Community Law Center
ENEWS
Fall 2003
Community Law Center’s New “Real Estate Services Project” Closes its First Case
On September 16, 2003, Chesapeake Habitat for
Humanity placed the winning bid on the first Vacant House Receivership Case
filed by the Law Center’s new Real Estate Services Project, a milestone for
Community Law Center client Better Waverly Community Organization which sued
property owners earlier this year. Located in the heart of Better Waverly, 931
Homestead has been abandoned for years. The property was a continuing nuisance
with high weeds and grass outside, and a mountain of trash inside causing rodent
infestation. The property will be rehabilitated and sold to a low-income family.
Putting abandoned buildings and vacant lots into productive use is the goal of
the Real Estate Services Project. The Community Law Center provides legal
representation to community based organizations and works in partnership with
housing developers in Baltimore City neighborhoods where many of these
properties are located.
Since its inception, in December of 2002, the
Real Estate Services Project has opened 44 cases in stable neighborhoods like
Charles Village, Patterson Park and Waverly. "Vacant House Receivership Actions
allow community based organizations to not only work with, but have some control
over, the community and housing redevelopment process,” said
Tracie Watkins Rhodes, Real Estate Services Project
Directing Attorney. The Community Law Center’s Real Estate Services
Project is made possible by a grant from the Abell Foundation.
The Real Estate Services
Project assists developers in acquiring vacant properties. For more
information, contact The Community Law Center at 410/366-0922.
Community Law
Center and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office Clean Up Drug-Infested
Apartment Complex
October 2003 The Baltimore City
State’s Attorney’s Office and the Community Law Center, which represents the
Dundalk Avenue Area Residents Together, Inc. (DAART), announced today that they
resolved a lawsuit brought against the owners of a Southeast Baltimore apartment
complex that has been a source of complaints about drug dealing and violence.
The Community Law Center (CLC)
and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office’s Housing Court Division
jointly filed a lawsuit in March after a series of police raids at Holabird Park
Apartments where Baltimore City Police seized substantial quantities of cocaine,
marijuana and firearms. According to the Baltimore Police Department, officers
responded to more than 400 calls for service to the complex in the year leading
up to the lawsuit.
An agreement reached by the State’s
Attorney’s Office, DAART, and the owners of the Holabird Park Apartments states
that the owners will provide private armed security guards to patrol the
complex, improve a police substation at the complex to protect officers, and
increase scrutiny of tenants who reside at the complex. The agreement also
requires the owners to make substantial changes to the physical appearance of
the complex, including the installation of fences to limit access to the complex
by potential drug purchasers and graffiti removal. “We hope that this case can
be used as a model to address the unique problems associated with controlling
drug activity at larger apartment complexes,” said Baltimore City State’s
Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. “The message we are sending is clear: owners have
an obligation to ensure a safe living environment for their tenants and must be
good neighbors to surrounding communities.”
Holabird Park Apartments is a
garden-style apartment complex that includes more than 100 apartments. Since the
CLC and the State’s Attorney’s Office filed the lawsuit in March, police calls
for service at the complex have decreased dramatically. “It’s a big win because
it helps residents of these apartments, as well as the surrounding neighborhood,
live in peace and security,” said Matthew A.
Feigin, the lead Law Center attorney on this case.
Feigin, a Skadden Fellow at the
Community Law Center, represented DAART, and Evan Helfrich, an assistant state’s
attorney in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, Housing Court
Division, represented the State of Maryland and Mrs. Jessamy. By June of this
year the Law Center had opened 993 Drug Nuisance Abatement cases
on behalf of Baltimore’s Community based organizations.
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Last Updated:
September 25, 2006 ©
2006 Community Law Center, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland
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The Community Law Center, Inc.
