The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page B1

TUESDAY 02.06.2007 baltimoresun.com maryland Ground rent called unjust O'Malley joins legislators in calling for support of new laws BY FRED SCHULTE SUN REPORTER Calling the system "fundamentally unfair and uniust 11 REGION SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGED Former Woodlawn High teacher charged with abusing girl, 14. PG 4B STATE JUVENILE SERVICES Donald W. DeVore, nationally recognized expert, is expected to be named head of Md. department. PG 5B OBITUARY LONGTIME PHYSICIAN C.

Richard Fravel, an internist who worked with insurance firms and was house physician at the old Morris A. Mechanic Theatre, dies at 82. PG 8B WLLI? Gov. Martin O'Malley 'MDWi jmed a group of state legislators vesterdav in erty rights of ground rent owners. An estimated 80,000 Baltimore homes are subject to ground rent, typically for $100 or less per year.

The system was popularized in the early 20th century when developers sought to hold down the prices of new homes for working-class people. Ground rents also exist in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties. O'Malley's remarks centered on a Senate bill to scrap the Circuit Court process known as ejectment, in which ground rent owners sue to seize the property from homeowners who fail to pay their rent. An investigative series by The Sun in Please see GROUND RENT, JOB Canton rowhouse of a man who nearly lost his property before Christmas over just such a debt. While O'Malley earlier backed proposed emergency legislation to ban new ground rents, the news conference marked the first time the governor had publicly supported a broad range of specific ground rent reforms.

O'Malley called homeownership the "building block of the middle class" and said the state's ground leasing system, which dates to Colonial times, needs to be modernized. In a statement, O'Malley said the proposals would strike a balance between protecting homeowners and the prop ASSEMBLY supporting new laws to prevent homeowners from losing their houses over unpaid ground rents. "It's a horrible injustice when you can be thrown out in the cold for $24," O'Malley said, standing in front of the Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is introduced to the City Council before her first State of the City address. GENE SWEENEY JR. SUN PHOTOGRAPHER DIXON'S ADDRESS IS MIX OF OLD.

NEW Who's right when race lies below the surface? Many O'Malley officials, initiatives stay, but mayor pledges policies of her own JEAN MARBELLA Baltimore Talent Development High School Principal Jeffrey Robinson visits a classroom during the school day. He is protesting a planned move of Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts into the complex in West Baltimore. PHOTOS BY ELIZABETH MALBY SUN PHOTOGRAPHER City principal threatens to quit position Talent Development head is protesting plan to move 700 students into complex BY BRENT JONES SUN REPORTER The principal of Baltimore Talent Development High School has threatened to quit if his staff and students are forced to share a building with 700 students from a school that's slated for relocation as part of the latest round of school closings. On Feb. 27, the city school board is scheduled to vote on the second of three annual rounds of school closings.

One of the proposals calls for moving Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts to the West Baltimore complex that houses Talent Development, which is a nationally renowned school run in partnership with the Johns Hopkins University. Jeffrey Robinson, Talent Development principal, predicted that there would be fights among Talent Development and Augusta Fells Savage students if they are placed in the same building this fall. He said Talent Development's relationship with Johns Hopkins would make some Augusta Fells Savage students jealous and result in friction. Talent Development relies on relatively small class sizes, nurturing and advanced teaching techniques to improve attendance, discipline and test scores, and lower dropout rates. Students apply for admission and are chosen by lottery.

Augusta Fells Savage is in the Southwestern High School complex, but city schools officials are planning to close the building this summer. Attempts to interview Augusta Fells Savage staff and students were unsuccessful. Robinson said he visited Augusta Fells last year and was "appalled" by Please see SCHOOL, 6B BY JOHN FRITZE SUN REPORTER Delivering her first State of the City address yesterday, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon proposed broad changes to the Police Department, speedier redevelopment of vacant land and the creation of several new positions to put disparate city agencies on the same page. Speaking in the recently refurbished City Council chamber, where her newly minted Cabinet sat alongside top elected officials, Dixon also vowed a "significant" increase in arts funding, more staff at recreation centers and a study of property taxes a response to escalating assessments. Dixon became Baltimore's 48th mayor last month when her predecessor, Martin O'Malley, became governor.

She has promised to maintain consistency with the prior administration as she serves its remaining 10 months, but she unveiled a surprising number of new initiatives last night including some long shunned by O'Malley. Though there were few specifics in the 40-minute speech about how to pay for the ideas, Dixon comes to the mayor's office at a time when city finances are in good shape a potential benefit to her political fortunes. Rising property values have improved revenues, and city leaders have managed to fund new initiatives while also making modest cuts to the property tax rate. Dixon devoted the lengthiest segment of her speech to crime, vowing to create a new division in the Police Department to target at-risk juveniles before they get into serious trouble. That effort follows a push away from the zero-tolerance policies of O'Malley's administration toward a more preventive, community-based approach.

"We have to get back to the days when officers knew the people who lived in the communities they patrolled, and the people in the community knew and trusted the officers that worked in their neighborhood," Dixon said. "Making our communities safer will take citizens and the police working together not against each other." With 30 homicides in Baltimore so far in 2007, crime, and how to confront it after O'Malley's tenure, will play a pivotal role in this year's mayoral election. Dixon, who is seeking election to a full term and will face at least a half-dozen candidates in the Sept. 11 Democratic primary, argues the city must offer more health and job training services in high-crime areas. Police Commissioner Leonard D.

Hamm said residents should expect to see more programs such as the "Get Out of the Game" initiative, in which offi-Please see DIXON, 5B HIGHLIGHTS FROM STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon announced several new initiatives in her first State of the City address yesterday, including: Creating a division within the Police Department to reach youth before they commit crimes. Increasing staff at city recreation centers and creating a new grant program for arts and cultural institutions. Developing a "land bank" to more quickly sell city-owned vacant property. Setting aside 75 housing vouchers to help relocate families whose children have been exposed to lead. Appointing a task force to consider ways to reduce property taxes.

MAYBE JOE BIDEN just verbalized what a lot of people were thinking. He did it crudely, of course, and the senator from Delaware has been roundly and rightly pundit-pummeled for calling Barack Obama, one of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." That sound you're hearing is merely the bursting of a big thought bubble that's been hovering unspoken over the heads of many people. What Biden seemed to be trying to articulate and it's only a guess, since it came out in such an inarticulate way was why the political rock star Obama has such crossover appeal. I almost feel sorry for Biden, trying to make his way through the minefield that is race and politics. When it comes to that subject, either we can't quite bring ourselves to talk about it, or if we do, it often comes out funny.

Whether it's a prominent Baltimore attorney raising eyebrows by warning African-American candidates for mayor that they could split the black vote and unwittingly turn the office over to a white person, or Biden's ham-handed assessment of Obama's appeal, race remains a political hot button. And yet it's unavoidable, especially now with the emergence of Obama, which has upended the usual political equations. While previous black candidates like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton drew much black support, the crowds that have flocked to Obama's book signings and other appearances are often largely white. African-Americans, meanwhile, are not as uniformly dazzled at this stage of his still-young candidacy: According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, for example, black Democrats favor Hillary Clinton over him by a 3-to-l margin. The irony, of course, is that although Obama is truly African-American his father is a black African and his mother is a white American he isn't African-American in the way that it's come to be defined.

Please see MARBELLA, 9B Algebra teacher Mary Robinson, mother of the principal, laughs with ninth-grader Ashley Vick during a discussion about computerized mathematics. Rules for exotic pets would require permits for pigeons and pot-bellied pigs, but bears would be out City takes aim at your iguana snakes and lizards over 5 feet long. And that favorite of urban city pets, green iguanas? Fine, so long as they are between 30 inches and 5 feet long. And don't even think about getting a bear. Such are the proposed regulations handed down from the city's Health Department on exotic and farm animals, a long-nebulous area in the city code.

The Health Department is allowing public comments on the proposed regulations for 30 days, through March 2. The regulations would also require a one-time $80 permit fee for chickens, pigeons and Vietnamese pot-bellied officials expect the most resistance to come from pigeon fanciers and iguana lovers. The new regula-Please see PETS, JOB BY SUMATHI REDDY SUN REPORTER Chickens are in. Roosters, ducks and other such fair-feathered fowl out. One beehive is OK, as are 50 pigeons and Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, albeit no more than 22 inches and 150 pounds.

But say goodbye to caiman and POLICE BLOTTER 3B LOTTERY 3B OBITUARIES 8B WEATHER 10B.