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1. Charles Village Safety Summit

CHARLES VILLAGE SAFETY SUMMIT

Follow-Up Meeting

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2010

1:00 – 3:00 PM

University Baptist Church

3501 North Charles Street

(Please use entrance from Greenway.)

Please come prepared to review, discuss and volunteer to implement

priorities selected at the August 7 meeting.

Facilitator: Odette Ramos

Co-Sponsors:

City Councilmembers Mary Pat Clarke,

Belinda Conaway and Carl Stokes

Questions and comments:

Please contact marypat.clarke@baltimorecity.gov

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2. Zoning Hearing for 2900 Wyman Park Drive

To whom it may concern,

We want to notify you that Appeal BMZA2010-247 for 2900 Wyman Park Drive ‘to construct a three-story addition to a fraternity house’ has been re-scheduled to be heard on Tuesday August 31, 2010 @ 1:00 pm in room 215 in City Hall.  You are welcome to attend the hearing, but attendance at the hearing is not required for your e-mail(s) to be acknowledged, made part of the subject case’s record and used during the hearing.  Photo ID is required to enter City Hall.

Your participation is appreciated,

Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals
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3. 26th and Miles Garden work day
Howdy folks,

Please reserve October 2, from 9 am (til whenever), for a very important workday at the 26^th & Miles Garden. A few dozen of our friends from the JHU Center for Social Concern will be joining GRIA to clear ground, haul away concrete, till soil, build planter beds, plant trees, etc.  We need as much help as we can get – the more people who come to help, the quicker we’ll be done!  Come help GRIA celebrate the newest green space in Remington with our friends from JHU!

Refreshments and tools will be provided, although if you have or have access to the following tools, please contact Chris Merriam at chrismerriam@gmail.com:

• Soil tiller
• Pickup truck (to haul concrete to Quarantine Rd. dump)

Thanks, and see you on October 2!

The Greater Remington Improvement Task Force for the 25^th Street Station Development has been diligently attending meetings concerning the 25^th Street Station Planned Unit Development and working hard to help make it a strong development the community will be proud of.

On August 5, 2010 there was a Planning Commission hearing which many of you attended.  After four hours of discussion and deliberation, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council approve the PUD with amendments.

On September 15, 2010 at 2:00pm the City Council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee will hold a public hearing on the project at City Hall. This committee will hear reports from City agencies and testimony from the public to determine whether to give this bill a favorable or unfavorable recommendation. The outcome of this hearing will determine the next steps for the PUD legislation.

We have also been working with the Department of Transportation and have posted a matrix of traffic calming actions GRIA and the surrounding neighborhoods have asked for on the GRIA website.  We realize traffic is a concern and are working on finding solutions.

This development will bring many retail and construction job opportunities. We are also working with the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development to bring these jobs – and job readiness programs -to Remington residents.

It is important that every voice be heard on September 15 by our city officials. Please come and let the City Council know how you feel about the development coming to Remington.   If you cannot attend please email or write the council person representing Remington and the development, Councilwoman Belinda Conaway, and the Land Use and Transportation Committee’s staffer, Antoine Banks. For more information about the Baltimore City Council, call Councilwoman Conaway at 410-396-4810 or go to their website, www.baltimorecitycouncil.com. If you want to get involved or have questions, e-mail GRIA at info.gria@gmail.com or call Judy Kunst at 443-472-5763.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-remington-culture-clash-20100803,0,2354514.story?page=1

Check out more about the 25th street station at our GRIA page here:

http://www.griaonline.org/about-remington/25th-street-plans-loweswalmart-development/

(About Remington -> 25th Street Plans)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-porch-art-20100731,0,4605888.story

Also check out the griaonline page with more info and some photos:

http://www.griaonline.org/committees/youth-programming-2/porch-art/

2629 Huntingdon Ave Baltimore, MD 21211

at 7pm tonight, Monday July 19th.

If you haven’t already, please consider becoming an official member by signing the membership form and paying dues. We really appreciate your support and participation!

GRIA July Meeting
Monday, July 19th, 2010
7:00pm
Kromer Hall

Suppose…one day Remington would be known for its trees and gardens

instead of its street trash and petty crime.

Friends,

Most everyone in Remington has seen me around the neighborhood, sometimes down on my knees digging in one of the blue boxes along Huntingdon–my so-called “Public Gardens.” Now after four years as a community fellow in Remington I’m saying good-bye. On Sunday

I leave for Australia and a long visit with my only grandchild..

Before departing, I plan to refurbish as many of the box gardens as possible, planting them with showy summer annuals—a kind of parting benediction on the neighborhood..

Will you help keep these little gardens alive and flourishing until frost? Can you volunteer an occasional hour or so to water or weed or stake

or mulch or mow? Or perhaps you would like to adopt a particular blue box. There are many ways to take part and help–whatever fits your

own situation.

“Be the change you envision” is the idea behind the public gardens. Turning each one into a healthy, living, cared-for statement about the neighborhood is obviously still a work in progress…sometimes the blue boxes are attractive, sometimes they appear derelict. It isn’t easy being green. But it’s still a good idea and it’s actually happening. The Village Green on Fox street, the Orchard on the hill at 29^th and Sisson, the planned vegetable gardens on 26^TH St. as well as the blue boxes are all part of a movement to make the neighborhood one of Baltimore’s greenest.

Even if you’re not interested in greening and gardening, here are some other arguments in favor of doing your bit: Meet neighbors around

a common effort. Help advance GRIA’s identity as a proactive neighborhood association, reaching out across generations and other divides, seeking connection and diversity. Take part in an unusual experiment in community building. Help open the door to other interesting possibilities.

To learn more, see a demonstration, look at the schedule, have a glass of iced tea and sign up, please come by Kr0mer Hall

(339 W.27^th) one evening this week. Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday between 6:00 and 7:30 p.m. Or on Saturday morning between 9:00 and Noon.

Thanks to all,

Peter Babcox

Baltimore Community Fellow

(410) 812-2659 or petrox37@gmail.com