Activist Gresham chosen for EBDI board

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Donald Gresham, a community activist in Middle East who has protested against East Baltimore Development Inc. and its planned $1.8 billion redevelopment of the community, has been chosen to serve as a voting member on the EBDI board.

Gresham’s candidacy was sponsored by Baltimore City Council member Warren Branch, whose 13th District encompasses much of the 88-acre EBDI site.

Gresham could potentially join the board early next year, Branch said.

“Donald, to me, would bring transparency,” Branch said. “He would be the voice of the community. I think he’s the best choice for the board because he’s been there from the beginning. He’ll balance it off.”

Christopher Shea, EBDI’s CEO, said the board planned to add two positions early next year for community residents. He declined to comment on Branch’s choice of Gresham for one of the slots.

“The proposal is a net increase of two voting members to be recruited from among the community,” Shea wrote in an email this week.

The EBDI board is headed by Douglas Nelson, the former president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which has invested $63.5 million in the EBDI project. Other members include Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels, Deputy Mayor Kaliope Parthemos and Rouse Company Foundation Chairman Anthony Deering.

Middle East residents have charged that the board members do not live in the community and, therefore, do not represent their interests, Gresham said. EBDI board meetings are closed to the public and the minutes are not made available for public inspection.

EBDI was formed in 2002 by the city as a nonprofit development entity. An investigation by The Daily Record this year found it has committed $564 million so far on the project — $212.6 million of that in public funds.

Gresham recently moved into a newly renovated home in the 1100 block of McDonough Street after EBDI relocated him from his house at 953 N. Chester St. nearly three years ago. Once homeless, he said he bought the house on Chester Street after he had gotten a job and saved enough for a down payment.

He said he would accept a position on the EBDI board if formally offered.

“They hopefully want to hear the community’s viewpoints, opinions and concerns,” Gresham said. “I want to make sure that’s what happens.”

Gresham was once a member of the Save Middle East Action Committee, a grassroots organization of Middle East residents that formed in 2003 to empower residents being displaced by the massive redevelopment. SMEAC disbanded in 2008, after 732 households had been relocated be EBDI.

Today, he is president of a new community organization, the Community Housing and Relocation Work Group, formed in July in response to a quest by EBDI to introduce a third master plan for the redevelopment that includes a huge park and less space for private life sciences development than originally planned.

That plan sparked a series of community meetings this summer at which residents angrily said they were not included in the planning process for the new master plan.

Gresham said that if he becomes a voting member of the EBDI board, he will work to create a better sense of understanding.

“I hope we can all become one,” he said. “Can’t we all get along? Can we all do this?”