In Baltimore there are a lot of zoning rules and regulations in place that are supposed to protect the average citizen. Certain neighborhoods can not have more than 4 housing units in one building, there can not be liquor establishments in certain areas, some areas are only zoned to be residential, some bars can not stay open past 1AM, and the list goes on and on. You need to apply and pay for all sorts of permits and be subject to many inspections in order to operate just about anything in Baltimore. In my opinion these zoning rules and regulations can hinder business and happiness in some situations. I think Baltimore should try a project that is completely outside of the box when it comes to tradition zoning. The city needs to identify a 2 or 3 square block area of Baltimore where it owns most of the house and where it owns many of the houses near that area. Most all other houses in the vicinity should be empty. The city should identify occupied houses and make fair market offers to owners and explain to them what is about to happen in their area. Once the acquisition process is well underway the city will then announce to the general public that this 2 or 3 square block area is now a no zoning zone. If you want to open any business or have any type of housing you can have it here. If you buy a shell you must pay $8000 and you must fix the building up in a year or you lose the house. Non-shells will cost more. If you want to open a bar that stays open all night then you can. If you want to open a restaurant with 3 apartments over it you can. No LLC's are aloud to make purchases only individuals. One building per individual. Owner occupants will be given priority over non-owner occupants. First come first serve. Without the specter of regulation hanging over this new area I predict that many businesses will come here to operate because of the lower overhead costs compared to any other part of the city. Younger people will want to live near bars that stay open all night and other businesses. The area will at the very least go from an area that produces little to no property tax revenue to one that has many privately owned buildings that will be taxed again. Under my plan individuals would have advantages over big developers since no big developer will leave the cover of an LLC and most likely not be interested in only buying one property.
I was recently invited to be on the Marc Steiner Show to discuss creative ideas pertaining to affordable housing. Housing commissioner Paul Graziano was also supposed to be on this show. When his people found out that I was going to be on the show one of them told the producer that the Commissioner would not appear on the show if Adam Meister was going to be on the show. This says a lot about the state of Baltimore City government and the housing department. When the dictator of housing refuses to be on the show with little old me then you know there is a big problem with the way things are set up in this city. I have said that the Commissioner should be fired because of all the empty houses we have after all these years. He has had a decade to come up with a legitimate plan to address the housing situation in Baltimore and he failed in a most disgraceful way. By the way the Steiner show had NO CREATIVE IDEAS ON IT. This is not a surprise since the Commissioner was doing most of the talking. I'll have another housing article soon enough where I go into more specifics about last week's Steiner show and other important housing issues.
Comments
While I am unsure of the No Zoning Zone you are proposing here. The vacant house issue is a big problem in Baltimore. Scope & Project 5000 have been failures. I agree there needs to be "out side of the box" thinking and creative solutions. A lot of Federal and State dollars are spent on housing. Sometimes I wonder if we can renovate these houses in bulk and give them away for free to owner-occupants as long as they pay the taxes.
Each vacant house cost taxpayers $100's of dollars each year and is a potential source of tax revenue. Perhaps we need to bring back the $1 house, or something similar.
There is a lot of lip service about "smart growth" the smartest growth would utilize existing housing and infrastucture we already have.
Part of this is due to the fact that many people including government leaders don't think people want to live in the City or build communities. There are no policies and incentives to this.
Creative solutions and will are needed.
I said it a long time ago that too many people including some preachers and goverment officials own run down properties in Baltimore and are getting tax breaks for not fixing them up. Once an individual purchases one of those properties Adam then they should get first opportunity at the fix up money and THEY must live it for at least 5 years before they are allowed to move or use it as rental property. Once they convert it to rental property then the city needs a legitimate address and phone number of the owner on file and not some management company. If the data does not check out then the individual is not allowed to rent the property out. With modern technology people should be able to verify the information on file annually for tax purposes and if the property falls into disrepair be able to contact the "true" owners and not some "front" company.
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