2008 Larry Reich Award

Larry Reich was Baltimore City Department of Planning Director 1965-1990 and was a central figure in the City’s Downtown Renaissance, a proponent of community-based planning and neighborhood initiatives, and an opponent of proposed highways that would have obliterated some of Baltimore’s most historic neighborhoods.  The Larry Reich Award, established by his colleagues, is given annually to an individual whose volunteer and professional work exemplifies a special commitment to community-based planning and design.

This year's winners are Betty Bland-Thomas and Ed Rutkowski (click here to read the committee's comments).

You can also view a video of the awards ceremony held on March 20, 2008, that was attended by over 75 people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfutxqyyEPU. Thank you as well to Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin for awarding citations to Ed and Betty.

Betty Bland-Thomas

For years, Betty Bland-Thomas, President of the Sharp-Leadenhall Planning Committee, has mobilized residents and forged government and business partnerships in order to bring needed attention to her long-neglected, historic South Baltimore area.  She has tackled numerous issues in Sharpe Leadenhall, including affordable housing, greening, youth activities, light rail access for the neighborhood, and community involvement in their own master planning process.  Betty has also co-chaired Mayor Dixon’s Transition Committee, served on the Gwynns Falls Trail Council, and worked with developers and city agencies to preserve scattered-site public affordable housing.

Betty’s community development work demonstrates the legitimacy of issues that are raised by citizens and reinforces the importance of including community residents in planning for their future.  In a City in which information about citizen resources is sometimes difficult to access, she has shared her knowledge about neighborhood redevelopment with communities and community leaders across Baltimore.

Ed Rutkowski

As founder and president of the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation (PPCDC), Ed Rutkowski has spent year’s addressing blight and community revitalization in the Patterson Park neighborhood in East Baltimore.  Beginning in 1996 by purchasing four homes, renovating them, and reselling them, the PPCDC has since not only renovated hundreds of homes, but also spearheaded creative ways to improve other facets of the neighborhood, from converting St. Elizabeth’s School into a charter school to obtaining a $500,000 economic development grant for Library Square.  Ed also co-authored with Marcus Pollock  “The Urban Transition Zone:  A Place Worth a Fight”, a book that analyzed issues involved in neighborhood  decline and proposed unconventional means of saving them.

Ed Rutkowski is a visionary who had the courage to take the initial step.  His efforts toward revitalization in one community have been an inspiration to many in Baltimore, and has created a model that can assist other communities in their redevelopment efforts.

Committee Comments
The 2008 Larry Reich Award selection committee consisted of the following people: Alfred W. Barry III (Principal, AB Associates); George R. Hill, Project Manager for Maryland Transit Administration; Karen Lewand, Executive Director AIABaltimore; Martin Millspaugh, Urban Development Consultant; and Carolyn Boitnott, Community Activist.  The following is a summary of the committee's reasons for honoring Betty and Ed:

"The Committee is pleased to recognize two outstanding neighborhood leaders whose work so clearly exemplifies Larry Reich's commitment to neighborhoods and his initiation of the country's first community planning program.  Both offer reminders of Larry's vocal opposition to the expressway battles that consumed many Baltimore's neighborhoods, including Betty Bland Thomas' Sharp Leadenhall community where she has so ably taken up the hard work of Mildred Moon, the long-time neighborhood leader who worked with Larry to save what was left of her neighborhood.  In a similar way, the community activism of Southeast Baltimore that ultimately defeated the highway through Fells Point and Canton spawned a culture of neighborhood-based  planning initiatives that is best illustrated by Ed Rutkowski's work.

Both leaders come to their work by looking at their communities holistically, with a burning desire that defines neighborhood revitalization as more than individual projects.  Both communities where they worked were also threatened by a range of social and economic forces but now have been put on a dramatic road to recovery through the efforts of these two special leaders.  Both, through different strategies, sought to protect the essence of their respective neighborhoods while respecting the need for economic change and capitalizing on it."