WALTHERSON IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

P.O. BOX 3622

BALTIMORE, MD 21214

www.waltherson.org

mailbox@waltherson.org

Tweet: @WalthersonAssoc

Twitter: Facebook: NextDoor:

WALTHERSON MEETS QUARTERLY; THERE IS NO MEETING IN JUNE NEXT WALTHERSON IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY MEETING

When: Tuesday, August 5th, 2014 @ 7:30 PM

Where: Harbel (5807 Harford Road)

Get Involved Join WIA today! With membership your vote is counted and your voice heard in the community. Receive your monthly WIA newsletter to stay on top of what is happening in your neighborhood. Please complete the form below and send with your payment to: Waltherson Improvement Association P.O. Box 3622 Baltimore, MD 21214

June 2014

Recycling every Tuesday! Trash every Thursday! Bulk Trash (Call 311 to schedule) Street Sweeping 3rd Wednesday – Even Sides 4th Wednesday – Odd Sides

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The Walthersonian June 2014

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President’s Letter It finally FEELS like spring! We see folks planting flowers, painting, mowing, fixing & updating their beautiful homes. It warms my heart. But doesn’t it just get your goat when you work so hard on your home & the neighbor nearby lets theirs get run down? Or how about the house that is vacant & the lawn isn’t being kept? An entire block can look great but that ONE house that doesn’t show the pride of ownership can feel like the whole area is run down. Well, don’t let it! Take back your block & help keep it nice! So, to give us more information, we brought in Stan Janczak to our last quarterly meeting & he did a great job. He works with housing enforcement & pointed out a whole host of items we needed to know. He noted that our yards cannot be over 8” high & must be kept mowed. Trees cannot infringe on the sidewalk & debris needs to be picked up (tree limbs, weeds, etc). Houses that are boarded up CAN be boarded if they are empty. When a bank owns a house, we can call them & insist they maintain the area; if not the City sends someone in to maintain it & they attach a bill to the home. When a house is vacant, its status can be changed so that anyone moving in must apply for an “occupancy” status. We talked about squatters in vacant homes. You cannot change a single family home into apartments without getting approval, which is a huge process. We can fight to be sure our homes remain as family dwellings & no more than 4 unrelated people can live in a household. We must have a permit to do renovations to our homes (unless it is updating an existing item, say a deck) & it must be in clear sight. There is a noise ordinance after 11:00 pm. Yes, we are having parties now that we have great weather, but be respectful of our neighbors, especially after 11:00 pm. If it’s the same house repeatedly making the noise, you can call the Police. The list goes on & Stan answered ALL our questions. The most important thing is that you call 311 (or go on line & enter it) & get a tracking number. You do not have to give your name. If it’s still a concern, reach out to us & we can call Stan & follow up on that number. If a house gets repeated fines, it is escalated to criminal procedures! Even within the Walterson Board, we have a group that handles vacant & nuisance homes. We follow this until it is resolved & we feel the backing of our City. So, please speak up. Take the time & call it in. Don’t just complain & feel like you don’t have options. WE make up this neighborhood. It’s been strong for many, many years. Let’s keep it that way. Enjoy your homes, sit outside, relax & have fun. Be well, Helene

Primary Election on June 24th

Don’t forget to vote on June 24th

in the primary election. There will be a candidate forum on

June 5th

for the 45th

district to learn more about the candidates running for office.

45th

Legislative District

Date: June 5, 2014

Day of Week: Thursday

Time: 6:30-8:30 PM

Location: Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, 6000 Radecke Avenue

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Upcoming Traffic/Roadwork Projects Summer 2014

Reconfiguration of Frankford intersections at Hamilton Ave & Corse Ave. Corse & Frankford drawing is below; we’ve requested a drawing for Hamilton & Frankford.

Winter 2014

Harford Road Herring Run Bridge Reconstruction begins o Harford Road will be closed at Herring Run for two years during reconstruction

SC909 & SC911: Improvements to Sanitary Sewers of the Herring Run Sewershed o Rehabilitation work on sanitary gravity sewers ranging from 8-inches to 27-

inches in diameter and manhole replacements throughout neighborhood o Affected properties can be found on PDFs at this link:

http://www.cleanwaterbaltimore.org/Affected-Properties-for-Consen-Decree-Projects.asp

New business:

Belair Road o Planet Fitness is now open at 5201 Belair Road

Club Hours: Open & Staffed 24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week!

For more information go to:

http://www.planetfitness.com/ContactPF.aspx?clubid=10955 or call:

667.309.6100!

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Upcoming Neighborhood Events: June

3rd

– Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

5th

- 45th

District Candidate Forum; 6:30-8:30pm @ Mt Pleasant Church 6000 Radecke

6th

– First Friday Art Crawl

o Hamilton Gallery, 5502 Harford; 5-9pm http://hamiltonarts.org/

o Hamilton Bakery, 5414 Harford; 5-9 http://www.hamiltonbakery.com/events-and-

specials/ (free cupcakes!)

o The Gift Cellar, 4337b Harford; 6-9. http://thegiftcellarmaryland.com/

o Charmed Life Gallery, 4505 Harford; 6-9 http://charmedlifegallery.com/art-

gallery-exhibits/

o Additional details http://www.hamiltonlauravillemainstreet.blogspot.com/

10th

– Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

18th

- Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

24th

- Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

24th

– 2014 Gubernatorial Primary Election

o Early Voting for the Primary Election - Thursday, June 12, 2014 through

Thursday, June 19, 2014 from 10 am until 8 pm.

July

1st - Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

8th

- Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

11th

– Mixing it up: Second Friday Art Crawl

15th -

Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

22th - Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

26th

– Hamilton Festival – Noon to 8 PM @ Harford & Hamilton

29th

Tuesday Market 4-8 PM at 4500 Harford Road

IN AND AROUND WALTHERSON

Tuesday Market

Come out to the Tues Farmer’s Market across from Safeway is EVERY Tues from 4-8pm. Many folks walk up, get dinner, buy some fresh veggies or crafts, or just chat with your neighbors.

Traffic Calming Requests There was discussion on our NextDoor page requesting traffic studies on Batavia Ave east of Harford, Arabia Ave between Rueckert Ave & Southern Ave, & Ailsa Ave between Harford Rd & Holder Ave. We plan to send a letter to DOT requesting traffic studies at the end of June along with stop signs on Ailsa at Arabia & Ross. If you have questions, concerns, or would like to help, please e-mail us at mailbox@waltherson.org or write us at: P.O. Box 3622, Baltimore MD 21214 75% of the residents on the affected blocks would still need to support any proposed traffic calming measures (such as speed humps) before they would be implemented.

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Block Captains We’ve mentioned this in past newsletters & will continue to develop this concept. Since we are a small group, we need your help. If we utilize block captains as resources, we build a stronger team in all segments of the area. People would go directly to the block captains for their concerns. These would be filtered out, utilizing the resources & contact we have. Each block captain would have a list of contacts & then report back to the entire group & to the executive board. If everyone pitches in, we can all do our part. Please, find something that is your passion. Maybe gardening is your thing, maybe vacant houses really annoys you, maybe you want to help a neighbor whose house needs some repairs. Whatever be the case, if we all do our part, we can help each other.

Styrofoam / Polystyrene Recycling

If you want to recycle Styrofoam but cannot make it to the sanitation yard, Waltherson member Louise Harmony has offered to drop it off. Please get in touch with Robert Walshe at a meeting or by e-mailing us at mailbox@waltherson.org if you are interested. You can also leave a message for us on Facebook or tweet us @WalthersonAssoc. Note: CHECK THE BOTTOM OF THE CONTAINER FOR A NUMBER 6. Only number 6 items are accepted. No peanuts or packing material.

NECOP – Northeast Citizens on Patrol In Northeast Baltimore we have a district wide Citizens on Patrol program called NECOP. The reasoning behind the COP program is that regular neighborhood patrols can make criminals feel uncomfortable and drive them out of our neighborhood. Participants meet at the Northeast Police station at 1900 Argonne Drive near Morgan State and get a walkie talkie to keep them in contact with the Police and then proceed to patrol their neighborhoods in their cars. Patrols normally go out each Thursday and Friday from about 7:30 - 10:30. For anyone interested in the Citizens on Patrol program, please contact Rob at Robert.walshe@gmail.com.

Hamilton-Lauraville (HL) Sprouts

There’s a new family group in town. HL Sprouts is a parent partnership designed to allow parents of kids aged 0-12 to meet up, arrange play dates, and get to know other parents in the area. They are a chapter of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance. Check them out, there are several kid-friendly meet ups going on each week in the area. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HLSprouts/

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Please visit our sponsors:

*Please note, ads between pages on web version are not run by Waltherson*

Proud Member of:

WIA Volunteers

Officers:

President 1st

Vice President

2nd

Vice President

Secretary Treasurer Parliamentarian Sergent at Arms

At-Large Member

Helene Quinn

Paul McCartney

Frank Williams

Rob Walshe

Francis Beane

Lisa Hom Sue Kessel Ronisha Moore

Standing Committees and Representatives:

Housing Block Party

Traffic Schools & Child Advocacy

Block Captains

Robert Walshe, Sue Kessel, Helene Quinn, Frank Williams

Paul McCartney

Terrye Muratore

Rob Walshe, Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Harford Road CRP Rep.

Garden Sign &

Projects

Digital Outreach &

Communications

Police Liason / NECOP

Chairman

Main: Sue Kessel Alt: Rob Walshe

Ron Derr Robert Walshe Rob Walshe

Local Chapter of the

Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance