SPARROWS POINT, Md. — A historically Black community in Baltimore County, the fate of Turner Station rose and fell with the nearby Bethlehem Steel mill, and Tradepoint Atlantic’s efforts to repurpose its more than 3,000 acres is already paying dividends.
“I think it’s a beginning,” said Olivia Lomax, who has lived in Turner Station her entire life. “Right now, I have four members of my family that work here. They work on this property in some of these buildings, and it’s not just the pay. They have good benefits.”
But Turner Station has something Tradepoint Atlantic does not — a designation as a federal opportunity zone, which the government has refused to extend to its nearby neighbor.
That means no tax breaks for companies willing to come in and clean up and build upon the old mill’s shipyard.
“They declined our request changing the zone lines,” said Maryland Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger. “They said it would require an act of Congress, and so today, I’m proudly introducing an act of Congress.”
In just over 7 1/2 years, Tradepoint Atlantic has already attracted 20 businesses that will provide as many as 12,000 jobs.
Under Ruppersberger’s Rust to Revitalization Act, it claims it could add as many as 10,000 more jobs.
It is the boon Turners Station has been waiting for ever since Beth Steel went bust.
“At one time, I thought our community was getting ready to die, but this is really helping us to bloom,” said Lomax. “People have ideas. There’s hope, and where there’s hope and vision, we can survive.”
