OCTOBER 2000

Bravo! Encore! As those words echoed through St. Andrew's after last year's general meeting devoted to Artists in Butchers Hill, plans were already being made for a repeat performance this year. This year we will feature the art of Judith Bair, Susan Lowe, Bill Duffy, and Henry Jackson. In addition, Mark Carter will talk about collecting African Art and Terri Ehrenfeld will discuss good collecting opportunities in Baltimore. The Association will sponsor a wine and cheese reception afterwards.

If I wasn't going to be on my honeymoon on October 15th, there is only one thing I would rather do that day than watch the Ravens/Redskins. That of course is to go on the 21st consecutive annual Butchers Hill House Tour. While this is a wonderful marketing opportunity for BH, it is also tremendous fun to see what your neighbors have done with their homes. I've been on four of the last five house tours, and enjoyed each one more than the last. This is also a wonderful chance to show our visitors why we are Baltimore's (self-proclaimed) Friendliest Neighborhood.

One of the worst blights affecting all of Baltimore are vacant houses. While we are far from worst, there are still enough vacants in BH to have an effect on property values and to provide havens for nefarious characters. We are in the first stages of an initiative to address this problem. Our first step was to approach the Housing Authority and ask them to give us the 13 vacant houses they own in BH. Our proposal is to put them in the hands of individuals or contractors, get them rehabbed, and get families in them. I am cautiously optimistic that we will prevail. Our second step is to approach private owners of vacant houses and convince them that their best course of action is to donate the houses to BH and the tax benefits of doing so could exceed the value of selling them. Finally we will work with Housing and Community Development to enforce every appropriate building code for vacant houses that are eyesores, have any trash, or are at all accessible from the outside. We have built a good data base of vacant properties, and are asking all residents to be our eyes and ears to keep the list up to date.
--Barry Glassman

THE MILLENNIUM HOUSE TOUR!

House Sitters - We need house sitters for the House tour! If you can spare a few hours to meet visitors at one of the tour houses, please contact Sue Noonan at 410 522-6773.

Want To Advertise for the House Tour? If you want to purchase an ad in the House Tour brochure, please contact Rick Gilmour (410 342-7061) by October 9th at the latest.

Clean up- Please find time to sweep your gutters before the House Tour weekend. Also, there will be a roll-off dumpster at the corner of Collington and Pratt on Friday, October 6th (the week before), from 9 to 2.

Our trash days are Tuesday and Friday. Please put your trash out the morning of pickup, and remember that the trash crews will not pick up cardboard boxes or other paper products on non-paper-recycling days.

BHA COMMITTEE CHAIRS, COMMITTEE REPORTS, AND MONTHLY MEETINGS

Thanks to a grant from the City Police Department, we have installed two new alley gates in the area of N. Patterson Park Ave. and Lamley St., securing 17 properties. Special thanks to Bill Duffy, who installed them.

CRIME TIP: Beware of unsolicited offers to wash cars, clean yards, and other chores. There is a pattern of harassment and nearby break-ins tied to some of these individuals. Call the crime prevention committee if you have any questions: 410-522-4991.

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

Education: Larcia Premo (410-675-5634).

Land Use: Virgil Bartram (410-327-4964).

Marketing: No Meeting in October. Contact Rick Gilmour (410-342-7061) .

Membership:

Streetscape: Wednesday, October 25, 7 p.m., 2214 E. Pratt St. (The committee meets the fourth Wednesday of each month.) Contact Noel Brown (410-534-8057), .

Book Club: The October selection (in honor of Fluid Movement) is Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. We are meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 26 at 2029 E. Pratt. For November we are reading A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines, discussion to be Thursday, November 29 at 7 p.m. at 2102 E. Fairmount Ave.

BHA Executive Committee: None this month, 7 p.m., 2002 E. Pratt St. Contact: Barry Glassman, 410-558-1080, . The Executive Committee meets on the second Thursday of the month.

Newsletter: The deadline for the OCTOBER Newsletter is Friday, October 20. Drop off written items at 103 S. Chester St. Contact Steve, 410-342-3842, ; e-mail text only, no attached files.

HAZARDOUS WASTE: Saturday, October 28th, is one of the City's two Household Hazardous Waste (paint, solvents, car batteries, etc.) drop-off days. Call for this year's drop-off locations: 410-396-5916.

OCTOBER BHA GENERAL MEETING

AGENDA: The October meeting will feature the Artists of Butchers Hill, with the art of Judith Bair, Susan Lowe, Bill Duffy, and Henry Jackson. In addition, Mark Carter will talk about collecting African Art and Terri Ehrenfeld will discuss good collecting opportunities in Baltimore. The Association will sponsor a wine and cheese reception afterwards.

Three Butchers Hills

The national district is the largest, stretching from the south side of Fayette Street on the north to and including the south side of Pratt Street, with a small southern "panhandle" that takes in imposing structures on Patterson Park Avenue south of Pratt. This district also includes the east side of Patterson Park from Baltimore to Fayette, and the full block between Washington and Chapel from Baltimore to Pratt. This site was entered in the National Historic Register at the end of 1982. Within this area, significant tax credits are available to those who rehabilitate historic structures. Information can be found through the Butchers Hill web site .

The smallest area is the City District, comprising two noncontiguous tracts. One is the 2100 and 2200 blocks of Baltimore Street and the other is the 2200 block of Pratt Street. The Baltimore Street section was established in July 1981, the Pratt Street section in June 1988. Within these areas, exterior modifications to a building must conform to guidelines administered by the Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation.

At its start, the Butchers Hill Association concentrated in the 2100 and 2200 blocks of Baltimore Street, the focus of our earliest rehabbing efforts. Gradually, the Association has expanded to encompass most of the National Historic District. The only areas now outside the Association's boundaries are the east side of Patterson Park Avenue, the southern "panhandle" on the west side, and the area between the west side of Washington Street and the east side of Chapel.
--Rick Gilmour
(Correction: Last month, in addition to spelling my name wrong, I displaced the four "rectilinear" italianate houses on Lombard. They are numbers 2222 through 2228.

TALKING TRASH!!! We Need Your Help! The goal of the NEW TRASH COMMITTEE is to clean up our streets and keep them clean. We recognize that this is a big and never-ending task. We are proceeding along two paths, and need the help of all, if we are to succeed.

The first path: We ask each of you to set aside a few minutes each week to pick up the "light trash" from undetermined sources that continually blows up and down our streets. In a goodwill gesture, we must get out with gloves and bags to pick up what is not ours: numerous empty cigarette packages or potato chip bags carelessly tossed on the street by passersby become a blight on our community if left to the whim of the winds. Perhaps we can invigorate the custom of setting aside one evening each week (customarily, Thursday has been the designated day: the litter can go out with Friday's trash) in which some BHA residents have held a kind of block work-party to pick up the debris on their respective blocks and afterwards uncorked a bottle of wine or a case of beer to share at the doorsteps, in celebration of our unique neighborhood collaboration. The committee would appreciate suggestions on this proposal.

The second path: We want to gently convince our people to put out their trash at the proper time and in the proper form, that is, ON THE MORNING OF TRASH PICK-UP, and in sturdy, unbroken bags or trash cans. Anything different from this results in scattered trash on our streets, and benefits no-one but he rats. We on the committee will be preaching this gospel, but we ask that you join us. Discuss this with your neighbors, make no demands; help them to realize how important clean streets are to each of us, and how little effort it will cost each of us to make them clean. We anticipate that some few of our neighbors will not be willing to live by these simple rules. To deal with them, we will be working with the City Sanitation Office. We ask for your help again in noting and reporting violators. Please report violations, large and small, to: Phil Haymond, 410-276-3329 (before 9 p.m., please). The reports will be collected and passed on to the Sanitation Officers on a weekly basis.
In Summary:

• Join in regularly cleaning up your block.
• Talk about the trash problems and solutions with your neighbors.
• Routinely report trash violations.

Our very own Duncan Street Park made the category "Best Pocket Park" in the City Paper's Best of Baltimore issue.

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

DEVELOPMENT ALERT! There are early discussions taking place for development of the empty lot in the 2100 block of Boston Street that will affect water views from our neighborhood. There is a very preliminary plan to build offices on that site in two buildings varying in height from 60 to 90 feet. If built, this will totally block the view of the water we have down Collington Avenue (from Baltimore St.), and down Patterson Park Ave. (from Lombard), plus, it will affect any number of third floor and roof-top views of the water. There will be a petition expressing concern at the October Butchers Hill meeting. If you can't make it, call Carolyn for more information: 410-522-4991.

Oriental carpet: Beautiful Bokhara circa 1960. 9'x12'. Excellent condition, luxurious texture, lovely pattern. Main color is a soft, deep red. $450.00... worth much more. Call Tom or Cheryl at 410-342-5912.

Young white female cat (non-deaf), spayed, has had shots, needs a home! Call 410-558-0149 if you can take her in.

SE NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE CENTER:

• Director: Diann Baker: 410-545-6510
• General Information: 410-545-6518
• Police: 410-545-6513
• Housing Inspection: 410-545-6521
• Health Department: 410-545-6532
• Sanitation Enforcement: 410-545-6515,6,7

NEW FEATURE!

Twenty-five years ago, a religious sister asked Mary Halcott to help start a center to support families in Butchers Hill. The life-long Baltimore resident claimed, "I didn't know anything, it was the grace of God." Sister Sarah knew that Mary's experiences as a mother of thirteen children would help her in the task. Today, the Julie Community Center is a cornerstone non-profit organization in Southeast Baltimore, celebrating their silver anniversary of community service.

During the same decade, Mary and her husband Charles joined neighbors in forming the Committee for Citizens' Rights. This neighborhood group worked for over four years to create a neighborhood park out of an abandoned lot on Duncan Street, between Pratt and Lombard Streets. Mary described their vision for the lot as "a tranquil place to get away from the rush of the city." Despite some lobbies for a playground, some protests for a laundromat, and the death of Charles Halcott, the community group succeeded in achieving their vision. Halcott Square, also known as Duncan Street Park, was dedicated in 1978. Mary credits the commitment of her neighbors, especially Nancy Supik, for the realization of the dream. Over twenty years later, this park is still a place where neighbors gather for book club meetings, potlucks, and games of chess.

In the mid-1980s, a priest called on Mary to help start a place where poor families could go for help at St. Michael's Church. Mary interviewed clients when they came to the center called Joseph House and learned about their needs. She then provided referrals to vital community resources. Mary made home visits to clients. "To let people know we are concerned, that people care about them," she explained. This summer Joseph House closed when the religious sisters who were in charge were called to other duties. The closing has been a hardship for many neighborhood families who depend on the center for food and other support. Although now in her eighties, Mary remains committed to helping her neighbors and has been an integral part in reviving the center, now called St. Michael's Community Center.

St. Michael's Community Center will re-open with a celebration at 2 p.m. on Monday, September 25th. Under the direction of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Center will then be open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon. The center is still looking for volunteers to help with food distribution. If you are interested in volunteering, please call Joe Thomas at 410-633-5691 or contact St. Michael the Archangel Church 410-276-1646.

Welton Hunt moved to Baltimore in 1974 from Robeson County, North Carolina. His parents were sharecroppers who moved from farm to farm when the work ran out. Growing up in a wooden shotgun style shack might not have been easy, but it gave Welton a foundation on which to build the rest of his life. Welton is a man of many talents, not the least of which is carrying on a good conversation.

Starting out in an apartment at 2027 E. Baltimore St., he later moved to 2029, where he still resides today. There was a time when he thought he might have to leave Butchers Hill, and therein lies the story . . .. You see, an absentee landlord sent out sixty-six eviction notices in the summer of 1977. Many of his tenants were poor families struggling to make a life for themselves in Baltimore.

Welton at the time was going through a bout of depression after the death of his father. He spent a lot of his time inside his home, rarely coming outside. One day, Sister Sarah Fahy, SND, visited him to talk about the houses being sold. She told him that he and the other tenants had a choice, and could fight back if they didn't want to move. Welton rose to the challenge, coming out of his depression and becoming the founding president of the Concerned Citizens of Butchers Hill (CCBH). The CCBH gave the people who were going to be evicted a unified voice with which to declare their desire to stay in their homes in Butchers Hill. The CCBH was successful in saving the homes.

Welton believes in the power of neighbors helping neighbors because he has experienced it firsthand. He acknowledges that Butchers Hill has many residents from diverse backgrounds that are not as well integrated as he would like. He points out that the BHA has done a lot of good work, but hasn't yet managed to attract a membership as diverse as the population it serves despite efforts to do so. What does Welton think will attract a more representative membership that will give Butchers Hill an even stronger voice? It's a difficult question, but underlying Welton's lengthy answer to this question is the core belief that there must be "something for everyone" in BHA membership. His examples of unmet needs include literacy (he notes that many people can't even read this newsletter) and GED programs, and first-time home buying seminars for people with lower income levels. He believes these are things that are good for Butchers Hill and the residents that live here. Instead of fostering a "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) attitude, they would provide a way for neighbors to help neighbors improve their quality of life - a good thing for all of Butchers Hill.

Today, Welton runs the food pantry at the Church of God on E. Baltimore Street and contributes his rich Southern cooking skills to Homecomings and other church events. He spends time talking with and helping neighbors whenever he can. And, he is looking for donations of warm clothes to give away to local people who will need them this winter-so be sure to contact him if you are cleaning out your winter closet. And, regardless of whether or not you have any clothing to donate, strike up a conversation with him if you ever get the chance. You won't regret it.

Authors Note: Some of the information about Welton's life was taken from Chapter 1 of the Ph.D. dissertation of A.B. Globensky (1999, University of Maryland College Park). Most content was obtained through a recent interview (9/14/00) with Welton.

PATTERSON PARK EVENTS!!!

October 28th, 29th & 31st. Halloween in Patterson Park. Fluid Movement presents Frankenstein on Wheels on Pagoda Hill at 7 p.m. Don't miss the Lantern Parade presented by the Fells Point Creative Alliance. Call 410-276-3676 for more information.

RALLY FOR THE REGION Wednesday, October 18, 6:30 p.m. Sudbrook Middle School Auditorium, 4300 Bedford Avenue

Join 1,000 of your neighbors from all around metropolitan Baltimore on Wednesday, October 18, from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. at the Rally for the Region at Sudbrook Middle School. The Rally, featuring Baltimore County Executive Ruppersberger and Mayor Martin O'Malley, will call for regional cooperation to protect community quality of life and create a better future for the entire Baltimore region.

Protecting communities means shifting our regional priorities away from subsidizing sprawl and uncontrolled growth, and focusing instead on maintaining the vitality of established communities. Issues include protection of open space, better transit service, preventing over-concentration of poverty from undermining once-stable communities, and regional coordination in responding to challenges such as workforce development. For more information about this exciting event, call CPHA at 410-539-1369 or visit www.CPHARegionalCampaign. org.

BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT OPEN HOUSE, October 8-15, 2000 City residents and Community Groups are welcome to stop by and visit your local Fire Station. Stations will be open to the public from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. for station tours. Come learn about how to make your home and Baltimore City a safer place for you and your family to live. Our closest Fire Station is at the corner of Eastern and Collington Avenues.