DETROIT FREE PRESS
By JENNIFER DIXON Detroit Free Press
Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2000 ; Page: 5A
Edition: METRO FINAL ; Section: NWS
Memo: NO POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Dateline: BALTIMORE

In the year after she borrowed $100,000 from Baltimore's empowerment zone, Joey Maruschak refurbished a vacant flat on the city's waterfront, bought 25 rolls of vinyl and started making signs on an old Ping- Pong table.

The zone was her first customer and has steered other work her way since she opened her sign-making business in 1998. Now, she's doing more than $20,000 a month in sales, has two employees and counts the Baltimore water taxi, the aquarium and Hard Rock Cafe among her customers.

"We haven't put our money into splashy developments and businesses," says James Shea, an attorney and chairman of the Empower Baltimore Management Corp. board of directors. "It's brick by brick."

And slow going. Shea says it took the zone four years to get most of its programs up and running, and he remains concerned about maintaining the pace.

Zone funds have been used for loans to other small businesses and to create customized training programs for employers, including Johns Hopkins Hospital System.

Several projects are occurring without zone financing, including two hotels -- a 750-room Wyndham and a smaller Courtyard by Marriott -- under construction on the waterfront.

In the neighborhoods, six village centers were established to give residents access to zone programs and services.

In Washington Village/Pigtown, the village center is located in an old bathhouse.

Residents can use the center to prepare a resume, look for a job, meet with probation or parole officers, or get substance-abuse counseling.

Over the last two years, it has helped 130 people became home owners with the zone's down-payment assistance; 144 new homes starting at $114,000 are planned.

On the stoop of the old bathhouse-turned-village center, Theresa Voland says she believes the neighborhood is slowly coming back and looking better.

"They need more empowerment zones," she says.

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