Station North Save the City?

Station North is located in Baltimore and was the first area to receive the states designation as an Arts & Entertainment District in 2002. Station North is nestled among the neighborhoods of Charles North, Greenmount West and Barclay. This area has a vast array of artist live work spaces, and business. While Station North is a thriving area, many people have concerns in regards to the people who are relocating in that district and if Station North in of itself can save the city.

There seems to be a lot of opinions that are floating around about whether or not Station North is itself has people being involved. On the March Steiner show, there was a lot of talk about whether or not there was enough investment in the area itself. One of the main points that I noticed that was hit on a lot was about investing in this area/project. People are nervous to invest money because they fear that they will be priced out lets say by developers who want to build something in that area or that they will be a disinvestment in the sense that they won't bring money in. This goes without saying about the type of people who are investing money into Station North and its surrounding areas are predominately white and that there isn't many African American/black people investing in this area. If there are more white people investing, than the ratio of white to black will be a misrepresentation of the history surrounding Station North.

One of my questions to Ben Stone would be is there a way to get the black community to feel that if they make an investment that it will be worth it. I think that if city leaders and the community actually have a sit down talk about it, the tensions that are there would be lessened and there would be a better understanding. Another one of my questions would be what type of structures does Station North need in order to get more people to participate. During the interview, it was said that having structures would be a must so I'm curious as to what they are doing to ensure that this happens. My last question for Ben Stone would be to explain creative trust a little more in detail. It was touched upon slightly during the interview and I would like to know more about what that exactly entails.