Update on Last Week's Greenway Meeting

The Improvement Association hosted the Department of Planning as they discussed the direction of the effort to bring a hiking/biking train to the Western Run area. This was a long meeting, and I was not taking notes, so this is just my personal impression of the event.

First off, there was a ton of support for the trail. Overwhelming. Naturally, there are some naysayers, but by and large people want that trail built. Those in opposition were mostly concerned about a nature trail section that would come close the houses along Fairbanks. This is a fair concern, but I would hate to see the whole project scrapped over these concerns.

The proposal is basically a new sidewalk along the north side of Cross Country/Kelly Avenue. This would narrow the street a bit and would hopefully have a traffic calming impact. Adequate road area would be preserved for "serious bike commuters" so that they could continue to use the street. The problem with this is that it seems like it will limit the "trail" to about 6 feet. This is not really wide enough in my opinion, and probably doesn't qualify for federal trails funding. I would like to see an 8-foot trail, but that may not be in the cards.

One attendee brought up the fact that it isn't really legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk. At less than 8', this is a sidewalk and not a trail. That kind of kills it for me. I envision myself riding down to the village with the kids. That won't really work on a sidewalk.

The other part of the project is where the real controversy lives. The idea is to make a walking trail in the woods to the West of the Abroretum. This would be a simple trail made out of mulch. MWIA President Mac Nachlas correctly pointed out that this trail will probably only exist until the first heavy rains, since that area is in the flood plain and is underwater regularly. There are some creative ideas about looping this trail away from the houses, or having it dead-end. In any case, it looks like this can be worked out.

There is a lot of support, and I am hopeful that things can move forward with this. If you want to give more input, you could contact project manger Kim Paniati or Sarah Paranilam with city planning.

Larry Kloze in the Sun Today

Longtime Mt. Washignton fixture Larry Kloze was featured in a nice article in the Sun today. The article is really about Larry's passion for gardening, but also touches on his unique approach to life. Larry is a unique Mt. Washington character and is one of those institutions that defines Mt. Washington as the Cosmic Bellybotton of the Universe.

Big Birthday Weekend

How about a post that's all about me? Or, more accurately, about my big 40th birthday weekend. So here is how it went:

Friday: Had a great trading day in the market with one of my little speculative positions moving up by a very quick 16%. Seemed like a good omen for the weekend. Cecilia and I went out Tio Pepe and enjoyed the Baltimore Restaurant week menu at only $30 each. I had the black bean soup, the poached salmon with hollandaise, and the chocalate roll for desert. Two words of advice: don't miss the bargains of Baltimore Restaurant Week next year, and beware of the Sangria at Tio Pepe. Let's just say that there is a lot more to it than red wine and fruit. Yikes.

Saturday: Did I mention that Sangria? Ouch. But there was no time for wallowing in self pity. We had a three o'clock reservation for a go kart race at Allsports Grand Prix in Dulles VA. My father and brother, along with a half dozen friends, had a great time. We had 25 laps of qualifying, followed by a hard-fought 40 lap race. There was some great racing with Brook Halvorson taking the win. Mark Thistel, who drove a high-contact and controversial race, took the second spot. I managed to hang on for third, managing to beat my father and the rest of the field. Jon Hirsch holds the distinction of placing dead last, but Jon is a big guy and those little kart engines don't have a grunt to push any extra heft around the track. Thanks to my dad for footing the bill for what was a great event.

Sunday: What that Sangria lacked in consumer warning labels, it made up for in staying power. Cecilia and the boys cheered me on in opening some gifts including a great new ukulele. Yes, I am a closet uke freak. Bicycle Polo was moved up from 4 to 2pm so that I could attend my own birthday party. My brother Dan and I set up tents and tables for the garden party and then ran off to polo. We had a full field of eight players out there in the absolutely sweltering heat. And yes, I was feeling every MINUTE of my 40 years within a half hour. Thanks to Dave Holland for leaving me a nice easy goal to score on my big day.

Next it was off the big garden party. Tons and tons of friends and family came out to help us eat great BBQ from Mr. Chelsea's. Aside from a few angy bees and some really, really hot weather, it was a great party. It was great to see old friends and many of our Mt. Washington neighbors. In true middle-aged fashion most of the food was demolished, but there was plenty of beer left over.

Thanks to everyone for joining me to celebrate, and a HUGE thanks to Cecilia who worked really hard to make my special day especially great. Also, special thanks to mother-in-law Mary Lou who pitched in big to help with kids and food.

And don't worry if you missed it--only ten years to the big Five-Oh. See you there.

Update: Here is the offending Sangria recipe courtesy Cecilia...

1 liter bottle merlot or Italian red (look for bottle larger than the normal 750 ml. size bottles)
3 oz. brandy (a little more than 1/3 c.)
3 oz. triple sec (a little more than 1/3 c.)
2 TBSP sugar
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 apple, sliced
1 small bottle club soda
Mix ingredients in a large pitcher and chill.

Important Greenway Meeting

There will be a meeting on the topic of the Greenway at the Wesley Home on Tuesday night at 7 PM.

The Greenway is going to be a great thing, if we can get it done. The trail will re-connect the neighborhood with the Village by providing a hiking/biking trail along Western Run Drive, Cross Country, and finally Kelly Avenue. Rather than negotiating sidewalks with phone poles planted right in the middle of them, we will have a wide trail. Imagine being able to safely jog or bike along Cross Country under the cool canopy of trees.

The bad news is that there is a well entrenched group of ill-informed folks who are opposed to the project in any form. This meeting is for Mt. Washington residents only and will be a chance for the Department of Planning to explain the facts about this project. It is important that supporters show up and be heard. Please make time to be there. The project will likely hinge on community support.

Link to Sun Article on Pimlico Festival

HERE it is. MWIA President Mac Nachlas is quoted.

A totally different perspective on the Pimlico concert

I had an interesting conversation with a Mt. Washington neighbor over the weekend. He pointed out that we in the neighborhood have a tendency towards hysteria over, well, everything. And he has a point.

As evidence he pointed to the construction of the parking garage on what was at the time the USF&G campus--now Johns Hopkins. I wasn't around when that garage was built, but it's a fairly decent looking (for a garage) brick-faced affair. Apparently, though, the reaction of the neighborhood was as if they were building a Union Carbide plant over there.

So we over-react. Big deal. There are bigger vices, right? But he has a point. Maybe it would be wise to be a little more measured. Case in point: The Great Pimlico Rosh Hashanah Who Concert Fiasco of 2006. When this was announced many of us were, um, outraged. How dare they? On Rosh Hashanah?! Etc?!!

My neighbor pointed out that maybe this isn't exactly the end of the world. Pimlico is a big venue, and one that desperately needs to make some money. Having internationally famous rock bands play a festival walking distance from home could be viewed as an amenity if one were so disposed.

But we're not disposed. We're angry. We're mad at the track because they have really been thoughtless jerks for so long that we expect to have to be angry about everything they do. We are sick of their constant whining for slots, sick of their drunken patrons peeing on our azaleas and leaving beer cans in our streets. So our programmed response to pretty much anything they do is distrust and near-kneejerk opposition.

But imagine what it must be like to actually manage the track. It can't be easy. Whatever they want to do, we are going to oppose. And they know that. They can come to us and inform us beforehand (and feel our neighborhood wrath) or they can keep us in the dark (and feel the same wrath anyway, just later). What is the upside for them? Clearly they have worked hard over the past 30 years to earn our contempt, but this isn't really a reasonable path for a relationship between the track and the neighbors.

So maybe we need to think of this rock festival as something of an opportunity, or at least not the end of the world. Sure, the timing stinks. And it would have been nice to have had any kind of heads up. But here we are. Mt. Washington and Pimlico. Neighbors. Better or worse. I know this sounds a bit crazy coming from a guy who made "no slots" his personal four-year mission, but maybe it's time for us to reach out and accept the track for what it is and be just a little more open to these events.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Baltimore's Historic Iron Works

My brother (and next-door neighbor) Dan is now managing the oldest continuously operating blacksmith's shop in the Unites States--right down on Saratoga Street. If you need an iron fence, gate, or window guard, or iron railing check out G. Krug and Son. It's really an amazing place.

Mt. Washington Elementary Starting Alumni Program

This just in from Tom Shepley at Mt. Washington Elementary:


Just a quick reminder that we are having our first planning meeting for the Mount Washington Elementary Alumni Association, Thursday, July 13, 2006 at 7:00 pm in the school gym. All alumni and parents of alumni are welcome. We will be seeking feedback on the best way for the Alumni Association to operate and provide to begin planning our first alumni function this fall. If you can not make it, just send me your contact information and I will be happy to add you to our growing Alumni database.

See you there!

Thomas V. Shepley, PhD
Principal, Mount Washington Elementary #221
1801 Sulgrave Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21209
(410) 396-6354 Fax (410) 396-0147

"Loudest Band in the World" Coming to Pimlico for Rosh Hashanah

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, The Who were widely acknowledged to be the Loudest Band on the planet. And while I know that sounds like it's right out of "Spinal Tap" it's actually true.

And so who do our considerate neighbors at Pimlico invite for the High Holidays? Who else? Meanwhile, the track continues to make hollow promises about how they are going to do everything they can to control the noise and crowds. The problem is that we have all heard this song before. It never changes. Track management tells us how much they care about being good neighbors, and then do stupid and inconsiderate things like this. And they are surprised that the neighborhood doesn't trust them to run an enormous casino? I wonder why??

The Improvement Association is working with the Mayor's office of neighborhoods and Rikki Spector's office to schedule meeting with the concert promoters, get copies of the permit, etc.

If this is an issue of concern to you, I would suggest the usual two-point set of tactics: publicity and politics. Write a letter to the editor of The Sun, The Examiner, or the Jewish Times. And then contact Tony Bridges in the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods, City Councilwoman Rikki Spector, and the always respons Del. Sandy Rosenberg.

Meanwhile, we will keep you posted. Truthfully, this is something that cannot be stopped, but only controlled. I think that the neighborhood needs to be concerned that we get adequate police presence within Mt. Washington itself, and that we have a rock-solid assurance that the show end absolutely no later than 10 pm. Other than that, all I can suggest is that you prepare to rock.

The Latest from Peter Franchot

Peter Franchot's campaign sent this out today. It included a recent Sun edictorial that basically suggested that it was time for Schaefer to step aside while he still has some dignity left. Many of you may have met Peter at one of our Thursday night garden parties (the rainy one). This reiterates Peter's thinking on how he would handle the job of Comptroller.

I am sending you this editorial because we have a clear choice on September 12^th . We can re-elect an incumbent who is not in control of himself and whose mental and emotional fitness for office has been called into question.

We can vote for an Anne Arundel County Executive who is a Democrat in name only and has staunchly supported Bob Ehrlich's divisive Republican policies every step of the way.

Or we Democrats can move in a new direction and elect an independent and progressive Comptroller in the proud tradition of Louis Goldstein. I pledge to do the following as your Comptroller:

1. I will restore competence to the office of Comptroller. As a twenty year veteran of the Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Transportation and Environment Subcommittee, I will bring new leadership and reform to this important fiscal office. I will work with the Governor and the General Assembly on reforming how we project revenue, shoring up our state employee pension fund and meeting our health care retirement obligations in a responsible fashion.

2. I will restore independence to the office of Comptroller. The Comptroller is an independent constitutional office and while I would cooperate constructively with the Governor and the General Assembly, I would never give blind support to either. I would be a check and balance in the Louis Goldstein tradition.

3. I will restore a progressive voice to the office of Comptroller. On the Board of Public Works and as Comptroller I would be an advocate for affordable public colleges, accessible health care, environmental protection, good jobs with good benefits, stringent oversight of pension fund security and fairness in tax policy.

Please send this message and editorial to friends, family, and others in Maryland and urge them to vote for Peter Franchot, the only real Democrat in the Democratic primary for Comptroller. Please invest a few minutes in the future of our great state and distribute this letter to your network.

Our campaign is going very well. We’ve received all of the major statewide endorsements in this race, thousands of lawn signs are on the way, and hundreds of thousands of phone calls are being made. If you would like to display a lawn sign or volunteer for my campaign, please reply to this email. In addition, a small donation from you would go a long way to helping me defeat William Donald Schaefer on September 12th. Please donate $10, $20, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford by clicking on this link. Thank you very much for your support.

Very sincerely,

O'Malley Yard Signs

I wish this could have been about how you could get your Duncan yard sign. So what's the next best thing? This just in from the O'Malley campaign:

As the campaign continues to heat up, showing your support becomes increasingly important. Citizens from all over Maryland have been requesting campaign materials, volunteering for events, and joining the campaign at rallys and marches. Another great way to get involved is to show your support with a yard sign as our official Yard Sign weekend is coming up on the 15th of July.

Yard signs can easily be requested by sending a brief email to me or calling the campaign headquarters (410-814-4206). Once we receive your request we will have a yard sign sent to you right away.

Thank you,

Brian Hammock

Brian Hammock
Field Director
Phone: (410) 814-4206
Email: hammock@martinomalley.com

Huge Rock Festival Coming to Pimlico

The Virgin Mobile rock festival is coming to Baltimore. Guess where? Pimlico, of course.

But that's not the best part. Guess when? How about Rosh Hashanah weekend?

Here is what the Baltimore Examiner had to say:

But it’s not one of the city’s ultra-modern stadiums that will be hosting the concert. Instead, the festival will be held at the home of the Preakness, Pimlico Race Track, the historic racing facility located outside of downtown Baltimore.

According to Kathleen Reynolds, a Virgin Mobile spokeswoman, the concert will be held on Saturday, Sept. 23. She declined, however, to say which bands would be included in the day’s line-up, saying only that a formal announcement about the festival will be made July 10.

“The location is ideal as it’s easily accessible in the mid-Atlantic corridor for a number of fans coming from north and south,” said Reynolds. “Baltimore also provides accessibility to a number of universities and colleges in the surrounding area.

HERE is a link to the full article.

Now, what exactly is this event, and what can we expect in terms of impact? Based on a little research, it seems that this is generally a two day event drawing upwards of 50,000 people. So we are looking at something like the Preakness--only twice as long, half as big, and a hundred times as loud.

I have always been an advocate for Pimlico being more creative in finding ways to be successful, within reason. I am a longtime booster of night racing, for instance. And I could even live with the impact of the Harley Davidson concert of a few summers ago. It could have been better managed in terms of neighborhood relations, but it was something we could deal with.

But rather than learn from their past mistakes, the Maryland Jockey Club has decided to amplify them. Here are some things to think about:

1) Given that the track is neighbor to one of the largest Orthodox communities in the world, would it not have been possible to show some deference to the Jewish community during the High Holidays?

2) Wouldn't it have been reasonable to at least drop a note in the mail to the presidents of the local neighborhood associations as this thing went public?

3) Where are 50,000 people going to park?

4) If this is indeed a two day affair, where are 50,000 people going to spend Saturday night? In parked cars on Whitney Avenue? I certainly hope not.

5) What kind of real enforcement is going to be available so that hours and noise levels can be controlled? We need far more than promises, as the DeFrancis family and the Jockey Club have demonstrated total disregard for neighbors for decades.

This will be a hot topic for the next couple of months. If I hear anything new, I'll be sure to post it.

Update: Del. Sandy Rosenberg did some research and found that the hours of the concert will run from 2 pm until 10 pm. There are efforts underway to schedule meetings between the community and the track, as well as a meeting with City officials. City Councilwoman Rikki Spector is trying to get a meeting set up with the promoter, and she is also trying to get a copy of the permit.

Fraser Smith on the Mt. Washington Parade

WYPR's Fraser Smith did a commentary on our parade:

In the Mount Washington neighborhood of Baltimore this Tuesday, people turned out to celebrate their country.

All the Independence Day trappings were there. A fire engine. Firemen. An Abe Lincoln Look alike. A dog wearing sunglasses and blue trousers with stars and stripes. There were babes in arms. And there were people of a certain age sitting in lawn chairs waiting for the marchers, several hundred it seemed, to march by. One family had planted two rows of patriotic flamingoes at the edge of their front yard, tiny American flags hanging from their long necks.

Read the rest HERE.