Restoring the Core is the smartest growth there is

Brewerytown, East Baltimore. Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron. Note the number of vacant rowhouses in the background.

In the summer, the Baltimore Sun ran a great series on the Brewery Town neighborhood, which is rampant with vacant buildings. I wrote about it, here and there, because there is still a land assembly/clearance attitude about the neighborhood, whereas as a preservationist, I see value in old buildings. See "A neighborhood abandoned" and this followup "Finding a Way."

I mention this for a few reasons.

1. Inclusionary zoning is an important policy prescription, after all, it's good to have mixed-income communities.
2. But it isn't the only or most important policy. And it has no impact whatsoever on displacement, or market pressures in neighborhoods experiencing new demand. Which is why one has to look at rent stabilization programs as well as tax assessment methologies. Almost 30 years ago, Rolf Goetze, in Understanding Neighborhood Change, wrote that they best way to reduce displacement pressure is to only reassess properties upon sale.
3. It's definitely not the only or most important housing policy for most center cities. There, I think it matters more about repopulating underinvested neighborhoods, and reclaiming/ rehabilitating/re-habiting vacant properties.

That's less of an issue today in DC, but it is still, to my way of thinking, the number one issue in Baltimore. Baltimore has the same problem that DC did years ago. Neighborhoods to an outsider that seem ripe with potential aren't, for whatever reason. But great transit connections or additions to the transit infrastructure, can be the public investment that leads to a change in perception about a neighborhood.

Baltimore needs a great transit system in order to make its neighborhoods more marketable and attractive.

Besides private (mostly) and public investment on H Street, the biggest public investment that finally changed the perception of the H Street NE neighborhood in DC was the creation of the infill transit stop in the northern section of the neighborhood--the New York Avenue red line station with an entrance at 2nd and M Streets NE.

The demographics are changing significantly as a result. After all, people think that a $120 million WMATA subway station is the kind of investment that means things will stabilize and improve.

Also see the blog entry "Bringing buildings back is really about bringing urban neighborhoods back."
Ivy and shadows creep over the American Brewery building in East Baltimore, with the city skyline visible in the distance (right). The building symbolizes both the neglect of the adjacent community and the hope for progress, as a social services agency plans to move into the structure after it is refurbished. (Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron)

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization