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Spring Newsletter
April, 2002
Getting it Done in
Sandtown/Winchester
The Community Law Center, Enterprise Foundation and Community Building in
Partnership combined to create the Sandtown/Winchester Community Safety
Coordinating Council (SWCSCC) in January 2001. Utilizing the technical
assistance of the Law Center's staff attorney, Irene Smith, Esq., and paralegal
Cassandra Forsberg, community organizer, Marsha Bannerman and the Enterprise
Foundation's Senior Program Manager, Joanne Levy, residents worked hard to
inventory assets and liabilities in the communities. From that work they
created a list of 6 goals to eliminate the major problems directly threatening
the public safety and welfare of the neighborhood. These were problems
that had persisted for more than eight years. Initially the plan was to
pursue one goal a year until each goal had been reached. Many community
residents believed that these problems might never be solved. Working
together, the community residents and SWCSCC were able to achieve each of their
six goals by December 2001.
Goal # 1: Penn Super Market: A Threat to Public Health
The community identified 2400/2402 Pennsylvania Ave. (Penn Super Market) as
particularly problematic for the community. The most pressing concern was
a high degree of drug dealing activity around the store. This behavior was
dramatically affecting residents in the vicinity. When the Community Law
Center further investigated we found equally serious problems inside the market
itself. Meat was grey and rotten. Some food on the shelves for sale
was more than 10 years old. Evidence of rodent infestation was everywhere.
Residents reported the presence of a dog in the store overnight. The
market neither owned nor utilized trash cans. The business had not been
properly permitted or zoned since 1962. In an eight year time period, the
store had been cited hundreds of times for serious Health Code violations.
After months of working to gather evidence from the store itself, from the
Health Department and Zoning Enforcement officials, we presented our case to the
community. The community decided unanimously to alert the media, protest
the store, and beseech our City Council representatives to hold a hearing on
this matter. Molly Rath wrote a lengthy expose' in the City Paper.
We demonstrated in front of the store on November 17, 2001. Councilman
Keiffer Mitchell introduced a resolution to hold an emergency hearing before
Councilman Reisinger's Health Committee to look into the complaints about this
market. Irene Smith, Esq., testified about the horrible conditions she had
witnessed first hand at the market. She went on to describe the breakdowns
in the Health Department which allowed violations to be cited but not followed
up on. This lead the Health Department to convene a hearing to determine
whether or not to permanently revoke the food license for this market.
Residents, Irene Smith, Esq., and Councilman Mitchell testified about the
market's problems and their impact on the community. As a result, the
Health Department permanently closed the store down. Now, Councilman
Reisinger, Irene Smith, Esq. and Cassandra Forsberg are working on drafting
changes to the Baltimore City Code to make Baltimore food markets safer for
families.
The Community Compensation Act would enable community associations to address
those situations which occur on the street - the drive-through drug markets and
the street level prostitutes. As with the Drug Nuisance cases, it would require
coordination between the Police and the community.
Goal # 2: 2424 Pennsylvania Ave.: The Stash Site
In conjunction with the Law Center's work at 2400/2402 Pennsylvania Ave., we
discovered that the drug activity on that corner was being facilitated by a
collapsed garage behind 2424 Pennsylvania Ave.. The rubble was being used
by the dealers on the corner to stash their drugs. The building had
completely collapsed more than 10 years ago and was filled with trash and rats.
There are approximately 20 children who live next to this garage. Drug
dealing was so prevalent that one resident had to put her children to sleep in
bathtubs because she feared bullets would fly through the home and strike her
children. We invited city officials, including Izzy Patoka, Director of
the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods, to tour the area in May and followed up
with calls and letters. Three weeks later the rubble was completely
removed. Drug dealing slowed down. When the Penn Super Market was
permanently closed, all drug dealing moved off this corner. The entire
area is now safer for families and children.
Goal # 3: 1700 Block of Woodyear Place: Ms. Armstrong's Fight
The community identified the 1700 block of Woodyear Place as an extremely
dangerous location. The entire block consisted of vacant houses and some
of the properties were inhabited by rats and junkies. Trash, weeds,
criminal activity and needles made this block a nightmare for neighbors,
including Ms. Doris Armstrong. Ms. Armstrong had been trying to get this
block attended to for more than ten years. She made calls, wrote letters
and went out every day to do her best to sweep and clean the needles and crack
vials. The Community Law Center opened a Community Bill of Rights case
against the property owners and notified the Baltimore City Department of
Housing and Community Development of our intention to file a law suit. As
a result, the properties were condemned. The squatters were relocated.
The entire block was demolished in August. What was once a major threat to
the health, safety and welfare of the community, is now a green space maintained
by the community.
Goal # 4: 1400 Presstman Street: Operation "White Goods"
The community identified 1400 Presstman St. as a danger to children and an
eyesore for the community. This is a corner lot that was being used as a
dumping ground for washers, dryers, refrigerators, stoves (also known as "white
goods"). The lot is adjacent to an elementary school and children often
played with the unsafe discarded equipment. The Community Law Center went
out to the location and videotaped numerous individuals dumping these "white
goods." With that evidence we contacted the owner of the property.
To our delight, the property owner wanted to donate the lot to the Sandtown
Winchester Habitat for Humanity, who wanted to use the lot for a community
garden. CLC assisted in transferring title from the property owner to
Habitat for Humanity. In June, Irene Smith, Esq., volunteered in the "100
House" initiative by S/W Habitat for Humanity. For two days, she worked
alongside other volunteers to transform this one-time junk heap into a beautiful
raised garden. Children can now play in the garden rather than in
junked-out washers and dryers.
Goal # 5: The Corner of Riggs and Carey: Drug Dealing Galore
At any given time, you could have found 20-30 drug dealers working the corner
of Carey and Riggs. It was truly frightening for the seniors and children
who lived in these blocks to even walk down the street. Many people simply
hid in their homes or left in the wee hours rather than face the crowds of
dealers. So we decided to take back the corner. We started by
opening self-help nuisance abatement cases on five crack houses in the immediate
vicinity. We notified them of our intention to brick the properties.
We then got a right of entry from the City to allow children to paint the
sidewalks of Riggs and Carey Streets with anti-drug slogans. On that same
day, we made good on our warning by bricking up three crack houses thanks to
Urban Youth Corp., a non-profit group that teaches teenagers construction
skills. The next week we bricked the other two. Residents started a
tag letter program and recorded the tag numbers of people buying drugs on the
corner. The Law Center followed up by sending out letters advising them
that their actions were being monitored. CLC worked with the Department of
Public Works to address major sanitation problems with the understanding that
crime and grime often go together. Today, drug dealing on this corner is
rare. And one resident was heard to say, "for the first time I feel safe
walking down my street."
Goal # 6: 1024 N. Carrollton Ave.: The Baltimore Schoolhouse
For more than 10 years, 1024 N. Carrollton Ave., a fourteen unit apartment
complex housed in an old elementary school owned by the City but under a long
term lease by a private company has been a nuisance to the community. Drug
dealing and prostitution were rampant. In a ten month period, over two
dozen arrests had been made at the property. Numerous efforts were made to
work with the management company but they were unwilling to address the security
problems. The community beseeched the City to break the lease and appoint
a new developer and management company. The community identified a
developer, Savannah Development, that they trusted to ensure the property was no
longer a nuisance. But the City's hands were tied because they needed good
cause to change the lease. The CLC helped the City to break this lease by
providing voluminous evidence of drug dealing activity. In December the
community learned that the City had terminated their contract with the
management company and would be contracting with Savannah Development to develop
and manage the property.
These accomplishments are life-changing for the Sandtown community.
They could not have been achieved without a strong community legal team and
brave resident commitment. It will be a challenge in the next year to
continue the amazing progress that has been made in our inaugural year.
The Community Law Center Working on
Woodland Avenue
Trash and vacant houses are a big problem in the southern Park
Heights community. In particular the 3200 block of Woodland Avenue had
been a concern for more than two years. All of the houses on that block
were empty and abandoned by their owners. They were rapidly deteriorating
and at least two of the houses had been the site of suspicious fires.
Small contractors were using the yards of these houses as illegal dump sites.
Drug dealers were using some of these houses as stash houses while addicts used
some of them as "crack houses and or shooting galleries". The situation
was bleak.
In 1999, Tracie Watkins Rhodes, Esq., began working with the
Woodland Nguzo Saba Neighborhood Association (WNSNA), headed up by Jean Yahudah,
to change the situation. Tracie and Senior Paralegal, Ingrid Hitchens Hall
started by attempting to locate the property owners and notifying them that the
Law Center was prepared to file law suits to make them clean up, repair and
secure their properties. Despite numerous boardings by WNSNA and the City,
these properties continued to be problems. This led the Law Center to
petition various City agencies on behalf of WNSNA to demolish the properties so
that the area could be redeveloped at a later date. When the entire block
was leveled during the second week of November 2001, this was a big victory for
the community. Now we are working with WNSNA to secure this area and
toward getting the vacant lot put back into productive use, perhaps as open
green space or community garden.
The Community Law Center
Helps Madison Avenue Get Rid of Drug House
A neighbor of 1833 Madison Avenue recently removed a big,
handwritten sign from his window that read: "ALL PROSTITUTES, JOHNS, AND
JUNKIES, STAY OFF THIS PROPERTY. THE HOUSE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS NEXT
DOOR." After months living next to a busy prostitution and drug house, the
nightmare finally ended for the residents of the 1800 block of Madison Avenue.
With critical assistance from Alyson Harkins and Michael Bainum, Esq., the 1800
block of Madison Avenue is again a tranquil place to live. The problem
property was located in an otherwise stable, middle-class section of Madison
Park. Problems began when the owner occupant began operating an all-hours
flop house. Working together with neighbors, the police, Michael Braverman,
Esq. of the State's Attorney's Office, and the owner's family. Staff
Attorney, Michael Bainum facilitated the owner's voluntary departure from the
neighborhood and sale of the property to the owner's uncle. The
responsiveness of the various agencies helped bring about the ultimate
resolution and to thwart a separate sale the owner had arranged with a buyer
whom neighbors suspected was involved in criminal activity. Just days
before the second sale was scheduled to settle, the Law Center's legal team
worked with the uncle's real estate broker to ensure that the uncle's deed could
be timely recorded.
Equally significant was paralegal Alyson Harkins' efforts to
prod animal control to liberate the former owner's dog from her woeful living
conditions. Happily, the dog is enjoying a new life in a stable and loving
home. Meanwhile, the uncle has agreed to sell the one-time flop house to a
pair of teachers who eagerly await moving to their newly restored neighborhood.
Baltimore City's
Alternative Tax Sale for Abandoned Properties
One of the most rewarding undertakings of the Pro Bono Project
has been the City's Abandoned Property Tax Sale. Getting vacant and
abandoned properties back into productive use has long been a priority for the
Community Law Center. There are literally tens of thousands of them in
Baltimore City. Vacant, uncared for buildings and lots are a significant
problem for most older cities. They attract trash, rats and drugs and they
drag down neighborhoods. Often City liens for years of cleaning and
boarding far exceed the value of the properties. Just as often the owners
cannot be found. In an effort to make these properties available for
redevelopment, Baltimore City held its first ever Abandoned Property Tax Sale,
on August 8, 2001. A total of 236 properties were sold in bundles of 20 or
more. Vacant lots were sold for a minimum bid of $350 and vacant houses
for $1,000.
Tax sale foreclosure is a complex legal process. And the
Abandoned Property Tax Sale had some new and different twists. For a
vacant house to qualify for the sale, the liens on the property had to exceed
the full cash value of the property. The pleadings to the court had
special requirements. The time frame for initiating and completing the
legal process was extremely short. Cases had to be filed within three
months. The Law Center invited its active pro bono attorneys to take
Abandoned Property Tax Sale cases. James J. Kelly, Jr., Esq., the staff
attorney for the Pro Bono Project, prepared sample documents and provided two
comprehensive training workshops in August and September of 2001.
The Law Center then contacted nonprofit organizations which had
expressed interest in bidding at the tax sale and provided legal representation
if the organization was already a client; provided a pro bono attorney if the
organization needed one; or, if the organization already had legal counsel,
provided training to that attorney. In all, the Law Center trained a total
of 25 attorneys who represented 13 organizations on 80% of the tax sale
properties.
In October the attorneys had the title work completed. On
November 8, just three months after the sale, the attorneys filed foreclosure
cases on the properties. The entire Abandoned Property Tax foreclosure
process must be completed within 18 months of the filing date. At that
time, 236 blights on the City will become parks, redeveloped housing and
community centers.
We wish to extend special thanks to the law firm of Ballard
Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, which assembled by far the largest team of attorneys
to take on the largest number of properties on a pro bono basis. As of
December 31, 2001, the team of attorneys from Ballard Spahr had spent a total of
437 pro bono hours on the Abandoned Property Tax Sale. We also pause here
to recognize the following attorneys who generously gave of their time and
talent to help dedicated faith-based organizations and non-profit developers
acquire properties for redevelopment.
CLC Pro Bono Tax Sale Attorneys
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll
Susan Spence
Christopher J. Fritz
Shaun F. Carrick
Fran S. Glushakow-Smith
Sheelagh Allston
Michael R. Alokones
Jan I. Berlage
Anne Heesters Schroth
Martha L. Hylton
Michael T. Kersten
Georganne K. Mallas
Tara Veneracion
Harvey & Harvey
Dan Harvey
Law Offices of Shawn Carter
Shawn Carter
Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe
Todd Chase
Jack Machen
Whiteford Taylor & Preston
Priscilla Carroll
Joe Shaller
Debbie Ailiff
CLC Pro Bono Tax Sale Clients
Dallas Street CDC
Zion Baptist Church
Episcopal Housing
Harlem Park CDC
Amazing McElderry CDC
Midtown Development
St. Frances Academy
For more information about the Law Center's Pro Bono Project,
please call Barbara Breslau at 410/366-0922 ext. 213
Juliet A. Eurich, Esq.,
Elected to Chair of the Board
Juliet Eurich, Esq., was elected to serve as
the Chair of the Law Center's Board of Directors at their meeting on December 4,
2001. She has been on the Board since 1998 and had served as the Vice
Chair from 2000 to 2001. Born and raised in New York City, she moved to
Baltimore in 1976. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Stanford
University and her Juris Doctorate from the Boston College Law School.
She has been practicing law in the
Baltimore-Washington area since 1977. Ms. Eurich worked at the Department
of Justice (DOJ) for 17 years. Her last assignment was as the Acting
Director of the Professional Responsibility Advisory Office in Washington, D.C.,
a new office in the DOJ designed to give ethics and professional responsibility
advice to Justice Department lawyers. Prior to this position she served as
an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, where she
tried both civil and criminal cases and for several years she was the Chief of
the Civil Division. She also held the position of Legal Counsel to the
Executive Office for United States Attorneys for three years (1994-1997) where
she represented all the United States Attorneys offices and served as their
liaison to the Department. Before joining the Justice Department, she
spent almost seven years in private practice in Baltimore.
Since leaving the Justice Department
she has been trained as a mediator and facilitator in Community Conferencing,
and has served as a Senior Project Manager for the Rodney Trust Company, a
limited purpose trust company in Wilmington, Delaware. She is currently a
Special Master handling a matter in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.
Juliet has been an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore Law School
and has lectured and taught for the Justice Department and other federal
agencies on a variety of topics ranging from ethics to litigation skills.
Juliet recently completed the Greater
Baltimore Committee's Leadership Program and currently serves on the Board of
Trustees for Center Stage and the Baltimore Community Foundation. She is
excited about meeting all the people and organizations who contribute their
time, talent and resources to making the Law Center a leader in community
oriented law. She looks forward to supporting the wonderful work being
done by the Law Center and hopefully expanding and enlarging the funding to
enable the Center to do even more for the Baltimore community.
Drug dealers are removed from Operation
Reach Out South West Initiative Community
On Sunday, September 23, 2001, three men where shot and two
were found dead in a rowhouse in the Franklin Square community. One of the
two men who were killed was known by the Police Department to be a drug kingpin.
The community informed the Law Center that the entire family at this house, from
the grandmother to the grandsons, were involved in drug activity. The
community association became increasingly concerned about a turf war or some
sort of retaliation once the wounded man returned to the home from the hospital
(despite being shot 8 times).
The Law Center's Senior Attorney, Kristine Dunkerton, Esq.,
who works with Paralegal, Lauren Lyon, quickly got in contact with the drug and
homicide units. The Law Center was informed that approximately one week
before the double homicide, the property was raided for drugs. At that
time, the Police recovered a significant amount of cocaine and marijuana from
the property.
The Law Center contacted the property owner and informed her
that the Law Center would be filing a drug nuisance abatement action against
her. After speaking with the property owner's attorney, we learned that
the owner was an elderly woman in her 90's who was unable to manage her affairs.
Her attorney agreed to work with us to have the tenants evicted and the property
transferred to someone who could better manage it.
Working together with the Law Center, the District Court
ordered the tenants to vacate the property on November 9, 2001. The
property was then immediately vandalized and the appliances and fixtures were
stolen. On that day, residents of the block called us and we again
notified the owner's attorney and police. The property was secured and is
being transferred to a neighbor who plans to rehabilitate the house.
Local Corporations Earn Tax Credits While
Helping The Law Center
Local Companies are helping Baltimore's neighborhoods and
earning state income tax credits for their efforts, by participating in the
Neighborhood Partnership Program. These businesses have earned state tax
credits equal to 50% of their donations that are over $500.00 to designated
Community Law Center projects. The tax credits are in addition to the
usual federal and state deductions for charitable contributions. Last
year, the following Companies contributed over $57,000 to the Community Law
Center.
Neighborhood Partnership Program 2001
Allfirst
Bradford Federal Savings Bank
Cliftara B&B
Harbor Bank of Maryland
Key Bank & Trust
Lord Baltimore Capital Corp.
St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance
Susquehanna Bank
For information, call The Community Law Center, 410-366-0922.
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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.
