A few piles of concrete and pieces of a rusted ship peeking out of the water stand as the only reminders of a 22-acre dumping ground on the edge of the Baltimore Harbor.
Soon the once-contaminated shoreline of the Patapsco River, which flows into the harbor, will become home to a park with walking paths and a nature center.
“Brooklyn and Curtis Bay have been landlocked for years, and this is one of the first opportunities to get waterfront access,” said Carol Kefford Eschelman, executive director of the nonprofit Brooklyn and Curtis Bay Coalition Inc., which has been actively involved in the site?s restoration.
Community leaders and officials broke ground Monday for the Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center, which is part of a $153 million project to restore the former dump for ships, timber and garbage.
“We want to leave this part of the Earth to you in a much cleaner and better shape than we received it,” Gov. Martin O?Malley said to a group of fifth-graders from Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School in Baltimore City who attended the event.
The Maryland Port Administration, which owns the site, began clearing the debris last year.
Twenty-five abandoned and destroyed boats were removed from the water, along with:
– 122 tons of concrete
– 30 tons of tires
– 30,000 tons of trash
– 3,520 tons of solid waste
– More than 1,200 tons of scrap metal
Classes at the center will be run by the Living Classrooms Foundation, a Baltimore City-based nonprofit, and students from around the state can participate in a variety of hands-on environmental programs, said Scott Raymond, the foundation?s vice president for education.
The center, scheduled to be open by December, will be designed to produce nearly as much energy as it uses through technology such as solar energy and a ground source heating system, Raymond said.
Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon, who attended the groundbreaking, said, “We are taking a great dump and turning it into a great jewel.”
