Inconsiderate contractor or media witch-hunt? You decide.
A few weeks ago, we reported on a small-scale project in Baltimore undertaken by Pless Jones’ P&J Contracting in which the site was left unfinished and littered with debris for weeks after the works had officially ended. Now, according to a report from the Baltimore Brew – which does seem to have a political axe to grind – Jones has become a repeat offender.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 29, a vacant three-story building collapsed in west Baltimore, sending tons of brick and debris crashing into a corner lot at Druid Hill and North avenues. P&J Contracting Co. was soon on the job, under its $6 million emergency-demolition contract with the Baltimore housing department.
But in a replay of the Durham Street site, the company has left the site unfinished, exposing the busy corner to unsightly piles of rubble and hazardous holes easily accessible from the sidewalk.
A top-drawer contributor and fundraising host for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s reelection campaign, Pless Jones has been snapping up contracts from a number of agencies.
Earlier this month, his company won a $428,300 contract to tear down the vacant Super Pride building in Howard Park. A week earlier, he won a controversial award to make structural repairs to a downtown building owned by the Baltimore Development Corp.
One of the company’s most lucrative contracts is with the quasi-public East Baltimore Development Inc. P&J has demolished more than 500 rowhouses for the biotech park north of Johns Hopkins Hospital, and $5 million more in demolition is slated for the neighborhood.
Last week, the contractor was faulted by residents of Middle East for starting a demolition contract before all city permits had been issued and rodent and air quality monitors put in place.
Read more here.
