It didn’t take long to find it. I spotted it in the alley — shiny, sharp, and built to last.
Not much different from any other screw, yet special in its own way. I dropped it into a new jar.
I started this hardware jar on January 1, 2025, after a series of nails and screws on streets and driveways around Bolton Hill and the city punctured my car tires. This was the collection at the end of last year — 495 grams of near-misses and bad intentions.
Crime in Bolton Hill was down significantly from 2024 to 2025, but reported incidents of property crime bumped up, the chair of BHCA’s safety committee, James Prost, told the association’s January meeting.
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.
Bolton Hill is served by Baltimore City’s Smokestack Hardy Fire Station, just a few blocks west of Eutaw Place at 405 McMechen St. If you live near McMechen, you surely have heard the sirens. Ever wonder about the guys who serve on those trucks and what their jobs are like? Casey Novak, a third generation firefighter who leads the engine company, answered questions.
Rats are the unfortunate reality of most every urban environment. But BHCA has received an alarming number of complaints about rats from all corners of the neighborhood. So many complaints, in fact, that we have formed a rat committee to work on the issue.
City council member Eric Costello says that, after years of petitions from Bolton Hill and his office, the city Department of Transportation will take several “traffic-calming” initiatives on West Lafayette Ave. and Laurens St.
Maj. Natalie Preston is the new commander of the Western Police District, which includes Bolton Hill. She has more than 24 years of experience with the Baltimore Police Dept.
An unnamed Baltimore donor has offered up to a $30,000 reward for information leading to charges against the young men who assaulted Ward Bucher and his son outside their home on Laurens Street on Sunday, Jan. 7.
The mayor’s 90-day all-out attack on potholes and graffiti, announced in April, has come and gone. Was it a success?
Last month’s Bolton Hill Bulletin detailed separate efforts by residents around W. Lafayette Avenue and Laurens Street, in conjunction with the BHCA Traffic Committee, to persuade the city’s transportation agency to undertake efforts to slow speeding and reckless vehicle traffic.
