Baltimore Sprucing Up The City's Amtrak Line

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The vacant and abandoned buildings that line the city's Amtrak line need some sprucing up. Thanks to a major grant, the city is moving forward on a plan to brighten up one of its most traveled train corridors.

Gigi Barnett has more.

Drive through East Baltimore, and you'll see vacant properties and abandoned houses. If you take the Amtrak train, the scenery is the same.

But armed with a $300,000 grant, city leaders are looking to change that.

They're cleaning up the blight and sprucing up the views with a new program called Green Tracks Project.

"It's been a vision for a while," said Tom Stosur, the city's director of planning.

Stosur says in the past, some passengers have commented on their views of what the neighborhood looks like. It doesn't exactly leave a desire to return to Charm City.

"Too often the perception that has been out in the public with the most recent incident is not a true reflection of what Baltimore is. It's more about showing the world, the community, the people about what Baltimore really looks like," said Leon Pinkett, assistant deputy mayor.

The city will knock down more than a dozen vacant properties and abandoned houses. Trees, plants and benches will go in their place to create more green spaces.

The deconstruction will also bring more jobs to the East Baltimore area, and possibly more visitors.

"I've been on the train, and I was shocked--this was a year ago--but I was shocked at the views and how terrible Baltimore looked from the train tracks. It just gave the wrong impression of the city," said Calvin Lewis, storm water manager.

The city hopes that some of the remaining abandoned buildings will be bought and renovated by private investors.

The grant for the cleanup comes from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Wells Fargo Foundation.