Those of you who may have read some of my diaries may know that I am trying to buy a house in Baltimore City. Not something that I ever wanted to do, being a country girl more inclined to spending her days hanging out in a barn than a Starbucks or movie theater. However, for a whole bunch of reasons that I won't bore you with here, I want to stay in the metro area for a few years. And I don't want to rent any longer. That being said I have been forced by the ridiculous housing prices in central MD to look for a house in the last great bastion of sane housing prices here... Baltimore City. Now as the whole world knows, Baltimore has more than it's fair share of urban issues. That has led to a great group of people starting a website to fight fire with some real ballsy moves to take back their city. More below the fold.
After a long, ugly house hunt I have found a cute little rowhouse over in Brooklyn, a neighborhood in the southern district of Baltimore City. The house doesn't hardly need a thing, so for the reasonable amount of money I am spending, I am quite lucky. However, I am making some trade-offs for that reasonable mortgage and I know it. One street over there are still some vacant houses and I am sure that two blocks away I could buy all the crack I wanted if that was my thing. In my researching of vacant houses and how to track their status with the city I came across an interesting website, www.techbalt.com. I want everyone who is interested in urban renewal to chek out this website. They are young urban risktakers who are trying to link up people to buy whole blocks of the city so that the good people who want to buy in the city again have the strength of numbers to go against the dealers and criminals. They even have a "Bust a dealer" page where people can report document the drug activity in their neighborhood. How awesome is that? The upper areas of the city have houses to die for with 10" ceilngs and fireplaces and all the class you could want but the neighborhoods are still just crap. But maybe with the cooperative spririt that risk-takers like these are generating, these old homes have a chance... Just maybe.
Here is a sample of what I am talking about...
May 4, 2005- Update: TechBalt.com and Lake Montebello join together for a huge new project. Read all about it here. The update section has actually been updated! WE WIN: 8 more houses on Linden Ave! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! TechBalt has won a City Paper Best of Baltimore award! There will be a total site redesign soon. On the new site we will talk about the 8 RFP houses we got from the City on the 2200 Block of Linden (Linden Tree), the Buy a Business Block Idea, the Buy a Building Idea, and the Buy a Block part 2 project. Sorry for the long time it's been taking me to email you back. I promise to get back to each and every one of you soon. So if you are interested in any of the above topics then please email me. Read about the original TechBalt Buy a Block idea here! Read the Christian Science Monitor and the Jewish Times articles about us! Listen to the Smart City Radio story about us (Forward to the 27th minute). Email techbalt@lycos.com for more information. Thirteen houses on "Our Block" have been purchased and all will be occupied by winter 2005! Two are currently being lived in. Even if you are not interested in buying a house, there are many other ways you can help us change Baltimore! We have many projects in the planning stages. The retreat has ended. TechBalt.com leads the way as BALTIMORE BATTLES BACK! Please visit rebuildingmadison.info. View a great TechBalt.com photo here. We are now selling ad space to local businesses to help support our cause.