Hey, neighbor: have you got a light?
A cadre of BHCA members is going block-by-block through the neighborhood, conducting a census of public and private outdoor lighting as part of the Safety and Security Committee’s response to last summer’s neighborhood safety survey.
“We’re not only going down the obvious streets but also the alleys and byways where there may be no residential addresses but where our neighbors walk at night,” said Don Feuerstein, who is leading the project. As of the beginning of December, volunteers had covered 159 blocks, including 728 street addresses and 1,238 lit areas.
The accounting separates out classic pole lights, modern (taller) pole lights, door lights, string lights and others. Besides residential blocks, they’re covering parks, schools and street intersections. “I think by the time we finish we’ll have the most complete list of addresses and information about lighting and cameras that exists,” Feuerstein said, adding: “We can use a couple more volunteers.”
To participate email Feuerstein. Current volunteers include Barbara Blumberg, Mary Ellen Chambers, Jonathan Claiborne, Lydia Duff, Sarah Edelsburg, Julie Evans, Jacqueline Fiore, Hugh Fitzpatrick. Susan Haun, Thelma Harrington, Curtis Hine, Nicole Leistikow, Tom Moloney-Harmon, John Leith-Tetrault, Dee Dee Weiss and Jim Prost, who chairs the full committee.
BHCA’s full Safety and Security Committee meets the second Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. The next meeting is Jan. 8 at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church (Lafayette Street entrance). The meetings are open to all BHCA members.
Artscape is scheduled earlier and shortened
Get ready for an earlier and shorter Artscape. For the first time in recent history, it will be the city government leading the festival in partnership with what’s left of BOPA, the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.
Mayor Brandon Scott said the festival will shrink from three days to two – no Friday night opening. And it will be held the Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, May 24-25, 2025. As in the past, it will be staged in Bolton Hill along Mt. Royal Avenue and on Charles Street and the Station North Arts District.
The announcement on Dec. 9 leaves a shorter runway for planning and lining up artists for Artscape’s 41st production. Last year’s Aug. 2-4 Artscape, produced entirely by BOPA before the mayor canceled city funding for the non-profit group, was mostly wiped out by heavy rains and winds. The previous year’s performance, Sept. 20-24, 2023, also was affected by extreme heat and storms.
Between the pandemic shutdowns and the mayor’s extended feud with BOPA leadership, it has been a while since what used to be billed as America’s largest and longest-running free arts festival has run without glitches.
State Center settlement is a small step toward redevelopment of the site
Maryland’s state government has agreed to pay $58.5 million to settle a lawsuit with a developer that planned to redevelop the aging State Center office complex in Baltimore. It frees the state to chart a new path for the property after 20 years of political and legal infighting. Think of it as the “Larry Hogan Tax.”
As governor, Hogan blocked plans that were shovel-ready in which a private company would redevelop the site with new state offices, along with housing and shops. The developer sued and the governor countersued, so nothing happened. Meanwhile as the pandemic ravaged downtown real estate, Democrats representing downtown cut a deal with Hogan to spend more millions relocating state employees to those empty offices.
Gov. Wes Moore has promised to give the empty State Center site to the city. It’s on Bolton Hill’s south border. Last month roughly 3,500 state employees who have not yet moved south to downtown were sent home after legionella bacteria was discovered in the buildings. Rising construction costs for the new offices have slowed the move, now expected sometime in 2026.
City agrees to spend more to make some sidewalks suitable for wheelchairs
The Scott administration has agreed to allocate $44 million over the next four years to upgrade sidewalks and install curb ramps to settle a class action lawsuit by three city residents who use wheelchairs. The deal will partially release Baltimore from a 2021 lawsuit calling on the courts to order the City to bring its public rights-of-way into compliance with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA).
A City study found that only 1.3 percent of 37,806 surveyed curb ramps in Baltimore complied with the ADA, which was enacted by Congress in 1990. Fixing them would cost $657 million in 2019 dollars, City lawyers argued.
About The Bulletin….
The Bolton Hill Bulletin is published monthly, except for July and August. It was designed by Elizabeth Peters. Paula Jackson is our proofreader. We invite others to help write, edit, provide photos or work on the business side. Contributors this month were, among others, Angie Alt, Mary Ellen Chambers, Kevin Cross, Coleen McCarthy, Deborah Morris, David Nyweide, Sallye Perrin, Merry Rogers, Lisa Summers and Peter Van Buren. Errors, omissions and comments should be reported to the editor, Bill Hamilton, at bulletin@boltonhillmd.org.
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