MDE Issues Enforcement Actions Against 9 Baltimore City Property Owners

October 5, 2009

The Maryland Department of the Environment issued enforcement actions against nine Baltimore City property owners, whose properties were alleged to be out of complaince.  The actions resulted in a total of $205,000 in fines, and a total of 59 affected properties (property owners listed below).  Kudos to MDE Secretary Shari Wilson and her staff for their dedication to this issue.

• Elizabeth Isabemoh
• Robert Lambert,
• West End Ventures, LLC and Curtis E. Boteler
• Marsha Johnson Gladden
• Marc Wynder and 3031 Oakley Avenue, LLC
• BH Property Management, LLC and Jadwong Paul Olweny
• Shelton A. Burton
• Ernest Spellen and Sandra Spellen
• Brett Rodgers

713 E. Biddle Street

Property Address:  713 E. Biddle Street, Baltimore, MD 21202

Property Owner:  Mayor and City Council, 417 E. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21202

City Council District and Contact: 12th District, Jack Young

601 N. Calhoun Street

Property Address:  601 N. Calhoun Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property Owner:  Housing Authority of Baltimore City, 417 E. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21202

Baltimore City Council District and Contact:  11th District, William Cole IV.

601 N. Calhoun Street, Baltimore, MD

Information for Prospective Tenants

We receive quite a few emails asking about different neighborhoods, landlords, and other requests for information from people who are thinking of moving to Baltimore, or relocating to a different neighborhood.  It seems worthwhile to develop a set of resources to assist in that search.  If you can’t find the information you’re looking for, of course you can send an email or leave a comment in the comments section.

This post is one in a series we’ll be doing on living in Baltimore City, with additional posts and resources to follow.  Again, suggestions and questions are always welcome.

Neighborhoods

We get a lot of questions asking if a particular neighborhood is “safe”.  Please keep in mind, crime can happen anywhere at any time, in any city.  Remaining “safe” also has to do with your actions, not just the neighborhood.  There is no “magic” neighborhood in Baltimore, or any other city.  The links below, and additional links, can be found in our link section on the right.

There are plenty of online resources for choosing a neighborhood.  The websites we’ve used most often:

• LiveBaltimore.com: A comprehensive list of neighborhoods, many linked to neighborhood profiles, community and homeowner assoctaions, and histories.
• Spotcrime Baltimore Crime Map:  Search by address to see most recent crimes, or receive crime alerts.
• City-Data Baltimore Forum:  List of links to neighborhood info and neighborhood associations.  Ask questions in the forum and receive answers from residents and former residents.
• Baltimore City 2000 Census:  Slightly out of date information, but still useful.
• Greatschools.net:  School information for Baltimore City and surrounding jurisdictions.

Research Your Prospective Landlord and Home

There are several things to consider when moving into a new rental home or apartment.  Is your prospective landlord a slumlord?  Is the home lead-safe?  Has the home been registered with the city as a rental?  If the home has been rehabbed, was the work done the right way — to code, and with permits?  Here are a few ways you can find out:

Maryland Judiciary Case Search:  Search by name or company name, and see if your prospective landlord has been sued for housing code violations, including lead paint violations.

Baltimore City Health Department Lead Paint Violations:  See if your address is on the list for outstanding violations.

MDE Lead Certification Database:  The Maryland Department of the Environment maintains a database of addresses that have current lead paint certifications, searchable by address.  You can also call the number at the bottom of the screen to inquire about an address if you can’t find it in the database.

Baltimore City Permits Search:  Find out if the work done on your prospective home was completed with permits, and to code.

Our next post in this series will be Information for Tenants:  Where to Turn If Things Go Wrong.

Baltimore City vs. Stanley Rochkind

Interesting to note that the city has filed for the condemnation of five Rochkind-owned properties on W. Saratoga Street.  Besides the properties in the 900 block of W. Saratoga Street, a Rochkind controlled company also owns 1127 W. Saratoga Street.  This property is on the list of outstanding lead paint violations issued by the Baltimore City Health Department.

We’re hoping the city will follow up and condemn more of his blighted lead paint-filled properties, and get them out of the hands of this slumlord.We suggest starting with 1003 and 1005 S. Carey Street, as we’ve written about these properties in this blog, and they’re also owned by Rochkind-controlled LLCs.

We wish our city attorneys the best of luck with these cases!

MDE Issues 14 Enforcement Actions for Lead Paint Violations in Baltimore City

A total of 95 properties were affected, according to a May 15 press release, issued by the Maryland Department of the Environment.  The following individuals and companies were cited:

KMS Property, LLC

KMS Property 2, LLC

Pirate, LLC

Pigama, LLC

Drek, LLC

Moshe and Miri Raphaely

Dong Yong An

Cely and Jaime Faria

Robert Nkojo

Jaros Jindrich

Gary, Anna, and Vladmir Kosoy

Corey Willis and Shanna Chaney

PR Capital, LLC and Pathik Ramy

Landon Wilson

Again, we applaud the MDE and Secretary Wilson’s efforts to clean up lead paint poisoning in Baltimore City.

Mayor’s Conversation Update

A report from the Mayor’s Conversation on Vacant Homes:

“You will probably not be surprised to know that the meeting last night was a bit disappointing. The heads of all the housing-related departments were there, and gave their spiels. Paul Graziano, Michael Braverman, Jackie Cornish, etc. It was interesting for a little bit, and then became excrutiatingly not-interesting. Then the public comment section started, which was of course mostly people complaining about individual problems with individual properties, at which point we left the meeting in order to save ourselves.

They were plugging the Land Bank a lot last night, which I support in principal, but am not sure about how it applies in real life. Haven’t they already had a Land Bank in St. Louis for something like 40 years? — and I’m not sure it’s produced any impressive results. I’d have to double-check that, but I think I’ve read that somewhere. And [another person] who joined me there pointed out that everyone was talking about rehabbing houses, which is good, but no one was talking about how to create a demand to get people back into those houses. Which of course, just gives you houses that look nicer but are still vacant.”

Unfortunately, this is what we expected from the meeting, although we did hope for a little more than neighbors complaining about neighbors, and the usual contingent of rehabbers who don’t seem to understand that the boom is over.  It’s wonderful to want to rehab homes, but as the person illustrated above — unless you have people to buy them, all you have are pretty vacant homes instead of ugly ones.  That doesn’t build healthy communities, nor does it help the tax base.

We’re solidly backing the Outer Harbor Initiative to help fix the “rest” of Baltimore.

Reminder: Mayor’s Neighborhood Conversation on Vacant Homes – OHI Signup for Updates

Don’t forget, the Mayor is having a meeting to discuss the problem of vacant homes in our city.  Please attend if your schedule permits, and ask questions.  This is an excellent opportunity to have your voice heard, especially if you’re a resident.

May 6, 2009
6:00pm * 8:00pm
Heritage High School on the Lake Clifton Campus, 2801 Saint Lo Drive, Baltimore, MD 21213

Also, if you would like to be kept informed about the Outer Harbor Initiative via email alerts, please sign up here.  You can also lend your support to this program, which would pave the way for homeownership by city residents.  It’s time we put the city’s resources in the hands of those who live here!

A Pastor, A Drug Dealer, and a Slumlord Walk Into Court…

…and all legal hell breaks loose, according to court records.

Disgraced pastor Kevin Pushia, accused of hiring someone to kill a blind and disabled man with church funds, is also involved in a legal tussle with Baltimore’s most notorious drug kingpin and Baltimore’s most notorious slumlord, according to court records.  In 2007, Pushia filed suit (Foreclosure Rights of Redemption) in Baltimore City Circuit Court against nine corporations owned by Stanley Rochkind, and one owned by Milton Tillman.  Rochkind and Tillman are no strangers to the court system, as Rochkind has been involved in 400+ lawsuits in Baltimore City — all of them centered around his substandard and dilapidated properties.  He also paid stiff fines for multiple lead paint violations found by the Maryland Department of the Environment.  Mr. Tillman’s drug activities have been well documented not only in the courts, but by the Baltimore City Paper as well.

The property in question, 2634 McElderry Street, is currently owned by a Tillman-controlled corporation — M&S Associates, Inc.  It was sold to Tillman by N.B.S. Inc., a Rochkind-controlled company.  The other Rochkind-controlled companies named in the lawsuit are:  JAM #6 Corporation, JAM #7 Corporation, JAM 23 Corporation, JAM 26 Corporation, Best Investment, Inc., KGB #16 Corporation, Uptown Realty Corporation, and Dana #5 Corporation.  Also named in the lawsuit are the City of Baltimore, Director of Finance and The Mayor and City Council.

The property is located in City Council District 13.

14 S. Schroeder Street

Property address: 14 S. Schroeder Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property owner:  The Frederick Avenue Development Corporation, 1023 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Registered agent for The Frederick Avenue Development Corporation:  See below, as this “corporation” seems to have never been registered with the State of Maryland.

City Council District and contact:  9th District, Agnes Welch

This property has been under its current ownership for approximately ten years, and is clearly in a derelict state.  The current owner, the Frederick Avenue Development Corporation remains a bit of a mystery, as a search of state corporation records yielded nothing, as did a phone call to the state agency in charge of corporate taxation.

We find this property to be particularly disturbing because of two things:  It’s in the 9th City Council District, which appears to contain a vast majority of the homes we receive emails about.  We’d certainly like to know what Agnes Welch is doing about the problem, especially since her constituents are pretty vocal about this issue.  The other thing that bothers us about this property is the fact that it sits on a block that contains some rather interesting rehabs and older lived-in homes.  Why should anyone have to live with this as a neighbor?

Front of 14 S. Schroeder Street