EBDI begins Phase II of biotech park construction
The first phase of construction occurred in a 30-acre area immediately adjacent to the Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Now in the second phase of a three-part process, 86 owners and 171 renters who will be affected by upcoming demolition are hoping to avoid what they see were failures by EBDI during the first construction period.
Those perceived failures were the topics of discussion at a meeting Tuesday night. Leaders of EBDI met with community members for a Relocation and Housing Committee Meeting at the EBDI Community Resource Center, a community gathering space housed in the former Luther Craven Mitchell Primary School in the center of the redevelopment area.
As the meeting began in the brightly lit white cinder block room, about 50 residents sat ready to listen to and question EBDI representatives. What started as a simple PowerPoint presentation became a passionate debate as residents asked questions and made cutting accusations.
One issue that arose was the Emergency Relocation Program offered by EBDI, which allows residents to move up in the queue for being relocated to a new home.
"I applied for an emergency relocation, but I didn't get it," said one older resident who will be relocated in a subsequent phase of the project. "I have a note from my doctor. It says I have a breathing problem. I can't breathe. How come you people rejected me?"
"What counts as an emergency in some people's eyes may not be in another person's eyes," said Doug Nelson, president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a non-profit that has been responsible for the relocation of residents to alternative housing during demolition.
According to a July 2003 edition of the Environmental Health Perspective Journal, housing demolition in East Baltimore has been a source of "lead in ambient dust."
At Tuesday's meeting, EBDI officials claimed that all items contaminated with lead paint were removed prior to demolition. Special attention was placed on the careful removal of contaminated debris in order to keep the lead dust levels down.
Those perceived failures were the topics of discussion at a meeting Tuesday night. Leaders of EBDI met with community members for a Relocation and Housing Committee Meeting at the EBDI Community Resource Center, a community gathering space housed in the former Luther Craven Mitchell Primary School in the center of the redevelopment area.
As the meeting began in the brightly lit white cinder block room, about 50 residents sat ready to listen to and question EBDI representatives. What started as a simple PowerPoint presentation became a passionate debate as residents asked questions and made cutting accusations.
One issue that arose was the Emergency Relocation Program offered by EBDI, which allows residents to move up in the queue for being relocated to a new home.
"I applied for an emergency relocation, but I didn't get it," said one older resident who will be relocated in a subsequent phase of the project. "I have a note from my doctor. It says I have a breathing problem. I can't breathe. How come you people rejected me?"
"What counts as an emergency in some people's eyes may not be in another person's eyes," said Doug Nelson, president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a non-profit that has been responsible for the relocation of residents to alternative housing during demolition.
According to a July 2003 edition of the Environmental Health Perspective Journal, housing demolition in East Baltimore has been a source of "lead in ambient dust."
At Tuesday's meeting, EBDI officials claimed that all items contaminated with lead paint were removed prior to demolition. Special attention was placed on the careful removal of contaminated debris in order to keep the lead dust levels down.
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