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Pigtown Fights The Power
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I was talking to Dan Cosgrove of the Washington Village Development Association (WVDA) on Sunday and he told me a very interesting Pigtown story. Let me preface this story by saying that Dan is the president of the WVDA and his hard work (along with many others) has brought about some positive change in the Pigtown area. As many of you know I am not a big fan of so-called developers. The WVDA is made up of small investors who have sunk their own money in to the area. They don't go around begging for Baltimore City to finance projects that they never start like most developers. They also do not bribe politicians like most other Baltimore developers. These guys actually organized massive Pigtown garbage cleanups that have become the stuff of legend. They removed hundreds of TONS of trash from the streets of Pigtown since 2006. Dan has spent hundreds of hours cleaning Pigtown with his own hands. All developers should have to do a fraction of what Dan did if they want to gain ownership of city owned property or get government subsidies.
Some WVDA members are quite outspoken with their frustration over the crime and grime situation in Pigtown. Many have taken proactive approaches that have rubbed public officials and so-called established community leaders the wrong way. Recently a WVDA member hired a Pigtown resident who had a drug problem to work on one of her houses. She was trying to get the guy back on his feet. Unfortunately he relapsed and she had to fire him. He ended up robbing her house of appliances. Appliance thefts are nothing out of the ordinary in Pigtown. Houses are under renovation on and the area is filled with junkies who need money fast. Instead of just sitting there and taking the loss the home owner decided to do her own research in to what happened to her appliances. This woman is not a policeman and she is not an investigator of any type. What she found out was amazing though. It makes you wonder why those who are supposed handle these things never found out about this.
Through some very simple questioning and research the home owner found out that her appliances were sold to an organization that has been involved in selling stolen goods from the Pigtown area for DECADES. She knew where the owner of the organization lives, vehicles used for transporting stolen items, locations where stolen items were sold to the organization by junkies, and a lot more useful information to help the police. She contacted the police and the first thing they did was question her and treat her like a criminal. This woman had just busted a large decades old stolen goods ring that currently puts every home owner in Pigtown at risk and she was being treated like the criminal.
Eventually a Pigtown crime summit was held partially because of this incident. The crime ring still has not been officially busted for some reason. That is part of the reason I am posting the entry. The other reason I am posting this entry is to show how this incident helped inspire the community to be more proactive. At the crime summit the community presented the police with a detailed spreadsheet containing information about every major criminal and criminal enterprise in Pigtown. The police agreed to have a follow up meeting with the community in three months to discuss progress made on getting rid of the problems on the spreadsheet. Politicians and the representatives of the State's attorney have also been informed about this spreadsheet and how the citizens do not just want the criminals caught and let go again. Pigtown has a huge problem with drug dealers who get caught but then end up back on the streets to terrorize the community once again in a matter of days.
I hope Pigtown keeps the pressure on city leaders and forces them to take action on every single item on the spreadsheet. I have heard that the community is even thinking about forming a political action committee so politicians understand that if they do not help Pigtown then come election time they will fund another candidate. I hope the legendarily absent Agnes Welch is paying attention. A big chunk of Pigtown (the poorest part) is in her 9th district.
Additional Note: I forgot to include this in my original post but a person in my comments section reminded me of something. Pigtown is the only neighborhood in Baltimore that is divided in to three different council districts. It needs to be in only one district in order to make the city council more accountable in the area. Right now the division makes Pigtown politically weak.
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