EBDI takes another bite outta East Bmore

Graphic showing phase 2 of Hopkins’ East Baltimore take over

The link above shows how East Baltimore Development, Inc. (EBDI) and its father Johns Hopkins is preparing to take another bite out of East Baltimore which means more families will be displaced and the hurdles will be set so high that most residents will be unable to return to the neighborhood that they used to call home. 

This Baltimore Sun article talks about how SMEAC (Save Middle East Action Coalition) is attempting to advocate alongside the residents most of whom are African American and some of whom live in a home that has been owned by their family for generations.  I’m unsure of how powerful SMEAC is, however, given that they have some meetings at EBDI headquarters I doubt that they have big chips at the negotiating table.  When dealing with members of Baltimore’s White Power Structure – like EBDI and Johns Hopkins you must negotiate from a position of strength or you’ll just be paid lip service or ignored completely. (as a Hopkins representative did in the Sun article linked above)

I’ve seen this coming for a while and attempted to challenge this “redevelopment” plan a few years back even while I was an employee at Johns Hopkins.

However, these types of scenarios aren’t unique to Baltimore.  In this book, entitled Where Are Poor People To Live?: Transforming Public Housing Communities and this report on the federally-funded Hope VI program by the Urban Institute; one can see a pattern across the nation of displacing poor Black people based on the plans of wealthy investors or developers.  Whether it’s called “renovation”, “transformation” or “redevelopment”, at the end of the day they all mean the same thing – increasing the wealth and power of a few at the expense of the many.

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