I believe what you are doing is extremely important for the future of Baltimore and small cities across the country. Too often, our neighborhoods are treated as “investments” instead of communities of citizens.
While working in the real estate industry, I had numerous dealings with The Baltimore Development Corporation — the “public/private” organization tasked with redeveloping Baltimore’s underutilized spaces. Often these are commercial, but I believe their mandate includes residential properties. Also, there are smaller neighborhood development companies. These entities often operate outside of the normal city government with very little oversight. They may be necessary to attract new money into the city, but their decisions affect how the city looks and feels. Have you been in contact with any of these companies? I fear that without a more public disclosure of their agenda, they will compromise the interests of citizens in favor of investments. (In cases, these interests can coincide, but not always.) This is especially true because the BDC has close ties with business and real estate leaders, who may or may not live in the city, and who most certainly view these decisions through the lens of investment and return.
In addition, as a political scientist, I wonder if there aren’t interesting demographic changes that can be linked to changes to real estate. The city provides a public website with a wealth of this data. Are broad trends identifiable? Are they significant for understanding the current state of Baltimore’s neighborhoods?
Keep up the good work!