York Road Streetscape Meeting next Tuesday !!!

The Baltimore Department of Transportation will hold our second official public meeting for Phase I of the York Road Corridor Improvement Project. The meeting will be held at:

Govans Boundary U.M. Church

5210 York Road

Tuesday, February 2nd

6pm to 8pm

Phase I of the York Road Corridor Improvement project is a $5 million capital improvement effort which extends from Glenwood Ave to 43rd Street. Components of the project include:

· Major sidewalk/ADA ramp repairs

· New pedestrian lighting

· Expanded tree pits and additional street trees

· New traffic signals, including pedestrian countdown timers

· Bike lanes

· Bus stop upgrades and possible bus stop location changes

· Street repaving/remarking/improved crosswalks

· Possible minor traffic changes on peripheral local roads

We will discuss these items in more detail at the meeting, as well as respond to questions and concerns from the public. Feel free to contact Mark Brown at DoT by phone at 443-984-4094 or by email at Mark.brown@baltimorecity.gov if you’d like additional information about the project before the public meeting.

Please check for updates on this and other projects which are underway in the Planning Division of BCDOT on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DOTPlanning

Starting Next Wednesday - Loyola is Listening!

Getting 'round downtown...for FREE !!!

Last week, the City began operating the Charm City Circulator. This fleet of hybrid-electric vehicles provides a new, convenient, and frequent way for business people, residents, students, and tourists to get around Downtown Baltimore. Best of all, this service is completely free to ride!

The first route to begin operating is the east-west Orange Route along the Pratt / Lombard corridor. This route takes riders in a loop past the B&O Railroad Museum, the University of Maryland Biopark, University Hospital, and University of Maryland professional schools, Camden Yards and the Convention Center, Inner Harbor, and Harbor East. (Both the Green Route, which will connect Johns Hopkins Hospital with Fells Point and Harbor East, and the Purple Route, which will connect Federal Hill and the Cross Street Market area with Penn Station, will launch in the spring.)

For information and details about the circulator, and routes and stops, visit http://www.charmcitycirculator.com/

Youth Works 2010 - “Summer Jobs Launch Careers”

Registration has begun for this summer’s Youth Works program!
All participants must be Baltimore City residents between the ages of 14-21 (must be 14 by June 18, 2010).

Register at the Walter P. Carter Recreation Center, 820 E. 43rd Street, 410 396-6217 - Registration runs through March 12.
Monday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday: 2:00pm-6:30pm
Tuesdays: 2:00pm-5:30pm
All sites will be closed: January 15, January 18 and February 15.
The summer jobs program will operate from June 21 through July 30.
For further information: Youth Works Office: 410 396-JOBS/5627

Curbside Tree Collection - Going on now through Friday, January 29th!

The Bureau of Solid Waste is offering curbside tree collection through Friday, January 29, 2010.

Residents should set out trees on their trash collection day at the location where their trash is picked up. All tinsel and ornaments should be removed from the trees before they are set out for curbside collection.

For additional information, please call 311.

A Thousand Words

Red Carpet Premiere Evening @ The Senator Theatre tomorrow!

Come on out on Friday, December 4th for a red carpet premiere evening! Baltimore native Johnny Alonso's action packed movie SAFEHOUSE makes its Baltimore Premiere!
Tread the Red Carpet with Baltimore's famous faces, Johnny Alonso (Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill), Jonathan Ruckman (The Wire), Sheila Cutchlow (The Wire), MMA Fighter/Stuntman Orlando Gonzales (Smalltimore) and many many more local actor faves. The show's co-stars include Thomas Calabro (Melrose Place) and Robert Miano (Donnie Brasco, Sopranos).

Actors, Actresses, and Models: bring your resumes and headshots! Local Directors, Producers, casting Directors galore will be in attendance.
Please dress to impress for this Glam Event!
Reception 7:00 pm
Screening 8:00 pm
Movie Admission $10
Stay over for the After Party!
Movie and Party Admission $20

Hearing Tonight on Proposed Liquor Law Changes

One of the difficulties facing both the communities of Baltimore City, and its Board of Liquor License Commissioners, is that the state law regulating liquor licenses allows the Board to consider only the character of the applicant when considering a transfer of a license. Since so many of the situations in which a community is unhappy with a licensee involve chronic neighborhood disruptions already in existence, and since this information cannot be considered when deciding whether or not to allow the transfer of a license, many chronically bad businesses remain so over the years.

Another difficulty that some communities face is bottle clubs. Since bottle club registrants are not permitted to sell alcohol, but simply allow patrons to consume alcohol that they have previously purchased or reserved, the need for stricter provisions regulating where these registrations may be placed, who shall be permitted to receive such a registration and the regulation of alcohol consumption in these establishments is vital to protect communities from the ills typical of over consumption of alcohol and negligent management: public urination/defecation; violence; public drunkenness; loud noise; destruction of property, etc.

Both of these issues will be addressed at a hearing this evening at 5pm in the City Council Chambers. The Chambers are located in City Hall, 100 North Holliday Street. The hearing is open to the public and will be carried live on Cable Channel 25. The hearing, held by the Council’s Community Development subcommittee, will focus on these issues while considering two resolutions of mine asking for changes to be made in state law by the General Assembly, when it comes into session in January. Copies of the resolutions are available here and here.  (Photo by Sean Yoes of The Afro)

Charter School Community Meeting on Tuesday!

There will be a meeting tomorrow, December 1st from 7pm to 8:30pm in St. Mary’s Parish Hall, 5502 York Road (enter in rear, from parking lot off Tunbridge) to discuss the the new public charter school, which will be housed in the former St. Mary’s parish school building.

The school will be operated by Afya Baltimore Inc., which also operates Afya Public Charter School - a successful middle school in Northeast Baltimore. It will serve students in grades K through 8 and feature a rigorous academic program focusing on intellectual, social/emotional and physical/nutritional health.

For more information, please contact Lydia Lemon (llemon@live.com or 443-742-3604) or Will McKenna (wmckenna@afyabaltimore.org or 410-736-8980)

The operators are also very much interested in coming up with a name for the new school which will better connect to all of the surrounding neighborhoods. They have a few ideas on this, but in the end they want their new families to be involved in the naming of the school. They plan to start this work at Tuesday night’s meeting.  Please come!

York-Belvedere Plan - Community Meeting

The Baltimore City Planning Dept has launched a planning process for the York-Belvedere commercial area, focusing on issues of traffic, parking and zoning. Please join us on November 19th to share your ideas and help shape the process. Tell your neighbors and community association members, everyone is welcome.

York-Belvedere Plan - Community Meeting
Thursday, November 19th, 6pm
Junior League, 5902 York Road (enter off of Rosebank)

The two maps below are part of a study of the development potential of the York-Belvedere area conducted by the Planning Department in February of 2009. The study looked at undeveloped parcels as well as parcels that could be consolidated and redeveloped. Only lots currently zoned commercial were included in the study and those with historically significant buildings like the Senator Theater were excluded. The square footage shown is not the maximum allowed under zoning; rather it is in scale with existing York-Belvedere area development. The two maps show development options, with new commercial or mixed-use development in gray and potential parking garages in pink. (These are not proposed developments!  They are just places the Planning Department identified as being big enough for prospective development, conceptually...) 

Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is the ratio of the floor area to the total site area or “how much building” can be built on a given property. Zoning determines FAR. Note that the property at York/Orkney is part of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) and therefore the allowable square footage is based on the area of the PUD, not only the lot itself. (If you click on the maps, they should expand to a readable size...)

 

















For more information, contact Lisa Morris, Northern District Planner for the Baltimore City Dept of Planning
at (410) 396-5937 or at Lisa.Morris@baltimorecity.gov

Saturday is Make-Up Day!

If your trash or recycling day fell on Veterans' Day, don’t forget to put your trash or recycling out tonight for Saturday morning pick up!


Reminder: trash and recycling should be put out between 6pm the night before and 6am the morning of your scheduled or make-up pickup.

And...