Fighting Blight

Three weeks ago, Governor Hogan announced a massive effort to eliminate blight in Baltimore – hundreds of millions of dollars to demolish vacant homes across the city and replace them with green space, affordable housing, and businesses. Tearing down 4,000 vacants over four years would make a big dent in the city’s estimated figure of 16,000 vacant buildings. But critics question whether the funds will materialize, and if they do – who will get the jobs, what will the work do to the environment, and who will be able to afford the new homes? In this hour we talk to Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano and Ray Kelly, community organizer with the No Boundaries Coalition and a lifelong resident of Sandtown.