Pull demolition activity from Baltimore's and Philadelphia's municipal open data portals to research a property or contractor's demolition history

Steps

1. For Baltimore: query the 'Completed City Demo' dataset on Open Baltimore (data.baltimorecity.gov), which covers city-performed building demolitions from 2013 to present, and cross-check against the Vacant Building Dashboard for related vacant-building notice history
2. For Philadelphia: query the 'L&I Demolitions' dataset (data.phila.gov/visualizations/li-demolitions) or the corresponding OpenDataPhilly listing, which distinguishes privately permitted demolitions from Department of Licenses & Inspections (L&I) enforcement-driven demolitions
3. Filter both datasets by address or parcel to compile a demolition history for a specific property, noting that Baltimore's dataset covers only city-performed demolitions (not all private demolitions), while Philadelphia's covers both private and enforcement cases
4. Check each portal's stated update cadence (Philadelphia's L&I Demolitions dataset is described as updated daily) before treating a query result as current for compliance purposes
5. Do not assume either dataset is a permit-issuance system in the way NYC or Chicago's are — confirm whether the specific field needed (e.g., permit status vs. completion record) actually exists in the schema before building a workflow around it