Rikki Spector represents the 5th District of Baltimore on the Baltimore City Council. Spector does not live in the 5th District. Spector “represents” a district that is located in Northwest Baltimore while she lives downtown in the 10th district in the Harborview condominium complex. Spector can no longer hide this fact, but the media does a good job of letting her get away with this travesty. Spector’s disregard for residency requirements is a slap in the face to the citizens of Baltimore, especially those who physically live in the Northwest Baltimore district that she is supposed to represent. While citizens of the 5th district are forced to create their own neighborhood patrol, Spector gets to live in a luxury condo downtown for free for the rest of her life. This is a travesty and it is something that can not be taken lightly. Any Rikki Spector article needs to mention this disgrace. This Agnes/Pete Welch supporting politician must be voted out before she pulls an even bigger anti-democratic move and gets one of her boyfriend’s relatives nominated to take her place. Do not think it can’t happen! The woman already does not live in her district! Remember that in 1977 Spector was appointed to her current seat which was previously held by her now deceased husband. She entered city council the same way Pete Welch did so of course she was never going to vote against him!
It gets worse. I was recently contacted by a person who conveyed the following information to me:
“Here is a link to the “reprimand” that the City Board of Ethics gave to Rikki Spector for her successful attempt to have citations for dangerous mold suppressed at the Harborview condo tower on Key Highway (Spector is credited in the letter with providing “constituent services” even though the harbor view condos are nowhere near the city council district that she is apparently elected for life to serve). The reason she had the city not issue the citations is because she has negotiated a deal with her boyfriend’s family to live there for free for the rest of her life and doesn’t want the condo values to drop so that riff raff like you and I can afford to move in there and be her neighbors.
Even though the City’s Health Department’s cursory investigation determined (after Spector’s intervention) that no mold was present in the the condo building ( mold inconveniently lowers property taxes) the owners of one of the penthouses have had to live elsewhere for almost a year while their condo remains quarantined in a plastic bag and the owner of the other penthouse can’t have his children visit him because one of them has asthma. The City Health Department never even entered the condos to check for mold and the City board of Ethics never bothered to interview the people mentioned in the article before they decided not to charge Spector with an ethical violation.
The City never even bothered to do a real investigation of a mold claim, even though two families in very expensive condos feel strongly enough that there is toxic mold in the building (and their condos) that one family has moved out of their condo. The other still lives there, but he won’t let his kids in there to visit.
Multiple lawsuits are in the works regarding the mold and the condo boards denial of the issue in a futile attempt to prop up condo values. Most of the condo owners are unaware of the lawsuits or their financial ramifications as the condo board apparently makes all their decisions in a vacuum. Imagine if the condo board and building owners have to pay to fix the condos and for the year of living expenses for the families to live elsewhere while their condos are toxic.
If the lawsuits go in favor of the condo owners that will provide a clear picture of the corruption of Spector and her flunkies on both the City Board that didn’t enforce the mold citations and the City Ethics Board that “cleared” her of any wrongdoing and failed to sanction her.”
Despite not living in her district it is pretty obvious that Spector has a lot of behind the scenes power in Baltimore. I guess that comes from being part of the machine for 34 years. The bureaucracy would rather humor Spector than ensure that the condos are safe for families who should be living there.
On the side of this article is a picture of the inside of the Harborview condo that was cleared by the City based on Spector’s pressure and the condo board’s indifference.
Here is the Sun’s coverage of this story.
I think it would be entertaining if someone ran against Spector who also does not live in the 5th district. It’s not like she could try and get that person disqualified. The other non-resident candidate could use his or her candidacy to draw attention to this ridiculous residency situation.
Adam is the most recognizable face of the recent resurgence in Reservoir Hill. He has appeared on many national and local radio shows, in several news publications, and at numerous events discussing his innovative urban redevelopment ideas and his unique lifestyle. Adam is a successful entrepreneur, community activist, and a local political guru who ran for city council in 2007. He is the founder and director of the TechBalt.com Buy a Block Project and BaltimoreHourly.com. His fearless local political commentary has rocked the local blog scene for most of this decade and he plans to take it to the next level in the next decade here on Charm City Current.