David Seaberry, 49, talks to the young men in the neighborhood… (Algerina Perna, Baltimore…)
May 01, 2011|By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun
For decades, veteran police officers viewed Baltimore's Northeast Police District, dominated by middle-class, low-crime neighborhoods, as a "country club" assignment.
But a rise in crime in some neighborhoods is changing that sentiment. Shootings and violence have been on the rise in the district — the city's largest, spanning 17 square miles including Lauraville, Ednor Gardens and Belair Edison — and it leads the city in homicides this year. The Police Department recently designated two neighborhoods in the area as "violent crime enforcement zones," putting them on a par with some of the most troubled spots in the city.
At a town hall meeting last week, resident Maraizu Onyenaka pleaded with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to stop the drug traffic on her block.
"I live on a corner that is an open-air drug market," said Onyenaka. "We know where they are. Everyone knows where they are. So why are they still there?"
Despite the spike in crime, the district largely remains a safe, middle-class enclave. And the violent crime around Clifton Park, an area long troubled by drug dealing, did not spring up overnight. Nevertheless, Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who represents the area of the district where most of the violence has occurred, said, "We all have a lot of work to do in the Northeast District. That's for certain."
Since last month, a squad of 15 officers from the Violent Crimes Impact Section has been patrolling the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello and Belair Edison communities. That's on top of more than 20 foot patrol deployments throughout the district, which police and city officials hope will stem the 21 percent rise in total crime.
Officers have raided drug houses and seized loaded illegal handguns, and the department served outstanding warrants on 50 people with histories of violence in the area. But the shootings continue. On April 22, a man was fatally shot several times in Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello, a day after a man was shot in the chest while sitting on a porch in Belair Edison. Both shootings occurred in broad daylight.
It's not just violence that's on the rise. Across the district, property crime has soared 23 percent, including a 50 percent increase in burglaries. Internal turmoil has rocked the police district, with a command shake-up and more than a dozen officers suspended or charged by federal prosecutors in a towing scandal in February, in which officers were accused of taking kickbacks.
Through a spokesman, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III did not respond to interview requests.
The Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello neighborhood's challenges have been building. Nestled between the redeveloped former Memorial Stadium site and Clifton Park, it's home to Baltimore's venerable City College high school, which draws students from across the city and counts among its notable alumni U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, Reps. Elijah E. Cummings and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, composer Philip Glass, developer David Cordish and Atlanta Braves team president John Schuerholz.
The neighborhood was also where then-Councilman Martin O'Malley announced his candidacy for mayor in 1999, pledging to rid the city of open-air drug corners.
Mark Washington, executive director of the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello Association, said he's lived in the neighborhood his whole life and that the challenges that exist today aren't new. Despite his frustrations with police and city officials, he said, he believes things are moving in the right direction.
"We have a strong core of residents that are committed to changing this community for the better, and that gives me great optimism," he said.
Long-term change requires combating a rising number of vacant, blighted properties, he says. Preliminary census data released this year shows the neighborhood had a population decline of 16 percent between 2000 and 2010, with vacancies rising.
Clarke, the councilwoman, notes that it was among seven city neighborhoods to receive help to fight foreclosures and acquire and rehabilitate vacant homes. It has also received funding for an after-school program and for senior citizens, and a streetscape project along Harford Road is under way. Clarke and Washington both say they're hopeful that a long-awaited redevelopment project on troubled Tivoly Avenue — stripped out of the mayor's budget last year — will eventually move forward.
In response to residents' concerns about drugs at last week's town hall meeting, Rawlings-Blake cited her years of experience as a public defender and said the city needs more treatment programs for drug addicts. She pointed to a volunteer initiative that trains ex-addicts to help drug users seek treatment.
