Baltimore Councilwoman Odette Ramos said she might consider a “different” approach in the future following a dustup over a list of demands she sent to Johns Hopkins University, but the councilwoman maintained that her actions were for the good of her constituents.
The letter in question was sent to the university in April amid discussions between the school and the councilwoman about a proposed Data Science and AI Institute . The college plans to build the facility on its Homewood campus on the northeast corner of the Wyman Park Drive and Remington Avenue intersection.
In the letter, Ramos outlined a lengthy and lofty list of demands, some of which were associated with the project, and others that were completely unrelated. Among them were $20 million annually for the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund over five years, $10 million invested into the Waverly neighborhood and Greenmount Avenue, $10 million for a yet-to-be-created city land bank and a dog park in the area of Stony Run.
The letter ties the demands directly to a piece of legislation Ramos had been preparing to introduce. The bill, which was introduced last month, would make changes to a zoning district for college campuses, directly impacting plans for the AI Institute.
“Commitments are needed on each item to avoid introduction of the ordinance,” Ramos wrote.
A response from the university did not immediately come, prompting Ramos to revoke her letter on May 7. In a letter that day, she said she would be introducing the threatened legislation. When Maria Harris Tildon, vice president for government, community, and economic partnerships, wrote to the councilwoman on June 7, she called the demands “unexpected” and said the university had consulted an attorney.
“In the face of our efforts to work collaboratively with you, we were surprised to receive this list and frankly taken aback by the pairing of it with threatened legislative action, later confirmed in your May 7, 2024 email,” she wrote.
In a subsequent email on June 9, Harris Tildon called Ramos’ demands “shocking,” and said she had never seen or received such a letter.
On Thursday, Ramos defended the intent behind the requests while acknowledging she may approach similar situations differently in the future. She said she viewed the items on her list as “negotiating points” for a future community benefits agreement — a deal sometimes struck between developers and municipalities to make neighborhood improvements or investments as part of a development.
“This was really was starting point,” Ramos said. “Just laying it out there.”
Still, she acknowledged how the list read as demands — demands to be exchanged for legislative action.
“I think what I wanted to do was make sure that all of this was taken very seriously,” she said.
Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming said she could neither confirm nor deny whether her office had been contacted about Ramos’ letter, but Christoph Amberger, director of the city Board of Ethics, said the councilwoman’s letter falls outside the city’s ethics law which bars gifts in exchange for official action.
“I take this as a negotiating tool,” he said of Ramos’ demands. “As we leave that gift solicitation and gift area, the ethics law is not concerned or involved with contracts or negotiations.”
Ramos maintained Thursday that her efforts were community-driven. Over the course of several community meetings, residents who live in the area of the proposed AI Institute repeatedly said they were concerned about the distance between the proposed building and their homes among other concerns, Ramos said. That was the impetus for the proposed zoning change which increases setbacks, the distance between a building and a property line, she said.
Ramos said her demands were also motivated by feelings about the university’s partnership with the city. She cited the university’s proposed creation of a private police force . The money needed to fund those police could be invested into “transforming” the city to reduce crime, she said.
“Some of these conversations I’ve been having with Hopkins for a while,” she said. “We know Hopkins is a great employer, a good organization, to come to college and have a great experience, but I just can’t have them continue to feel like they can walk all over communities.”
In a statement issued Thursday by a university spokesman, the school said it has been responsive to the community, holding “numerous” meetings with neighbors and residents to get feedback on the AI Institute plan.
“We appreciate that the City Councilwoman recognizes that the letter reads as a list of demands that near the $100 million mark, many of which are not associated with the project at all,” they said. “We will continue to work with our partners in the community as this critical project progresses.”
Several of Ramos’ fellow councilmembers declined to comment when contacted by The Baltimore Sun. Council President Nick Mosby did not respond to a request for comment.
Gabriel Goodenough, a leader with the Wyman Park South community association, said his group has had a good relationship with the university when past projects were proposed, but the AI Institute proposal felt different.
“This experience never came to the community as a question,” he said. “It came as: This is going to be built. If you agree to do this, this and this, it will be a little less worse than it would have been. And if you don’t agree it will be worse.”
Goodenough defended Ramos’ letter.
“It’s felt like a game across the board,” he said. “Our one advocate in this entire experience has been Odette Ramos.”
“Based on the very helpful and constructive feedback from community members during nine separate meetings over 10 months, Johns Hopkins modified the design of the building to bring it entirely within the legal zoning envelope — with no variance required — and is continuing to meet regularly with neighbors and community leaders for their input and to address any concerns,” a university spokesperson said. “The university looks forward to sharing more of these updates during community meetings in August or September.”
The letter sent from Ramos was first reported by the Baltimore Banner.
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