[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 124 (Thursday, September 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1872-E1873]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   PATTERSON PARK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION 10TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 27, 2006

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to bring to your attention the 
achievements of the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation 
(PPCDC), which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary.
  The Patterson Park area was originally known as Hampstead Hill and 
played an important role in the defense of Baltimore during the War of 
1812. The property was also home to the wealthy Patterson family whose 
beautiful daughter, Betsy, was the wife of Jerome Bonaparte. The 
surrounding rowhouse community offered housing for a diverse 
population, including immigrants from Eastern Europe. Following World 
War II, many families moved to the suburbs, leaving older residents 
behind. The community became ripe for absentee landlords and investors.
  In 1996, the PPCDC was founded by residents to combat the 
neighborhood's decline. PPCDC concentrated on an area of 3,000 
rowhouses north of Patterson Park, and 2,500 houses on the park's 
eastern periphery. Its goal was to recreate a stable, desirable, 
diverse community around Patterson Park.
  PPCDC embarked on strategies to improve the neighborhood and Park 
image, strengthen the neighborhood's social fabric and political 
strength, and dramatically increase investment through control of the 
neighborhood's real estate. Since 1996, PPCDC has spent more than $60 
million in the community, attracting tens of millions of dollars in 
other investment. PPCDC also maintains more than 100 affordable rental 
units that provide decent housing to immigrants, refugees, and other 
families with modest incomes.
  PPCDC has accomplished all this while maintaining the ethnic, racial 
and economic diversity of the Patterson Park community. Investment 
north of Patterson Park has allowed neighborhoods to the south to 
gather momentum and become an engine for revitalization in all of 
Southeast Baltimore.

[[Page E1873]]

  Friends of Patterson Park was formed to revitalize the Park, restore 
the boat lake and the Pagoda, which serves as the centerpiece for 
summer concerts, and build a new playground for the growing number of 
children who live in the community. In 2002, the Patterson Park Charter 
School was formed by residents to entice young families to stay in the 
neighborhood.
  I urge my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to join me 
in saluting the accomplishments of the PPCDC and its partners and in 
commending them for their work in East Baltimore. Their efforts to 
revitalize Patterson Park have become a model for other communities 
around the Nation.

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