Meet & Eat Brings Out the Neighbors!

This past Tuesday, Canton residents braved the relentless rain to meet their neighbors and sample dishes from some of the area's favorite restaurants at the CCA's seventh annual Meet & Eat.

A small army of volunteers led by Susanna Maddox, Vince Geppi, Denise Aversa, and Michele Franklin worked hard to pull off a great event without a hitch (at least, none that this reporter saw); not even the humidity in the church basement could dampen the enthusiasm and energy in the room. The dominant sounds of the evening were conversations and laughter.

Nearly 30 local businesses provided food, drink, and desserts, door prizes for the raffle, and lots of other goodies free for the taking. Folks from the Johns Hopkins Medical Center handed out prizes to kids (and kid-at-heart grownups) who spun the wheel and answered questions about nutrition and health. At the CCA booth, tickets for the upcoming Three Amigos Fundraiser were on sale. Over at the Friends of Two Rivers Park table, Randy Capone was selling the last of the coveted t-shirts from the Friends Pub Crawl, while the Friends of the Canton Library supplied abundant desserts prepared straight from original recipes in the recently-reissued Canton Cookbook (the Rum Balls, we noted, were a particular favorite). And lots of goodies were on sale at the Friends of the Canton Dog Park table.

Canton sure has a lot of friends. That's probably one of the reasons why so many people like it here.

Many of your elected representatives took time out of their busy schedules to drop by, including City Council President Sheila Dixon, Councilman James Kraft, Senator George Della, and delegates Peter Hammen and Carolyn Krysiak. Council President Dixon, Councilman Kraft, and CCA President Stephen Strohl presented long-time CCA Board member and volunteer George Hofferbert with a special award honoring his many years of service to the community and to the CCA. George serves on the Parking and Transportation Committee.

George has seen a lot of changes over the years. As he puts it, "I've lived in Canton and Highlandtown, and now I live in Brewer's Hill -- and I haven't moved in 30 years!"

Steve accepted an award from Councilman Kraft and Council President Dixon from the City Council to the CCA in recognition of the association's work on behalf of the community. CCA volunteers do everything from neighborhood cleanups and block parties to working with City and State officials on community issues like parking, transportation, and development.

But before Steve could get away, Councilman Kraft and Council President Dixon presented him with an award of his own, recognizing his years of service as CCA President. On Steve's watch, the CCA has continued to grow and has begun to move in exciting new directions. Steve's been the motive force behind the redesign of our quarterly newsletter, the Canton Connection, as well as encouraging new marketing and outreach initiatives like the redesign of the CCA website that is currently underway, and the launching of this blog.

Perhaps it was fitting that the weather moved the Meet & Eat indoors, for the event was the last of its kind at the Canton United Methodist Church on the corner of Ellwood and Dillon. The church has been sold, and the CCA is now looking for a new venue for public meetings and events like the Meet & Eat. The evening's festivities were a fitting sendoff.

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Thank You!

The CCA would like to thank the following CCA Business Members, local businesses, and organizations for their generous support of this year's Meet & Eat. They provided wonderful food, drinks, and desserts, great door prizes for the raffles, and lots of other goodies:

• Birches
• Brenda Hair Design
• Burger King
• Chesapeake Wine Co.
• Claddagh Pub
• Coburn's Tavern and Grill
• Gecko's
• Granite
• Helen's Garden
• Inn at 2920
• JD's Smokehouse
• Just a Matter of Thyme
• Kiss Cafe
• Looney's Pub
• M&L Liquors
• Mama's on the Half Shell
• Nacho Mama's
• North Pole Ice Cream
• Pasticcio's
• Pearls
• The Pickled Parrot
• The Pretzel Zone
• Pizza and Wing Factory
• Portside Tavern
• Santoni's
• Starbucks
• Sushi-San/Thai Jai Dee
• Tyson's Tavern

Southeast Transportation Study

The City should have the results of their Southeast Transportation Study sometime in August of this year. This new study takes into account four of the larger developments in the area:

The Greektown Development

The Duke/GM site Development

Canton Crossing

Brewer's Hill
Along with the study will be a series of short and long-term transportation recommendations. This plan will hopefully compliment phase one of the Volpe Study and any potential future Red Line plan for southeast.

Leaving Unsolicited Advertising Circulars on Houses and Cars is Illegal: How To Report Unwanted Fliers

Councilman Kraft's office has some advice for reporting those unsolicited fliers that are seemingly native to Canton:

1. GIVE THE BUSINESS THE BENEFIT OF A WARNING: Some businesses may not know that they can no longer leave advertising fliers on residences or cars, so in fairness to them, please call them, let them know what the law is, and ask them to stop. 
2. CALL 311: If you continue to receive fliers from the same businesses after you have warned them, report them to 311.  During the call, leave your name, address and phone number to help appropriate agencies follow up on your report.  An Enforcement Officer should contact you and/or visit you within 3 days of your call.
3. LEAVE THE FLIERS WHERE THEY ARE FOR 3 BUSINESS DAYS: Since an Enforcement Officer may not be able to respond immediately, allow some time for them to come and document that fliers were placed on your and/or your neighbors' home or car without your and/or your neighbors' permission.

For more information, check out Councilman Kraft's web site.

BGE Rate Calculator

Speaker of the House Michael Busch has launched a website in order to better explain the rate plan and its impact on the utility bills of Maryland's citizens.

Please visit here to check out the web site and while you're there, type in your current electricity bill and the rate calculator will display the new electricity bill under the new plan.

Geography is Everything...to Trash

It is an unfortunate accident of geography that the City slopes so discernibly from north to south. Trash and litter that is thrown out north of the City (even as far away as Towson) ends up in one of the twenty-seven outfalls that empties into the harbor. Everyone knows about the Jones Falls, but here in Canton, many of us know about Harris Creek, our unassuming "river" if you will, that runs through the neighborhood and into the harbor (Harris Creek is now submerged). The Harris Creek Outfall is located just east of the Anchorage Tower building on the south side of Boston Street. After a good rainstorm walk (carefully) on over and take a look into the water. The amount of trash you will see will amaze you (in a bad way).

The good news? Look carefully in the water and you will notice a platform that hides a submerged Trash Netting System (TNS), the first of its kind in Baltimore. Our friends at the Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association (BHWA) have worked long and hard on getting this pilot project off of the ground and into the water (so to speak). The amount of trash that is being collected by the TNS has been far higher than anyone could have predicted. From what I understand, larger nets and additional "catchers" are going to be installed to keep up with the amount of trash that collects here in Canton. Our friends at BHWA have an ambitious goal - a clean, sustainable, swimable harbor. To accomplish this, they are focusing their long-term efforts in the following areas:

Youth: Educate throughout the school system the individual impact on the existing state of the city infrastructure and how to protect the city’s largest resource.

Individuals: Those willing to learn about the issues and provide a vehicle to educate and act.

Agencies: Create a common set of objectives and provide a vehicle to unify and streamline goals.

Organizations & Businesses: Collectively market a way to get involved and promote a responsible community.

Water Quality Issues: Aesthetics and purity. Establish a baseline and an achievable level of improvement over a period of time.

For more information about the TNS initiative, check out BHWA's web site here.

Boston Street Road Work

The City's Department of Transportation (DOT) is planning on closing Boston Street later this week to accomplish a widening of the eastbound direction between Newkirk and Ponca Streets; changing it from one lane to two, and to allow Canton Railroad to do remedial work at their rail crossing to assist with the widening effort. The plan is as follows:

Thursday, June 29th: Boston Street will be closed at 7 PM between Newkirk and Ponca Streets. Traffic will be detoured via Newkirk, O'Donnell and Ponca Streets.

Friday, June 30th, 6 AM: Boston Street will be reopened accommodate peak hour traffic.

Friday, June 30th, 9 AM: Boston Street will be closed to complete the work, anticipated to be completed by 3 PM. The street will be reopened at 3 to accommodate peak traffic and if necessary, closed at 7 PM to complete the work.

Trash Talking

Recently, a number of questions have been raised about the location of residential trash cans and where they can be kept. For example, can they be kept in the front of the house as opposed to the back of the house other than on the day of trash pickup? The answer to this is "no." Keeping your trash cans in the front of your house is not allowed by Baltimore City Code. Also, no receptacle, whether filled or empty, may be placed or permitted to remain on any sidewalk for any period longer than necessary under the circumstances at any particular property. Storage receptacles:

a. may not be placed out for collection on a sidewalk or along an alley earlier than the day of collection, and
b. must be returned promptly to the premises after collection.

For more information on "proper trash etiquette" in the City, please go here.

Update on the Light House Point/Icon Project

A new update on this sensitive project since the release of our newsletter today...

The Department of Planning, in conjunction with Councilman Kraft, have created a Boston/Lakewood planning group that is a sub-committee of Councilman Kraft's 21224 Task Force that includes community leaders in the greater Canton area. The scope of the plan will include the parking lots at Lighthouse Point, Tindeco and Safeway as well as the circle park (located at Lakewood and Boston). Included in the discussions will be the relevant property owners and community representatives of the various associations. The topics of the plan will be open space, development and traffic.

The process will not include a traditional Charrette. The Department of Planning will do a site analysis addressing the outstanding issues and opportunities for the area and make some recommendations. The community will react to and provide feedback on the process and the Depatment of Planning will revise as necessary.

New Space for Future Public Meetings

As many of you are aware of by now, the Church we've been meeting at for the past 4 years (United Methodist Church -- located at 1000 S. Ellwood) is in the process of being sold. For years now the Church hasn't hosted an active United Methodist congregation and the sale of the building does not come as a surprise. To our knowledge the Church hasn't been sold as of yet, but we have no doubt that it will happen in the very near future.

While we don't have a new Public Meeting location to announce right now, we are in the process of firming up a new permanent Public Meeting location and we expect to use this new location beginning on Tuesday, September 26th. In the meantime, our last event at our "old" location will be the Meet & Eat event, to be held on Tuesday, June 27th at 7 pm. We hope to see you then!

Boston Street Traffic Study

Cardin Announces $400,000 In Funding For Boston St. Traffic Study
Thursday June 15, 2006

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin today announced House passage of $400,000 in funding for a Federal Highway Administration traffic study of Boston Street from Conkling Street to I-95 to help relieve congestion along Baltimore’s southeast waterfront.

Currently, the Canton and Fells Point areas have undergone enormous economic growth, seriously affecting traffic along President, Fleet, Aliceanna and Boston streets. Future proposed development includes Canton Crossing, a development that will include office and retail space and 500 dwellings; a 1.1 million square feet mixed-use development in the Brewer’s Hill neighborhood; and development of the Broening Highway General Motors plant that would bring in 4,000 light industry and office jobs. The area also handles growing rail and truck traffic serving the Port of Baltimore and other heavy industry in the area.

“Development along Baltimore’s waterfront is booming, but with that development comes the need to deal with the traffic that has the potential to overwhelm the area. This study will help Baltimore City study the problem and develop a comprehensive solution,” said Rep. Cardin. For more information, please go here.

The Canton Connection -- Spring issue

Thanks to the efforts of many, the next edition of the Canton Connection newsletter is now available via the CCA web site. The Spring issue (it isn't officially summer until June 21st...) is now a super-sized 16 pages (up from 12 previously), with 4 of them in color (previously none were in color)! Our intent is to go with more color for the next issue as long as the economics of the newsletter pan out. For Canton residents the hardcopy of the newsletter should reach your mailbox by the weekend. Our mailing list is made up of approximately 5,000 homes. Our boundaries are here, so if you don't get a copy of the Connection mailed to you and live within our boundaries, please let us know!

Our contact information is located here.