New Planning Commissioners Begin Term
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This month, a number of new Planning Commissioners start their term.
Baltimore's Commission is a nine-member board responsible for reviewing land use proposals throughout the City.
All Commission meetings are open to the public and held in the Phoebe B. Stanton Boardroom of the Department of Planning, located on the 8th floor of 417 East Fayette Street. Live streaming is available.
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 This year, Davon Barbour joined the Commission. Davon is Vice President for Economic Development at the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. Learn more about Davon's new role below:
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Where are you from
and what brought you to Baltimore?
I’m a
Baltimore native. I attended the former Westside Elementary and William H.
Lemmel Middle schools in West Baltimore and graduated from the Baltimore School
for the Arts (BSA). I stayed local and attended Goucher College where I studied Sociology and French. After college, I began my professional
career working for non-profit, government
and private sector organizations dedicated to improving urban communities. I’m
most proud of my time in the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods where I worked
very closely with the Planning Department staff to implement the East Baltimore
Development Inc. project. After nearly twelve professional years away from
Baltimore, I was galvanized by the unrest that shook
Baltimore. As a student of BSA, I would ride the subway
almost daily from the Penn-North station. While watching on TV a hard-fought
CVS burn in flames from home in Miami, I thought to myself, “My city needs me.”
What do you look
forward to the most about your new role as a Planning Commissioner?
The Planning
Department leads several initiatives that align with my personal and
professional interests. Notably, I am excited to work with City staff in
implementing strategies related to the Food Policy Initiative, Capital
Improvement Program, Leveraging Investments in Neighborhood Corridors (LINCS)
and Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy.
What recent development
projects in Baltimore have inspired you?
I’m very excited about overall
trajectory of our City. Certainly, Downtown’s growth into a mixed-use residential
community is inspiring. Innovation Village also has tremendous potential to transform neighborhoods along the North Avenue corridor. Led by Under Armour’s
expansion, Port Covington will activate acres of underutilized land and improve
the City’s tax base. As a community, our collective challenge will be to
maximize opportunities for City residents to participate at every level of
these projects.
20 years from today,
how do you envision Baltimore?
I have
big dreams for Baltimore. What
Baltimore’s success looks like to me is very simple. It’s when a neighbor is
telling a friend or family member: “There’s a house on the market in my
neighborhood, you must buy it!” Success is when a CEO confidently encourages
another company to move into the City. Success is when outsiders clamor to be in Baltimore. Success is
when residents clamor to stay. At a granular level, I envision the following:
- Howard Street transformed into an
awe-inspiring arts and cultural hub that serves as home to numerous artists,
makers and technology firms.
- The City’s infrastructure attracting and retaining fast growing companies.
- An education system that produces a pipeline of
workers to sustain and grow our local industries.
 Student Environmental Intern team Honored with Brower Youth Environmental Award
Mercedes Thompson and Clare Wayner are 2017 recipients of the Brower Youth Award.
Claire and Mercedes are active leaders for their Green Team
at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, and in 2016 they founded Baltimore Beyond Plastic, a campaign to reduce plastics pollution in Baltimore City.
As leaders and founders of Baltimore Beyond Plastic, Mercedes and Clare have effectively led over 100 students for a lobby day in
Annapolis, meeting with legislators; organized a 125-person rally in front of City Hall pushing for a local
resolution to uphold state-wide legislation; and coordinated a 100-student Youth Leadership
Summit on Environmental Justice.
They successfully testified in front of both the Maryland
House of Delegates and Senate regarding an expanded polystyrene prohibition and
played an instrumental role in pushing the Baltimore City Council to adopt City
Council Resolution 17-0011R. This legislation called on the General Assembly to act towards banning the use of polystyrene foam food containers.
The Awards Ceremony will be held on October 17 at the
Herbst Theater in San Francisco, CA.
More information about this special honor is available on the Brower Youth Awards webpage.
More information about Clare and Mercedes work' to end the use of plastics in City Schools is available on Baltimorebeyond plastic.org
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Assistant Director Recipient of Fulcrum Fellowship
Assistant Director Stephanie Smith will be a part of the inaugural class of Fulcrum Fellows. This is a 15-month
program for rising executives in the fields of population health, climate resilience, community
development, urban planning and community investment, and is designed to position fellows to help
disinvested communities achieve their environmental, social and economic priorities.
The fellowship is a program of The Center for Community Investment at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
More information is available on this website.
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Youth Sustainability Coordinator Selected for National Environmental Fellowship
Andrea G. Calderón, Youth Sustainability Coordinator, will be a Fellow of the
Environmental Leadership Program’s 2017 National Fellowship Program. ELP's National Fellowship Program offers intensive leadership and skills training, as well as national networking opportunities for fellows.
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Made in Baltimore Program Manager Selected as one of 40 under 40 by Baltimore Business Journal
Baltimore Business Journal named Andy Cook, Made in Baltimore Program Manager, as one of 40 under 40 honorees for 2017. He and his co-honorees were selected from over 450 nominations citywide. They will be honored at an event in November.
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Small businesses are flourishing in the historic Cambridge Building in West Baltimore (Baltimore Sun)
What does a $250,000 housing discrimination settlement mean for the Baltimore region?(Baltimore City Paper)
A new white paper from the Nature Conservancy argues that trees should be at the center of city policies to improve public health.
What happens when playgrounds remain open outside of school hours for public programming and fun. (City Lab)
A new cooperative in Baltimore is providing immigrants and refugees with a platform to share their cuisines with the public, and hopes to someday open a brick-and-mortar restaurant location. (Baltimore Magazine)
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