Tearing down Tivoly Avenue
After several years, the city tore down the last of 98 vacant properties on Tivoly Avenue.
The demolition of Tivoly Avenue’s vacant houses is part of the city’s Vacants to Value program, which Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake launched in November 2010. Rawlings-Blake announced Thursday at the demolition that she would hold a summit this fall to highlight the nearly 5-year-old program’s progress.
- Jan. 2008: Demolition crews begin tearing down 2731 Tivoly. As part of the city’s blight elimination effort, demolition crews began tearing down vacant homes in the 2700 block of Tivoly in East Baltimore. Andre F. Chung / Baltimore Sun
- 1982– A youngster surveys the charred shell of the Tivoly Avenue home. Photo by William H. Mortimer/file photo
- Workers demolish the final vacant building on Tivoly Avenue. The demolition effort was made by the mayor’s Vacants to Value program. To date, Vacants to Value has leveraged more than $107 million dollars in private investment to demolish or rehabilitate more than 3,000 vacant homes. Tom Brenner / The Baltimore Sun.
- Hundreds of bricks remain from a previous demolition job on a home on Tivoly Avenue through the mayor’s Vacants to Value program. To date, Vacants to Value has leveraged more than $107 million dollars in private investment to demolish or rehabilitate more than 3,000 vacant homes. Tom Brenner / The Baltimore Sun.
- Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, left, operates a bulldozer with the help of Pless Jones, right, to begin the demolition process of the final vacant building on Tivoly Avenue. The demolition effort was made by the mayor’s Vacants to Value program. To date, Vacants to Value has leveraged more than $107 million dollars in private investment to demolish or rehabilitate more than 3,000 vacant homes. Tom Brenner / The Baltimore Sun.
- A boy is seen riding his bike around the demolition area of the last vacant home on Tivoly Avenue. The demolition effort was made by the mayor’s Vacants to Value program. To date, Vacants to Value has leveraged more than $107 million dollars in private investment to demolish or rehabilitate more than 3,000 vacant homes. Tom Brenner / The Baltimore Sun.
- Artie Davis examines roof damage from inside the last vacant home on Tivoly Avenue before its demolition, lead by the mayor’s Vacants to Value program. To date, Vacants to Value has leveraged more than $107 million dollars in private investment to demolish or rehabilitate more than 3,000 vacant homes. Tom Brenner / The Baltimore Sun.
- People pass by the last vacant home on Tivoly Avenue before its demolition, lead by the mayor’s Vacants to Value program. To date, Vacants to Value has leveraged more than $107 million dollars in private investment to demolish or rehabilitate more than 3,000 vacant homes. Tom Brenner / The Baltimore Sun.
- A boy is seen riding his bike around the demolition area of the last vacant home on Tivoly Avenue. The demolition effort was made by the mayor’s Vacants to Value program. To date, Vacants to Value has leveraged more than $107 million dollars in private investment to demolish or rehabilitate more than 3,000 vacant homes. Tom Brenner / The Baltimore Sun.
- Crews continued to tear down the last of the vacant homes on Tivoly Avenue. (Tom Brenner / The Baltimore Sun)
While officials and neighborhood leaders cheered the clearing of Tivoly Avenue, they said progress had been slow on a block they have complained about for years. Ten houses were demolished on the block in 2008 under the administration of Mayor Sheila Dixon. Seven more were razed in 2013, according to city records, with the rest not knocked down until recent months.
Clarke, who represents the area, blamed “money and priorities” for the delays but said she was excited to see progress seven years later.
“Several years ago, it was so thick with drug dealing in the street and traffic driving slowly through that you could barely drive up this street,” she said. “So there was a lot of abandonment during that period and a lot of blight. A number of homeowners were left stranded, a lot of longtime renters as well.”