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Residents of East Baltimore protested on Saturday against the eviction from their homes, blaming EBDI and Hopkins as sources of their upheaval.

East Baltimore residents march against "lies"

By: Payal Patnaik

Posted: 10/23/08

In the piano of East Baltimore, there is no music. That is what Father Peter Lyons of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, an East Baltimore resident, told a group of protestors last Saturday in John Wesley African Methodist Episcopalian Church.

The piano is a region designated by the East Baltimore Development Inc. as the region affected by its efforts for urban renewal in East Baltimore.

Speakers for the event, organized by the Save Middle East Action Committee, included Ray Winbush from Morgan State University, Pastor Francis "Toni" Draper of John Wesley AME Zion Church, Lyons, Pastor Karen Brau of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, SMEAC President Donald Gresham and other homeowners and renters from east Baltimore. They met in a small church vastly overshadowed by the empty glass biotech park building and eerie remnants from Phase I of EBDI construction.

"We've had trouble getting a straight answer from the EDBI staff, so we want to go directly to the board of directors because these are the people that Mr. Jack Shannon and other EDBI members have to answer to," Executive Director of SMEAC Nathan Sooy said.

Shannon told Sooy that he has forwarded the request to the chairman of the board of directors of EBDI and is waiting for a response.

She additionally expressed concerns that although she lives in the "safe zone," she is uncertain of the fate of her property in a potential Phase III stage of EBDI redevelopment.

Against the backdrop of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, protestors from East Baltimore marched to the East Baltimore Development Inc. from the John Wesley African Methodist Episcopalion Zion Church as Hopkins security guards looked on from their posts and a passing truck honked in approval.

"What's killing us? It's killing us. EBDI Lies!" rang out clear last Saturday afternoon as community members marched behind a symbolic coffin to speak to Jack Shannon, the CEO of EBDI.

"I'm just fed up and tired. I was supposed to move in 2002 but they aren't telling us what is going on. I'm tired - they're the ones who started this, and I don't have any more trust. Trust is gone," East Baltimore resident Cara Curtis said as she began to march with fellow protesters.

Protesters met Shannon outside of the EBDI building, and he addressed the crowd, saying that he would try to get back to SMEAC's demands within the week and that EBDI has been working to find a contractor after losing the previous two.

SMEAC demands include that EBDI sign a contract to built the House for a House homes (a project that ensures that residents live within rehabbed homes in East Baltimore) within next week, must agree to provide whatever funding it takes to allow all EBDI project area homeowners who want to stay in the project area, put its full weight behind an effort to get the homes repaired on the 800 Block of N. Washington, and the members of the EBDI Board of Directors meet with residents of the community and designate a date within the week.

Last February, Shannon assured Sooy that EBDI would undertake the House for a House Program, which would provide newly-rehabbed homes for Phase II residents who are living in one of the designated "Preservation Blocks" and are willing to move in the beginning of 2009.

But Shannon also promised an initial completion of five units by the end of September.

The House for a House program has been delayed because of funding issues over the summer and contractor changes.

"It's important for people to understand that it's not just a project, but it's a project of the people," SMEAC President Donald Gresham said.

"That it's our lives that we're talking about. And we want folks from the outside; we want Johns Hopkins Hospital to know; we want the city of Baltimore to know; we want the East Baltimore Development to know this is about our lives. It's not about anyone else . . . Can I get a witness up in here?"

Lyons addressed the vastly different landscape of East Baltimore as a result of construction, with boarded up homes and vacant lots permeating through "the piano."

"Those who brought us the East Baltimore Biotech development like to call describe the boundaries as a piano, but it is strangely silent. There is no melody, there is no harmony," Lyons, who lives in the middle of "the piano," said.

"How can we sing the songs of the lord in a foreign land if the land is taken from us? If the piano is taken from us, how do you make music?"

Yet the room erupted in song when Brau galvanized the crowd with an old folk song that became popular during the civil rights movement, singing, "Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on."

Lyons addressed the dichotomy between the way Baltimore deals with residents from different regions.

"Some call it development, I call it demolition. It takes time to rebuild a community, but does it take 15 years? Would it take 15 years if this were Roland Park? If this were Guilford, would they tear down 30 acres and leave it lying vacant and empty for years upon years?" he asked.

"They wouldn't put a shovel down in Roland Park," a resident interjected.

Lyons addressed the increase in crime in East Baltimore. Six shootings occurred on his block this summer, he said, which does not reflect the city-wide reduction in crime.

"It's the temptation to sway your thinking that it's really my fault that I've been living in this neighborhood that's falling apart, forgetting all along that your land is so valuable that someone's investing a bazillion dollars in it," Brau said during her speech.

Winbush, a professor from Morgan State, called EBDI the "Expanding Brutal Development Initiative."

He talked about when he was first asked to join SMEAC's efforts, when EBDI was demolishing buildings and a Hopkins report found that the lead in the air, which was a result of the demolition efforts, was 40 times what was recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Winbush read aloud a letter that he wrote to Shannon's wife, answering a question she asked her husband about what he does in EBDI.

"Dear Mrs. Shannon," he began, "Your husband, through EBDI, now manages the largest urban removal project in the nation involving 88 acres and nearly $2 billion."

He continued to outline the conflicts that have arisen between EBDI and East Baltimore residents in the past years that Shannon has been present.

"Your husband through EBDI, in 2004, fought tooth and nail against SMEAC for safe demolition practices. Your husband, through EBDI, would never attempt to do in a white neighborhood what he is doing in this predominantly black neighborhood," he said.

"It is rare that an urban removal project, like EBDI shape neighborhoods so that former residents have the right of return to those neighborhoods where they have been disposed. The SMEAC has always acted in good faith in their negotiations with EBDI, but EBDI has refused to do the same."

Residents left the protest feeling relieved that they sounded their concerns but unsure of any future changes in EBDI's approach to coordinating with SMEAC.

"The residents of the community were able to speak their minds," Sooy said. "But from now on, it's all about accountability."

After all, the words, "EBDI, we can't stand another lie," were still fresh in the air.