Beautifying boarded houses
Sunday's column on various ways to beautify boarded rowhouses makes me think of one of my first stories I did in Israel when I covered the Middle East -- the Israeli Army hired a public relations firm to beautify the battle scenes.
The company urged soldiers to paint weapons that shot rubber bullets, to differentiate between live rounds, and to clean up debris left behind after firefights. It doesn't make the battles less severe or less deadly, but looks better on television.
That's what Baltimore did five years ago when the housing department hired a company called Creative Camouflage to glue pictures of windows and doors to boards covering entrances on thousands of vacant rowhouses. Only a few got done and now the city appears to be backing off its enthusiasm for the project.
I spent some time out in the city photographing various ways to board up houses and some neat decorations. Here are a few examples. The first is from Creative Camouflage, showing what they can do; next to that is a scene from a boarded house on East North Avenue; to the right is a house that Creative Camouflage did five years ago, showing how neglect has taken over; then there is an example of simply bricking up a house permanently; then there's a painted scene of a boy and girl I saw in Wyman Park.
Below the pics, Bill Coleman of Creative Camouflage responds.
From Bill Coleman:
The article about my Camouflage was pretty good, but there are a couple of things I think need a little clarification. You spoke with Ms Sheron Porter, whom I am not familiar, she told you we only submitted 2 invoices in the last to years. The reason was, we only received one request for Camouflage on a property during the last three years. We can only do work that is requested, so we are basically out of work until they make a request.
I had hoped there would have been more interest from the city, to provide more work requests, in order for us to work steady. As it is, the people who work for me only manage to have work for a week or two, in the course of months.
The way I originally envisioned the business, was a win-win for everyone. We offered temporary relief for the city, as your story stated. This would benefit the residents, the city government, and the people I hire to do the work.
You also mentioned Bob Murrow, from public works. I have never had any contact with him, I didn't even know that the program was shifted to that department. I would dispute Mr. Murrow's assesment. The Camouflage is very effective for 3 to 5 years, which was the original intention, and the cost is very reasonable compared to other alternatives. My cost for the printing alone was $2.50 per square foot. We actually made no money, and even over the long term, had we been given steady work, we would have made no profit, and barely made expenses.
You also said Aisquith Street was torn and falling off. These were the very first, and were experimental. Immediately after the original installation on Aisquith, we improved the product, to last longer, and remain un-faded. The fact that the City has made no changes is very sad, because we gave them five years of covered up houses, in order for them to take some sort of action.
I do thank you very much for the article. It was nice to see someone noticed.
Comments
is it just me, or do those pics look really jumbled? is it supposed to be like an artist collage?
Posted by: Anonymous | June 9, 2009 9:16 AM
They ought to just bulldoze the things. I'd be cheaper and look better.
Posted by: Ted | June 9, 2009 10:34 AM
Let us not forget, folks, that the reason the City has so many vacancies is its inability to attract a sufficient population of viable, employed, intelligent people without sever behavioral problems (as in criminality).
Why are such people uninterested in living here at basically ANY price ??
It's the crime, stupid.
You can cover the windows, you can plaster "BELIEVE" all over the busses.
You can proclaim the new, cleaner, greener Baltimore from the heavens.
No one's buying the baloney.
This City is a crime capital of the U.S.
and, arguably, THE murder capital.
Until the criminals are incarcerated or driven out (and that's a big chunk of the resident population), this city will have no appeal for most mainstream Americans. So, half of it will be a dump.
It's a direct result of Baltimore's lack of criminal enforcement. Not a mystery. Baltimore: the town that WANTS to be vacant.
Posted by: Dave | June 9, 2009 10:49 AM
Pardon my language, but aren't we just polishing turds?
Posted by: bryanintimonium | June 9, 2009 3:30 PM
You know if you paint fake windows on these things I bet someone will still come along and try to smash it out to get in...
Posted by: JTK | June 10, 2009 8:14 AM
better than nothing I suppose.
Tthis city has problems that go overlooked/ignored, but you can't ignore a ton of empty row houses.
What would it take to get people living in these places once again? Are the houses and neighborhoods even inhabitable by the average citizen?
I imagine the average citizen does not want to put up with a whole lot of extra stress outside of the stresses of work and family.
To have to deal with Baltimore-Style-Ignorance from neighbors or other random citizens is probably what keeps many people from feeling like Baltimore is a super place to live.
Right now, its an ok place to live, but the areas with so many boarded up houses are not really ok places to live anymore. They are signs that something is wrong in this city. Undeniable signs.
Posted by: tom brown of baltimore | June 10, 2009 4:19 PM