July 13th 2023
Resolution of the Community of Curtis Bay Association (CCBA) on the location of Curtis Bay’s Recreation Center:
Whereas:
1. CCBA is a Curtis Bay organization committed to community-led equitable development without displacement that seeks to be accountable to residents’ concerns, goals, and visions;
2. A longstanding unresolved need in Curtis Bay has been a safe, stable, well-resourced Recreation Center for children and adults to gather, learn, play, connect, and build community;
3. The Curtis Bay Rec Center located at 1630 Filbert St, despite a lack of funding, is a core part of the heart of Curtis Bay where we vote, gather, learn, play, discuss, debate and plan together.
4. In February 2022, Mayor Scott’s public announcement at the Curtis Bay Rec Center that millions of dollars in Federal resources were coming to build a new Curtis Bay Rec Center at 1630 Filbert St. was a major step in the right direction following the devastating explosion at the CSX coal terminal in Dec 2021 that threatened the health and safety of our region.
5. Rather than a repetition of the shameful history of displacing Fairfield, Wagner’s and Hawkins Point, the investment in Curtis Bay’s public infrastructure bolstered our belief in future support for residential life in our community;
6. After engaging for months in a planning process for the new Rec Center development, CCBA was shocked to learn that the City intended to demolish the Curtis Bay Rec Center and rebuild a Rec Center in another location up a steep hill;
7. After two well attended CCBA public meetings where residents expressed a strong preference for the 1630 Filbert St location, CCBA responded with a commitment to engaging additional residents to determine a path forward, as expressed by those directly impacted by the decision;
8. The results of CCBA’s outreach survey indicate that 80% of residents need the Rec Center to be built at the current location in Curtis Bay to meet their needs;
9. As volunteer outreach team members were nearing the completion of their work to knock on every door in the community and gather input from as many residents as possible with a survey on the issue, the tragedy of the mass shooting in Brooklyn Homes occurred;
10. CCBA stands in solidarity with the residents of Brooklyn Homes and is committed to helping in any ways determined by residents;
11. CCBA seeks to share resources and make sacrifices to help our neighbors during good times and bad;
12. CCBA has gathered from recent public statements made by Mayor Scott that he intends to move the location of the Rec Center to the West Bay Ave. location;
13.While we regret not being informed directly given the importance of the Rec development to all youth and residents across our communities, we remain committed to an equitable path forward that seeks to expand resources and opportunity through a universal commitment to our right to a safe and healthy community.
The Community of Curtis Bay Association (CCBA) hereby resolves:
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CCBA officially adopts the position as expressed by the overwhelming majority of residents that a new Rec Center must be developed at 1630 Filbert St. as announced by the Mayor in Feb 2022 and as guided by his commitments to equitable development reversing disinvestment and environmental injustice;
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CCBA supports and will contribute to any and all efforts to see that an additional recreation center be built to meet the needs as expressed by Brooklyn Homes residents at a location that is desired;
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CCBA strongly urges that no further action be taken to continue the environmentally unjust practice of removing public buildings from frontline Environmental Justice communities like Curtis Bay, following the shameful history of involuntary displacement of Fairfield, Hawkins Point, and Wagner’s Point communities;
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CCBA adopts the position supported by Curtis Bay residents that in the event that Baltimore City decides to build the new recreation center at a location other than 1630 Filbert St., despite all our efforts, the existing building shall be retained as a community controlled center in the heart of Curtis Bay.