Mount Vernon Place

Thanks, guyz!

2008-03-29T14:26:00.002-04:00

Thanks, MICA students, for sweeping the streets this weekend as part of your art project. I'm going riding tomorrow, and I don't want to blow my $500 tires!

Elitist? Me?

2008-03-28T20:28:00.003-04:00

MICA darlin' Whittle Fa-weeman's art-stunt (brought to you by Long Fence) certainly got people talking, and once again, it took only minutes for those vacuous accusations of Mount Vernon elitism to surface from the poor and oppressed of Roland Park and other marginal neighborhoods throughout this fine city.

Wait. You mean to tell me that the double glazed platinum-trimmed white porcelain dinnerware for four that I just commissioned from that artist in New York is elitist?

Wreckin' Parks Beyond Salvation

2006-04-16T09:41:00.000-04:00

It's going to take more than the resurrection of Christ this Easter to save wreckin' parks from its chronic (read: unsalvageable) state of managerial ineptitude when it comes to Mountvernonplatz. In a brilliant display of organizational prowess and steel-fisted control of the parks, Baltimorestadt's wreckin' parks team failed to tell Downtown Partnership that the latter's May 4th debut of the 2006 First Thursdays season conflicts with BlumenMart (FlowerMart, May 5-6). Streets will already be closed, and BlumenMart, like other traveling circuses, will have pitched its bratwurst and whack-a-mole tents on every last available patch of grass (and if you've seen the satellite imagery of the West Square, you know what a precious commodity THOSE are anymore).

Rumour has it that Downtown Partnership is forging ahead with its scheduled events “because it’s too late to cancel.” Perhaps they can set up in the West Square basin, which, owing to the leaks (cf., Spring hat gesprungen), is the driest place in town currently.

And You Think We've Got Problems?!

2006-04-13T21:30:00.000-04:00

And you think we've got problems?! Check out savesaintstans and read up on what Fell's Point is having to deal with these days. It's the Rochambeau all over again (meaning the Catholic Archdiocese wantin' to tear everything down), and the Rochambeau isn't even over...

I'll tell you one thing, those Fell's Point folks sure are creative. We can learn a lot from them.

Spring hat gesprungen

2006-04-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

Well, spring has certainly gesprungen on Mountvernonplatz. If the crocuses peeking out from beneath the piles of garbage aren't a dead giveaway, then the leaks that have sprung from the fountain basin in the West Square clearly are. Last time I saw such a striking juxtaposition of standing water and parched landscape was at 36,000 feet over the Mojave Desert east of L.A.:

Mountvernonplatz looks just as pitiful from outer space:

And we're not looking at the grounds maintenance team setting up in the West Square either. What we're looking at is Downtown Partnership preparing to lure hundreds of people onto the West Square's few remaining patches of grass...

In other news... Mountvernonplatz has grown by two new works of outdoor sculpture. The first, "Sarcophagus," commemorates the platz's historic role as a communal toilet for the neighborhood dogs whose illiterate owners are too stupid to read the "no pooping" signs. You'll find "Sarcophagus" in the South Square. Look for the bronze turd.

The other is new insofar as it has been named since first appearing on mountvernonplace (see Our Front Yard?). "Charles Monument," the stainless steel refrigerator box placed in the North Square right on axis with the Washington Monument and the Taney statue, celebrates Baltimore City's proud history of bureaucratic incompetence. Baltimoreans--the world, really--have the Schifferbraenzes in the city's Department of Transportation to thank for that stunning piece of originality.

While I was (put) away...

2006-03-22T20:09:00.000-05:00

Christ... You head out to Shepherd Pratt for a couple weeks of R&R, and the world changes while you're put away...

Two big developments in Mount Vernon over the past several days:

1) CHAP handed wreckin' parks a generous helping of I-dont-think-so at last week's marathon hearing on the north square of Mount Vernon Place. I haven't read the transcript because it takes months for them to produce one--and it'll take twice as long this time because the stenographer at that meeting didn't seem to know her arse from her equipment, or her equipment from a hole in the wall, or so I am told--but it is likely to reveal that wreckin' parks is still using the same, tired old strategy to try to move a dog that just won't hunt. More later on this topic.

2) The group, Everyone-but-one-greedy-developer for Reasonable Heights in Mount Vernon (ERHMV, aka. everyone), scored a victory this past week with the Urban Affairs Committee's endorsement of CHAP recommended heights for new construction in Mount Vernon. Crazy thing is everyone is claiming victory on this one, including the lobbyists for the developers. More on this topic later, too.

Ah, it's good to be back.

Who's Dumber?!

2006-03-01T21:08:00.000-05:00

The Sun reported today that the purple lights on the Washington Monument were in support of Heart Month, the heart disease awareness month that President Bush had proclaimed in 2004 (black history and heart disease now share the same month of February). Problem is, the American Heart Association had asked the city for red lights, but either no one from the AHA complained, or no one in the city bureaucracy listened, and the Sun waited to report on the mix-up until it was too late for anyone to do anything about it.

So, if you're having a birthday, planning a family reunion, competing in a triathlon, or just turning over a new leaf, pick a theme color, then choose the color to the left of that one on the color wheel, and submit your request for your personal illuminated commemoration on the Washington Monument. What could possibly go wrong?

Mind-boggling

2006-02-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

That's the state of things these days on Mountvernonplatz. The latest indignity involves--you guessed it--the Schifferbraenz in the Transportation Department switching out lampposts in a National Historic Landmark district without warning either the Mountvernonplatzfreunden, the Planning Department, CHAP, the Mount Vernon Cultural District, the Mount Vernon-Belvidere Association Architectural Review Committee, or even the Department of wreckin' parks. How much longer are the Freunden and all the other concerned organizations going to allow themselves to be screwed over by a city bureaucracy that thinks it can do whatever the hell it wants without collaborating with other stakeholders? In a word, the city is a disaster when it comes to Mountvernonplatz, and the only thing that should be on anybody's minds at this point is how to get it out of the city's destructive grasp ASAP.

Purple Prick on Display

2006-02-17T20:10:00.000-05:00

If the Baltimore City Police Department weren't so preoccupied with trying to explain away discrepancies in the city's crime statistics or "procedural irregularities" at the Abu Ghraib precinct in southwest Baltimore--or with criticizing WBAL for calling attention to those discrepancies and "procedural irregularities"--then maybe we'd feel more comfortable asking them for help in figuring out who's behind the purple lights illuminating the Washington Monument. Wait a minute. I've seen that purple before... So, what am I missing here? Lent? The Ravens? Black History Month? If you happen to know why the Monument is now purple, email Brad.

Told You So!

2006-02-16T09:32:00.000-05:00

Those of you who thought I was full of shit for posting True Identity Revealed might want to look at today's Baltimore Sun. Downtown Partnership DID redraw its borders earlier this year, and they have a nice new map showing the northern border at North Avenue (see the map at right courtesy of the Sun). And call 311, because they go as far west as Park Avenue in Bolton Hill! I hear they have a bunch of Cambodians stitching new Downtown banners for BoHi right now...

Midblock Crossings 101

2006-02-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

Here's a little refresher course for those fine, fine public servants on Hollidaystrasse or wherever they are who have pooh-poohed midblock crossings as unworkable in Mountvernonplatz.

4.4.8 Midblock Crossings

Midblock crossings are pedestrian crossing points that do not occur at intersections. They are often installed in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic to provide more frequent crossing opportunities. For midblock crossings to be accessible to people with mobility impairments, a curb ramp needs to be installed at both ends of the crossing along a direct line of travel. If the curb ramps are offset, pedestrians who rely on the curb ramps are forced to travel in the street.

For midblock crossings to be accessible to people with visual impairments, they need to be detectable.At midblock crossings, pedestrians with visual impairments do not have the sound of parallel traffic available to identify a midblock crossing opportunity. If a traffic signal is installed,an audible indicator that provides timing information should also be included.Audible or vibrotactile information is effective in alerting people with visual impairments of a midblock crossing.

Midblock crossings spanning multiple lanes can be difficult for some pedestrians to cross. In these situations, curb extensions can be effective in reducing crossing times and increasing visibility between pedestrians and motorists (Figure 4-45). A median is another effective method to reduce crossing distances.

Figure 4-45: Curb extensions at midblock crossings help reduce crossing distance.

I can certainly see this working on the east and west squares of Mountvernonplatz. Hell, I can see it working on the north and south squares, too.

You know, I'm really beginning to like this ADA stuff: It's not as proscriptive (or impossible) as those fine, fine public servants and others working for wreckin' parks want us to believe.

Cripes

2006-02-15T06:43:00.000-05:00

You know you're having a bad day when you look in the mirror after shaving and half of your eyebrow is gone. Needless to say, I am in no condition to report on anything about Mount Vernon Place today. But rodeoclown mom's having a birthday over on preservebaltimore. Why don't you take a look at that.

True Identity Revealed

2006-02-12T12:16:00.000-05:00

Is Baltimore's "Midtown" really "Downtown" in disguise? Judging from the banners that have cropped up along Charles Street north of Madison in recent months, many would assume so. But ask those in the know where "Downtown" ends and "Midtown" begins, and they'll tell you it's all a matter of perception. It's all about which one makes you feel good, in other words.

Here are some of the responses we received from those folks:

from Mount Vernon Cultural District:

There is a boundary for the Midtown Community Benefits District and a boundary for the Downtown Managment Authority. These boundaries were set to indicate the area where a tax surcharge is levied to pay for additional clean and safe services. Other than [that], there are not specific boundaries for the area known as Downtown or for the area known as Midtown. Very few people outside of those who live in Midtown even know there is such a place. Most Baltimoreans would consider Midtown as part of Downtown--now that is confusing! By custom, some people consider that the Downtown extends north to North Avenue. Some people think it includes Mount Vernon and some do not. Trying to quantify the area other than through the benefits district is more a matter of perception than any codified system.

from Downtown Partnership:

The simple answer is that there are no hard and fast boundaries for each district. It all depends on whom you ask. That said, Downtown Partnership administers a Downtown Management Authority (also known as a Business Improvement District) that goes as far north as [Centre] Street (with a spike along Howard Street up to MD. General Hospital), but we hold marketing programs and special events outside this district, including First Thursdays and the Monument Lighting in Mt. Vernon. The banners run as far north as our northern boundary at [Centre] Street. The Mt. Vernon Cultural District overlaps this area slightly and runs north into what many people think of as Midtown (closer to the Belvedere). Midtown, in turn, blends into Station North.

from Midtown Development Corporation:

Midtown does indeed begin at Centre Street. For what it's worth, Centre Street is also the northern boundary of the Downtown Partnership's special taxing district. So, in that sense, Charles Street north of the Monument is not downtown. But the city includes Mt. Vernon in all its downtown planning and statistic-gathering, and we have fought hard to get the City to do that... So, in that sense, Charles Street north of the Monument is downtown. No matter what happens, Bolton Hill is not downtown. If you see downtown banners in Bolton Hill...dial 311.

If you look at the Live Baltimore Home Center's map of city neighborhoods, the boundaries are clear. What's more, both the City of Baltimore and the Live Baltimore Home Center split "Midtown" into two neighborhoods: Mount Vernon and Midtown-Belvedere.

So, is "Midtown" a real place, or is it just a charade? I'm beginning to think it's the latter. And if it's really part of "Downtown," then why was Downtown Partnership trying to shoo all the panhandlers up this way?

Oh Sheila @ preservebaltimore

2006-02-11T10:45:00.000-05:00

New information on the Mount Vernon building heights issue available. See O Sheila @ preservebaltimore.

Who's Getting High?

2006-02-07T06:56:00.001-05:00

I don't know what they're smokin' these days down at the Rathaus on Hollidaystrasse, but it's definitely f&%@ed them up because they're poised to allow 300-feet skyscrapers along Charles Street in dear old Mountvernon. I am told by the Mountvernonvolk that such vote will represent an absolute concession to the single developer who is dissatisfied with both the Planning Commission recommendations (100 - 200 ft) and CHAP recommendations (90 - 150 ft).

Here's what else they have to say:

"For six years now, the Baltimore Planning Department along with other agencies and community and development representatives have been working to craft a new urban renewal plan. The existing 40-yr-old plan was universally viewed as an impediment to predictable development because there was no height guidance beyond underlying zoning allowances (more than 300 ft). The problem was that (in accordance to national preservation standards) CHAP has authority to rule on height on a case-by-case basis based on height and scale. The gap between what CHAP might allow and the 300 feet zoning allowance creates significant development risk and incentive for land investors to sit on vacant parcels, for decades as already shown, and until the economy can support 300 foot buildings and/or there is a CHAP favorable for him to push this through."

"After five public hearings and four months of consideration of what the height limit should be, the City Council Urban Affairs Chair, Paula Johnson Branch, is said to be moving forward to remove height limitations from the new Mount Vernon Urban Renewal Plan and revert to the old underlying zoning (300+ ft). This is being framed as giving the height decision to CHAP on a case-by-case basis which is a total abdication of responsibility since the CHAP power is already law regardless of the maximum limits that City Council does or does not implement."

"Being free of legislation, the developer will only have to fight CHAP guidelines in a city that is already riddled with CHAP concessions. We need legislation not guidelines. Despite what is a failure to get needed predictability, the developer’s representatives are behind this approach because of their success last year in undermining the independence and authority of CHAP, and their success in getting the mayor to replace all but one CHAP commissioner starting remarkably this month."

"Please call Council President Shiela Dixon’s office at: (410) 396-4804 or email her and urge her not to allow the heights issue to be averted in this poorly disguised end-run. Tell her we have been working for years to reduce the 300 foot zoning allowance to reflect the scale and history of this premiere community. Both CHAP and the Planning Commission agree. This is not the time for City Council to back down. If City Council wants CHAP to have authority, then legislate to the heights that CHAP has recommended to them. Leave a detailed message if you can’t get through."

Well, there you have it. As I said in my last posting, those Schifferbraenzes are everywhere. Now, where can I get some of that stuff they're smoking?

Read more on More Logos Than a Gucci Handbag

Battle for Middle-earth Place

2006-02-05T10:34:00.000-05:00

Excerpts from a September T.A. 2003 meeting of the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation of Middle-earth (CHAP-ME). Present: hobbits, dwarfs, elves, trolls, wizards, supreme beings, and others. Meeting in progress...

GOLLUM: I would like to mention--
GALADRIEL: Would you like to give us your name?
GOLLUM: --in the Project for Public Spaces report--
GALADRIEL: Excuse me. Could you give us your name, please?

Later on...

BOROMIR: Is there some way we can get that [cable near the Tolkien monument] taken out of this plan?
CONSULTANT: The monument?
GRIMA: Take that one, Sauron?
SAURON: Not today.
GRIMA: We agree with you. It's ugly. We don't have a plan yet. It's multi-agency.

Later on...

GALADRIEL: Commissioners, while I don't mean to stop the discussion here, I do want to ask if there's anyone from the neighborhood that wishes to speak.
GOLLUM: I think we said what we need to say.
GALADRIEL: Thank you. All right, Commissioners. Any further questions of anybody?
CONSULTANT: I think we just wanted to point out that we had been having meetings with the Friends and with the neighborhood [huh?!] and that they were very supportive [huh?!] and this is really a partnership process.
GOLLUM: Yes.

Later on...

GALADRIEL: ...Well, now we've got some things we have to do. And, our goal here tonight for this project, and I believe you have the staff report with the recommendation on page two. If there be, if there are no further questions, then I would entertain a motion for this presentation.
BILBO BAGGINS: We only received the north and the east improvements and, so, I mean, I guess somehow we do need a record for the south and west plans.
GRIMA: We have the preliminary report which has everything in it. We can leave a draft with Eowyn and when we get the final, we will give her a copy of that as well. It hasn't been proofed properly yet so there's some typos.
GALADRIEL: We weren't sure. I believe what Mr. Baggins is concerned about is that our documentation that we got only talked about the north and east.

Hmmmm. No documentation on the south and west parks was presented at the CHAP-ME hearing? Well, isn't that interesting...

And, if you're wondering why there are huh?!s in the testimony, it's because Grima and the Consultant didn't present in front of the Middle-earth Association's Architectural Review Committee until February T.A. 2004!

BArF Fest

2006-02-03T08:51:00.000-05:00

Our friends at the Baltimore Architecture Foundation (BAF, or BArF) wanted us to help spread the word about the annual Groundhog Day bash scheduled for this Saturday night at AREA 405. We'll plug it this time, but since they're moving out of Mount Vernon, they're going to have to pony up some money next time.

So, here's the plug: Groundhog Day Party. Always a great time. Try to make it if you can.

Eat, drink, BArF. The circle is complete.

The Numbers

2006-02-02T14:55:00.000-05:00

The following words/neighborhoods appear in Baltimore's draft Comprehensive Master Plan the following number of times:

Canton: 14
Federal Hill: 10
Fells: 14
Vernon: 14
Bolton: 0

All I can say for Bolton Hill is "Ouch."

Fire, Burn, Butter, Churn

2006-02-02T14:48:00.000-05:00

Draft copy of the the Baltimore Comprehensive Master Plan now available off the Live, Earn, Play, Learn website. Let's see if Mount Vernon is even mentioned in it, since the words "comprehensive," "master," and "plan" are never used when discussing the future of Mount Vernon Place.

A Trolley Runs Through It

2006-02-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

A downtown trolley is a great idea, but do the organizers of Book Festival and Flower Mart know they are likely to be derailed by a trolley line through Mount Vernon Place? And how does that proposed trolley line, which is a great idea, impact plans for redoing the streets and sidewalks in Mount Vernon Place and any work done on the parks? Answers to all these questions must be in one location or in one master plan somewhere, right? They gotta be. Or am I just dreaming because this is Baltimore, where everybody reads (supposedly), but nobody works together?

Read more: Clang, Clang, Clang (posted January 18, 2006)

What a Co-inkie-dink

2006-01-30T20:55:00.000-05:00

What a co-inkie-dink. Vernon Lee Evans, the next person to die on Maryland's death row, not only has a blog, but one that looks just like ours and even has a similar name and URL. So, if you're here to ask Vernon a question before he's scheduled to die (the week of February 6), you've come to the wrong place. You want Meet Vernon, not Mount Vernon.

You can email Vernon a question directly from this site. You should know, though, that he does not have Internet access, so the emails are printed out by the Meet Vernon blog administrator and then mailed to him.

Thanks to charmcityroller for pointing this out.

CHAMBERs PlOT

2006-01-26T23:09:00.000-05:00

Has anyone heard any news lately about the CHAMBERs PlOT? For those of you who are unfamiliar with what CHAMBERs PrOposed To the community last year, it basically involved the construction of a condominium tower in plaCe of tHose greAt Morton Street Brick coachmEn's houses and liveRy stables. Putting a cOlossal Tower on that site at the center of the block just doesn't make sense. As proposed, the design is out of CHAracter for the area. We Must all BE pRePared tO fighT this stinky project.

Editor's Note: It appears Ms. Arrivederci has had some difficulties in entering her post into the system and has accidentally inserted capital letters in red where neither capital letters nor red letters were necessary. We apologize for the error.

Deadlines Drawing Near (Again!)

2006-01-25T20:05:00.000-05:00

Well, since January 2004, the Friends have consistently missed out on private and public grants and low interest loans of up to 3 million dollars for the restoration of Mount Vernon Place. Here are the deadlines for FY 2007. Will the Friends once again win the (not) coveted Missed Opportunities Award in '06 and walk away with another pathetic 15K from the Holly Tour? With Friends like that, who needs, well, you know...

Getty Architectural Conservation Implementation Grant
$250,000 maximum
Deadline: April 1, 2006

Save America's Treasures Grant
$700,000 maximum Federal share
Deadline: April 18, 2006

Maryland Historical Trust Capital Grant for FY2007
$50,000 maximum
Deadline: December 9, 2005 (whoops! already missed this one!)

National Trust Historic Preservation Loan
$350,000 maximum

Maryland Historical Trust Historic Preservation Loan
up to $300,000

So, there you have it. Up to $1,650,000 in real money available from just the obvious sources. That doesn't even include the Baltimore Community Foundation, Goldseker Foundation, the France-Merrick Foundation, the Abell Foundation, or a whole host of other local and regional philanthropic organizations.

Our Front Yard?

2006-01-22T19:40:00.000-05:00

How 'bout Our JUNKyard?!

It's a little known fact that the Mountvernonplatzfreunden started out as Our Front Yard, little known because few people outside Mountvernon actually know who the Freunden are because the Freunden haven't really advertised who they are.

Can you blame them, really, for not advertising who they are? I mean, who in their right mind would want to take credit for the North Park these days? On any given day, you'll find traffic pylons, giant crabs, shiny signal boxes, light fixtures of different shapes and sizes... I can't tell anymore whether I'm in Mountvernonplatz or on the set of Sanford and Son. Add Flower Mart and Book Festival, and you've got picnic tables, sausage stands, face-painting clowns, books nobody wants to buy... Rumour has it that Jimmy Hoffa AND the Missing Link are buried in there somewhere...

All I can say is that I know the work of a Schifferbraenz when I see it. I'm sure everybody knows at least one member of THAT venerable old German family. Seems they're all working for the city these days...

The Latest Poop

2006-01-22T09:51:00.000-05:00

For those of you who came here looking for the latest poop on Mountvernonplatz, here it is:

What's up with the dog owners in the neighborhood? The Cathedral Street Gang (that group of pet owners who congregate in the West Park at least once a day) is pretty responsible when it comes to baggin' the loaves pinched by their dogs, but that's probably because they're all watching each other to make sure everyone follows the proper etiquette. It's the loners--the dog owners who sneak out solo at midday to shit their dogs and then nonchalantly walk away as if they had just dropped a pinecone--they're the problem.

Don't expect Baltimorestadt to fix this one any time soon. Rumour has it that many Mountvernonvolk will fight tooth and nail to defend their dogs' rights to shit on the parks. Besides, they've got bigger problems now: Skateboarders have appeared in Mountvernonplatz and transformed sections of the South Park into bitchin' ramps...and the work of wreckin' parks hasn't even begun!

All I know is that the neighborhood dogs are laying more pipe in Mountvernonplatz these days than the guys who are supposed to be installing that underground irrigation system. And covering up the "no pooping" signs with holiday greens is not helping.

Wreckin' Parks

2006-01-20T18:40:00.000-05:00

What's the deal with wreckin' parks in Mount Vernon Place? Think what you want about the city having an independent agency for wreckin' parks, but I'm just not sure we should be supporting wreckin' parks here, especially since the parks in question are so important, historically speaking.

The Mountvernonplatzfreunden certainly aren't helping matters. Many of them like wreckin' parks--some of them even LOVE wreckin' parks--even though wreckin' parks really does nothing to help them meet their goals. And what ever happened to the Volksplatzprojektplan? I hear the Mountvernonplatzfreunden put a lot of Geld into that Plan but then dropped it thinking their lot might improve if they backed the idea of wreckin' parks instead. Isn't that what the Austrians did?

Now, don't confuse wreckin' parks with parks n' wrecks: That's what they do to your car over at the city-owned vehicle impound lot on Pulaski Highway. I don't know a single person who's gotten back a car with as many parts as when it was first towed away. Sometimes it's missing a windshield wiper. Other times, it's a hubcap. A radio. A bucket seat.

Praise the Lord!

2006-01-19T21:15:00.000-05:00

I'd burst into flames if I stepped into any of these places, but maybe you wouldn't. The Mount Vernon Cultural District now offers tours of Mount Vernon churches every Sunday beginning at 1:00pm. Download the brochure from the MVCD website. Looks like you'll see the most on the third Sundays tour.

Hats off to Lisa for pulling this tour together. If you haven't heard, Lisa is headed for Downtown Partnership (she'll be missed). MVCD is looking for a new executive director, but rumour has it that the MVCD board voted to dissolve the organization. In other words, apply but don't quit your day job...

Clang, Clang, Clang

2006-01-18T18:26:00.000-05:00

Charles Street Development Corporation wants to bring a "circulator system" of streetcars to town that would connect the Inner Harbor and the Hopkins Homewood campus. Based on the envy-of-the-Western-World system the progressive-minded folks in Stumptown (that would be Portland, OR) installed some years ago, Charm City's line would slither along Charles, St. Paul, and Maryland and make a number of stops in Mount Vernon. If the CSDC team can figure out a way to bury the cables through Mount Vernon Place, or a way around the Place altogether (maybe take a right onto Centre, left onto Calvert, and then left on Madison back to Charles, hint, hint), it would be a big winner in the neighborhood, I think. Oh, and rails preferred over tires.

Say It, Don't Spray It

2006-01-17T22:38:00.000-05:00

Mount Vernonians have noticed a spike in the amount of graffiti on neighborhood buildings, newpaper and mail boxes, those dreadful traffic signal boxes, and even park benches in Mount Vernon Place over the past several months.

Funny, the spike in this sort of criminal activity occurred soon after those brilliant minds behind this past summer's ArtSCRAPE promoted graffiti as an art form (...), as well as after the opening of an exhibit at the Contemporary Art Museum celebrating the same thing.

These people need to get a life. Then they need to get a job. And I know just the place: Baltimore City's 311 call center handles complaints about graffiti in public spaces and dispatches anti-graffiti squads to clean up the mess, er, I mean, the "art." If you see graffiti, whether on a public bench or a private house, report it early and often to 311.

Many thanks to the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods for taking these destructive acts seriously.

What if... (Part 2)

2006-01-16T10:39:00.000-05:00

If the images posted on What If... (Part 1) showing existing conditions in and along the four squares (left) and what perimeter sidewalks might look like in those same locations (right) aren't enough to persuade people that the PPS plan is better than wreckin' parks, maybe these will help:

North Square

South Square

East Square

West Square

What if... (Part 1)

2006-01-16T08:49:00.000-05:00

So, what if wreckin' parks were to drop its ill-conceived and destructive plan for replacing the stairs at the balustrades with ramps and instead adopted the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) recommendation of perimeter sidewalks around the four squares? How would that look?

The only problem with the PPS plan, I suppose, is the lack of illustrations of what Mount Vernon Place might look like were PPS's recommendations implemented. If there had been a good set of illustrations, more people would have embraced that plan back in 2001. Based on conversations I've had about the plan (and what people remember from it), people either didn't read the plan or read only parts of it. I just don't think people were able to visualize the recommendations based on a ground plan and a written description. Maybe the following series of images showing existing conditions in and along the four squares (left) and what perimeter sidewalks might look like in those same locations (right) will help open some people's eyes:

North Square

South Square

East Square

West Square

Pictures Say It All

2006-01-15T20:45:00.000-05:00

Pictures taken after the Baltimore Book Festival and other events in Mount Vernon Place tell the real story. No one seems to care about the damage to the marbles, trees, and other plantings caused by the huge crowds drawn to this small public space or by the ground crews responsible for stringing up electrical wires, erecting stages and booths, or hauling in picnic tables and funnel cake carts. The city government, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts (BOPA), the vendors, and the various other event sponsors treat Mount Vernon Place like it's the Baltimore City Fairgrounds. They set up shop, make money, and leave, and Mount Vernon Place suffers.

BOPA runs roughshod over the four squares of Mount Vernon Place when it sets up for Baltimore Book Festival each September. Yet, BOPA seldom, if ever, pays for the damage caused by this event. The acting director of the Baltimore City Department of Recreation Parks, Connie Brown, told area residents at a fall general meeting of the Mount Vernon Belvidere Association (MVBA) that BOPA pays the usual permitting fee for using Mount Vernon Place, but that it doesn't pay any extra money to offset the costs for repairing the grass or the plantings. Brown mentioned also that Rec & Parks does not set aside money in its annual operating budget to cover repair to Mount Vernon Place--in fact, Mount Vernon Place doesn't even get a line item in the department budget--even though it anticipates damage from the book festival and other fairs and festivals.

For promotional purposes, BOPA boasts that the September book festival draws on average "60,000-plus festival-goers." Who in their right mind would even begin to believe that an event crowd of that size would not leave an imprint?!

Where were the Rec & Parks people when the crews were putting things up and tearing things down for Flower Mart or the book festival? Did the Friends of Mount Vernon Place (FMVP) have anyone on hand to supervise the crews and make sure they didn't cast fences into the flowerbeds? How can BOPA get away with this year after year without paying its fair share of the maintenance and repair costs? You'd think we were dealing with a bunch of 12 year-olds since no one wants to claim responsibility for making sure that BOPA and other organizations that sponsor events in the squares leave Mount Vernon Place in a better condition than when they found it...

The Project for Public Spaces plan calls for a single managerial body to oversee permitting and use of Mount Vernon Place. It also provides a sample terms of use policy. So, why isn't anyone listening to PPS?

Write, email, or call BOPA. Tell them you think it's time for them to start contributing their fair share to the maintenance of Mount Vernon Place.

PPS Plan is Better

2006-01-15T20:08:00.000-05:00

In 2001/2, Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a non-profit founded in 1975 to improve the design and management of parks and other public spaces in the United States, produced a fairly detailed comprehensive master plan for Baltimore’s Mount Vernon Place. The report went well beyond suggesting ways of improving accessibility (which, incidentally, it addresses masterfully) to incorporate suggestions for improving pedestrian access and safety, for calming traffic in and around Mount Vernon Place, and for increasing vitality around the monument while at the same time reducing wear and tear on the plantings and the park infrastructure. This report included action items for short- and long-term improvements, as well as annotated, detailed ground plans of what Mount Vernon Place might look like were the suggestions implemented. The report called for greater coordination among the city’s Planning, Transportation, and Recreation & Parks departments and the creation of a public-private partnership to oversee the implementation of the plan. Sadly, few, if any, of PPS’s recommendations were incorporated into the Recreation & Parks Department’s proposed plan for the parks.

I mention this master plan because, contrary to what has been reported in that innacurate and inflammatory Baltimore Sun article last December, viable alternatives to Rec & Parks' ill-conceived plan for Mount Vernon Place do, in fact, exist and have for some time. In fact, the PPS plan addresses accessibility in the same way as the newly redesigned War Memorial Plaza in front of City Hall. In brief, the PPS plan is a bona fide planning document that takes the long view: It considers issues relating to accessibility, pedestrian safety and movement, traffic circulation and calming, mass transit, programming and public events, and the perennial problem of maintenance.

Details of the PPS Plan (and why it's better)

The PPS plan for Mount Vernon Place is really quite simple. It says: Research what you have so you understand how to move forward, and then coordinate with other groups and city agencies to achieve the best solution. Rec & Parks didn’t want to do either: Didn’t want to work with Planning, didn’t want to work with Transportation, didn’t want to spend the time or the money to research the history of the site.

The PPS report does or recommends lots of great things:

1. The report improves accessibility AND respects the Carrere & Hastings design. Although PPS did not research the history of the current design in depth, the team seemed to know enough about Carrere & Hastings to know that the design was important and worth preserving. The report takes an additive approach to the four squares as opposed to a subtractive approach (the report doesn’t take away anything from the historic design, in other words). The accessibility and other recommendations all pretty much take place outside the individual squares themselves (Carrere & Hastings called them squares; most people today call them parks). The most significant (and, in my opinion, exciting) of these is the creation of perimeter sidewalks along the outsides of the squares (taken out of the roadbed), which not only create points of access at the midpoints of the parks but also serve to calm traffic and cut down on the wear and tear to the plantings and infrastructure. By adding a new circulation layer around the parks, the PPS plan is able to improve accessibility AND preserve the historic design.

2. The report goes well beyond improving accessibility and addresses the issues of pedestrian safety and traffic calming, which are of supreme importance to everyone regardless of their condition. For instance, the PPS plan recommends different paving materials and patterns for all crosswalks. The problem with the Rec & Parks plan is that it addresses nothing outside the squares themselves. So, in the end, how much safer or accessible are they if people (on foot or in wheelchairs) have to negotiate the traffic and peer out beyond parked cars just to cross the street? The accessibility solution recommended by PPS is basically the same as the one recently employed at War Memorial Plaza—circulation along the perimeter with access at the midpoint.

3. The report calls for greater coordination among city agencies. The table on page 15 identifies the Planning Department as the appropriate agency for supervising the creation and execution of the master plan and for acting as liaison for other city agencies (including Rec & Parks). Although the report suggests that Rec & Parks have final approval over all physical changes, it suggests that Rec & Parks participate in, not guide or direct, the master planning process. Of course, the tragedy of it all is that the city's Commission for Historical & Architectural Preservation (CHAP) is not mentioned; nor is it mentioned that Mount Vernon Place is a National Historic Landmark. The report also assigns responsibilities to Rec & Parks that are rightfully CHAP’s (but, that likely has to do with them not knowing about the national and local designations). However, CHAP’s move into Planning has basically made that omission a non-issue.

4. The report also addresses programming, use, maintenance, etc., and calls for the creation of a viable public-private partnership for implementing the plan. Judging from the amazing success the planners of the neighborhood’s children’s park have had in raising about 500K for that project, I just don’t see fundraising ever becoming a problem, esp. since all of Maryland seems to revere of Mount Vernon Place as its own.

If you want to see for yourself how the PPS plan compares with the Rec & Parks plan, take a look at this detailed plan comparison.

Case Study #1: How did THIS happen?

A car (or truck) traveling north at a high rate of speed into Mount Vernon Place clipped the western edge of the balustrade along the southern edge of the South Square--for most people the official entrance into Mount Vernon Place.

How do the two plans for Mount Vernon Place propose to prevent this costly and destructive incident from happening again in the future?

Project for Public Spaces
1. Use dramatic plantings at the south end to remind drivers that this is not an area for speeding, and
2. install perimeter sidewalk around South Square that would serve as a traffic calmer and buffer (and also improve accessibility!)

Rec & Parks
Plan does nothing either to prevent or reduce the likelihood of future automobile-related damage or destruction to the marble balustrades of the South or any of the other three squares of Mount Vernon Place...

Case Study #2: How did THIS happen?

Just days before the Baltimore Book Festival, the Department of Transportation installed this enormously inappropriate traffic signal box in the North Square without seeking the prior approval of either the Planning Department, CHAP, Rec & Parks, Mount Vernon Cultural District, the Mount Vernon Belvidere Association, or the Friends.

How do the two plans for Mount Vernon Place propose to prevent this costly and destructive incident from happening again in the future?

Project for Public Spaces
1. Create a real conservancy and public-private partnership for the long-term use and preservation of Mount Vernon Place, and
2. Establish the Planning Department as liaison between conservancy and all city agencies

Rec & Parks
Plan does nothing to improve inter-agency coordination or to establish a single management authority to oversee the use, preservation, and maintenance of Mount Vernon Place...