Zone Residents

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.

A county Circuit Court jury awarded 10 Glen Burnie families almost $100,000 late yesterday for the annoyance, inconvenience and emotionalinjury caused by noise from Baltimore-Washington International Airport.After nearly three days of deliberation, the jury awarded eachof the 20 adults who brought the lawsuit amounts ranging from $2,300to $12,000, said Joseph A. Miklasz, who represented the families. Noawards were made to the 17 children named in the lawsuit.Although his clients were not happy with the overall award -- they had sought $5,000 to $250,000 for each of 37 individuals -- they were satisfied with the message the jury sent to BWI, Miklasz said.

Setting the tone for how it plans to spend $100 million in federal funds, the board overseeing Baltimore's empowerment zone revitalization effort voted yesterday to emphasize job training over social welfare in some of the city's most distressed neighborhoods.In seeking to put an end to a long-running debate, the boardvoted to put its highest priorities on an array of programs to create jobs and train residents of the empowerment zone in East and West Baltimore.Drug treatment, a new home-ownership initiative and the funding of community "village centers" linking neighborhoods with the quasi-public corporation overseeing the grant were the only non-economic programs to rate highly among board members.

Acting for the first time to use $100 million in federal funds, Baltimore's empowerment zone officials yesterday gave preliminary OK to programs to create jobs, to help residents find work and to offer students an alternative to underperforming schools.The executive committee of the board overseeing the city's federally funded urban revitalization effort approved funds to set up a center to counsel existing businesses and attract new ones and to aid home-based businesses and help transport zone residents to jobs.

With a crowd of about 75 people watching, the long-awaited demolition of the Fairfield Homes public housing complex in South Baltimore began yesterday."

The Maryland Aviation Administration will pay $6.35 million to buy a mobile home park next to Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Hanover and will also pay to move 120 households and shut down the park for good, in an agreement approved Friday by the state Board of Public Works.The purchase includes the 17-acre Ridgewood Mobile Home Park and 55 undeveloped acres owned by Symcha and Joan Shpak on the southwestern edge of the airport.The board also approved spending $580,000 in federal and state money to soundproof 11 homes in Allwood near the airport, marking the first time homes will be protected from low-frequency takeoff noise as opposed to high-frequency overhead flight noise, according to Ted Mathison, executive director of the Maryland Aviation Administration.

Six weeks after Baltimore was chosen to receive millions of federal dollars to revive decayed neighborhoods, the first signs of activity are emerging.In West Baltimore, a printing company is making plans to add a couple of workers, taking advantage of new federal tax credits. Across town, the Kennedy Krieger Institute is busy raising money to convert a block of vacant East Baltimore rowhouses into residential treatment centers. And the manager of a proposed ecological-industrial park in Fairfield says he is ready to move quickly on the project.

LOS ANGELES -- The strongest earthquake in 40 years and a second, less powerful quake rumbled through Southern California early yesterday, killing a 3 1/2 -year-old boy, injuring more than 170 people, and damaging homes and businesses in desert and mountain communities east of Los Angeles.The quakes crumbled buildings, ignited fires, triggered giant landslides and buckled highways, officials said. In Los Angeles, about 100 miles west of the quake zone, residents were shaken awake by the strong, rolling quake, which knocked out power to about a half-million customers.

A five-year battle by an activist group railing against noisy jets at Baltimore-Washington International Airport has ended in defeat in front of an administrative hearing board, but the head of the group vowed yesterday to appeal the case in court.The Maryland Department of Transportation Board of Review has ruled in a 76-page opinion that the airport's Noise Abatement Plan fulfills a 1974 law by setting up programs to mitigate noise around affected residences.The group, the Airport Coordinating Team, had contended the ** state's Noise Abatement Plan certified in 1988 is flawed because it artificially expanded the size of the "noise zone" -- an area around the airport deemed too noisy for homes -- to pave the way for airport expansion.

Seeking a $100 million federal urban revitalization grant, Baltimore officials pledged to move with urgency in attacking blight and joblessness in some of the city's most distressed neighborhoods. "Significant results will be swiftly produced," city officials promised the federal government in 1994. But more than five years after being designated one of the first six cities in the federal urban empowerment zone program, Baltimore has spent only $28 million of the money, creating what many in and outside the renewal area regard as spot successes amid a sluggish pace of rebirth.