Holiday greens sale is underway
The Bolton Hill Garden Club Holiday Greens Sale is underway, with online orders for wreaths, decorative swags, evergreen roping and poinsettias available. New this year are beeswax candles in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. They also have Chanukah candles and aromatherapy candles.
Prepaid orders are accepted at the Bolton Hill Garden Club website. Ordered items will be available for pick-up from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church (enter through Lafayette entrance). These items will also be available there for purchase without pre-ordering, as supplies last.
Midtown wants volunteers for alley clean up on Nov. 18
The Midtown benefits district is kicking off the first phase of its Alleys to Assets program, which aims to not just clean alleys in the Midtown District but transform them into invested community spaces.
“Alleys can be community-building places, where neighbors BBQ and kids run and play because vehicles and strangers are less common than on busy city streets,” according to the district’s promotional material. Midtown’s president, Eric Sousa, said the program aims to clean up weedy and trashy alleys and then hold property owners around them accountable going forward. The City’s Deptartment of Housing and Community Development is partnering with Midtown.
Volunteers are needed on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to noon to tackle alleys in Bolton Hill. Meet just down from North and Park Avenues next to Unity Park. Gloves, bags, tools and refreshments will be provided.
Midtown also will begin its fall leaf clean up around Thanksgiving. For more information, consult Midtown’s website.
City staff turnover may slow plans to moderate neighborhood traffic
Efforts to get the city to take steps to reduce or slow traffic separately on West Lafayette Avenue and Laurens Street may have hit a setback. As discussed in last month’s Bulletin, City Council Member Eric Costello persuaded City Department of Transportation officials to do a site visit to both locations, requested by BHCA’s Transportation Committee.
According to committee chair Kevin Cross, after more than a month passed without an update from DOT, the committee has been continuing to reach out to DOT through the council member’s office. At the Nov. 7 BHCA meeting, we were informed that one of the key DOT traffic engineers who met with us in September is leaving the agency.
Costello’s staff said they would continue to push the agency to follow up.
BHCA finances are sound at midpoint in fiscal year
Midway through its fiscal year Chris Kingsley, BHCA’s treasurer, told members at BHCA’s November meeting that the association’s finances are healthy, with cash and restricted accounts both increased in the six months from May to Nov. 4.
Festival on the Hill, the October day that is BHCA’s biggest annual event each year, was “phenomenally successful,” Kingsley said, in spite of morning rains. It has a surplus to be shared with designated nearby charities. The several summer Arts in the Parks concerts cost $12,483 to produce, with extraordinary volunteer participation against a budget of $14,000.
Altogether the association brought in a total of $109,512 in revenue against budget projections of $97,800. It spent $47,958 or about half of its budgeted expenditure amount, with some spending deferred to the third or fourth quarters. BHCA also is managing two state grants–$63,000 in hand and $38,000 committed but not yet received–to improve Mounds Park on the west side of Eutaw Place.
As of Aug. 20, BHCA had cash on hand of $240,783 between six separate accounts. That amount includes $132,165 in restricted grants and donations for specific projects and events.
About the Bulletin. . . .
The Bulletin is published 10 times a year. It is designed by Elizabeth Peters. We invite others to help write, edit, provide photos or work on the business side. Send suggestions and comments to bulletin@boltonhillmd.org. Thanks to Alex Aaron, Kevin Cross, Rich Dubroff, Chris Kingsley, Paula Jackson, David Nyweide, Jim Prost, Amy Sheridan, Lisa Savage and Linda Stirling, among others, for helping with this issue. Errors and omissions are the responsibility of the editor, Bill Hamilton.
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