Bolton Hill Notes

Your last chance for input on the BHCA strategic plan

The Bolton Hill strategic planning process is heading toward the finish line after more than a year of deliberations and drafting.  The plan will replace one from 15 years ago and will guide BHCA as it makes decisions that affect development and amenities in the neighborhood.  The board is likely to approve the plan at its April meeting.  To comment in writing or to receive a copy of the plan contact BHCAStrategicPlan@gmail.com  before March 24.

How about a Zoom-based monthly speaker series?  

Are you, perhaps, tired of Netflix?  Sick of dozing through re-runs of old TV shows like Seinfeld and Parks and Recreation?  Craving something a bit more adult and more stimulating?   How about a Zoom-based Bolton Hill monthly speaker series?  Seriously.

“We have such a wealth of knowledge and talent in our Bolton Hill Community (history, architecture, art, theater, public service, etc),” said Fred Demers, a longtime resident of the neighborhood, in an email to BHCA. “Now that people are fairly comfortable with virtual gatherings, I am wondering what the interest level would be for a round of lectures and learning sessions, featuring neighbors and others who have expertise they are willing to share. Perhaps on a monthly-basis?”

Demers was for a long time a human resources executive at McCormick, the spice company, and now is a consulting career coach.  He serves on the board of Bolton Hill Nursery and until recently on the vestry at Memorial Episcopal Church.  He sees the lecture series as a way for community members to get to know each other better, especially at a time when in-person meetings are not practical.  He wants to know if there is interest – in speaking, in participating, in helping create and manage the monthly series.  He is soliciting feedback.  Reach him at frederickdemers@yahoo.com.

Ready-or-not, new recycling bins are coming

Like Sheila Dixon and Catherine Pugh before him, Mayor Brandon Scott has announced that the city will be distributing new wheeled and lidded recycling bins for free to homes that get city pickup services.  

This collaboration is being funded by a $9 million public-private partnership, including a $3 million grant from The Recycling Partnership. That partnership includes a wide range of large corporations and associations, from Amazon to Waste Management Inc., which contracts with the city’s recycling program.

Then-Mayor Dixon put her name of the bright yellow bins distributed during her administration.  The bins are still here and there, long after Dixon resigned.  Pugh’s anonymous bins are still common sights in alleys and back yards.  The latest iteration of bins will be blue.  To learn what should and should not go into these bins, click here.  The mayor’s press release suggested a spring distribution.  A spokesperson for DPW said “in a few months.”

BZA plans April hearing on 1700 Eutaw renovation

The Board of Zoning Appeals has scheduled a hearing April 20 on a petition by a group of New York investors to waive off-street parking requirements as they seek to renovate and expand to 24 units the long-empty apartment building at 1700 Eutaw Place, at Wilson Street.

As reported in last month’s Bulletin, the property is technically in Bolton Hill, yet its renovation likely will have more impact on adjacent Madison Park.  The community supports renovation for the building that attracts tenants who will stay and engage in the life of both neighborhoods.  BHCA and the Madison Park Improvement Association have proposed a set of principles in a memorandum of understanding submitted  to the developer.  So far, the owners have not responded.

Zoom party welcomes new Bolton Hill residents

It was a rainy, cold Sunday, the last day of February.  No wine flowing, no snacks, no nice house to visit.  

Nevertheless, the annual BHCA New Neighbors Party, held on Zoom, drew 30 or more people, most of them residents of the neighborhood less than a year.  

They had moved here, they said, from Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Georgia and various Baltimore city neighborhoods, Maryland communities and DC.  BHCA President David Nyweide and board member Susan Hahn, who produced the event, welcomed our new neighbors.

Architecture, proximity, family history and Bolton Hill’s reputation as a welcoming and engaged community – those were some of the reasons people gave for moving into the neighborhood.  If you meet a new neighbor, give him or her a hearty welcome.  If your supply allows, offer a bottle of wine and a promise that in post-COVID 2022, the party will be more fun.

Midtown Benefits residents meeting is March 30

Join Midtown Community Benefits District leaders online for the Spring Town Hall March 30 at 6:30 pm to hear what the past year’s accomplishments were and what is planned for the year ahead. During the meeting, the district’s proposed FY2022 budget will be unveiled and community input invited.  The Zoom Meeting ID: is 816 284 0235. The meeting will also be live-streamed to MCBD’s Facebook page.

Midtown Baltimore is seeking a full-time AmeriCorps member to serve as a Community Engagement Specialist to be a part of its team for 10 months. More information here.

Bolton Hill Nursery thriving in the COVID new normal

Those little bundles running around at full speed on  the Bolton Hill Swim and Tennis Club on the coldest February-early March days?  Those were the girls and boys from Bolton Hill Nursery School.

“What a year! We are filled with gratitude for the many ways the Bolton Hill community has supported us,” said Beth Casey, executive director of the nursery.  “Following the Governor’s order, we closed our doors on Friday, March 13, 2020. Despite the global pandemic, we were  able to reopen on Sept 1. Our play-based learning  has continued to nurture creative, joyful and inquisitive two-, three- and four-year-old children.   And since our opening day we’ve remained COVID-free!

“As many neighbors have no doubt noticed, our classroom walls have burst wide open to include our yards, the Park Avenue garden and the swim and tennis club playfield. This ‘new normal’ has gradually begun to feel familiar.”  They are, Casey said, “grateful to many for making high quality and daily outdoor learning a reality for our kids.” 

Longtime resident Katherine Abt has died

Katherine Abt, a Bolton Hill resident much of her life from the early 1960s until recently, has died.  The Baltimore Sun noted her work as a city social worker, writer and editor.  She also spent five years with her two daughters on a cattle ranch in Wyoming where, according to a family obituary,  she “took turns editing the local newspaper, editing and writing for Teton magazine, substitute teaching, managing a bookstore and running a day care center.”

She died at the Bucks County, PA, home of her daughter, Claire Abt, where she relocated in 2018.  The Abt family first came to live in an apartment in the neighborhood around 1960, later acquiring a house on Bolton Street.  Katherine Abt was 88.

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, David Nyweide, Jim Prost, George Scheper, Lee Tawney and Peter Van Buren.  Give us your critiques and love.