With this month's 10-year anniversary of the 97-hour Joseph Palcyznski hostage siege on Lange Street in the Berkshire community of Dundalk, I learned from residents that not much had changed there. Politicians had promised to get rid of the drug dealers and crime, eradicate the rats and clean up the streets (complete coverage of the 2000 standoff and a special anniversary retrospective).
After I wrote that last week, Mike Mohler, Baltimore County's chief code inspector, took umbrage and along with Jerry Chen (left and below, pictures by The Sun's Amy Davis) walked an alley with me between Lange Street and Berkshire Road. Lange Street is mostly rentals; Berkshire is mostly home owned. The difference was startling.
The backs of the Lange Street homes were littered with trash, broken fences, rat holes and garbage cans without lids. There were some exceptions, as there were on the other side of the alley -- where one homeowner stuffed beer cans into rat holes -- but for the most part those residents secured their trash cans and lids and had neatly kept yards.
I'll have a more detailed look at the neighborhood in Friday's Crime Scenes, but here are some stats. Mohler wanted me to know that complaints from residents don't fall into a black hole. He said that on most weeks, 40 percent of the county's entire inspection crew is assigned to Dundalk, Essex and Middle River: