A digest of Baltimore news from local sources.
From The Baltimore Sun: Thornton Calls for Closing Five City Schools
"Five Baltimore schools face closure at the end of the school year, including an elementary school serving children who live in the Penn-North neighborhood and two charter schools.
"City schools CEO Gregory Thornton's proposed closures were presented to the school board Tuesday night. Thornton is also seeking turn over four unused school buildings to the city and to expand two existing schools to relieve overcrowding. He also announced five- and three-year contract renewals for 12 charter schools.
"Schools recommended for closure are Maritime Industries Academy High School, Baltimore Community High School and Westside Elementary School. Two charter schools, Roots and Branches and the Maryland Academy of Technology & Health Sciences, were recommended to lose their contracts.
"Such recommendations are made annually, based on factors such as academic performance, enrollment and, in recent years, whether a building is being utilized enough to keep it open.
"Thornton's recommendations will be the subject of public hearings in coming months. The school board will vote in January on whether to accept them.
"Del. Antonio Hayes said that in the case of Westside Elementary in Penn-North, there are compelling reasons to keep the school open. He argued that a community that has lost much recently, including the closure of its recreation center, should not now lose its school."
From The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore-Area Groups To Get First Crack at Buying Some Foreclosed Homes
"Neighborhood revitalization groups in the Baltimore area will get the first crack at buying some foreclosed properties under an expansion of a federal program designed to stabilize communities and limit real estate speculation.
"The Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative gives community nonprofits a window of time to snap up properties being foreclosed on by lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — before those properties are available to the public.
"'Giving local community buyers an exclusive opportunity to purchase these properties at a discount … is an effective way to give control back to local communities and residents who have a vested interest in stabilizing their neighborhoods,' said Melvin L. Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which runs the program.
"The program was launched in Detroit last year and later expanded to Chicago. Baltimore and 17 other metro areas will join under the latest expansion announced Tuesday. The Baltimore area is defined as Baltimore City and Baltimore, Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Harford and Queen Anne's counties.
"Metro areas were selected based on having a high number of foreclosed properties available — at least 100 properties worth $75,000 or less that were foreclosed on by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While those low-value homes will be the target of the program, nonprofits will be able to buy homes worth up to $175,000."
From City Paper: Follow the Money: Tracking City Contract Payments Impossible, Abell Report Finds
"Baltimore City government does not track its contractors well enough to know if the city is being hosed, an Abell Foundation report revealed recently. The report suggests that more information about the city's contracts should be made available to the public. Elected officials say nope.
"The report is called "The Opacity Problem." Abell researcher Cristie F. Cole wanted to find out which city construction contracts were completed on time and on budget, and which ones were granted extensions for more money, more time, or both. She wanted to analyze which contractors, or which city agencies, managed their contracts best. And she wanted to find out how often the city demanded "liquidated damages," a penalty it can exact for slow or substandard work.
"All this makes sense from a responsible consumer's perspective. Why would you work with a contractor again if they were repeatedly missing deadlines and/or over-budget?
"But Cole found that this basic data, which should be at the Board of Estimates' fingertips for consultation before every contract it awards, was not available."