Demolition

LOS ANGELES - While Toby Gerhart rampaged through the Southern California defense in a quiet Coliseum, the star tailback and his teammates also flattened a bunch of recent college football certainties. USC's streaks of seven straight BCS bowls, 11-win seasons and top-four AP poll finishes? All finished. The Trojans' Pac-10 dominance the last seven years? It's all but over too after Gerhart ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns in Stanford's 55-21 victory, the most points allowed in USC history.

The city's development arm announced Thursday it will cancel a $1.5 million contract to demolish eight downtown buildings at Calvert and Lombard streets, the second planned demolition to be halted since The Baltimore Sun reported that the agency was not following the city's open-bidding rules. "We're not planning to do any future demolition at this time," said Baltimore Development Corp. President M.J. "Jay" Brodie. "We are not going to follow this approach of BDC soliciting work." The Baltimore Sun reported Monday that the agency had awarded a $378,477 demolition contract at the proposed site of a slots casino after soliciting prices from a handful of firms rather than advertising the work publicly.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon directed the city's quasi-public development arm Tuesday to use a competitive bidding process for all future demolition projects, reversing a year-old policy and bringing the agency into line with city rules. The Baltimore Sun reported Monday that the Baltimore Development Corp. awarded a $378,477 contract to demolish the Maryland Chemical building to P&J Contracting, owned by Pless Jones, without publicly advertising that the job was available. Instead, BDC officials contacted a handful of city demolition firms and picked the lowest of three offers they received.

Baltimore officials awarded a demolition contract at the site of a proposed slots casino without public bidding, drawing concern from the city comptroller and the head of a contracting association. Rather than advertise the work as required for most city projects, the Baltimore Development Corp., the city's development arm, approached a handful of demolition firms and asked them to provide prices to knock down the Maryland Chemical building on Russell Street. The agency also sought estimates for a second project using the same selective method, to raze city-owned warehouses currently occupied by a nonprofit architectural salvage firm on Warner Street.

Since Tropical Storm Agnes ended its working life abruptly in 1972, Union Dam has stood in the Patapsco River as a broken monument to a bygone industrial era, but it's also an obstacle to migrating fish, a swimming hazard and a potential threat to a large sewer pipe. Its remaining time can now probably be measured in months. Fueled by federal stimulus money, efforts of state and federal officials and river advocates are expected to be realized in the coming weeks with a demolition crew rumbling into Patapsco Valley State Park on the Baltimore-Howard County line to begin dismantling the 209-foot-long concrete hulk.

In a 6-to-4 vote, the Baltimore County Landmarks Preservation Commission declined last night to save a 1920s cottage in Cockeysville from demolition. Neighbors had petitioned to have the home at Sherwood and Cedar Knoll roads placed on a preliminary preservation list. That action would preclude any action on the building until a review by county officials and a public hearing. Commission members said that two additions to the home compromised its historic and architectural integrity. They said the house did not meet strict preservation guidelines, despite its association with Cockeysville's founding families.

THE PROBLEM: While demolishing an East Baltimore rowhouse, contractors damaged an adjacent building, according to the neighboring building's owner. THE BACKSTORY: Bobby Chen has owned a rowhouse at 1620 E. Chase St. since 2000. Last weekend, he discovered that his house had been damaged when the adjacent building, 1622 E. Chase, had been partially demolished by a contractor working for the city. On Tuesday, Chen said that the remains of 1622 were dangerous. He also said he was not aware of the demolition plan.

Anne Arundel County could soon have some of the stiffest penalties in Maryland for violations of critical area laws. A proposed ordinance could force homeowners and contractors caught building without a permit in the critical area - land within 1,000 feet of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries - to sign a consent order admitting guilt and agreeing to a plan to repair the impact on the environment. The consent order must be signed in order to apply for a retroactive permit that would allow the structure to stand, officials said.

The few residents who were left living in the 2800 block of W. Lanvale St. last month coped with bullets flying in broad daylight, as Baltimore police exchanged gunfire with a gang member who had shot and wounded a fellow officer. Yesterday, residents and others gathered for the latest spectacle on this West Baltimore block: the demolition of several vacant houses - a move by the city that many people said was long overdue, pointing to the danger posed by crime and rats. Dozens watched and some clapped as a large excavator tore through a dilapidated brick duplex with its steel shovel.

The reprieve was short-lived. Preservationists who had hoped to save a row of buildings next to the old St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church in Fells Point watched helplessly yesterday as a wrecking crew, armed with freshly granted approval from the city, began taking apart one of the structures. Last week, the workers were forced to postpone the demolition when told by City Councilman James B. Kraft that they lacked official approval of their plan to stabilize an 18th-century mansion that the preservationists hope will remain standing after the buildings on either side of it have been torn down.