My travels today took me thru sometimes rough east Baltimore and I passed this abandoned chemical plant reminding me of Ace Chemical in Arkham City and some of Trump's rhetoric.
So I pulled over for a few minutes and took some photos and planned on researching what happened tonight.
This place was a complete disaster, I can't imagine what nasty stuff is bound up in this wreckage, lead, asbestos, spores, probably worse shit:
PEMCO Corp. was on the old signage probably f-ing lead paint...
Found an article in the Sun from 2008 announcing the closing of this plant (I guess this place was abandoned in 2008 so these pictures represent 8 years of degradation). Really looks like they just dropped everything and got the f out of there.
Some interesting tidbits from the article here:
The city is losing a historic manufacturer as Pemco International, which was started in Baltimore nearly 100 years ago as a family business and grew to be a multinational corporation, pulls up stakes and heads south.
The company, which makes porcelain enamel coatings for kitchen and bathroom appliances, barbecue grills and floor tiles, announced yesterday that it is consolidating operations at its plant in Leesburg, Ala.
It marks the end of a Baltimore pioneer that gave Howard Johnson hotels and restaurants their distinctive orange-colored roofing.
Pemco President Jack McMahon said the company had been considering the move for some time, as the North American market for its product declined. Consumer tastes have shifted from porcelain to stainless steel, he said, and Pemco's customers - manufacturers that paint their products with Pemco's coatings - have either closed or moved to Mexico.
McMahon said the Leesburg plant, which Pemco bought in 2000, is newer and has room for expansion. It's also closer to customers in Mexico. About 50 people work there now, he said. "This made the most business sense," McMahon said yesterday afternoon, shortly after notifying second-shift employees about the East Baltimore plant's closure.
Here's a good one:
McMahon said he will work with the city to make sure Pemco's two buildings on Eastern Avenue, across from the Johns Hopkins University's Bayview campus, are redeveloped rather than abandoned.
LOL yeah right!!! Here we are 8 years later. Believe me this place is a f-ing hell hole I wouldn't take it for free...
Matt, I live in Baltimore, and it is a complete disaster. Some good has happened, but still a nightmare. I stayed in the city and tried to help, but met resistence at every step. Recently, bumped into a neighbor that had her face smashed in by some jerk, and needed reconstructive surgery. Needless to say, they are moving out like so many others. These are actual taxpayers. The city cannot hold any tax base. The regulations, crime, and bad schools simply remain that way. Then add to that massive drug addiction, namely heroin, and you have a train run off the tracks.
ReplyDeleteThis is a similar problem with infrastructure. When a problem is left to fester, it festers. No surprise. The US has not been dealing with obvious problems for a long time now, long enough to create some serious issues that are now a challenge to set straight. Some we don't even know how to go about it. Infrastructure can be repaired or replaced, but social problem eventually become intractable.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the bloated USAF is apparently installing lasers on its bombers, the bloated prez is shredding regulations that deter Wall Street from defrauding its customers, and the bloated intelligence agencies are engineering a soft coup. With priorities like these...
ReplyDeleteIt makes me think that there really is no avoiding some kind of civil war. Really, how long can people take this nonsense before they want to blow it all up?
ReplyDeleteDave, I think most Americans have for some time had a sense of foreboding. Eventually, something very nasty will happen, probably something racial, which is the worst thing that could happen to America: too many headbangers with too much military-style equipment.
ReplyDeleteDave, for as long as they can delude themselves. It is a behavioral trait of our species.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Bob and John. I suppose this has been building for a long time.
ReplyDelete"Meanwhile the bloated USAF is apparently installing lasers on its bombers..."
ReplyDeleteExactly, John. Priorities.
When 50% of the discretionary budget is spent on the military - NOT including the cost of ongoing wars! - the result is death and destruction at home: crippled infrastructure including health care and social welfare. People living in fear - not just in the places we are bombing abroad but here at home.
ReplyDeleteThe US is corrupt beyond measure - the only value system is money and people will do anything to get it.