Community Development

Westminster housing officials are to present to the city's Common Council tonight a proposal to allow people who lose their homes because of fires or other disasters to qualify for rental subsidies. The city's Office of Housing and Community Development, which administers the federal Section 8 housing assistance program in Westminster, also will present a proposal designed to encourage program participants to work. Applicants would have to be working or be in a training program to qualify for rental assistance, meaning graduates of job training programs would not be qualified, said Karen K. Blandford, manager of the city's Housing and Community Development Office.

FROM THE grounds of the March Funeral Home on East North Avenue, voices were raised for the singing of gospel songs and the readings of scripture. The voices came not from the chapel, but from the parking lot. And they were lifted not as part of a ceremony of death, but as a celebration of a hoped-for rebirth. The occasion was a free concert Saturday night to highlight the East North Avenue Community Development Corp.'s fledgling initiative to revitalize what it calls the "Northern Gateway" to the east side.

Baltimore lags seriously behind comparable cities in its neighborhood development efforts because of an array of organizational problems, a new study says - a conclusion undisputed by a cross section of civic leaders. Baltimore lacks clearly defined development goals, and it needs more financial and leadership assistance from its leading companies, more focused support from business groups and better leadership of public development groups, the report says. City officials say they know the development effort is falling short.

WE ALL LOVE rankings and comparisons. That's why so many magazines, trade journals and surveys publish "the best" and "the worst" lists. Take your pick: Every want and need has a list -- restaurants, hair dryers, dog food, detergent. There is a new list this city should talk about as it prepares for the Sept. 9 municipal primary election. It ranks Baltimore behind Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in community development efforts. Baltimore has poorly defined its hopes and dreams for improving the city, says Paul C. Brophy, author of the rankings and a well-respected national expert in these matters.

In Baltimore City Police identify body found in car in lake as city youth, 15 A body found last week in an automobile submerged in Lake Ashburton was identified by city police yesterday as that of a 15-year-old Baltimore youth. The body of Demetrius Gregory, believed to be a student at Frederick Douglass High School, was found in the back seat of a Chrysler LeBaron spotted in the reservoir by a police helicopter observer on routine patrol June 9. No obvious injury to the body was found, and authorities were awaiting toxicology results from an autopsy before reporting the cause of death.

Despite a drive by a city councilman to keep Fells Point's signature Recreation Pier in public hands, the executive overseeing disposition of the waterfront building said the city remains committed to choosing a private developer. Paul T. Graziano, city commissioner for housing and community development, said yesterday that he is committed to "seeing the [selection] process play out," to find a financially viable development idea, because the city has decided it cannot maintain the 1914 building.

If the future of the city's century-old Recreation Pier lies among a pile of glitzy proposals that include an 11-story condo building, clusters of luxury homes or upscale apartments and an office-entertainment complex, most Fells Point residents would rather keep it vacant. At an open house yesterday in the pier's ballroom, about 100 residents questioned developers on plans for restoring the property, which is the centerpiece of one of Baltimore's oldest neighborhoods. "These developers are not taking the community into consideration," said Randi Eyre, a 20-year resident.

John T. Shannon Jr., an economic and community development executive at the University of Pennsylvania, has been chosen as the head of daily operations of a major East Baltimore revitalization effort centered around a biotechnology park. A lawyer and former official of the city governments of Philadelphia and Camden, N.J., Shannon is to take over May 12 as chief executive officer of East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit corporation set up to oversee the development of the biotech park and hundreds of units of new and renovated housing around the Johns Hopkins medical complex.

To television viewers of the 1990s crime drama Homicide: Life on the Street, it is a police station. To locals, it's a dance hall and working pier. But to at least three developers who want to remake the 1914 Fells Point waterfront landmark, the Recreation Pier building is a commercial opportunity. The three developers plan to submit ideas to the city by tomorrow on how to bring life back to the historic building. Baltimore officials will consider the plans, which include a hotel and restaurant, high-rise condominiums and a combination of housing, offices and other commercial space.

Kenneth Strong, director of research for a nonprofit law center in Baltimore devoted to helping community organizations, started a new job with the city yesterday as director of the office of homeownership. Strong, who will try to encourage homeownership through loan programs and promotional efforts to persuade more people to live in the city, was one of five housing department hires announced during a news conference yesterday at City Hall. Other incoming housing officials introduced by the mayor yesterday included Douglass Austin, deputy commissioner for development; J. Gregory Love, deputy commissioner for housing and building code enforcement; Ruth Louie, assistant commissioner for community development; and Chris Shea, associate deputy director of planning and development.