25th Street Station

The developers of a Remington shopping center, which is slated to include a Walmart and Lowe's home improvement store, could be eligible for substantial tax breaks because of a resolution hastily approved by the Baltimore City Council last year. The 25th Street Station project, planned for the site Anderson Automotive has occupied for half a century, is located in one of the city's two designated "focus areas," where businesses receive extensive property tax breaks and credits for hiring employees to stimulate growth in struggling communities.

Operators of the Walmart store proposed for Baltimore's Remington area want to keep it open 24 hours a day, a representative for the development team said at a community meeting Monday. Jon Laria, an attorney representing the $65 million 25th Street Station project planned for Howard and 25th streets, told a meeting of the Hampden Community Council that the development team is in the final stages of drafting City Council legislation that would permit construction of the development.

A proposal to build a Walmart in a Remington shopping center moved one step closer to fruition at Monday's City Council meeting when the councilwoman who represents the area introduced a bill to approve the zoning for the store. Councilwoman Belinda K. Conaway said she did not want to see the site, the current location of Anderson Automotive on Howard Street, sit vacant. And she stressed that the plan to construct a Walmart was far from final. "This is not a done deal," she said.

A Baltimore City Council member has delayed introduction of legislation that would permit construction of a $65 million Walmart-anchored development in her district so local residents and merchants can get more information about the project. The retail and residential project, called 25th Street Station, is planned for an 11.5-acre parcel centered around 25th and Howard streets in Remington. Councilwoman Belinda K. Conaway said she will postpone introduction of legislation by one week until the April 19 council meeting.

Baltimore's planning commission approved plans Thursday evening for a major development, including a Walmart store, on the site of Anderson Automotive in Remington. The decision followed hours of testimony from developers, city officials and community leaders for and against the project, which some believe would flood the neighborhood with traffic and reduce home values. The proposal now goes to the City Council for further hearings and a final decision. Rick Walker and Lawrence Cager of WV Urban Development, their attorney, Jon Laria of Ballard Spahr, planning officials and backers of the 25th Street Station project dominated the first two and a half hours of the meeting.

A proposal to build a shopping center on 11 acres in Remington received preliminary approval in a unanimous Baltimore City Council vote Monday, all but guaranteeing that the council will grant final zoning permission next week. Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, who introduced the zoning for the 25th Street Station shopping center, which is in her district, lauded it as "a development project that will bring jobs to the community" and said the plan "really embodies community input. " Jon Laria, an attorney for developer Rick Walker, thanked Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the council and "community partners" and said the project "has been a collaborative process without equal.

Fire Chief James S. Clack is considering moving a West Baltimore fire company across town this summer to alleviate the strain on East Baltimore units after two fire companies closed there last year. Clack said the plan, which has not been finalized and must be reviewed by the City Council, is an attempt to respond to a spike in calls to east-side companies — some have seen jumps of more than 50 percent — since East Baltimore's Truck 15 and Southeast Baltimore's Squad 11 were closed last summer.

Baltimore's mayoral race has gotten off to one of the earliest — and priciest — starts in recent history, according to campaign finance filings made public Thursday. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who became mayor last year after Sheila Dixon resigned, has more than $842,000 cash on hand, more than three times her nearest potential opponent and nearly $600,000 more than Dixon had raised by January 2007. State Sen. Catherine Pugh, rumored to be contemplating a run, has $252,000 cash on hand, putting her a distant second in fundraising.

Last week, as we celebrated the life and legacy of William Donald Schaefer, many of us were overwhelmed with feelings of great nostalgia, renewed civic pride and new hope for Baltimore. His passing reminds us that we must always think about the bold possibilities of Baltimore's future and what the people of this city — Mayor Schaefer's true passion — can accomplish by working together to achieve greatness. I was born in 1970, the year before William Donald Schaefer became mayor.

Luther Spruill bends over the gutter in front of his Remington home, scooping up litter with a broom and snow shovel as cars speed past on a steamy recent morning. In three decades on this well-traveled block, the 74-year-old retired machinist has watched the neighborhood fall in and out of blight. "I've seen them move in and I've seen them move out," says Spruill. "It boiled down that there weren't but three families left up and down this street, but now everybody's building it back up."