More to the Story

How about a little trip outside the bubble this morning for a piece about some new development happening in Baltimore City?

From 'The Wire' to mixed-income Station Arts housing, Jacques Kelly for The Baltimore Sun

This photo caught my eye.

Photo credit: Jerry Jackson

The caption: Jacob Wittenberg of Edgemont Builders, left, and Ted Rouse stand at the corner of East Lanvale Street and Guilford Avenue, where they are developing several properties. 

You know my brain went here.

Yes, the developer on this project, Ted Rouse, is the son of Columbia founder James Rouse, though it isn’t mentioned in the article. Another thing not mentioned in the article is how local folks feel about their project. Some comments on Twitter:

Not a single quote from anyone who lives Greenmount West just quotes from the developer. And a "little noticed transformation" by who? Certainly folks who live in the area are noticing this!!

This is nothing but an ad for the development. Utterly foul.

“There was nothing here. I thought it must have been an industrial site.” — Ted Rouse  (Hmm, if only there was someone in the community to ask. Or people in Bmore who know how to do research.) #Plunderers

The writer of the article, Jacques Kelly, knows his local history and is particularly good at writing this kind of feel-good Baltimore piece. It does seem odd to me that it’s only written from the developers point of view, though. Again, from Twitter:

It's times like this we need City Paper back.....

Then, from Brandon Sodergerg:

I will write about this in the @baltbeat newsletter this week. Baltimore Beat

In Columbia/Howard County we seem to live in an endless merry-go-round of “developers bad”/“Rouse good.” In this particular story we have development and a Rouse and what looks like some missing pieces in the narrative. 

Is this a much needed investment in a long-neglected neighborhood or gentrification in the worst way? I look forward to learning more.