Butchers Hill

Crime Prevention/Block Representatives: Wednesday, February 18th, 7 PM, 2105 E. Baltimore St. The committee meets monthly to share information from our block representatives and to coordinate action. New block representatives wanted; if interested e-mail or call Carolyn: c.boitnott@verizon.net, 410-522-4991.

Police ask that residents call 410-666-DRUG to report repeated suspected drug activity, but always call 911 if you need immediate police response. Protect your car from break-ins, do not leave anything valuable or tempting in your car, not even a quarter.

Butchers Hill Citizens on Patrol (C.O.P.): Butchers Hill Citizens on Patrol (C.O.P.) has been regularly patrolling the neighborhood for over six years, and conducts its walk-arounds on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. We meet at 7:30 p.m. at the intersection of Patterson Park Ave. and Lombard St. All are welcome. For more information, please contact Evan Helfrich, 410-342-2148, ubik14@netscape.net.

Community Representative, School 27 School Improvement Team: Carolyn Boitnott, 410-522-4991.

Education Committee: No meeting this month. Contacts: Tori Simms, Carolyn Boitnott or Martha Del Pizzo. Contact: Tori Simms, 410-675-4948, tori.simms@kimball.com.

Flea Market Committee: Monday, February 23rd, 7PM, at 232 S. Patterson Park Ave.. If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact Tori Simms, 410-675-4948, tori.simms@kimball.com.

House Tour Planning Meeting: No meeting this month! Contact Sue Noonan at 410-522-6773 / email Tbolita@erols.com or Dee Lundelius at Deelundelius@verizon.net.

Membership Committee: No meeting this month. Call Kathy Hackett, ktyhack@gmail.com, 410-327-2447. To request a new neighbor packetemail BHAmember@gmail.com. NEW NEIGHBORS: See the Moving In link on our web site: www.butchershill.org

Book Club: Book Club I, “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions” by Edwin A. Abbott. Book Club II, “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” by Alison Bechdel. Interested in joining? Please contact: Anne Puckett, anne_puckett@hotmail.com, 410-675-8765.

Land Use: Monday, February 9th, 7 PM, at the White House, 27 S. Patterson Park Ave. The Land Use Committee reminds homeowners in the 2100 and 2200 blocks of E. Baltimore St. and the 2200 block of E. Pratt St. that you live in a City historic district. All exterior work and painting must be submitted to CHAP and Butchers Hill. We're happy to help with any questions. Contact Virgil Bartram: 410-327-4964. CHAP's number is 410-396-4866.

BHA Executive Committee: Thursday, February 12th, 7:00 PM, 2002 E. Pratt St. Contact Barry Glassman, bglassma@verizon.net

Streetscape Committee: Thursday, February 12th, 7 PM at 2109 E. Baltimore St. This Committee’s focus is on education and assistance with trash and litter – helping to keep our streets healthy and attractive, free from trash, litter, and animal waste. For trash guidelines, please see www.butchershill.org/about/trash.pdf Contact Rob Steinberg: rsteinberg@ariba.com or 443-603-9923.

Newsletter: Wednesday, February 18th is the deadline for all articles, ads, and notices for the MARCH issue of the BHA newsletter. Contact Patricia Clark: BHAnewsletter@gmail.com

♥♥ Butchers Hill GENERAL MEETING, February 4TH ♥♥
Meeting: 7:00 PM St. Andrew’s Church Hall, Chester & Lombard. Contact Barry Glassman, bglassma@verizon.net
AGENDA: Valentine’s Day and ideas for enhancing your personal celebration. See page 1 for details. Don’t miss!

From the Top Down: François Mansart’s Roofs

n the one hand, it is the height of architectural achievement to have your name associated with a distinctive style, especially a style that doesn’t go out of date. On the other hand, what if your name is spelled wrong?
The so- spelled Mansard Roof is a lasting legacy of François Mansart (1598-1666), acclaimed as the most accomplished architect of 17th century France. His steeply pitched roofs enclosing a story or more of useful space were designed partly to reduce taxes when all floors “below the roof” were taxed in France, and partly to provide better proportions in multi-story buildings.
We have several examples of Mansard-roofed dwellings in Butchers Hill. There is the twin structure at 104-106 South Patterson Park Avenue. These houses benefit from a front-yard setback that prevents the Mansard roofs from competing with cornices on adjacent houses. Elsewhere that competition is all too evident - 2043-2045 East Lombard Street has a Mansard roof set between Italianate cornices.
But the double at 2215-2217 East Baltimore Street, built circa 1890, is the most imposing and the quirkiest Mansard roof in the neighborhood, perhaps in all of Baltimore City. Reminiscent of buildings in any number of European cities, it is replete with iron cresting and a central ornamental carved sandstone relief panel, all set against traditional slate shingles. Intersecting with the roof line is a corbelled brick oriel rising into a wall dormer, also an idiosyncratic feature in a Baltimore townhouse. What magnificence! Françoise Mansart would surely be happy to see this building, if only we spelled his name correctly!

Rick Gilmour (Thanks to Virgil Bartram for improvements to the original text.)

104-106 S. Patterson Park Avenue (Photo by Patricia Clark)
COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

School 27 volunteer needs
Thank you to the 5 people who responded to my post on the listserve who were willing to help a new French speaking student from the Congo with English. Needed in March: proctors for the annual testing. First and Second graders will be tested the week of March 9th and 3rd. 8th graders will be given the MSA test the week of March 16. If you can give a few hours in the morning any day on those two weeks please let me know by email or phone Carolyn Boitnott c.boitnott@verizon.net or 410-522-4991.
Dr Seuss Day will be March 2nd at School 27. We need volunteers able to go to the school and read a Dr Seuss book to a classroom of students. It would be helpful to know by 2/16 if you can commit 30 minutes to this annual event. To volunteer or for additional information please contact Carolyn Boitnott at 410-522-4991 or
c.boitnott@verizon.net
Crime Prevention Report
While our neighborhood is considered generally safe compared to many neighborhoods in the city, as most residents know we have chronic issues with theft and drug dealing. We have had two recent successes in the crime fighting arena thanks to neighbors willing to go to court. A neighbor witnessed a car break-in last summer, his presence in court was very important in seeing that the thief received a significant sentence. In another situation where neighbors had been reporting drug activity for years, four neighbors worked with the Community Law Center and the UB Law Clinic for the following results: the property was removed from the problem family, their house is now up for sale, the drug dealing has stopped, and the block is quiet.

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

Butchers Hill Initiative replaces Membership Committee
The mission of the membership committee has always been to improve communication within the neighborhood and encourage participation to build a stronger community.
The main focus of our activities has been welcoming new neighbors, greeting neighbors at meetings and events, maintaining a roster of current residents for distribution of the electronic newsletter, purchasing merchandise and managing the BHA "virtual shop", and supporting a membership table at the flea markets. The membership committee has never been responsible for signing up “members” nor for collecting dues, although we will accept your dues and pass them on to the treasurer.
Last month we held an informal brainstorming session (advertised in the newsletter) and 7 neighbors participated. The group agreed unanimously that Membership is no longer a valid name, nor does it convey the real nature of the work we do as a group. After much debate, we agreed to call ourselves the Butchers Hill Initiative. We agreed that monthly meetings are necessary and we will periodically host discussions or post requests for help for specific tasks (e.g. assemble new neighbor packets, select new merchandise) and these will be advertised in the newsletter.
There are so many opportunities to build a stronger, friendlier community and some of the opportunities discussed include organizing fund raisers, prepare and distribute how-to's for block parties, progressive dinners, etc. These are just a few examples and under the umbrella of the Butchers Hill Initiative, we feel sure that we can better meet our goals to improve communication within the neighborhood and encourage participation.
We are delighted that so many young people, many with

families, have chosen to settle in Butchers Hill and we’d like to hear from you and include your ideas in our plans. Many of the opportunities to get involved and help build a stronger and friendlier community only take a small time commitment. If everyone pitches in, we can share the responsibility and better represent our neighborhood.
If you have any other ideas, or would like to take on one of these challenges, we’d love to hear from you. Please e-mail Kathy Hackett ktyhack@gmail.com
STREETSCAPE COMMITTEE REPORT:
As you may have noticed, we no longer have monthly community dumpster days. Unfortunately this is the result of city cutbacks. We will have 4 dumpster days this year and are currently planning for one in May, June, September and November. The exact dates will be published once finalized.
Our 2009 Clean Up days are Saturday April 18 and Saturday October 17. We hope to have the teen football team BH sponsors, the Black Knights, help us in our efforts.
We are in the process of updating the Butchers Hill trash guidelines to include the most up-to-date recycling information and will post them in a conspicuous place on the association’s website. In the mean time, please refer to your new DPW calendar that was distributed by the City if in doubt or see www.cleanergreenerbaltimore.com/recycle/
Lastly, let’s all pitch in and help keep Butchers Hill clean by keeping the front of your house free of trash, leaves and the occasional snow. As we heard at the January meeting, all of the trash that only takes a minute to pick up will end up in our beautiful Inner Harbor if you choose to ignore it. A little effort will go a long way in keeping our neighborhood the jewel of the city and our city the pride of the region.
Rob Steinberg
EDUCATION COMMITTEE:
We received a thank you from Patterson Park Charter School for the $1500 donated towards basketball team uniforms and equipment.

For Sale: 2 Bianchi Road bikes (1 Eros Donna, women's 46 cm, 165 mm crank; men's Brava (for 6' tall); 2002 models; check website for details and photo (www.bianchiusa.com). If interested, email:mmmount@earthlink.net. Asking $500 each - perfect condition - have not been ridden in over 3 yrs.

Visit our website for complete General Meeting notes, newsletters, “moving in” information, Butchers Hill history, Butchers Hill Artists, and so much more at www.butchershill.org

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—BUTCHERS HILL ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP—please renew for 2009!
NAME: ______________________________________________ PHONE:___________________ EMAIL:_________________________
ADDRESS:_________________________________________________________________________ New Neighbor Packet? ________
Would you like to serve on a committee? ____ Which? ________________ Are you interested in volunteering at BHA events? ____
Annual dues (Jan. thru Dec.) are $10 per person, $6 for seniors and low-income. Make checks payable to the Butchers Hill Association and return form and payment to BHA, 27 South Patterson Park Ave., Baltimore, MD 21231. Paid members may have 3 free classified ads per year of 50 words or less. Ads are subject to available space. No commercial or political ads.
The editor reserves the right to refuse any ad. Address ads to BHAnewsletter@gmail.com

Friday

BHA Committees and Monthly Meetings