Bolton Hill Notes

A new place for renters and landlords to meet up: BHCA website

Are you looking for an apartment in Bolton Hill?  Or do you have an apartment to rent? Now you can search for apartments posted by community members on the Bolton Hill website.  Go to the Apartments and Realtors page under the Living+ main menu of the homepage and click Apartments for Rent to view listings, or Submit an Apartment Listing to submit a description of an apartment for rent.  You may include one to five photos.

Winter weather contributing to water main breaks

About three dozen water main breaks were reported during the first 10 days of February, according to the city Department of Public Works.   Although water main breaks happen throughout the year, the winter months are especially hard on water main infrastructure, especially during cycles of freezing and thawing caused by fluctuating winter temperatures. These freeze-thaw conditions cause the ground to shift and put stress on the pipes. 

 DPW’s Water Main Repair Process 

  • Residents should report water main breaks and other water emergencies to 311 (phone, mobile app, online). 
  • A DPW inspector will be dispatched to investigate the break. 
  • The water main valve will be located and turned off to cut off the flow of water. 
  • Utility lines are identified and marked. 
  • Broken pipe section is located, dug up and repaired or replaced. 
  • Excavation site is filled in and roads are repaved. 

DPW has an Interactive Map that shows up-to-date information on water main repair activity. It’s available on the DPW website:  https://publicworks.baltimorecity.gov/interactive-maps.

City farms program accepting applications from gardeners 

It’s time to think about gardening.  City Farms, the community garden network operated since 1978 by the Department of Recreation and Parks, is accepting applications for plots at gardens in 11 parks throughout the city, including nearby Druid Hill Park.

For $35 a year, gardeners get a fenced plot that is roughly 10 by 15 feet, sometimes raised.  Two plots are allowed in some gardens, but not others.  The City provides water, a secure garden area and occasionally garden equipment, manure and wood chips.  Gardeners are responsible for keeping their own garden clean and the overall site orderly.  A $10 application fee is charged new members.

For further information click here or contact Molly O. Hoopes, Molly.Hoopes@baltimorecity.gov or (667) 203-1101.

Celebrate Black History Month on Zoom Feb. 21

On Sunday, Feb. 21 from 4 to  5:30 p.m. join BHCA’s Social Action Task Force for a Zoom Party with a Purpose celebrating Black History Month with our annual poetry reading event. This year, we are inviting neighbors to sign up to read a poem as part of the program from the comfort of their homes and featuring performers from CHARM: Voices of Baltimore Youth and a few other nationally known local spoken word artists: Black Chakra, Lady Brion, and Meccamorphosis. Photos/bios of the featured performers here.

Interested in watching the fun? Please register HERE via Zoom for reminders and login information. SATF is asking for a suggested donation of $10 to watch. All donations will go toward paying featured performers and any overage will go toward Organizing Black. To make a donation, visit https://boltonhillmd.org/donate/ and select “Social Action Task Force.”

Founder of Bolton Hill Swim & Tennis Club dies

Frederick N. Griffith, who moved to Bolton Hill in the 1960s, raised three children here  and was a founding member of the Bolton Hill Swim and Tennis Club, died last month.  An expert in corneal transplantation, he was a founder of the Maryland Eye Bank and traveled the world creating similar vision care centers.  He was 88.

Trains in Baltimore history

Is there a bedroom in Baltimore where the occasional train whistle does not penetrate?  If you like those sounds, you may enjoy hearing history professor David Schley, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, discuss his book Steam City: How the Railroads Changed Urban Space and Economic Life in 19th Century Baltimore – and the Nation on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., hosted by the Baltimore City Historical Society.  To register email BaltoHistoryEve@gmail.com.

About The Bulletin….

The Bolton Hill Bulletin is published 10 times a year and distributed to members of the Bolton Hill Community Association and made available for free on the BHCA website.  We welcome the submission of ideas, articles, events and photos.  It is produced by Bill Hamilton, Kylie Perrotti and Marci Yankelov.  Contributors this month included, among others, Paula Jackson, Lee Tawney, David Nyweide, Amy Sheridan and Abby and Peter Jackson.  Give us all a little love.