Recreation Centers, Crime, and Property Markets: Evidence from Baltimore's Divestment and Reinvestment

• In Event: Place-Based Public Investments and Crime: Evidence on Lighting, Mobility, and Community Infrastructure

Abstract

Baltimore, Maryland experienced contentious changes to its youth recreation center infrastructure following a mayor-appointed task force review initiated in 2011. The task force employed detailed scorecards to evaluate facility condition, population coverage, and functionality: its report informed a series of permanent and temporary recreation center closures, service reductions, and conversions to private operators. Although the task force initiative aimed to consolidate resources among remaining recreation centers and improve facility standards, critics argue that these closures were saliently felt and generated unintended consequences for public safety and community cohesion. Critics' arguments are in line with opportunity theories of criminal offending that propose that crime should increase following the elimination of spaces for structured and supervised youth and adolescent socializing. These concerns were amplified by the fact that the recreation centers slated for closure tended to be located in structurally-disadvantaged neighborhoods which already faced higher youth crime rates. Our study uses exogenously determined closures and subsequent investment decisions to identify the impact of youth recreation centers on neighborhood crime rates and residential property values.We build an original dataset tracking recreation center closures, privatizations, and reinvestments for the 67 public recreation centers operated by Baltimore City Recreation and Parks Department since the year 2000. Using this dataset, we analyze comprehensive crime records and property transaction data from Baltimore city from 2010 to 2020 to determine whether reduced access to supervised, structured youth activities is associated with increases in youth violence and declining local property markets. Additional analyses explore whether recreation center retention and reinvestment is associated with crime protective effects in light of Baltimore’s historic rise in violent crime following a case of high-profile police violence and resultant death of Freddie Gray in 2015. Our findings offer important insights into the broader economic and social costs of reducing access to community public amenities and contribute to the literature on urban crime and public policy evaluation.

Author

• Codey Jesse Carr, University of Maryland, College Park
  Presenting Author