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Madison-Park North will bring down Paul Graziano

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Baltimore Politics Examiner

On Tuesday Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano spoke at a Reservoir Hill Improvement Council meeting. The commissioner had some pretty depressing news about the Madison-Park North housing project. I have posted notes from that meeting (that can be found on the Reservoir Hill Google group) that were taken by a citizen of Reservoir Hill below this post.  

The commissioner is basically going back on everything he said at the August Madison-Park North multifamily dwelling license revocation news conference.  The commissioner will be unhappy to know that everything he said at the news conference can be viewed here.

Back in August Graziano opened up his speech by saying how horrible things were at Madison-Park North and everything that the city has tried over the years to fix the problem. He called the situation "Intolerable" and twice said "looks can be deceiving" when talking about how things might look OK to the naked eye, but in reality the situation at Madison-Park North is intolerable.
 
Looks can be deceiving- knocking down one building, planting some new trees, and getting a new slumlord owner may look nice, but Madison-Park North will still be as intolerable as ever. If the commissioner and mayor give in and do not proceed with the multifamily license revocation then we are going to be stuck with a mildly spruced up version of Madison-Park North for at least another generation! In August Graziano went on and on about how horrible Madison-Park North is, but now it appears everything that he said has been conveniently forgotten. I am so happy that his original thoughts can still be viewed here.

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Why does Paul Graziano still have a job?

At the original news conference the mayor said we will not tolerate this type of criminal activity in Baltimore.  I am glad she thought this.  We are now facing a situation where if we allow a new slumlord to take over and make minor changes that we will be tolerating "this type of criminal activity in Baltimore".

So did the commissioner really have a plan back in August or was he trying to show off in front of the cameras? Does the mayor have a long term plan for Madison-Park North and the housing department?

On March 15th mayoral candidate Otis Rolley is coming to Reservoir Hill to answer questions about his vision for Baltimore. I plan to personally ask Mr. Rolley if he plans to fire Paul Graziano and what he wants to happen to Madison-Park North.

The summary of Paul Graziano's appearance at the Reservoir Hill Improvement Council meeting can be found below:

"Update on MPN from Commissioner Graziano:
- They are pretty far along in negotiations with a potential buyer of the complex.  The negotiations are not done, nor is it a done deal.
- The city wants to add conditions to the new buyer.  
- I got the impression that Graziano wanted this sale to go through, as it gets him out of the difficult position of following through on the revocation of the multi-use license.  Ie, he is back peddling, as he doesn't want the ongoing legal fight on this.
- The current conditions of the sale that are on the table (not formalized, he would not put in writing) are:
- Reduce the density from 220 units to 160.  ~20 of the the 160 be converted over time to market rate.
- The remaining 140 units would be section 8
- Beautify the property
- Remove some of the buildings for safety reasons (hence the decrease in units).
- Other superficial things.
- Sale may not go through it they put too many conditions on it.
- There was no mention of how the contract provisions would be enforced after a deal is signed.  (We all know how well the city enforces housing agreements -- SCOPE, etc).  There was no mention of any resources to police the provisions."

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Adam Meister's scribe spreads his innate enthusiasm for all things Baltimore--and, in particular, the political inner workings of his beloved hometown.

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