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April 2005
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Spring is finally here. It is time for us all to work together to make
Butchers Hill more beautiful. Anyone who wants to pitch in should join
the new Streetscape Committee. Just call Jeff Gabriel (978-884-5498)
and they will enlist you in the effort.
Southeast Baltimore is attempting a comprehensive rezoning effort to bring
zoning back in line with how property is being used here. This will have
limited impact on Butchers Hill since we are zoned as residential
throughout the neighborhood, but it is important that people are aware.
To that end, we have invited the city's planning department to talk
briefly about zoning and the rezoning effort, along with the new school
redistricting plan.
Also at the April meeting, we will hear from the task force working on a
dog area in Patterson Park, followed by a brief presentation from Getaway
Sailing. Finally, we will review and vote on the 2005 budget. It should
be a full and enjoyable meeting.
And remember, April is membership month. Please take a moment to send in
your membership form and dues, or just bring them along to the April
meeting.
--Dave Dyer.
FRIENDS OF PATTERSON PARK
VOLUNTEERS
The Friends of Patterson Park volunteers will be organized a little
differently this year. There will be four teams:
The Boat Lake Team will consist of Boat Lake Guides, who will educate
visitors about the lake; and the Boat Lake Clean Up Crew, who will clean
up the lake and the surrounding area. There will be a clean-up the first
Saturday of every month at 8 AM. Everyone is welcome.
The Pagoda Team will consist of the Pagoda Docents, who will greet
visitors; and the Pagoda Maintainers, who will clean the Pagoda and the
area around it. The first team meeting and workday will be April 3rd at
noon. May through October, the Maintainers will work the 2nd Sunday of
every month. The Docents will schedule themselves for 2 hour shifts once
per month.
The Tree Team plans to plant over 100 trees this year, and will also
look after existing trees. There will be tree planting the 4th Saturday
of every month. The first meeting and workday will be Saturday, April 23:
THEY WILL BE PLANTING 50 TREES AND NEED ALL THE HELP THEY CAN GET!
Meet
at 10 AM at the White House in Patterson Park.
The Detail Detail will paint benches, edge sidewalks, fill the dog bag
dispensers, garden, mulch, etc. The next meeting will be at 9 AM at the
White House (Lombard Street entrance to Patterson Park) on April 9th. May
through October they will meet on the 3rd Saturday of every month.
Anyone interesting in volunteering should contact Lesley at 410-276-3676
or by email.
Saturday, April 23 is a city wide cleanup for neighborhoods. This is not
a bulk trash day but a day to clean the alleys, curbs sidewalks, etc.
City trucks will pick up bags that community volunteers have filled. One
site where we will do a clean-up is our elementary school at Chester and
Fairmount. If you can help clean the sidewalks and playgrounds please
come to the school at 9 AM. Contact Carolyn Boitnott for more information
about clean-up at this site.
Baltimore Green Week is back, April 2nd through April 8th. For more
information, location of events, or to volunteer, see:
Baltimoregreenweek.org.
Mark your calendar now for the great
BUTCHERS HILLS EVENTS of 2005:
| FLEA MARKETS: |
June 4 and September 10
(rain dates: June 11 and September 24) |
| GARDEN/ART TOUR: |
June 26 (Roxanne and Joe Rehak, Chairs) |
| HOUSE TOUR: |
October 16 (Sue Noonan, Chair) |
Block Rep/Crime Prevention:
Wednesday, April 20th, 7 p.m., 2105 E. Baltimore St.
The committee meets monthly to share information from our
20 block representatives and to coordinate action. New block
reps wanted; if interested email or call me: Carolyn at
410-522-4991 or by e-mail.
Butchers Hill Citizens on Patrol (C.O.P.):
Butchers Hill Citizens on
Patrol (C.O.P.) has been regularly patrolling the neighborhood for over
three 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
Avenue and Lombard Street. All are welcome. For more information, please
contact Evan Helfrich at 410-342-2148 or via
e-mail.
Community Representative, School 27 School Improvement Team:
Carolyn Boitnott, 410-522-4991 (e-mail).
Education Committee:
Thursday, April 21th, 7 PM, 124 S. Patterson Park Avenue. Contact: Martha DelPizzo
410-522-6046, or by e-mail. See
the Education Committee Report later in this newsletter.
Land Use:
Tuesday, April 26th, 7 PM, call for location.
The Land Use Committee reminds homeowners in the 2100 and
2200 blocks of E. Baltimore Street and the 2200 block of E. Pratt Street
that you live in a City historic district. All exterior work and painting
must be submitted to CHAP and Butchers Hill. We are always happy to help
with any questions you may have. Contact Virgil Bartram: 410-327-4964.
CHAP's number is 410-396-4866.
Marketing Committee:
Tuesday, April 12th, 7 PM, 2223 E. Pratt St.
Contact Rick Gilmour, 410-342-7061,
or by email. If you
want to recommend yours or a neighbor's garden or house for the Garden or House Tours,
please contact Rick.
Trash Committee:
Contact Sue Whitson, 443-527-1103, or by
e-mail (preferred).
VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED to help
with clean-ups and to watch the dumpster once it has arrived. Please
contact me at (443) 527-1103. The Trash Committee (currently an ad-hoc
committee) will be merging with the Streetscape Committee. Susan Whitson
will continue to handle trash concerns and arrange for community
dumpsters.
Parking Committee:
William White, 410-563-7941,
(e-mail).
BHA Executive Committee:
Tuesday, April 19th at 7 PM, Simon's of
Butchers Hill, 2031 E. Fairmount Ave.
Contact: Dave Dyer (410-342-7655),
or by email.
Streetscape Committee:
Wednesday, April 13th, 7:30 PM, 24 S. Chester
St.
Contact Jeff Gabriel (email).
Newsletter:
The deadline for the MAY issue is Friday, April 22nd.
Contact Steve Young (email).
COMMUNITY DUMPSTER, SATURDAY, APRIL 23RD
On Saturday, April 23rd, there will be a Dumpster in the 100 block of
North Collington. No electronics, hazardous materials, batteries, paint,
or appliances. The dumpster leaves between 10-11 AM, so get there the day
before or early Saturday.
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE DROP-OFF (paints, solvents, motor oil,
batteries, old computers, etc.):
Saturday, April 30, 9-3, and Sunday, May 1, 11-3. Poly-Western parking
lot, 1400 W. Cold Spring Lane.
APRIL BUTCHERS HILL GENERAL MEETING
Wednesday, April 6th. Coffee & cookies, 6:45 p.m. Meeting 7:00 p.m. St.
Andrew's Church hall,
corner of Chester & Lombard Sts. (entrance on Lombard). Contact DAVE
DYER, 410-342-7655.
AGENDA: DISCUSSION OF REZONING EFFORT; PRESENTATIONS BY DOG PARK TASK
FORCE AND GETAWAY SAILING; VOTE ON 2005 BUDGET.
HIGHLIGHTS, March 2nd General Meeting. (The complete set of minutes,
prepared by Beth Needham, can be found on the Web at
http://www.butchershill.org/association/minutes0503.shtml).
The Crime Prevention Committee, held the 3rd Wednesday of every month at
Carolyn Boitnott's house, is looking for new block reps. There will be an
event planned to coordinate the reps - to be announced later.
Rick Gilmour reported on concerns about lead dust created during demolition of
2101-2109 East Pratt. Neither the Baltimore Health Department nor
Councilman Kraft's office have been responsive to his requests for advice
on how residents should minimize exposure to lead. However, the Coalition
to Prevent Lead Poisioning in Children has provided information and
flyers, which Rick passed out to addresses on Pratt and Chester nearest
the site.
John Lucas from the Home Depot gave an interesting
presentation on shrubs, plants and trees, and answered many questions.
Lesley Gardner of the Friends of Patterson Park gave a presentation on
volunteer teams for this year (see first page).
EDUCATION COMMITTEE REPORT:
The BHA Education Committee met on St.
Paddy's Day and determined that School #27 will get help repairing their
locks and clocks. There are 80 classroom locks that do not have keys or
otherwise do not work as well as the hallway and common room clocks. This
has been a problem since before the current principal arrived and North
Avenue is non-responsive. Our project for developers and realtors this
year will be to provide the funding to fix the locks and clocks. The
amount needed is approximately $2500. The plan is to write letters to
developers and realtors; anyone in Butchers Hill who has used a realtor or
developer to purchase property Martha DelPizzo would like their name,
address and phone number. We will publish a list of those who contribute.
School #27 had a book fair last month and it was such a success that
each teacher was allowed to choose $25 worth of books for his/her
classroom.
At the May BHA meeting we will distribute the teacher "wish
lists." Last year this activity was an unqualified success from the
teachers' point of view. Those BHA members who attended the teacher
breakfast at the Fountain in Patterson Park last Fall were equally
pleased. Please talk with your neighbors and those who teamed last year
will do it again and hopefully all teachers will be adopted.
BUTCHERS HILL - MILEPOST ON THE WAY TO PHILADELPHIA
The development of Butchers Hill began in 1773 when the Philadelphia Road
was rerouted over a new Baltimore Street bridge spanning Jones Falls.
This brought traffic and business to the crest of Hampstead Hill where,
just west of the current intersection of Baltimore Street and Patterson
Park Avenue, the Philadelphia Road veered northeast to join what is now
the Pulaski Highway near the Patterson Park Library.
By then, parts of the road in Baltimore were 100 years old. Under the
name "The Main Road," it is one of very few thoroughfares in and around
Baltimore whose existence is documented before 1700. In 1685, according
to Scharf's Baltimore History, the first public postal service was
established from the Potomac by way of Annapolis to Philadelphia over the
Philadelphia Road. Eight trips a year were made, for which £50 sterling
was paid out of public funds.
The road was perhaps
more important locally than its name implies. Until 1773, Baltimore
County included not only the City, but also Harford County. The
Philadelphia Road was the main highway from the mouth of the Susquehanna
to Baltimore City, and it was important to commerce and law, since it
passed through Joppa(towne), the county seat from 1709 to 1773.
Water crossings on the Philadelphia Road were terrible. A traveler said
in 1789 that the road passed over "numerous and perilous fords," and that
the only bridge "worthy of observation" was one over Swan Creek near Havre
de Grace. Soon afterwards, a massive wooden bridge was erected over the
Great Falls of the Gunpowder. It lasted some 125 years - into the
automobile age.
In 1814, the county authorized a turnpike from Baltimore to Havre de
Grace. This turnpike used parts of the post road and eventually became the
current Philadelphia Road (MD Route 7). The proprietors were not to
charge tolls for "those going to or from public worship or funerals, for
voters on election day, or for militiamen." To avoid the 5¢ toll on
bicycles, riders often dismounted and carried their bikes past the
tollhouses.
The turnpike went bankrupt in the late 1800s. In 1888, Baltimore City
passed an ordinance abandoning the diagonal piece of the Philadelphia Road
between Baltimore and Fayette Streets. That in turn enabled the Patterson
heirs to develop what is now Patterson Place according to Poppleton's
street grid.
- Rick Gilmour (who went to High School on the Boston Post Road in
Yonkers, NY).
COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD
THE ART WALL
AT SIMON'S OF BUTCHERS HILL
2031 EAST FAIRMOUNT AVE.
410-534-7100
http://www.simonsofbutchershill.com
- - - - - - - - - -
THE WORKS OF
JOAN COX
WILL BE FEATURED, APRIL & MAY
There is a tentative schedule for three public meetings to learn about
proposals for public school rezoning. Some of the schools in Southeast
are overcrowded and others are under-enrolled. New boundaries for our
elementary school (Commodore John Rodgers) will be proposed at these
meetings. The meetings are tentatively scheduled for April 12th at 7 PM
at the Commodore John Rodgers Elementary School, April 13th at 9 AM at
William Paca, and April 14th at 5 PM at Highlandtown Middle. Call Carolyn
Boitnott at 410-522-4991 to confirm the schedule. Area residents can go
to any of the meetings.
The SAINT ANDREW'S COOKBOOK is still here! As a major 2005 fundraising
activity for Saint Andrew's Church (corner of Lombard & Chester), the
Saint Andrew's Parish Sisterhood has published a cookbook of some 300
recipes from parish families. It will be available for purchase for $18
at St. Andrew's Church Hall (Lombard and Chester), Sundays between 11 and
noon. You can also order a cookbook and have it mailed to you. Send a
check payable to "Saint Andrew's Sisterhood" (add $2.00 for mailing) and
send it to Marilyn Nunnally, 11730 Route 99, Marriottsville, MD 21104.
Marilyn can be contacted at (410) 442-1647.
SPRING CERAMICS SHOW! Saturday May 8th. Perfect for Mother's Day!
Kirsten Lapointe will open her studio in the back of 2215 East Lombard St.
for her annual spring sale. Many of the items for sale will include fresh
flowers or blooming plants. The show will run from 11 am to 4 pm and
refreshments will be served.
ANTIQUE SINGER, WOOD SEWING MACHINE THAT WORKS, ELECTRIC FOOT PEDAL,
SEWING LIGHT, FOUR DRAWERS, DECORATIVE OR PRACTICAL, $125.00. Call
410-276-5555
Did you put trash out on Good Friday, March 25th? And was it gone when
you came home? You have a neighbor to thank! Please watch the newsletter
for city holidays when trash is not collected. March 25th was such a day.
Luckily there was a community dumpster delivered that morning so a few
neighbors gathered up quite a few bags.
Khristos voskres! The Orthodox Church celebrates Easter this year on
Sunday, May 1st. This means that St. Andrew's Church (Russian Orthodox in
America), at Chester and Lombard, will celebrate Midnight Mass on
Saturday, April 30th. At midnight, the church bells will ring for 15
minutes to mark the Resurrection of Christ. Residents may be startled by
the church bells at midnight, so please be prepared.
SPRING 2005 IN PATTERSON PARK
FISHING RODEO First of the season! Saturday, April 2nd, 10 AM.
MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL DAY! Park Spring cleaning. Saturday, April 9th, 10 AM.
TURN ON THE FOUNTAIN! Pagoda opens and Fountain flows again. Saturday,
April 16th, 7:30 PM. Pagoda hours for the season: Sundays, noon to 6 PM,
April 17th through October 30th.
TREE PLANTING. Meet at the White House at 10 AM, Saturday, April 23rd.
The American Visionary Art Museum's
KINETIC SCULPTURE RACE. Human-powered
sculptures tackle obstacles in the Park. Saturday, April 30th, noon-3 PM.
Check out the events sponsored by the Creative Alliance:
http://www.creativealliance.org/events/calendar.asp
The Creative Alliance is a community based non-profit organization that
presents and promotes the arts and humanities.
The Maryland SPCA 2005 March for the Animals,
Sunday, April 3rd, 11-2
(even if it's raining cats and dogs), Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus. For
more information, call 410-235-8826, ext. 133 or go to
www.mdspca.org.
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