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.
