BALTIMORE — Gov. Larry Hogan announced on Wednesday that more than $500,000 will be spent on security upgrades that will make Little Italy safer for businesses, residents, and tourists, according to state staff.
Hogan made the announcement during a visit to the historic neighborhood alongside Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, state staff said.
Ferguson had advocated for the funding.
Earlier in August, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development met with representatives of the Little Italy Neighborhood Association to discuss the funding requests.
The funding is rooted in neighborhood safety grants and will be spent on vehicle tag readers, police-accessible cameras, and street intersection reflective paint.
Vehicle Tag Readers: $130,000
Vehicle tag readers will be installed at key intersections, including President and Pratt Streets, to help identify and apprehended suspects in Little Italy and surrounding downtown arteries.
Police-Accessible Cameras: $83,000
A network of strategically placed cameras will be installed on the police network to make it easier for law enforcement to effectively monitor trouble spots in real-time. This will be a combination of cameras placed at President and Pratt Streets to monitor this major East-West thoroughfare with clear, high-resolution pictures. Pole cameras will also be installed at all North-South and East-West corridor access points to provide police with street-level data to/from neighboring communities and highways.
Street Intersection Reflective Paint: $40,000
The entrance streets to Little Italy will be painted at major intersections to provide safer, clearer crosswalks for vehicle and pedestrian traffic from tourists and residents.
Initiatives that the governor will direct future budget funding for include:
Creating a Business Improvement District and Extending the Waterfront Partnership to Little Italy: $250,000
The state will commit funds to help Little Italy create a Business Improvement District that receives safety services from the Waterfront Partnership—similar to surrounding neighborhoods. At present, the Waterfront Partnership includes Inner Harbor, Harbor East, Harbor Point, and Fells Point.
Little Italy was recently the site of a car theft gone awry after a teenager made a botched attempt to steal a vehicle. In the process of not stealing the car, the teen ended up dragging its owner and crashing the vehicle.
The neighborhood has also been tied to recent tragedies.
Trevor White, the co-owner of RYMKS Bar & Grille on East Pratt Street in Little Italy, was gunned down on Father’s Day.
A few months before that, in April, popular Little Italy restauranteur Chesley Patterson, 44, was killed in Fells Point during a robbery spree. Patterson had been a manager at La Scala.
In March, a man was gunned down in the 800 block of Stiles Street, which is on the outskirts of Little Italy.