Volume 53 • Number 6
It’s summer! Get ready for BHCA’s 2nd annual neighborhood-wide potluck picnic, 10 free Thursday music concerts in different neighborhood parks and a crab feast and picnic that honors first responders, in August. No sign-up, just show up.
As the 2024-25 academic year draws to a close, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) President Cecilia McCormick, J.D., reflected on a year shaped by artistic excellence, institutional momentum, and community-rooted innovation. From student achievements to strategic planning and neighborhood partnerships, the year was defined by both resurgence and reinvention.
The Maryland Higher Education Commission is forcing MICA to give up its planned interior design classes, complicating the school’s effort to offer new programs and overcome declining revenues. The commission administrator determined that MICA’s program was too similar to one offered by Morgan State University, although MICA leaders said it was not.
BHCA is taking a fresh look at parking and, specifically, the way residential parking permits are allocated in Bolton Hill. The review comes, coincidentally, with the introduction of legislation in the city council that would eliminate requirements that developers and landlords who renovate large buildings into apartments provide off-street or other parking opportunities for tenants.
“Painting reflects life, it helps me to be more aware that I am part of a diverse global community.” This is Kyoungho Isaac Kim, Bolton Hill resident and a recent graduate of the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute of Art.
Bolton Hill residents who knew her used the same words to describe their West Lanvale Street friend: “colorful;” “cheerful;” “flamboyant;” “sparkling.” Sally Gold, a lawyer and longtime resident of the neighborhood who more recently spent most of her time in New York, died of cancer there last month. She was 75.
As I walked around Bolton Hill and read all the blue historical plaques on homes identifying former residents, I was motivated to do research on who had owned the house I live in at 1526 W Mount Royal Ave. before it was converted to apartments. Interesting tile work around the fireplaces got me curious as to what inspired a resident to select that design.
As a dog owner, I often walk up the streets and down the alleys of Bolton Hill. In my travels, I’ve followed the progress of many a renovation project. I’ve learned how generous neighbors are with their decommissioned items – leaving doors, radiators, mantle pieces, and other fixtures for salvage in the alleyways.
The mayor thinks Artscape downtown on Memorial Day weekend was a smashing success thanks to “visionary leadership.” Bolton Hill fans of the four-decades-old festival had a more nuanced reaction.
Thanks mostly to neighborhood volunteers, Bolton Hill is a lush oasis, with street trees and parks forming a thick green canopy and well-planted and maintained planters and tree wells enhancing the streetscape. It is the collaboration and hard work of the park stewards, BHCA’s greening committee, the Bolton Hill Garden Club, the tree planting volunteers, the Midtown Benefits District, and residents that make Bolton Hill’s public spaces attractive and welcoming. The public spaces are there, year-around.
