The rise of the Station North Arts and Entertainment District (SNAE) is over ten years in the making. Our assignments this week provided me with a little more context and some insight into the relatively current climate of the discourse on SNAE. The assignment included two articles from the Baltimore City Paper-"Your Art Here" Jenson, B. (2003, July 30) and "Can Station North Save the City" Woods, B. (2013, July 3), and a July 2013 podcast from a Marc Steiner Show Discussion that was based off the "Can Station North Save the City” article. In addition to providing insight into the types of discussions that are surrounding SNAE's progress this week’s assignment served as link between the events of the Pivot in Perspective chapter in Baltimore 68 and present day SNAE.
One point that really stood out to me in both the article and the discussion was the point made about the cycle of disinvestment and reinvestment that has existed in Baltimore for decades. Mr. Woods talks about how the city is stuck between disinvestment and investment. Where disinvestment puts people like Dwight H in troublesome positions because living next to a vacant house means your homeowners insurance gets canceled, and too much investment means that renters get priced out. Baltimore 68 illustrates how In the years before the Baltimore Riots of April 1968 took place the City was already working on redevelopment efforts that included some merchants and excluded others. The North Avenue Market went under due to blockbusting and declining property values and residents and business owners were being displaced (or scheduled to be displaced) before the riots razed area businesses. From the discussion that took place about about the "Can Station North Save the City" article it feel as if the cycle is still spinning along. The planning for SNAE began in 2011 from what I've been reading it seems like the interests of long term residents were not included or considered.
Baltimore's minority and low income populations have continuously been left out of the conversation. In the discussion Michelle Antoinette, AKA LOVE the poet, poses a question about intentions of the city's developers and if this exclusion is intentional. I agree with what Marc Steiner's response. I would like to believe that there is no group of men twirling their mustaches whilst plotting to leave certain populations-that are already feeling disenfranchised- out of the redevelopment processes and then intentionally pushing them out. I see it as symptom of another flaw in the system where where cities and developers are so wrapped up in their bottom lines (and keeping the city afloat) that they forget that there are actual lives and livelihoods at stake. This is not a problem in Baltimore alone, post industrial cities across the US seem to be struggling with it. As the guest on Steiner's show were speaking I kept recalling the controversy surrounding NYC's Department of Housing Preservation and Development's (DHPD) approval of Extell Development Company's high rise plan that included what many were calling a "poor door". The backlash that ensued from city politicians to discourse among social media outlets and news sources makes you ask the question: who was in the decision boardroom of the NYC DHPD? And who overlooked the potential backlash that such a decision would cause? Maybe they came up with some sort of sound explanation as to why the plan was approved, but I haven't come across it. In my mind that means the boardroom must have been missing someone who thought critically about the positive and negative implications of their decisions. So while I do not think there is a room full of men plotting to disregard the needs of the city’s residents, I do think there are several rooms full of men (and maybe a few women) that are making decisions with minds are not in tune with the majority of the people that their decisions impact.
This brings me back to Baltimore and SNAE. In the discussion on the Steiner show Ben Stone essentially says that he would like to see residents becoming engaged in the process before so much time has passed that SNAE ends up like the other gentrified neighborhoods and we all end up asking “what happened?" But it seems like they weren't included at a crucial time- the beginning. So what can we do now, to include them in the planning and redevelopment process? It's been two years since this particular conversation has occurred and my biggest question is what has been done to include the community in the process.
Project Planning:
This week helped me shape my potential project. I really want to know what long term residents and artists are thinking about the buzz surrounding SNAE. I would love to do some oral history interviews to get more perspectives from the residents.
Questions for Ben Stone:
In your opinion what are some of the biggest strides that SNAE has made towards including all residents (not just artists) in the redevelopment process?
What is the most frustrating aspect of your position as executive director of SNAE?
If you had to boil your work down into one clause or statement, what would you want Baltimore City Residents to know about your vision for SNAE?
Babin, J. (2014, July 30). New York Skyscraper's Separate 'Poor Door' Called A Disgrace. In NPR.ORG News . Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://www.npr.org/2014/07/30/336322608/new-york-skyscrapers-separate-poor-door-sparks-outrage
Elfenbein, J., Nix, E., & Hollowak, T. (2011). Baltimore ’68: Riots and Rebirth in an American City. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Jenson, B. (2003, July 30). Will the Station North Arts District Paint a Brighter Future for Midtown?”. In City Paper . Retrieved February 13, 2015, from https://web.archive.org/web/20130322013708/http://www2.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=3328
Pomorski, C. (2014, August 27). The worst thing about the ‘Poor Door’ might be its Naysayers. In Observer/Real Estate: Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof . Retrieved February 17, 2015, from http://observer.com/2014/08/the-worst-thing-about-the-poor-door-might-be-the-nay-sayers/
Segar, M. (2014, July 21). Tale of Two Cities: NYC approves ‘poor door’ for luxury high-rise. In Russian Times: Question More. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://rt.com/usa/174532-nyc-poor-door-luxury-apartments/
The Marc Steiner Show (2013). Can Station North Save Baltimore City? [Online podcast]. Baltimore : The Marc Steiner Show. Retrieved from http://www.steinershow.org/podcasts/local-and-state-politics/can-station-north-save-baltimore-city/
Woods, B. (2013, July 3). “Can Station North Save the City?”. In City Paper . Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://www.citypaper.com/news/features/2013/bcp-cms-1-1514525-migrated-story-cp-20130703-featu-20130703,0,6682549.story
