future of West and East Baltimore needs to be planned with a long-term perspective and with those who have survived in the communities during decades of decay in a pivotal role. A sustainable and livable future community cannot be achieved with a reactive response to blight through demolition but needs a pro-active strategy that includes services, open spaces, social justice and transportation. Community "visions" have been prepared endlessly. It is time to dust them off, update them and see if they are robust enough for creating a bright future in which blighted communities become repopulated and vibrant again.

Barclay-Old Goucher has become a model of
strategic redevelopment

Preservation: The communities of West Baltimore supported the application to recognize most of the area as a historic "National Register District" due to its rich social and architectural history. It is vitally important that this history does not get bulldozed because it is the biggest asset the community has to leverage a better future. That historic preservation is a great economic development tool has been proven across the country.

During the US Conference of Mayors last week it became obvious that there isn't much going on in Baltimore that the about 300 major city mayors look up as beacons to show them the way in their own cities. How to rebuild large devastated communities in a holistic, sustainable manner that considers health, social justice, equity, workforce development, access and "virtuous cycles" could become a Baltimore model to be proud of. Willing groups, experiences, pilots and insights are plentiful. Its time to scale it up. At this point it is mostly a matter of connecting the dots.


Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Should snow removal be crowd sourced?

The current hand wringing first about the snow itself and then about its removal is a clear sign of our alienation from nature and a very torn attitude towards government.

Cities in particular have grown quite vulnerable in many respects, the intricate network of systems breaks down easily. cell phone connections that overload, water and sewer lines are rickety. But the automobile is in a league by itself. It can be easily immobilized by signal outages, by congestion or by snow. Designed to be this symbol of individual freedom and named for its mobility, it provides comfort and protection from weather with all the amenities of a home, but unlike the good old horse, all this is rendered useless if it is covered under two feet of snow or separated from a passable artery by 1/3 of a mile of impassable side-street.

snow piled up especially at crosswalks (Photo ArchPlan)

There are no statistics yet whether millennials are as eager to dig out the precious auto or whether they are too busy tweeting snow pictures of other people's cars calling them marshmellows.

Out in the burbs cleaning the car remains the first order of business followed by cleaning the driveway, preferably with a snowblower. That expensive tool has become part of the full arsenal of equipment which many suburban homeowners see as a necessity along with emergency generators, lawn tractors, leaf blowers and wood chippers. All those items sit in the garage and force the car outside to be freed of snow in the first place.

But I am digressing. In the city the geography is different. For the most part there is no driveway to clear and the arsenal of weapons stored in a rowhouse is limited to a shovel and a broom. Every inch of the street is either a drive-lane or a precious parking space which inevitably leads to a conundrum when it comes to deciding where to put the snow. There is a lot of switching back and forth going on between snow on the car and snow on the street, the latter usually not winding up back on the car but compacted and heavy piled and plowed against the car making the cleared path utterly non attainable. And I won't even get into that silly lawn-chair business which counter to local pride is not a Baltimore tradition but equally common in Philly, Pittsburgh and even Chicago.

Beayty and curse: Rosemont (Photo ArchPlan)

So the first couple of days when folks are worried whether firetrucks and ambulances could reach them, residents are ecstatic if a plow shows up and clears even a single lane. But soon thereafter the mood changes if the parked vehicle remains immobilized.  By now a quick run by a plow won't do the trick. Now front loaders are in demand and dump trucks and actual removal of the stuff is needed.

Clearly, that is a slow process and can impossibly be attained all across the city. Hundreds of often suburban private contractors are now in action instead of the municipal plow drivers who know their routes. They get paid time and expense and they may not always be motivated to do the most effective thing. So when the Mayor proclaims how many pieces of equipment and how many operators are doing snow removal, the sheer number means little if this army isn't guided by generals that have a clear plan.

That is where it seems to be lacking in City and County alike. Just as we see buses bunched behind each other, the second and third enjoying the low volume of riders in the wake of the first, so we see snow equipment congregating in the same spot over and over while many less prominent corners remain undetected.

I am not privy to the battle plan the Department of Public Works has and neither is anybody else. This leads to the suspicion that there really isn't one. And maybe it is asking for too much to have such a static top-down plan in a drawer. It would have to cover all the hundreds of miles of city streets for an infinite number of possible conditions.

Maybe a bottom up system would be better, one where the vast amounts of cash given to the army of private contractors is an allowance from which citizens call up services. The logistics wouldn't be that easy either, but they could be imagined somewhere along these lines: after the arterials are done, residents call for services from a pool of resources much in the way how FedEx pick ups are summoned by businesses or as 311 is supposed to work if it did work. The army of snow equipment operators would become a "fulfillment center" like the one we have in town from Amazon. Requests come in and the stuff gets dispatched as is most efficient. This would probably be most effective if there would be at least four such fulfillment centers, one in each quadrant of the city. And no, Roland Park wouldn't get the snazziest equipment!

Maybe most importantly, pedestrian pathways need to get priority over streets. If the Mayor wants to get the courageous peds off the streets, the sidewalks need to be cleared. What we see instead is that the sidewalks are the receiving areas for the street snow. The opposite of making walking easier. Should property owners be fined if sidewalks are not cleared? Damn right they should, especially commercial ones on highly travelled routes. Of course, homeowners should be cut some slack if cutting a path is physical impossible. 

Whatever the best methods which are hotly debated all over town now, the predicted weekend temps will make most of this go away the natural way and the headlines of the daily papers will return to crime, trash removal, broken water pipes and all the other stuff that makes residents feel that government isn't so useless after all.

Anybody who thinks that resources could be better dispatched in all of these matters should go out to vote for the best City Council and the most innovative Mayor ever. April is the time to do that!

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Caves Valley adds affordable units in Sharp Leadenhall

Stadium Place is a massive multi-phase apartment complex with some retail that will transform the edge of the historic African American community of Sharp Leadenhall. The project will be developed on former industrial sites and not displace residences except for five old rowhouses that will be partially incorporated in the project. The development of the sites represents a bridge-head in the direction of what is now the Casino site.

In spite of some risk that the community may come under some gentrification pressures form both sides (Federal Hill on the one and Stadium Place on the other), the community has been generally receptive to the project. After UDARP had given it final approval in the summer (following a rather critical review in March) all was pretty quiet.

Rendering of the new development as seen from Cross Street
(Design Collective)

Now SouthBaltimore.com reports good news: The project developers will undertake a partnership with TBS, a local non-profit providing services for Veterans. The article in SouthBaltimore.com says about TBS:

Started 26 years ago, TBS is “an innovative therapeutic residential treatment program supporting veterans and others who are transitioning through the cycle of poverty, addiction and homelessness to self-sufficiency.” It has a facility at 140 W. West in South Baltimore, adjacent to Stadium Square, as well as a facility in Sandtown Winchester.
“The Baltimore Station has been a community member in South Baltimore for 26 years and has a long-running history serving the homeless population. We are thrilled to be part of the exciting Stadium Square redevelopment happening in our community to ensure that we don’t forget those that are most needy,” TBS Executive Director John Friedel told SouthBMore.com.

During the UDARP presentation that corner of the project with the partially preserved five rowhouses had been not fully resolved as far as uses above the planned retail. The entire project had been presented as "market rate" without any affordable component. The new partnership will change that since the units for Veterans will be affordable.  The absense of any affordable component on such a large project had been troublesome, especially given that Sharp Leadenhall isn't an affluent community but has not many modern affordable apartment type units. The Baltimore City Zoning Code has a requirement for inclusion of affordable units for projects over 50 units, but that section is never enforced.

A view of the massing of the first block (Design Collective)

As noted in other article I wrote about housing, Baltimore is suffereing an affordable housing crisis like much of the country, in spite of an abundance of housing units overall and many houses having been left unoccupied.

The inclusion of the five historic houses will also provide an authentic overlay to the new complex which could easily suffer from a certain uniformity that comes from when so much is designed in the same time frame.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

See also on this Blog:

Sharp Leadenhall - another Bethesda?

Links to press reports about the project:
BBJ
SouthBaltimore.com Report about Veterans Housing as part of Stadium Place

Snow in the City

The topic of snow can only be avoided so long, therefore here a few not so serious snow related observations which show that snow shows at the same time how vulnerable society has become but how resilient people remain:

• Snow can end the US Conference of Mayors in a jiffy. They al

  

  Communal snowball fight at Washington Square (Photo: Sun)

  l know they have to be near a local plow when the flakes fall or they will be toast
• Lawn-chairs can be placed even in anticipation of snow although the merit principle is even harder to see without the shovel work
• Snow-plow plans for putting down the salt before the storm work to perfection, during the storm a bit less so (does it make sense to throw salt into snow that piles up at 3" per hour?)
• The plow plan for the second day after leaves a lot to be desired. The plows are incapable of nudging the huge piles of frozen mess a few feet closer to the edge, on the small streets there is no room to plow it so a lot of trucks drive up and down the streets that are already open
• Snowball fights are not only for children
• Free transit and service limited to the most heavily traveled lines is a great idea
• Buses can bunch even when only 12 lines are run without a schedule. Go figure
• Snow brings people into the street. Literally. 
• Snow makes people walk again even when it means dodging cars and wading through snow piles
• It is neat to be able to pull the facsimile version of the daily paper up on the IPad if the delivery of the real thing is failing. 
• It is neat to see and steal so many pictures from Facebook friends
• Snow turns Red lights even more into just advisory signals than Baltimoreans think they are anyway. Whole lines of cars could be seen going through red where a cross street wasn't plowed and open. 
• Convenience chains and drugstore markets haven't gotten the message that they have to clear adjacent sidewalks. They don't touch a shovel and don't care. 
• City snow plow operators like Vincent Campbell didn't get any sleep from Friday evening until early Sunday. That's two nights, man! 

A full blown testosterone competition has broken out between Governor Hogan and County Executive Kamenetz, each outdoing the other who can mark his territory best via plowing. Meanwhile our Mayor's sets on creativity:

"I ask you to be creative about where to put it, but just don't put it back out in the street, because it prevents us to get back up and running," ....
"The snow's not going to be around forever. If you don't have to dig your car out, think about leaving it until the snow melts. Think about taking a taxi or an Uber or Lyft, whatever, but just think about safety — and please don't throw the snow back into the street"

The morning after (Photo Brooke Lierman)

Automobiles become symbolds of immobility (Photo: Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson)

As seen from behind the plow. (Photo Vincent Campbell)

Creative: Free transit on limited service. Monday MTA announced there was no set schedule

Monday morning on an arterial: The plows had done their work, single file to work (photo: ArchPlan)

A shoevel party at Ridgely's Delight captured by Bill Reuter

Baltimore Police dig out an eighty year old lady (source: Police Blog)

Cars freed are plowed in again by single lane dead end plowing (Photo: Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson)

Some just leave their cars any which way until Tuesday morning and still don't get towed
(Photo ArchPlan)

US Conference of Mayors: Nobody looks to Baltimore for urban policy ideas

The only presidential candidate who spoke about an urban agenda during one of the presidential debates was Martin O'Malley, Baltimore's former mayor. Even though cities have become the global leaders in innovation and international collaboration and Baltimore sits right next to DC, our city plays only a small role on the national stage. O'Malley as Mayor had introduced one thing that other mayors liked to learn about: CitiStat. Of course, under the subsequent administrations CitiStat has shriveled and became meaningless which is sad when one considers that we live in the age of data. Other innovations which other cities like to copy have not emerged.(Ok, maybe with the exception of Leana Wen, the City's Health Commissioner whom many others would like to have).

So here Baltimore's Mayor presides over the US Conference of Mayors, which just concluded its 2016 winter meeting in DC with about 250 mayors present. That should be a big deal for Baltimore!

When the conference opened a little disturbance shed a light on Stephanie Rawlings Blake's inability to connect. She showed a total lack of reaction to the protester right in front of her podium blocking her from the audience by holding a placard about the Chicago police killing. SRB was so focused on reading from her notes that she didn't even realize what was happening until somebody shook her arm. Then, like a robot her voice switched off for a while until she concluded that the placard holder will stay there for a while and she switched he voice on again, continuing the same sentence like a robot. This would have been a great moment for an impromptu statement about social justice and police. But nope. 

Rawlings Blake keeps reading as if nothing happened

Our Mayor also got to introduce the First Lady for a keynote talk about homeless veterans and, during a visit of the Conference at the White House SRB introduced the President himself. But there seemed to be no agenda what to ask for or for what  cities should get the most help.

Obama is his own story when it comes to urban policy. This 84th Mayors' Conference was certainly too late for him to announce a reinvigorated urban policy. In spite of the high expectations accompanying a community organizer becoming President, Obama never gained much of a profile as a President of cities of cities, in spite of some promising efforts. His early Sustainable Communities Partnership gave the Baltimore region a grant for the work that is known as the Opportunity Collaborative. Upon getting into office Obama had created an Office of Urban Affairs which soon feel dormant and has been that way for years.

Mayors at the White House

At his not even nine minute remarks in front of the assembled mayors Obama announced 13 finalists of the $1 billion “National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC),” (most of the money will go to NYC and Louisiana) and that Michigan will get a $80 million grant so they can deal with the Flint water calamity. Baltimore wasn't a recipient in either case. Whether for not participating or for not qualifying, I could not determine.  Baltimore also hasn't participated in the challenge grant for "Strong Cities, Strong Communities", another competitive two-stage Obama initiative.
Baltimore did receive second prize ($25,000) in the Childhood Obesity Prevention Program for the work of integrating the City owned Great Kids Farm in Catonsville into the Baltimore City school program. That award was announced at the US Conference of Mayors as well, but it isn't federal money.

The kiss of death: The Dead Mayors Society:
SRB and Rahm Emanuel

Competitive challenge grants do not replace a convincing federal urban policy and so it is left to the cities themselves to fill the void. For 2016 they came up with a 16 point laundry list titled "the Mayors Compact for a Better America", a rather timid "compact" compared to its namesake, the cities compact on climate change.

For this conference the cities proffered a report prepared by Boston University based on a poll that researchers had conducted among the mayors with the goal to identify priorities for US cities.

The poll has a number of interesting findings: Mayor's don't expect much help from Washington, they look for partners in the private and non-profit sectors and they are not as non-partisan as they like to proclaim. Maybe worse than the fact that this study was not prepared by one of Baltimore's or at least Maryland's universities was one of the poll results: In the list of cities to which mayors look for guidance, policy ideas or strong leadership, Baltimore doesn't even show up. That's right, it isn't even on the list!

Not on the list: Baltimore

It isn't that under SRB there wouldn't have been any good policies or goals or successes even. But those are not communicated. The Mayor always seems to rather be somewhere else. 

When voters go to the polls in April's mayoral primary, wouldn't it be great if they would select a candidate who has fresh ideas and can also promote them? Ideas that could make Baltimore a leader when it comes to creative and innovative urban policies?

As it stands, we sometimes copy good ideas from elsewhere, but usually late and in a haphazard manner. Morale and expectations seem to be generally low.  This is why we are more known for scandals and failings than successes. We are behind in affordable housing (where we once were a leader with all the HOPE VI projects), in transportation (where Baltimore was historically an innovator, now its still doesn't even have bike-sharing), not to mention start-ups, venture capital or social justice.

Baltimore clearly has it in its DNA to become a great city again. Let's begin with a great leader, a mayor that other mayors will look up to.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Below some interesting snapshots of the mayor's poll included in the Menino Report, named after Boston's late mayor.

Republicans and Democrats have opposite views about affordable housing 

Cities don't expect federal support

Cities want transit funded.

Mayors also still spend a lot on Roads

Looking everywhere for partners to solve the urban issues

Republicans and Democrats differ on fiscal health

Workforce development: The proclaimed #1 target of mayoral action

The Motor House - Investing in Baltimore's Social Capital

In 1914 when the Motor House was built as Ford's first Baltimore auto showroom and mechanics space North Avenue was still the northern border of Baltimore City. Today, North Avenue has become a frontier of another kind: It is ground zero for last year's unrest that began at Penn and North and in the section that is known as Station North it is also ground zero for a new kind of urban renewal, a urban renewal that aims fro protecting safe and affordable space, is not driven by profit and corporations but by non-profits and civic engagement.

Restored to its original splendor: Motor House on North
Avenue (photo: ArchPlan)

Where a few years ago neglect and a cheap motel presided over a McDonalds and boarded up landmarks, we see today a steady stream of investment and none of it deserves the title gentrification.

The Motor House that after a succession of various car brands finally converted to the Lombard Office Furniture Company in the 1970s eventually stood empty and became through Sherwin Mark's selective letter choice on the banner sign out front the Load of Fun, a home for 35 artists and the Single Carrot Theatre. But upon a tip of an anonymous person who may have taken revenge on Sherwin the City inspected the building and found it woefully lacking in many respects that had to do with life safety such means of egress. The 35 artists got evicted and Sherwin went on a fruitless hunt to find the millions needed to bring the building up to snuff.

The usual gentrification story would have been a risk happy developer swooping in because he was sniffing a great future for the newly minted arts and entertainment district supported by the Central Baltimore Partnership and several anchor institutions including the expanding a space hungry MICA. Some unremarkable mixed use building may have come out of such a deal, code compliant and maybe even equipped with a fancy restaurant, enough for Baltimore to declare even that a success.

As Sherwin Mark had been quoted in a 2010 Sun article:

"Station North is at a very precarious point," he says. "It could totally flourish and be wonderful. But for that to happen, it can't be all about developers and city planners and arts administrators. Artists have to have a stake in it. I'm always telling artists that if they don't buy property, they won't have power."

David Mitchell (left) in the new performance space for which
he is Creative Director (Photo: ArchPlan)

But that is not what happened. Instead, an angel investor of a different kind showed up just like a miracle: The Deutsch Foundation through their Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation (BARCO) bought the building and funded a $6.5 million renovation which included the use of competitive historic State tax credits. According to the Foundations Chief Operating Officer Neil Didriksen Dr. Deutsch had made his fortune in risk taking and innovation and that this was also the focus on the foundation by providing "affordable, safe and state of the art" space for artists and creatives. A precedent for Motor House was found in Providence, RI where BARCO learned useful lessons for the project. Frank Lucas is the architect of record, Southway Builders was the general contractor and Amy Bonitz the development consultant. Cross Street  Partners provided know how in financial reporting.  Individual artists contributed elements such as the elevator shaft clad in license plates.

BARCO is also investing in the new maker space Open Works on the eastern edge of Station North led by Will Holman of BARCO. Didriksen says that after the initial aid in getting projects off the ground, they then have to stand on their own feet and that Motor House will do just that.

Arts project license plates in the lobby of Motor House (Photo: ArchPlan)

Now complete, the Motor House continues Sherwin Mark's vision with non-profit offices on the third floor which share a conference room, a kitchen. Non-profits pay an all inclusive $16 of rent per square-foot. The France Merrick Foundation, foreseeing that non-profits would line up with requests for support to move into this space, instead funded the shared conference room. Deutsch has an office here, the Neighborhood Design Center moved in and so did the Station North management under Ben Stone. All offices are leased.

The second floor consists of artist spaces of various sizes, one of them designed as a share space for start ups. Most spaces are already occupied, some by artists returning to the building for almost the same rent they paid before. Artists also enjoy shared facilities, one of them the converted auto elevator which became floor space.

The former LOAD OF FUN gallery space
is waiting for a restaurant tenant (Photo: ArchPlan)

The first floor could still accommodate a restaurant in the space that was Sherwin Mark's gallery. What used to be a rickety performance space of the Single Carrot Theater (since relocated to Parts and Labor further north in Remington) has matured into a well equipped small theater space. It still is without a permanent performance troupe, though. Artistic Director David Mitchell will see to it that the space will be used, starting as a permanent jazz venue and gradually with more uses "based on community needs" as Mitchell emphasizes.

Judging from Jubilee's Center Theater renovation (and their City Arts building), Mike Shecter's North Avenue Market (with the Windup Space, Liam Flynn and Red Emma's bookstore), MICA's Fred Lazarus Center on North Avenue, the newly relocated Joe Squared Pizza restaurant and performance space and the planned Parkway renovation for the Maryland Film Festival Station North is on a path that defies the usual stereotypes of gentrification by offering permanent affordable spaces for the arts. It doesn't look like the improvements on this part of the North Avenue frontier will kick its pioneers out any time soon.  If all goes as planned, it could even become a hotbed of workforce development and the renewal of social capital. That is also what will be needed in what is now dubbed "Innovation Village" in the miles of North Avenue to the west of Station North were renewal is still a dream.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

the Motor House combines new code compliant elements with restoration of historic details (all photos ArchPlan)

a full fledged theater space open for community suggestions

the view from the back to the front towards the first floor lobby

Will Holmann explains the Open Works which will be BARCO's next project

The old skylights are carefully restored and even feature double glazing now.

The third floor shared kitchen is located in the old car elevator

Knowledge aquisition and training is part of  Station North's agenda

a third floor oofice space looks out to the also renovated Fred Lazurus Center of MICA

Looking out on North Avenue is no longer a bleak affair in this block

Second floor artist space

Third floor non profit tenants

Third floor non profit tenants

Third floor non profit tenants

Third floor non profit tenants

Third floor non profit tenants

Jazz in the new performance space

Architectural floor plans (Frank Lucas Architect)