Why Baltimore’s thousands of vacant buildings are a ‘crisis of epic proportions’

[Kyle]

Vacant properties cost Baltimore $100 million a year, council members search for solutions


BALTIMORE – Red reflective diamonds dot the exteriors of crumbling, burned and boarded up row homes in Charm City, marking them unsafe. The thousands of abandoned properties cost the city more than $100 million a year and endanger lives.

"This is a crisis of really epic proportions that we have to address in our city," Councilwoman Odette Ramos told Fox News.

Ramos is at the forefront of efforts to clean up the city by turning lots over to developers and homeowners. It's been a yearslong focus for her, but scrutiny on the issue intensified last year when three firefighters died in a vacant building fire.

Ramos said that event highlighted for "the entire city how important it is to address" vacant buildings.

Why Baltimore’s thousands of vacant buildings are a ‘crisis of epic proportions’

Baltimore has one of the highest rates of vacant properties in America, costing the city upwards of $100 million a year. One city councilor shares her plan to fix it.

www.foxnews.com

You want a solution Baltimore?

Stop Electing Democrats, eradicate your street criminals and You'll Cease Being an EPIC $#!Thole everyone wants to leave. ( Apply to Every Democrat City as Needed )

 

[glhs837]

Maybe they can emulate Detroit cuz it's solution has worked so... oh never mind.

 

[OccamsRazor]

"More than 14,000 vacant buildings are scattered across Baltimore, costing the city around $100 million per year in maintenance, fire department and police resources..."

Having trouble understanding this statement. How is it costing the city 100 MILLION per year? How are they actually maintaining these buildings? If they are maintained, why are they falling apart? I understand fires but, they are sporadic. How do the police figure into this? Are there dedicated patrols and "visits" due to other issues (i.e. drugs, prostitution, etc.)

 

[Hijinx]

"More than 14,000 vacant buildings are scattered across Baltimore, costing the city around $100 million per year in maintenance, fire department and police resources..."

Having trouble understanding this statement. How is it costing the city 100 MILLION per year? How are they actually maintaining these buildings? If they are maintained, why are they falling apart? I understand fires but, they are sporadic. How do the police figure into this? Are there dedicated patrols and "visits" due to other issues (i.e. drugs, prostitution, etc.)

The Police probably figure in as they raid the crack houses these places become.
Last time I went to Baltimore people were living in tents on the street, maybe they could move into the houses..
A plan to tear these down and build more won't work. No one wants to live in a new house they pay for in a neighborhood filled with shooters, dope, thieves and criminal actions.

 

[SamSpade]

"More than 14,000 vacant buildings are scattered across Baltimore, costing the city around $100 million per year in maintenance, fire department and police resources..."

Having trouble understanding this statement. How is it costing the city 100 MILLION per year? How are they actually maintaining these buildings? If they are maintained, why are they falling apart? I understand fires but, they are sporadic. How do the police figure into this? Are there dedicated patrols and "visits" due to other issues (i.e. drugs, prostitution, etc.)

Property taxes, maybe?

 

[Merlin99]

Maybe they can emulate Detroit cuz it's solution has worked so... oh never mind.

Well some of Detroit's ideas have worked very well. They took entire vacant neighborhoods and bulldozed them to the ground. That land was then converted to garden plots.

 

[vraiblonde]

You want a solution Baltimore?

Stop Electing Democrats, eradicate your street criminals and You'll Cease Being an EPIC $#!Thole everyone wants to leave. ( Apply to Every Democrat City as Needed )

Also we know what "we must DO something!" is code for: funneling taxpayer money to one of your cronies who'll kick back some of it to you to do a bunch of "studies" and "assessments", then forget about it until next time you think you can get away with stealing money from the city.

 

[stgislander]

Well some of Detroit's ideas have worked very well. They took entire vacant neighborhoods and bulldozed them to the ground. That land was then converted to garden plots.

Plus, those two guys on TV (that just happen to be married to each other) are rehab'ing and flipping them one block at a time.

 

[OccamsRazor]

Property taxes, maybe?

$7,200 per year in property tax?

 

[glhs837]

Well some of Detroit's ideas have worked very well. They took entire vacant neighborhoods and bulldozed them to the ground. That land was then converted to garden plots.

Do you know what sort of toxic s*** you put into the ground when you bulldoze those old houses

 

[Merlin99]

Do you know what sort of toxic s*** you put into the ground when you bulldoze those old houses

Do you know what kind of toxic s*** moves into those houses when they aren't bulldozed?

 

[Kyle]

Do you know what sort of toxic s*** you put into the ground when you bulldoze those old houses

That must be the same logic that keeps the cops from shooting as often as they should.

 

[glhs837]

Well I'm all for bulldozing the houses but don't think you can safely grow crops in the damn holes. And that's where the redevelopment falls apart. As soon as you try and mitigate all that asbestos in lead pretty soon it becomes non-viable

 

[Merlin99]

Actually they did quite a bit more than just dozing the houses. the removed the entire infrastructure, roads, water, sewer. It's just acres of blank land that gets mowed monthly. I know that there are garden plots there because there's big signs on the side of the road telling you about it, whether it's subsidized by Wayne county may be questionable.

 

[HemiHauler]

This can’t be new. When I was regularly travelling by Amtrak between NYC and DC 25 years ago or so, the abandoned dwellings were numerous. In fact, they were a well-known feature of the northeastern Amtrak corridor among the travelers.

I’ve lived in Baltimore. Like any city, most productive citizens who live there know what areas to avoid. It’s not often you’re the victim of random violence.

 

[spr1975wshs]

Tax the rich, feed the poor , till there are rich no more.... (10 years after)

Eminently cogent today.