BALTIMORE — The Edmondson village shopping plaza is finally getting some much needed upgrades.
This comes after city leaders are preparing to approved a $9 million dollar budget to help with the changes.
Neighbors like Steve Dixon who live and work in west Baltimore near the Edmondson in Shopping Village said it’s been in need of revitalization for years, and they’re just happy to finally see some progress.
“Well half of the complex is empty because it needs to be rebuilt so absolutely, I’m glad that the city came up with the decision to give the money,” Dixon said.
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It’s been the talk of the Edmondson Village shopping plaza. City leaders like councilman Kristerfer Burnett said next Monday the full council will vote to approve the $9 million dollar investment into the plaza. It’s also been serious talks of a new buyer.
Neighbors said the shopping plaza has caught fire multiple times within the last few years destroying businesses, and leaving portions of it looking dilapidated.
“My first day working here two years ago, three years ago, the building burned down the building next door. So this complex has been on fire about three of four times,” Dixon said.
Community leaders like Monique Washington, who’s the president of the Edmondson Village Association, said the plaza has also experienced its fair share of crime.
"It’s a lot going on in this parking lot that shouldn’t be going on. It's always something going on up here, we’ve told the councilman about it, we’ve complained to the school about it,” Washington said.
Last month, 16-year-old Deanta Dorsey was killed in that plaza and four other students were shot during lunch right across from Edmondson West Side High School.
“It’s been a big issue for a very long time, concerns about violence and drug distribution and other issues at the shopping center has very much long plagued the center. Edmondson particularly has experienced a long history of disinvestment that’s been well documented,” Burnett said.
Councilman Burnett, who leads the area, also said incidents like the fires and the crime is why they’ve been working for years to revamp the Edmondson Village plaza.
“I don’t think that new buildings mean that things will inherently get better. I do think that it will be a positive step forward when folks see that the city is making an investment,” Burnett said.
It’s an investment many neighbors like Dixon are looking forward to witnessing.
“It’s going to uplift the community, it’s going to provide jobs, it’s going to provide training. It will help, it will help bring it back up because this has been down for so long,” Dixon said.
