The Baltimore Sentinel Post

BALTIMORE — The parcels moved in sequence. The approvals arrived without public comment periods. The money followed a line the city drew in pencil — and then spent the next eighteen months pretending the pencil didn't exist.

An examination of land records, wire transfer logs, and Board of Estimates agenda packets by The Baltimore Sentinel Post reveals that at least six parcels in the Westport Tax Increment Financing district changed hands in the months surrounding the November 2005 shooting of Deputy Mayor Matthew Garrick — with several transactions completing within 48 hours of Garrick's death.

The largest single transfer — Parcel 6A, assessed at $1.2 million and sold to Azure Horizons LLC for $400,000 — closed two days after Garrick's death. Azure Horizons transferred the property to Pinnacle Investments within the same business week. Both entities list post office box addresses in Maryland and Virginia respectively.

City records show that the Westport TIF approvals were processed through the Department of Housing and Community Development's batch filing system, a mechanism typically used for routine administrative actions rather than major land dispositions. Several approval packets obtained through public records requests show incomplete signatures and, in at least two cases, blanked-out approvals committee line items.

The Sentinel Post requested comment from Mayor Dawson's office, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Housing and Community Development. None provided a substantive response by press time.

The investigation is ongoing.