Washington Village

Baltimore police are investigating a shooting in Washington Village, according to a spokesman. The victim told police he was in a vehicle talking to a man standing in the 1200 block of Ward Street just before 1 a.m., said Baltimore Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The 22-year-old got out of his vehicle and the man shot several times, hitting him twice, said the spokesman. The victim was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center for treatment, Guglielmi said. Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

As I try to recall the moment when my concern really set in, I remember walking into a dark, narrow hallway inside the front door of a brick rowhouse in Pigtown. My real estate agent, Clay Tucker, scanned the walls for the light switch. When he found it, I almost wished he hadn't. We passed by the dingy white, peeling walls to the winding staircase for the second-floor, $975-a-month apartment. I scanned the no-frills place and compared the space to my house in South Carolina. Our mortgage is $1,040 a month for a three bedroom, one-and-a-half bath ranch house on a quarter acre with granite countertops, a fenced-in yard dotted with big shade trees and a car port.

Baltimore City is seeking a developer for two city-owned properties in the Pigtown/Washington Village urban renewal area. The properties are a former fire station and a former public bathhouse. The Baltimore Development Corp., on behalf of the city, has set Sept. 15 as the deadline for groups to submit proposals to buy and redevelop the properties, both in the 900 block of Washington Boulevard. City officials are seeking proposals for a mixed-use development that will create jobs, generate taxes, stabilize the community and help anchor the surrounding business district.

At least one student at George Washington Elementary in southwest Baltimore has been diagnosed with scarlet fever, according to the city health department. A letter was sent home to parents Thursday detailing the illness' symptoms. Scarlet fever is a common infection caused by streptococcus bacteria and spread by person-to-person contact, coughing and sneezing, according to the letter. The illness can be treated with antibiotics. If left untreated, complications such as rheumatic fever and kidney disease may ensue, the letter says.

A long-simmering feud over what to call the Southwest Baltimore neighborhood that sometimes goes by Pigtown, sometimes by Washington Village and other times by a hyphenated hookup of the two, erupted recently in the unlikeliest of spots. This brawl over authenticity, pride and, of course, pigs overwhelmed an otherwise subdued hearing on - of all things - Pigtown's application to the National Register of Historic Places. Name game Do you have a better name for Pigtown? Submit your suggestion at baltimoresun.

A new city health department program announced today aims to tackle the longtime problem of Baltimore neighborhoods that lack supermarkets in a novel way -- by bringing fresh produce and healthy supermarket fare to residents through a free delivery system that operates with the click of a mouse from the library. The Virtual Supermarket Project offers library laptops where residents can order groceries online from Santoni's Super Market in Highlandtown and pick them up at the Orleans Street library the next day. The program offers a second location at the Washington Village library in West Baltimore, another neighborhood the health department calls a "food desert" for its scarcity of grocery stores and healthy food options.

In a rare occurrence highlighting Baltimore's arcane residential ground rents, a house in up-and-coming Washington Village was auctioned yesterday for $98,000 after the homeowners failed to pay ground rent of a few hundred dollars. The owners of the ground rent, Irvin and Sharon Caplan, sold the Glyndon Avenue rowhouse after winning control of the property through a lengthy court process and will pocket the net proceeds of the sale. The previous homeowners, who had no mortgage on the home, get nothing.

Two hundred city welfare recipients and noncustodial parents will participate in job training, placement and retention programs under a federal grant of about $1.2 million awarded recently to the Enterprise Foundation's "Ready, Work, Grow" program.Participants must live in Cherry Hill, Druid Heights, Sandtown-Winchester, Washington Village/Pigtown or East Baltimore-Midway; be registered with the Department of Social Services; or be the father of a child whose mother receives welfare.For participation in the program, Enterprise Baltimore has targeted three community development corporations -- Tri-Churches Housing Inc., Cherry Hill New Creations and Druid Heights CDC -- and six employment service providers -- EDEN Jobs, Genesis Jobs, Washington Village/Pigtown Family Support and Career Center, Damascus Career Center, Payne Memorial Outreach Inc. and Sylvan Learning Systems.

By day, Washington Boulevard, the main street of Pigtown, has a steady stream of foot traffic, but few places for people to go. The street just off Martin Luther King Boulevard is lined with vacant store fronts, boarded or locked by iron gates. But signs of life remain, such as a coffeehouse, a dance studio, an art gallery and a graphic design office. "It's frustrating not to be able to walk out your front door" and walk to shops and restaurants. "We all live here for the convenience," said Ryan Bruchey, a nine-year Pigtown resident and member of the Barre Circle Home Owners Association.

As a downtown football stadium moves closer to reality, residents of nearby streets are demanding remedies to the trash, noise, traffic and parking problems they said will plague their southwest neighborhoods when the game returns to Baltimore.About 70 residents of Pigtown, Washington Village, Ridgely's Delight and other communities gathered in a church basement last night to voice concerns about the negative impact of football crowds -- and to demand some of the stadium jobs and beautification projects.

Baltimore City is seeking a developer for two city-owned properties in the Pigtown/Washington Village urban renewal area. The properties are a former fire station and a former public bathhouse. The Baltimore Development Corp., on behalf of the city, has set Sept. 15 as the deadline for groups to submit proposals to buy and redevelop the properties, both in the 900 block of Washington Boulevard. City officials are seeking proposals for a mixed-use development that will create jobs, generate taxes, stabilize the community and help anchor the surrounding business district.

Baltimore police are investigating a shooting in Washington Village, according to a spokesman. The victim told police he was in a vehicle talking to a man standing in the 1200 block of Ward Street just before 1 a.m., said Baltimore Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The 22-year-old got out of his vehicle and the man shot several times, hitting him twice, said the spokesman. The victim was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center for treatment, Guglielmi said. Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

By day, Washington Boulevard, the main street of Pigtown, has a steady stream of foot traffic, but few places for people to go. The street just off Martin Luther King Boulevard is lined with vacant store fronts, boarded or locked by iron gates. But signs of life remain, such as a coffeehouse, a dance studio, an art gallery and a graphic design office. "It's frustrating not to be able to walk out your front door" and walk to shops and restaurants. "We all live here for the convenience," said Ryan Bruchey, a nine-year Pigtown resident and member of the Barre Circle Home Owners Association.

Residents of two Baltimore neighborhoods that lack supermarkets will soon be able to order their groceries through a free delivery system that operates with the click of a mouse from the library. The new Virtual Supermarket Project, city officials' latest attempt to solve Baltimore's long-standing history of neighborhoods with little access to healthful foods, offers laptops where residents can order groceries online from Santoni's Super Market in Highlandtown and pick them up the next day at the Orleans Street or Washington Village library branches of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

A new city health department program announced today aims to tackle the longtime problem of Baltimore neighborhoods that lack supermarkets in a novel way -- by bringing fresh produce and healthy supermarket fare to residents through a free delivery system that operates with the click of a mouse from the library. The Virtual Supermarket Project offers library laptops where residents can order groceries online from Santoni's Super Market in Highlandtown and pick them up at the Orleans Street library the next day. The program offers a second location at the Washington Village library in West Baltimore, another neighborhood the health department calls a "food desert" for its scarcity of grocery stores and healthy food options.

HANDBAGS AND THE CITY 5614 Newbury St., Mount Washington / / Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday / / 410-601-0096; handbagsandthecity.com ........................ GEORGE SAKELLARIS SPENT 18 years working for Washington-area department stores and another few years as a personal shopper. But if you ask his opinion, it isn't the clothes that make the man (or woman), it's the accessories. "I've always loved accessories. That's the most exciting part of any wardrobe," he said.

Residents of two Baltimore neighborhoods that lack supermarkets will soon be able to order their groceries through a free delivery system that operates with the click of a mouse from the library. The new Virtual Supermarket Project, city officials' latest attempt to solve Baltimore's long-standing history of neighborhoods with little access to healthful foods, offers laptops where residents can order groceries online from Santoni's Super Market in Highlandtown and pick them up the next day at the Orleans Street or Washington Village library branches of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

Baltimore's arcane system of ground rents, widely viewed as a harmless vestige of colonial law, is increasingly being used by some investors to seize homes or extract large fees from people who often are ignorant of the loosely regulated process, an investigation by The Sun has found. Tens of thousands of Baltimore homeowners must pay rent twice a year on the land under their houses. If they fall behind on the payments, the ground rent holders can sue to seize the houses-- and have done so nearly 4,000 times in the past six years, sometimes over back rent as little as $24, The Sun found.