Antero Pietila
2007-11-14 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

In 1948, the Supreme Court struck down homeowners’ covenants barring blacks, Jews and other minorities from certain neighborhoods throughout the nation. In the aftermath, a banner headline in the Baltimore Afro-American warned blacks against expanding toward Eutaw Place and Bolton Hill, where huge houses were said to be too old, poorly-constructed and badly maintained. Instead, the newspaper urged home hunters to seek modern row houses northwest of Fulton Avenue.

Encouraged by blockbusters, blacks heeded the Afro’s call. By the time Mondawmin Mall opened in 1956, neighborhoods along Gwynns Falls Parkway, Liberty Heights Avenue and lower Reisterstown Road and Park Heights Avenue were transitioning from Jewish to black. The surrounding areas eventually disappeared from the radar screens of most whites.

It’s time for all Baltimoreans to put the Mondawmin neighborhoods back on their radar screens. Amazing things are happening there.

The mall itself is in the midst of a $70 million expansion that will add a spanking new Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, Target and Marshalls. But that substantial investment pales in comparison with Coppin State University’s state-financed $300 million expansion next door. When a new 4,100-seat arena and classroom buildings are completed in coming years, the university will almost touch Mondawmin Mall on the other side of Gwynns Falls Parkway.

There is talk about the nearby Community College of Baltimore City also expanding. Close to Druid Hill Park, the Parks and People Foundation hopes to renovate an abandoned landmark, the superintendent’s house, as its new headquarters by 2010.

“We have lots of intriguing pieces here that need to be put together,” says Earl Arnett, a writer who has lived near Mondawmin for four decades. A new community development corporation, consisting of nine neighborhood associations, the two colleges and major churches, will be launched later this month to coordinate revitalization activities.

What’s happening around Mondawmin Mall is unprecedented. Never in Baltimore’s history has this kind of investment been directed at African-American neighborhoods. The impact will not be limited to Mondawmin, either. Coppin reconstruction has already crossed to the south side of North Avenue. The university’s acquisition of the abandoned Lutheran Hospital complex a mile away in Rosemont will eventually link redevelopment with the new transportation hub the state is planning for Edmondson Avenue and Smallwood Street.

“It’s sort of an economic boom,” predicts Maqbool Patel, who is in charge of capital planning for Coppin, now part of the University of Maryland system. “The entire west side of Baltimore City will benefit.”

Neighborhood revitalization is always a tricky proposition. It has been particularly tough in West Baltimore’s middle-class streets that were among the first ones to experience racial change after World War II. Those areas, contrary to public perception, have been among the most stable in the city — too stable perhaps because they failed to rejuvenate. Many retired educators and postal workers still live there — in the same houses they acquired half a century ago.

Their children are not interested in the old neighborhoods. Some have become landlords, but many have abandoned their inherited row houses. Until recently, nothing but further decay loomed on the horizon.

The investment means African-American strivers and perhaps some whites may buy in the area if the Mondawmin vicinity catches their fancy. Much of the housing stock is in good shape, including some architecturally outstanding properties near Druid Hill Park. Extensive rehab is often needed, but existing nonprofit organizations offer help and financing. Additional advantages include a splendid central location, a Metro station and good connections to Washington.

Such trump cards come in handy in today’s difficult real estate market.

Antero Pietila is a Baltimore Examiner columnist. He can be reached at hap5905@hotmail.com.