934 and 932 W Lombard Street

Property Address:  934 W Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property Owner:  BGM Realty #15 Corporation, 5616 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215 (A Stanley Rochkind-controlled corporation).

Registered Agent for BGM Realty #15 Corporation, Charles “Bud” Runkles, same address.

Property Address:  932 W Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property Owner: Regions Bank, 7130 Goodlett Farms Parkway, Cordova, TN, 38018

City Council District and Contact:  District 9, “Pistol” Pete Welch

934 and 932 W Lombard Street

 

More Fun With Stanley and Bud: 1809 Ramsay Street

Property Address:  1809 Ramsay Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property Owner:  NB7 Business Trust, PO Box 32118, Baltimore, MD 21282 (c/o Charles “Bud” Runkles, 5616 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215)

Resident Agent for NB7 Business Trust:  Jack Novograd, 5616 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215

City Council District and Contact:  District 9, “Pistol” Pete Welch

Yet another fine home, brought to you by a Stanley Rochkind-controlled company:

1809 Ramsay Street

The Adventures of Stanley and Bud

It would seem that Charles “Bud” Runkles is a busy guy.  In addition to being Stanley Rochkind’s sometime-Resident Agent, he’s also a lead paint abatement contractor. And the address of his business traces back to Stanley Rochkind’s building at 5616 Park Heights Avenue.

Here are some prime examples of Mr. Runkles’ activities in West Baltimore:

Property Addresses  1017 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21223, 1021 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21223, 105 N. Carrollton Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property Owner:  BGM Realty #5 Corp., PO Box 32118, Baltimore, MD 21282, BGM Realty #6 Corp., (same address), and BGM Realty #7 Corp. (again, same address as #5 and #6)

Resident Agent for BGM Realty #5 Corp., BGM Realty #6 Corp., and BGM Realty #7 Corp.:  Charles Runkles

City Council District and Contact:  District 9, Agnes Welch

1017 W. Fayette Street

1021 W. Fayette Street

105 N. Carrollon Avenue

Considering the number of lawsuits filed against these men for lead paint violations, we’re shocked that neither of them have been stripped of their professional licenses.  Time for MDE and DLLR to get on the ball and make sure these two men are no longer able to wreak this kind of havoc on YOUR community.

1118 S. Carey Street

Property Address:  1118 S. Carey Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property Owner:  1118 S. Carey St., LLC, 17 Warren Road, #18, Baltimore, MD 21208

Resident Agent for 1118 S. Carey St., LLC:  Jack Novograd, 5616 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215

City Council District and Contact:  District 9, Agnes Welch

Yet another blighted mess owned by a Stanley Rochkind-controlled company.  Despite the appearance of work being done on this home, there are no valid permits on file.  From the looks of things, no work has been done on the exterior of this home for quite some time — perhaps Stanley Rochkind is too busy defending himself against the multiple lead paint lawsuits that seem to pop up daily.

1118 S. Carey Street

1118 S. Carey Street, side view

1118 S. Carey Street, rear view

1260 Sargeant Street Revisited

We originally wrote about this property in February of last year. Unfortunately, it would seem that the owner, Stanley Rochkind, has not fixed any of the property’s many defects.  Perhaps it’s because Stanley has been too busy defending himself against the 42 lead paint lawsuits that have been filed against him (and his many shell LLCs) since February of 2009.  We can only hope the plaintiffs see better results than Sargeant Street has.

1260 Sargeant Street, January 2010

1003 and 1005 S. Carey Street: Update

We’ve written about these properties a few times over the past year, and we’re pleased to see their owner, Stanley Rochkind, has finally managed to complete the exterior work on these two houses.  At the very least, they’re no longer an eyesore and a danger to the neighbors.

1003 S. Carey Street today.

1005 S. Carey Street today.

Rear of 1003 S. Carey Street, today.

Rear of 1005 S. Carey Street, today.

You can read our previous posts here, complete with photos:

1003 S. Carey Street (January 2009)

1003 S. Carey Street, Revisited (February 2009)

1005 S. Carey Street (February 2009)

1003 and 1005 S. Carey Street, Revisited Again (July 2009)

Where Does the Money Go?

Who benefits from the money earned by our slumlords?  We had to wonder where their money goes, since it’s obviously not being spent on repairs and lead abatement in their slum properties.  Paul and Aime Nochumowitz filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, after being sued multiple times for lead paint poisoning.  We started looking into who profits from the slum economy — besides the drug dealers, lawyers, and unlicensed contractors who make up part of Baltimore’s well-documented “shadow economy“.

We remember hearing that Martin O’Malley returned a campaign contribution he received from Stanley Rochkind’s wife, Rhoda.  And then we wondered who else received slumlord contributions…and how our local politicians and state legislators fared — apparently not well.  Our slumlords seem to be a bit tight-fisted with the campain donations.

Between the Nochumowitz family, Lawerence Polakoff, Stanley Rochkind, and Petar Pecovic, we were able to find a total of almost $8,000 in campaign contributions to six candidates.

Martin O’Malley:  Total, $800

• $1,000 from Rhoda Rochkind (not included in the total, since this money was returned – a smart move on O’Malley’s part)
• $500 from Paul Nochumowitz
• $300 from Petar Pecovic

Jim Brochin:  Total, $1,550

• $500 from Amie Nochumowitz
• $500 from Paul Nochumowitz
• $275 from Lawrence Polakoff
• $275 from Larry Polakoff

Bobby Zirkin:  Total $400

• Two contributions of $100 from Amie Nochumowitz
• Two contributions of $100 from Paul Nochumowitz

Ben Cardin:  Total $3,000

• Contributions from the Nochumowitz Family from 1998-2005, the largest was $1,000 and the smallest was $250.

Rikki Spector:  Total $1,000

• One controbution from Lawrence Polakoff

Belinda K. Conaway:  Total, $100

• One contribution from Stanley Rochkind of $100

We understand that our elected officials or candidates can’t stay on top of where every contribution comes from, and we’re certainly not implying that these legislators are guilty of any wrongdoing. In fact, we received the following email from Marc Lazerow, a legislative aide to Senator Brochin:

As the Senator’s 2006 Campaign Manager for his re-election, I accepted, as did the Senator, contributions from those who support the Senator and not from those who sought political favors.  On numerous occasions, I personally witnessed the Senator tell a potential contributor that he/she should financially support his candidacy based on his voting record and what he has done for his district and the State, not what he/she WANTS him to do.  Senator Brochin votes for his district, not for those who give him money.

As you are probably aware, the ground rent issue became front page on the newspapers during the 2007 legislative session.  Prior to the passage of legislation that year, many were losing their homes because of ground rents with short notice.  Several pieces of legislation were introduced and passed to provide rights and protection to help the middle class and homeownership.  Senate Bill 106, which was signed into law and effective immediately, prohibits the owner of a fee simple or leasehold estate in specified residential property from creating a reversionary interest in the property under a ground lease or a ground sublease.  In addition, legislation like Senate Bill 397, entitled, “Conversion of Irredeemable Ground Rents”, provides for the conversion of an irredeemable ground rent to a redeemable one unless a notice of intention is recorded in the land records.  Senator Brochin supported these bills along with other legislation designed to overhaul the flawed, arcane ground rent system that favored ground rent holders, not the people.

With that said, I verified through the Campaign Finance records that the Senator did in fact receive $1,000.00 from Paul and Amie Nochumowitz during his first election.  As shown above, Senator Brochin is not beholden to any special interest groups.

We also noticed that in 2008, Senator Brochin was a sponsor of SB 218, a bill designed to protect homeowners in foreclosure from being swindled by “foreclosure consultants”.  We’re hoping that Senator Brochin will speak out against poor business practices among property owners, particularly absentee property owners and others who force their tenants to live in unsafe conditions.

In an ideal world, we’d like to see these elected officials either return these contributions, or donate the money to a good cause.  We’d also like to see our current laws enforced, and new laws enacted to protect the public from unsafe housing.  Other states are making great strides in this direction — why is Maryland (and in particular, Baltimore City) falling behind?

1003 and 1005 S. Carey Street, Revisited…Again.

Property address:  1003 and 1005 S. Carey Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property owner:  1005 South Carey Street, LLC, 17 Warren Road, Baltimore, MD 21208 and 1003 S Carey St, LLC, P.O. Box 32118, Baltimore, MD 21282

Registered agent for both shell corporations:  Jack Novograd, 5616 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215

City Council District Contact: 9th District, Agnes Welch

We’ve written about these two homes so many times, as they’re both owned by shell companies controlled by Stanley Rochkind.  We have to wonder what kind of message the city is sending to this neighborhood, with their lack of action against the property owner.  We’ve been writing about these two houses since February of this year — and a few of the neighbors have filed multiple complaints. Yet here the properties are in their current state.  We wonder if Baltimore City is capable of doing any better than this.

Currently both homes have STOP WORK orders attached to them — and both homes are in terrible disrepair, and open to vagrants.  The windows and doors are broken — 1003 is completely open in the rear of the property, and has no roof.  The front door to 1005 has been off its hinges for at least two months, if not more.

Front door of 1003 S. Carey Street with STOP WORK order.

Broken window on 1003 - note there is no roof or rear wall visible from the window.

Front door of 1005 S. Carey Street - property has been open to vagrants for months.

1507 McHenry Street

Property address:  1507 McHenry Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Property owner:  BGM Realty #20 Corporation, P.O. Box 32118, Baltimore, MD 21282 (Another Stanley Rochkind-controlled company)

Registered agent for BGM Realty #20 Corporation: Ahvner Rozwaski, 5616 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215

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

The 1500 block of McHenry Street is full of blighted homes — most are owned by individual slumlords and shell corporations — it would be nice to see this block cleaned up.

1507 McHenry Street

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!