Rochambeau all over again. Fuck the churches man, no respect for the city and its heritage

Yes just search the channel when the games are going on

I am so impressed by the Christmas Village!! And so happy to see such big crowds. I wish we could do something like this regularly for different holidays or seasons

You do realize that is exactly what is happening all around the city right? Like this isn't a new thing. Developers have been buying up and leaving thousands of houses across the city. It's not that the church is evil they are just engaging in the same bullshit as every other scummy developer in the city. Except they are doing it in the affluent part of the city.

Because I’ve yet to hear a compelling argument from the other side. I’m supposed to believe the church wanted a garden so badly that they concocted this decades long scheme to let the buildings deteriorate that completely hinged upon getting approval to tear them down from the preservation/zoning board?

Bro this isn't some local church strapped for cash. It has 560 parishes and 500k members. Why you defending this so hard?

Okay, maybe the church is full of evil, conniving people. Or, hear me out:

The church was gifted these buildings and probably had plans or ideas for what they could do with them. Due to limited funds or declining congregation sizes, they probably realized they didn’t have the money to support that. However, it’s still property nearby that they wouldn’t be able to purchase down the road if it was in private hands, so they figured it was probably best to just keep the properties until the church had more resources, because the opportunity wouldn’t present itself again. However, the problems grew bigger and as such, got more expensive. Fast forward to today, and the church realizes it’s fruitless to keep this property but due to the condition of the buildings, it likely wouldn’t be beneficial to keep them either. So they decide they could be torn down and converted into something relatively cheap and easy to maintain, aka an outdoor plaza that requires minimal maintenance compared to aging buildings.

I’m not saying every decision the church made was amazing or that they’re strategized particularly well, but I feel as though people here are being very, very presumptuous and just immediately jumping to accuse the church of nefarious activity when it’s likely that they just made poor, if well-intentioned, choices

Then sell them. They had 3 decades to make that decision. Like what's the argument here? It's crazy to just sit on huge houses like this when there is a shortage of housing in that neighborhood. Some developer I'm sure would have loved to chip the houses up into multi family apartments or homes

Have you tried the owners forum? Can't hurt to try.

That makes the assumption the church has the (likely) hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital needed to renovate and refurbish these properties so that they’re livable for the aforementioned folks.

It is also entirely possible the church didn’t have a shit ton of money laying around to pump into these buildings. Their revenue is probably some donations and the offering at their services, they’re probably not just sitting on millions of dollars to renovate and refurbish random property. This isn’t like the Catholic Church owns it

My mistake, I totally misread your comment. All apologies here.

What even is the insinuation here lol? You think the church decided years ago that it wanted a garden so badly it needed to purposely let these buildings rot and cross their fingers the zoning board would approve their changes?

Idk why everyone is getting so mad at the church here. The church is not obliged to renovate & refurbish vacant, boarded up buildings at their own expense because we think they look pretty. I like them too, but unless we’re gonna crowdfund the repairs I don’t see the point of just letting blighted building rot

i understand the reaction! i feel like as someone in the building trades i feel both suspicious of NIMBYs and YIMBYs at times—typically restoring historic housing in streetcar cities and row house neighborhoods is a better move than tearing it down and replacing it with rickety, cheaply made 5-over-ones, because inadequate housing is nearly as bad as no housing at all and i know firsthand how quickly shitty new "luxury" housing falls to moisture issues and mold and mildew, how its thin walls make life hell for people (and their heating/cooling costs), and how they encourage short-stay tenancy for young couples and single people rather than providing long term family housing. i think most people don't go that deep into the minutia and i don't fault them for being as boring as i am, but i do definitely get passionate about it! row homes and historic houses like this are fantastic for housing density without encouraging too much car dependency (bc too much car dependency leads to an actual lack of true density bc things like schools and grocery stores are pushed too far away to access on foot/via public transport bc of parking needs, so cost of living goes up, etc etc etc, shit, i'm rambling again) so my drive for density is also coupled with a strict need for dignity/quality of life for low income residents. lots of things in the balance!! i get heated!! sorry for the massive walls of text there! this situation is a mess, damn

I mean they’re currently vacant and boarded up, I have a really hard time believing the assessor would be valuing them so significantly that the church would find it cheaper to tear them down to pay some measly property tax values in a hypothetical situation that hasn’t happened yet

Sugarbske in Mt Vernon us a good spot!

The brunch menu, their chef and staff are fantastic. Can't really go wrong here.

Go to the brunch page dude. I eat there regularly, it's five minutes from my house.

Interestingly enough, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has several charities that deal in housing, education, healthcare, and food security. We are, of course, a nation of laws. The Church has a constitutional right to do with its property as it pleases, within the bounds of local zoning laws. I’m sure the Church does not consider it a waste of space. Otherwise, it would not have built it. If I were upset about this, I’d be displeased with my elected officials than private entities. Perhaps their intervention could have prevented this. But, I’m not from here; my rationale is obviously out of place here.

Have a blessed holiday season.

Last time I went to the one in fells they had closed

Most likely will be taken down and sent over to Second Chance. Nobody will want to deal with the maintenance required to get it functioning.

https://www.ordersilverqueencafe.com/s/order

Not there.

Simply Marie’s in Canton. Tiny place. Delicious southern breakfast.

This only supports my point that the building wasn’t a shithole