Six weeks after Baltimore was chosen to receive millions of federal dollars to revive decayed neighborhoods, the first signs of activity are emerging.
In West Baltimore, a printing company is making plans to add a couple of workers, taking advantage of new federal tax credits. Across town, the Kennedy Krieger Institute is busy raising money to convert a block of vacant East Baltimore rowhouses into residential treatment centers. And the manager of a proposed ecological-industrial park in Fairfield says he is ready to move quickly on the project.
Everywhere, there are meetings -- with businesses, community organizations and nonprofit groups -- to explain just what Baltimore's $100 million federal empowerment zone is and how it will work.
"Everybody is beginning to crank up the engines and get started," said Joel G. Lee, vice president for community and business development at the University of Maryland Medical Systems, which is expected to be a major player in the zone in West Baltimore.
Also emerging are the first faint rumblings of discontent about the make-up of the board of EMPOWER BALTIMORE!, which will administer programs to revive long-neglected areas in East, West and South Baltimore. The board is scheduled to meet for the second time today.
Although the board will include seven community representatives, total membership has grown from 15 to 28 members. The remaining members are split among top city officials and representatives from local foundations, educational institutions and businesses.
One of the community representatives, the Rev. Dr. Norman A. Handy Sr., said, "The imbalance does create a perception that there's a lessening of the community's influence. It may prove to be a serious issue." Dr. Handy, the pastor of West Baltimore's Unity United Methodist Church, said, "Right now, it's not serious."
Lucille Gorham, an East Baltimore community activist who is not a member of the board, added, "There aren't enough community people on it."
But Ms. Gorham, president of the Middle East Community Organization, noted, "I don't care who sits on the board as long as the money comes to the neighborhood. I'm looking for something to happen."
One thing that's happening: Businesses inside and outside the zone are weighing the tax breaks they will get from hiring zone residents or purchasing new equipment. The breaks could be worth an estimated $225 million over several years.
George A. Hughes, president of the Geo. W. King Co. commercial printer in southwest Baltimore, had been thinking of adding another employee to his 35-person staff even before he attended a meeting with empowerment zone officials.
After hearing of the tax credits -- up to $3,000 per employee for each of the next seven years -- he said, "We'll probably add another 2 to 3 employees. The incentive is there to get them." One job will be a skilled position paying $14 an hour; the others will be "low-level jobs" paying between $6 and $8 an hour, he added.
On a larger scale, NeighborCare Pharmacy is looking for a zone location to expand a division that provides drug dosages to patients under the care of nursing homes and other institutions, said Michael Bronfein, chief executive officer.
Mr. Bronfein, a member of the empowerment zone board, plans to consolidate pharmaceutical operations that are in Towson and Federal Hill, and boost employment of the division from 225 to more than 300. NeighborCare had already been looking for a site in Baltimore, he said, but is now focusing on the empowerment zone because of the tax credits.
"It becomes very attractive to a growth company to participate in a plan where government helps cover the cost," he said, noting that the new jobs would range from drivers to technicians to pharmacists. "I think there are unequivocally jobs for zone residents. I think they will require training."
Mr. Bronfein said the expansion and his position as a board member do not pose a conflict of interest. "If I need to recuse myself from some vote, that's perfectly OK with me."
NationsBank, which has joined with other local banks in committing to make high-risk loans to homeowners and businesses, is talking up the zone tax advantages.
"We're trying to push the empowerment zone with our customers," said Leslie C. Bender, vice president and manager for government lending programs. "I would say we're getting between one and two dozen calls a week. Many are really interested."
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke also is touting Baltimore's empowerment zone, one of just six urban zones designated by the federal government in December.
The city has received several inquiries from businesses interested in Southwest Baltimore's old Montgomery Ward & Co. tower, vacant since 1985, the mayor recently told the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce. Other companies have called about the proposed ecological-industrial park in Fairfield.
Three weeks ago, the park's project manager wrote to the empowerment zone board to encourage it to "get moving quickly" on the proposal, which he said could eventually create "thousands of new jobs."
The park is designed to minimize waste and conserve energy -- thereby preserving the environment and driving down operating costs. It would require $5 million in infrastructure improvements, paid for with city and state money, as well as $2.9 million in design funds, including $900,000 from the empowerment zone grant, according to the city's application.
Anchoring the park would be a resource recovery plant that would convert tires and other organic wastes into oil. The plant would create an estimated 125 jobs, paying between $10 and $15 an hour, according to a detailed proposal.
Edward Cohen-Rosenthal, the park's project manager, said the Massachusetts-based operators of the plant are ready to begin selecting a site within the 1,344-acre Fairfield industrial area. "We're anxious to get started," said Mr. Cohen-Rosenthal, director of Cornell University's Work and Environment Initiative.
Meanwhile, in East Baltimore, Kennedy Krieger is seeking $4 million in state and private funds to convert nine boarded-up rowhouses in the 800 block of N. Broadway to residential treatment centers for children with a wide range of physical and emotional problems.
Last year, Kennedy Krieger opened the Lead Poisoning Treatment and Prevention Center at 801 N. Broadway. The center employs 25 people and can treat up to 12 children at a time. "It's a model for what we think we can do with other problems, like head injuries and behavior problems," said Gary W. Goldstein, president of Kennedy Krieger. "We want to use this as an alternative to hospitalization."
Across town, on the edge of West Baltimore's empowerment zone, Prudential Health Care Plan of the Mid-Atlantic is preparing to build a new health center on the site of a mostly-vacant apartment complex.
Prudential officials say they chose the site in the 1700 block of Edmondson Ave. because it was accessible by public transportation and in an area where medical care is scarce.
"The fact that we're in the empowerment zone, great, that's gravy," said Prudential president Anselmo E. Lopes.