Zone Residents

On Dec. 21, the day after the announcement that Baltimore was among six U.S. cities to receive coveted empowerment-zone grants from the federal government, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and the mayors of the other five cities took part in a conference call with President Clinton and Vice President Gore. Below is a transcript of the exchange between Mr. Schmoke and Mr. Gore during the call, courtesy of the Federal News Service:GORE: . . . I'd like to say just a word about Baltimore and how important it is that Baltimore understands clearly how important job creation is to a sustainable future.

FIERCE was the only way to describe the competition in 1994 among cities that wanted to be in the federal Empowerment Zone program. When Baltimore found out it was among the chosen few, the announcement was trumpeted by some as the single greatest accomplishment of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's administration and the linchpin to secure the city's economic future.Expectations have remained high, even as the people managing Baltimore's three empowerment zones (Sandtown-Winchester and Pigtown in West Baltimore, the neighborhoods around the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in East Baltimore and Fairfield in South Baltimore)

Ask Bruce Fink why people just don't seem to leave Linthicum and he'll offer the same answer for why the community's homes sell so well."Location, location, location," says Fink, a Realtor who has lived in Linthicum all of his 34 years.The community of 2,400 mostly single-family homes near Baltimore-Washington International Airport sits close to Baltimore, Westinghouse Corp. and the National Security Agency, where many residents work. In minutes, Linthicum residents can reach just about every major thoroughfare -- Interstate 97, Route 3, the beltway.

The head of Baltimore's multimillion-dollar federal program to revitalize some of the city's most decayed neighborhoods will be paid $120,000 a year.The salary of Claude Edward Hitchcock, president and chief executive officer of Baltimore's $100 million federal empowerment zone effort, is slightly more than the $117,600 paid to Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier but less than the $140,000 paid to Schools Superintendent Walter G. Amprey.City Solicitor Neal M. Janey and Public Works Director George G. Balog make $108,600.

Amid some sharp divisions over how to spend parts of $100 million in federal revitalization funds, Baltimore's empowerment zone officials yesterday approved millions of dollars for business development, housing and job training programs.Programs budgeted at $34 million included $10 million in items approved by the board's executive committee earlier this month and several new ones. Among the additions are money to develop a master plan for a proposed ecological-industrial park in Fairfield, to beef up community policing and to pay for literacy and on-the-job training programs for zone residents.

Federal officials have given Baltimore the go-ahead to spend millions of dollars in empowerment zone funds on business development, job training and drug treatment programs.The approval by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development means that the first of the programs to revitalize some of the city's most distressed neighborhoods could be in place by late summer or early fall, Diane Bell, interim president of the Empower Baltimore Management Corp., said yesterday.HUD's endorsement of the city's plans was "exciting," Ms. Bell said, adding, "That's an understatement."

Baltimore has spent $1.3 million of its $100 million federal empowerment zone money on administration and other expenses, and has committed spending up to $5.8 million more this year on programs for business development, home ownership and public safety.From the time the city received the coveted designation in December 1994 through May 31 of this year, the Empower Baltimore Management Corp. spent $725,000 of the federal money on administrative costs, according to an accounting made public yesterday.

With more and more deserving entries, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said it's getting harder to select the winners of the Mayor's Business Recognition Awards. But selected they were, and yesterday the winners of the 24th annual event were given their due at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore across from the Inner Harbor.The awards, sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Committee and the Baltimore Development Corp., honor businesses that have shown outstanding community leadership and service to the city. This year's event paid tribute to deeds ranging from children's immunization to employment opportunities for high school dropouts.

Empower Baltimore Management Corp., the nonprofit company overseeing the city's three empowerment zones, has won a $1.5 million federal grant to create a unique community-based loan agency to aid new businesses and provide an investment opportunity for local residents.The grant, which will be supplemented with a $1.5 million allotment from the city's Department of Housing and Community Development, will provide loans ranging from $1,000 to $500,000, according to Empower Baltimore spokesman Michael Preston.

A local activist group says state officials purposely shut out the public four years ago and created a larger airport "noise zone," unexpectedly raising sound levels in many communities surrounding Baltimore- Washington International.Aviation officials, however, argue that the public was adequately informed that the noise zone could be enlarged beyond what was presented at the final public hearing.It took the group, the Airport Coordinating Team, three years and many court hearings to force the state's Transportation Review Board to hear its case, which charges state officials with enlarging the noise zone to pave the way for expansion.