Lexington Terrace

It took 20 seconds to make 30 years of Ruth Miller's life disappear.The 65-year-old mother of 10 watched with tears in her eyes yesterday as five high-rises in the Lexington Terrace housing project sank into the ground in a waterfall of bricks, leaving only memories of block parties and camp-outs and children growing up and moving out.At 10 a.m., a succession of firecracker pops, a cloud of billowy dust and finally a boisterous cheer from thousands of...

JUDGE MARVIN J. Garbis of the U.S. District Court has already decided that a special master should be named as part of the settlement of the American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit over public housing in Baltimore. The judge still must choose a special master and define his responsibilities. Baltimore Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson would like that role to be as limited as possible.That would be a mistake. This special master must be more than an ombudsman for complaints from suburban residents disgruntled by the movement of public housing tenants to the counties, or for housing tenants themselves.

Some 37 years ago, the first five families to move into the Lexington Terrace housing project were greeted with cheers and bouquets.Today at 10 a.m. there will be cheers as the project's five high-rise buildings, just west of downtown, are demolished in about 20 seconds to make room for a new development, mostly of traditional Baltimore rowhouses."

After concern was expressed this week about Baltimore's plans not to include middle-income people in replacement housing for the Lexington Terrace high-rise housing project, a federal housing official now says those plans are fine.Alex Sachs, a spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said yesterday that the plans represent no change from the city's original application for a $22.9 million federal grant, so there's no need for a federal review."We were reassured [by city housing officials]

Fans of high-rise implosion need city-issued passes to the prime locations for viewing tomorrow's demolition of Lexington Terrace. (Just like anything else: It's who ya know.) But, if you don't have an official invitation to the grassy knoll at Franklin and Schroeder or the University of Maryland parking garage at Pine Street, allow me to recommend the corner of Poppleton and Baltimore streets in West Baltimore. The view is pretty good from there, and you're likely to find a hand-painted ice cream truck (its music box plays "Home, Home on the Range" repeatedly)

Demolition of the five high-rise building at the Lexington Terrace public housing complex in West Baltimore is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, and will wake about secopnds to complete, city officials said.The streets near the site will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The area is bounded by Greene Street on the east, Calhoun Street on the west, Baltimore Street on the South and Franklin Street on the north.The public may view the demolition from Baltimore Street at Fremont Avenue, Lexington Street at Greene Street and Saratoga Street at Greene Street.

Federal housing officials are expressing concern over Baltimore's new plan to exclude middle-income residents in the rowhouse communities that will replace the Lafayette Courts and Lexington Terrace housing projects."

Federal housing officials are expressing concern over ZTC Baltimore's new plan to exclude middle-income residents from the rowhouse communities that will replace the Lafayette Courts and Lexington Terrace housing projects."

The Baltimore housing officials have shelved plans to include middle-income people in the rowhouse communities that will replace the Lafayette Courts and Lexington Terrace housing projects.Instead, Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III said Friday, only poor people will rent or buy homes in the developments.Lafayette Courts, which had more than 800 units, was demolished a year ago. The 670-unit Lexington Terrace project is to be razed Saturday morning.Henson said the reversal was prompted by developers who doubted that middle-class people would buy houses in a development with poor people in subsidized housing.

A new city public school for the arts could open on the site of the Lexington Terrace public housing project on the western edge of downtown in a couple of years if myriad details can be worked out and money found to pay for it, says Walter G. Amprey, the city superintendent of schools.A committee has been meeting in recent weeks to discuss creating a school for children and possibly moving the renowned School for the Arts, a high school, from Mount Vernon to Lexington Terrace, Amprey said.