Six Baltimore police officers were charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray on Friday morning, Maryland State’s Attorney for the city of Baltimore Marilyn Mosby announced. Gray’s death was ruled a homicide by the state medical examiner on Friday, Mosby said.
Snow is known for having public works staff busy plowing, but it’s the city’s water crews that are overworked during this cold snap.
A man was indicted for the second time in connection with the murder of a North Carolina teen, and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney is arguing it’s not double jeopardy.
Baltimore residents lost their Amazon sales tax breaks, but the online retail giant’s new fulfillment center in Southeast Baltimore will bring jobs. Many jobs.
There’s a new a top prosecutor office in Baltimore City, as Marilyn Mosby replaced Gregg Bernstein as State’s Attorney last week. The change in administration left some longtime employees without a job, and Mosby announced the new staff today.
“With any new administration there’s change— and change can be hard, so it was important for us to make this transition as smooth and efficient as possible,” Mosby said in unveiling the team today.
However, one of the employees who was let go didn’t use the same adjectives to describe the changes.
Last Sunday, I watched as my 13-year-old daughter pored over the interactive, electronic map of Baltimore City, courtesy of Baltimoresun.com, that showed exactly where each shooting and stabbing had occurred over the past year. “Hmm. These are pretty close to where we live,” she said with cool detachment, as if she were studying for a geography test.
Although there were no fancy, clickable maps of Baltimore murders when I was young, I vaguely recall taking note of the homicide numbers in the newspaper at the end of each year. As of the last Sunday in December, this year’s number was up to 234. I’m sure there were a few more added by the end of the year.
As many major cities report downward trends in violent crime, Baltimore’s murder rate rises. “Lost Year for Fight against Violent Crime” read a headline in the Baltimore Sun last Sunday. The bodies are found behind broken-down row houses, floating in the harbor, and in plain sight. Most victims knew their assailant. Some, like the little boy not yet two years old who got caught in a spray of bullets intended for his father last May, didn’t.
We see the maps. We hear the reports. And after a while, whether adult or child, we become numb to the violence that rips, daily, through this city we call home. Until it hits too close to home.
For years, I’ve been on the email list that reports crimes and attempted crimes in our neighborhood. The emails typically consist of news regarding attempted car break-ins, followed by reminders to lock car doors and refrain from leaving purses in plain sight. Though it’s sort of creepy to think that while I and my family are asleep someone is mere feet away, peeking in my car and trying to open its doors, it never gives me too much pause. But the email I got this week, describing a forceful entry and burglary, did.
House hunting on a budget? On May 23 at 1 p.m., One House At A Time, Inc., a nonprofit receiver for Baltimore City, will sell 59 vacant residential and commercial properties to buyers willing to rehabilitate them. A.J. Billig Auctioneers will auction each of the buildings to the highest bidder above a minimum bid of $5,000. Properties are located in Reservoir Hill, Frankford, Hamilton, Overlea, Irvington, the area near Johns Hopkins Hospital and more (see photos). Details are listed on the One House at a Time website, under the May 23 property auction.
This is a real chance for a young buyer to get a foot in the door of the Baltimore real estate market. The beauty of this kind of “gallery auction” is that buyers have a one stop-shopping opportunity to see what kind of houses are out there, and what prices people are paying for them. Just know that no one is vouching for the quality of the properties and buyers will have to spend time and money fixing them up. Usually the repair work needs to begin within a limited time frame.
The May 23 auction will be held at the Union Mill in Hampden. It’s open to prospective home buyers, renovators and developers, who will need to pre-qualify with One House At A Time, and show evidence of financial stability. (A letter from mom?) You’ll also need to be in good standing with Baltimore City, including the housing and building code enforcement agencies. Many of these homes are assessed at far more than they will bring at auction. You can find their assessed prices at the Maryland Real Property website. Your mission (should you accept it) will be to find out how much money you’ll need to put in to make it livable. You may be able to get an inspection. Bring a contracter friend. If not, at a minimum you should do a drive-by. Happy hunting!
For further information, call Dan Billig, at A.J. Billig & Co. Auctioneers 410-296-8440 x14
or Larry Grubb, at One House At A Time, Inc. 410-467-1826.
The Baltimore City Planning Commission will vote Thursday on whether to use zoning to effectively shut down 100 of the city’s 300 liquor stores. Supposedly, it’s about crime. Not that any of the stores affected are suspected of engaging in illegal activity themselves. It’s just that the planning commission sees a correlation between their presence and crime.
Every morning for the past week and a half I have woken to noisy construction work outside my campus apartment building on Biddle Street. There are construction sites at almost every corner around the Mt. Vernon area. Ear plugs, please.
I’m not usually much of a behaviorist, but it seems unwise — to say the least — to pay the company that owns and maintains your speed cameras per citation. But that’s exactly what Baltimore has done and plans to continue doing, now that the city has ended its run with Xerox and is finalizing a contract with Brekford Corp, despite many — including Gov. Martin O’Malley — suggesting that the practice is illegal under state law.
