Just before our 6PM newscast, we received a copy of the Baltimore City Health Department’s inspection report that shut down the building. The six page report says “the building could collapse” and “is a great fire hazard.” The report says inspectors found holes in the walls, no windows, no lighting and no ventilation. As ABC2 News Investigator Tisha Thompson explains, it’s because of this report the arabbers say they may end up losing their way of life.
It was a parade no one here ever wanted to witness.
"I don't want them to go, I really don't." As one of the younger arabbers, it fell to Mike Garrett to help the City load up all 52 horses from the Arabber stables at Retreat Street near North Avenue.
As he hauled a saddle out of a stall, he said, “I don't know, words can't explain how I feel.” He stopped walking and looked down at the saddle. “I'm not really showing what's happening on the outside, it’s on the inside.” He says his heart, “its cracking now."
Cracking because less than 24 hours after we first showed you how the city-owned building was on the verge of falling down, the City condemned the building and forced the arabbers to evacuate their animals.
At a meeting held at the “Shake and Bake” roller rink earlier in the day, Baltimore City’s Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano tried to answer questions as to how the building was allowed to decay.
"I'm not going to sit here and defend that we did everything we needed to do,” he said. “This did not happen overnight. We need to reassess what was done and what was not done."
Graziano and other city officials from the Health Department explained to the Arabbers how they will transport the animals to the Maryland Jockey Club farm in Bowie. The City says it hopes to bring the horses back to Pimlico within the week, where the horses will stay until the City can find permanent stables for the arabbers to use. Officials say they still hope to one day create stables that can double as a cultural exhibit for tourists to visit.
"I'm satisfied so far with what they are talking about," says Donald “Manboy” Savoy. Manboy owns 25 of the horses, more than any other arabber.
His best friend and fellow arabber, 81 year-old Eugene Allen, wasn’t as sure. We first met Allen a day earlier at the stables. He was full of energy and talked fast. Now he was sitting slumped in a chair and could barely manage a whisper.
“If they do that and keep their word and fix the place up, that's OK,” he says. “I don't want it to be like it was 10 years ago. Take us one place and stick us and forget about it."
An arabber for more than 70 years, Allen says he wants to know if he's going to be compensated for their lost wages and if the City is going to foot the bill. "They the ones that got us in trouble," he says. "They the ones that put us up in this hole and forgot about us."
Back at the stables, Garrett says even though the City is promising to preserve his way of life, he doesn’t really believe his horse and the 51 other animals are ever coming back to the City.
“I don’t think so,” he says. “You love them…its like taking a part away from you.”
