Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake begins her tour of the Read’s Drug Store site yesterday.

Photo by: Mark Reutter

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s offensive to win approval of the controversial “Superblock” development took a fresh turn yesterday when she introduced three ministers, including the pastor of her own church, as supporters of the project.

Her pastor, Rev. Sheridan Todd Yeary of Douglas Memorial Community Church, accompanied the mayor, Rev. Dr. Alvin C. Hathaway of Union Baptist Church, and Dr. Arnold Howard of Enon Baptist Church on a tour of the proposed $150-million project for downtown’s West Side.

“This community cannot afford to turn away hundreds of jobs and the economic opportunity this project represents,” Rev. Yeary said, in front of the former Read’s Drug Store at Howard and Lexington streets.

The Read’s store, the site of a landmark civil rights sit-in protest, is at the center of the controversy over the mayor’s “compromise” plan to raze all but the exterior walls of the structure.

The mayor marched into the city-owned property and emerged with a slight coating of dust and the conclusion that the building was badly deteriorated.

Rev. Alvin Hathaway speaks to the media in favor of the mayor's compromise plan for Read's Drug Store. Facing him is J. Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership and a supporter of the mayor. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

Although billed as a community tour, the mayor did not invite preservationists who said the current plan violates a 2001 memo of understanding by city and state officials to preserve historic buildings bounded by Howard, Lexington and Fayette streets and Park Ave.

Several critics, however, attended the tour. After the mayor and her party left, they made clear that they were not happy with her stance.

Tyler Gearhart, executive director of Preservation Maryland, said the site represented an opportunity for the city to recycle “historically and architecturally significant buildings” rather than construct “the bland things that are built in the name of retail progress.”

He likened the process to the Hippodrome Theatre on Eutaw St., which was saved and converted into a popular venue for live performances.

Helena Hicks, a member of the Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP), took ministers Yeary, Hathaway and Howard aside and gave them a tongue lashing for not trying to preserve the Read’s building as a monument to the civil rights movement.

Mayor Tells CHAP to “Move Forward”

Last month, CHAP voted to give the Read’s building a temporary historical landmark status, which stops demolition attempts for six months.

The agency is scheduled to meet this afternoon to review the developer’s plans for incorporating the Read’s building into the project and to consider adding seven other buildings to the landmark list at the Superblock site.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake used yesterday’s tour to pressure CHAP to withdraw its objections. “CHAP needs to move this project forward,” she said, noting that her plan to retain parts of the Read’s facade and to develop an exhibit to commemorate the civil rights sit-in was “a reasonable compromise” between historic preservation and the need to create new investment for the West Side.

Bailey Pope, vice president of design and construction for Dawson Co., the developer of the project, officially known as Lexington Square, took the mayor on a tour of the block.

The mayor's party stops at the ex-Pickwick Theatre, now city owned and vacant, along Howard Street. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

He said that up to 86 percent of the historic street wall on Lexington St. and 76 percent of the building frontage on Howard St. would be preserved under the current plan.

That plan calls for a luxury hotel, 300,000 square feet of retail space and a 400-unit highrise apartment complex.

The developer said the project would create about 600 construction jobs and 750 permanent jobs, increasing opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses on the West Side.

Another Dawson official  said the company was “extremely excited” about getting the long-stalled project underway.

Johns Hopkins, president of Baltimore Heritage, questioned whether new construction was the best generator of jobs. “From the studies I’ve seen, reuse and redevelopment of existing buildings create more and better jobs than new construction,” he said in an interview.

Incorporation Papers Filed Yesterday

Echoing other parties, Hopkins said he has never heard of Community Churches for Community Development, the group cited by the mayor as a community-based supporter of the project.

“This is not an organization that has participated in any aspect of the West Side planning or revitalization discussions for at least the past seven years.” Hopkins said.

Rev. Hathaway said that incorporation papers for Community Churches for Community Development were filed yesterday. The group, which has been informally meeting for some time, will establish a website soon.

“Our goal is to facilitate dialogue,” Hathaway said in a phone interview last night. “We will act as a neutral entity, as part of the faith community, to get people together and discuss our differences. There has been an unfortunate tendency of pitting groups against each other. Let’s not throw darts. Our ultimate goal is this – the community needs more economic opportunities and needs more jobs.”

Rev. Hathaway said that he has been involved in community development issues for 25 years and has been an active supporter of the $1.5 billion State Center redevelopment project supported by Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

In addition to Rev. Yeary, Rev. Howard and himself, he identified the three other principals of the group as Dr. J. L. Carter of Ark Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. Therm Jones of Bethany Baptist Church and Rev. Dr. Earl Gilliard of Greater Harvest Baptist Church.

Hathaway said that he got especially interested in the Superblock issue after he learned that John Majors, who taught a course Hathaway took at Harvard University in 2000, was the executive vice president of Dawson Co.

Helena Hicks, a civil rights activist and member of CHAP, speaks in favor of the full preservation of the Read's site to Rev. Sheridan Todd Yeary, Rev. Al Hathaway and Rev. Arnold Howard. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

He said he contacted Majors, and was in turn approached by Michael Cryor and KO Public Affairs, who represented Dawson Co.

Cryor, head of the Cryor Group, is the former chair of the Maryland Democratic Party. KO Public Affairs bills itself as “a one-stop shop bringing campaign tactics and focus to public affairs” that helps “clients succeed where commerce, government, politics and media meet.”

It was co-founded by Damian O’Doherty, whose brother, Ryan O’Doherty, is Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s spokesperson.

In addition to the three ministers, the mayor’s office distributed statements of “community support” for the mayor’s plan by Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP and a city Housing Department employee; Howard Henderson, president of the Greater Baltimore Urban League; Maria Beckett, president of the Presidents’ Roundtable; and Diane Bell-McKoy, president of Associated Black Charities.

Doc Cheatham: “No Community Groups Here”

Marvin L. “Doc” Cheatham, the past president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, told The Brew last night that he was not impressed by the mayor’s claim of having won the backing of community groups.

“I’ve lived in this city all my life, and I think I have a pretty good handle on all the community organizations in the city and there weren’t any there. They said in their press release they were having a walking tour of the area with community groups, but there were no community groups there.”

Cheatham said he was not invited to the tour, but was told about it and arrived late. “The two pastors [Yeary and Hathaway] I heard were there – I think highly of them, but they are not from near the area. And they are not community groups.”

Cheatham, who supports “the full preservation” of the Read’s site, said the city has never consulted the community about what should be done to preserve the building.

He scoffed at the mayor calling her plan “a compromise.”

“A compromise is normally achieved by talking to another party,” he said.

- Fern Shen also contibuted to this story.