Today is Christmas all over again for many Dundalk residents and Baltimore County officials.

County Executive Jim Smith will sit behind the controls of an excavator to demolish the first of 56 blighted, low-income apartment buildings, clearing room for what residents hope will be cleaner, safer homes. The county still has nine properties left to purchase in the 8-acre neighborhood on Yorkway Road, but expects to have full ownership in the near future, officials said.