Walkthrough of Jonestown (and Washington Hill)
CityLab Toolkit: Business for Urban Social Innovation and Impact
The goal is to develop a practice of regular engagement, observation, and reflective recollection of your urban immersion field experience.
Field notes
8/27/2017 Initial Walkthrough
Saturday morning (8/26/2017 ~9:15A-11:30) I walked around Jonestown starting at Eastern and S. Eden up to JHH then back to Eastern in a zig-zag pattern. I took lots of images during the walkthrough including street corners with signs to identify the location of the images. Given the time of day, not many people were available to have a conversation and those that were didn't seem to have interest in speaking. This was my first experience with walking throughout Jonestown, normally I would just drive through. The feelings that I experience from one street to the next varied based on brightness of the street, amount of trash on the ground, and presence of a boarded up house. Lots of assumptions were made on my part but I'm eager to go back during a different time of day to conduct interviews.
9/10/2017 Abandon Buildings
There are 27 vacant lots available within Jonestown. There's an opportunity for several businesses to set up shop in the neighborhoods of Jonestown that would give them an opportunity to expand within a close proximity. A good example of taking advantage of this opportunity is Under Armour, Inc. (UA) in Tide Point. UA started of small renting office space in Tide Point; as the company grew so did their need for more room. Year after year, UA signed additional leases until there was a justification to purchase the buildings. UA continued to lease and buy property within the surrounding Locust Point area.
9/17/2017 Vacant Lots
Walking through Jonestown and Washington Hill, the amount of abandoned buildings was surprising for me. Especially the large perhaps historical buildings. There are plenty of abandon row homes scattered throughout the neighborhood as well but the large buildings are not only an eye sore but a concern. Depending on the historical significance of the building potential builders may opt not to jump through hoops to renovate or demolish and start from scratch. The abandon townhouse are also a concern because pop up between existing homes that are occupied which lowers the value of the attached homes and devaluing the entire neighborhood. The challenge with renovating these homes is that the amount of renovation is limited to the value of the surrounding homes. Meaning you don't want to renovate a home that could sell for $350k in a desired neighborhood on a block that's surrounded by homes that are valued in the mid $100k. Total sum value of the block promotes and limits the value of the individual homes while surrounding abandon buildings also impacts the value of the neighborhood.
Signs of hope and interest are present throughout Jonestown. In the images above you can see new development in concentrated areas. While working with my team in the Strategic Consultant Practicum, we identify a potential business solution that could not only provide a potential solution but describes an opportunity for Baltimore to become a hub for extending production and distribution for all of MD and the surrounding region. Please view here.
10/8/2017 New Development
The lack of communal and public use space for an area that seems to be very spacious is surprising. From what I could tell there's only one -- a public pool, that happened to be closed the morning I took the pictures above. No playgrounds, no open/soccer fields, no basketball courts...what is there for the local kids to do? Per Captain Jarron Jackson, the Executive Officer of the Southeastern District, most of the crime committed in Jonestown is done by kids who don't have a lot of outlets.
9/24/2017 Public Space
10/1/2017 Aesthetics
The range of emotions that I felt while walking through Jonestown started with being calm and safe to fearful with anxiety depending on the street/block I was on. I was surprised by some of the museums, artwork, and beautiful buildings while also being disappointed by the abandon buildings and trash that were scattered throughout the neighborhood. There's no doubt that there's potential for this area based on it's proximity to the inner harbour and highway. Several buildings including the Carroll Mansion represent the heritage and grace of Baltimore past. These sites happen to be conveniently placed on the on the Heritage Walk Trail.
