Baltimore Demolishing Vacant Buildings In Effort To Fight Crime
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Gov. Larry Hogan has taken another swipe at city blight, this time in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of West Baltimore.
The state has already spent about $50 million to support demolition and redevelopment for 65 different projects in the city. Now, it's turning to address violent crime.
The city is taking a bite out of crime with a heavy equipment takedown as part of a crime-fighting strategy.
"Today, we're going to be building on the success and the momentum of Project Core by utilizing this unprecedented partnership to also assist Baltimore in addressing the issue of violent crime in the city," Hogan said.
In the past two years, the city-state partnership Project Core has spent $50 million on projects like the Walbrook Lumberyard in West Baltimore. Now, it has a new target.
"The city has provided us with a priority list of 500 properties, which have been designated and prioritized as a contributing factor to violent crime in these communities. So, we're not going to waste any time on getting to work on this very important effort. We're going to get started today with demolition of nine vacant blighted properties right here on Stockton Street," Hogan said.
Mayor Catherine Pugh says the demolition is part of an effort to rebuild neighborhood and communities.
"It's this kind of collaboration, governor, that we believe will make a difference in how we continue to move our city forward," she said.
Twenty-three buildings were listed for demolition today, with 60 more in the coming few weeks.
Project Core was launched in 2016 and more than 1,400 blighted properties have been removed.
Acording to the governor's office, the project has drawn hundreds of millions of dollars in private sector investments.
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