Jack Shannon, president and Chief Executive Officer of East Baltimore Development, Inc, will step down from his position next Thursday, after holding it for six years.
"I've been doing this for more than six years and someone noted to me that working on a project like this is very involving," he said. "[After EBDI] I will reconnect with the world outside of East Baltimore and enjoy the many other good things that I had in my life and spend time with my family."
After his term at EBDI, which is the non-profit organization responsible for developing land around Hopkins Hospital in Middle East Baltimore, Shannon said he has set up the project for the next step.
First announced Feb. 4, the press release released by EBDI read, "Under Mr. Shannon's leadership, EBDI has been committed to positively transforming the East Baltimore area through a large-scale development effort that is focused on 'Responsible Development' - a unique approach that combines economic, community, physical and human development strategies to achieve the maximum possible benefits for neighborhood residents, local businesses and the larger community."
"There is always a time for these kinds of things; we've established strong faces for the project. There is ongoing development activity and we've not secured the resources that allow the remaining families to either relocate to homes outside and within the project area," Shannon said.
But according to Donald Gresham, president of the Save Middle East Action Committee (SMEAC) some of Shannon's main promises to the residents have still not been addressed.
The "House for a House" program would enable residents to live in affordable places in the neighborhood in rehabilitated houses designated as "historical." The program was borne from the residents' desire to remain in the community in affordable housing.
One of the concerns voiced last October was a change in the contractor, which delayed the construction of the rehabilitated houses and the resulting implementation of the House for a House program. Gresham said that he still does not know the status of the process and just wants to ensure that it is affordable for low-income people.
"The community feels like it needs to have a role in the decision-making for who should be the CEO, which we have not had the opportunity of doing," Gresham said.
According to Shannon, the task of heading the EBDI project was more involved than he anticipated.
"When I came from Philadelphia I didn't expect something that was going to be a challenging set of opportunities that were going to test me in my skills," he said. "I think that we've made tremendous progress and it's been a struggle for the organization and our partners and our community residents."
"He had a job to do that really didn't allow us to feel the communication open enough to allow us to feel like we were on board with the project," Gresham said.
"The problem that we're having is that the project has not done fair to the community as a whole. Jack Shannon, as a CEO, should be a communicating factor. All the people partnered in the project have not listened to the community's concern," Gresham said.
"We sincerely believe that East Baltimore today is not only a stronger community, but it has also a bright and promising future," Shannon said. "I have made a lot of mistakes, but overall I'm proud of the work I've done."
"I've had conversations with individual residents, expressed disappointment and understand that this was a challenging and engulfing job, even though we didn't always agree," Shannon said.
SMEAC Executive Director Nathan Sooy said that SMEAC does have an idea for an ideal replacement for Shannon.
"I think it also needs to be someone with cultural and sensitivity of issues of race and class and one of the things that EBDI needs to lose is the attitude that they know what's best for people," Sooy said.
"The community feels like they need to have a role in the decision-making who should be the CEO development, which we have not had the opportunity of having," Gresham said. "That's not a transparent process, so we have no idea who it is."
Gresham pointed out that this is indicative of the lack of communication between EBDI and the East Baltimore residents.
"I don't know if necessarily bringing in someone else is going to improve the situation or not, really that remains to be seen, and we just need to make sure that this East Baltimore Development Project is run; it's a ball in the china shop project," Sooy said.
Gresham also noted that the biotech building constructed in Phase I of the project is open but has not yet been completely rented out.
"They built the building, it's not being fully used, and yet they can't deal with us," Gresham said.
"Basically we think the important thing is that EBDI be responsive to the community and we feel that EBDI has not really been entirely responsive to the community and the community's concerns and that's not all Jack, but Jack has certainly been part of that," Sooy said.
Sooy said that the residents of East Baltimore mostly view the project as insensitive to their concerns.
"Really, in the view of most residents, [EBDI] doesn't really know what's best for most people but they know what's best for the project," Sooy said.
