Property address: 156 N. Decker Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224
Property owner: Walter & Patricia Johnson, 6910B Windsor Mill Road, Baltimore, MD 21207
City Council District and contact: District 1, James Kraft
On the surface, this property doesn’t look that bad, beyond the fact that it’s boarded up and vacant. However, according to a neighbor, this has become a nuisance property — attracting drug addicts who hide in the rear yard.
We have had dumping in the past and have had 311 and a volunteer group out to clean it up twice. We frequently [see] drug users hanging out by the back door and shooting up. There are definitely needles in the “yard” and I often kick people out of there. [Kids] hang out on the steps constantly. It’s been vacant as long as I’ve lived here (3 years).
Again, this illustrates the underlying problem with boarded-up homes, especially the ones owned by absentee investors. Their properties end up being everyone else’s problem — between trash and crime — it’s an unacceptable situation, one that the City could fix, simply by enforcing the laws and making the penalties tougher.
