Saying Goodbye & Strengthening US-UK relations.

Kim Stallwood & Gary Baverstock, two pillars of Canton for nearly twenty years are heading home shortly to live in the United Kingdom, specifically, to Hastings. Their leadership, friendship, and sense of humor will definitely be missed. For those of you who don't know Kim & Gary, Kim is the founding president of the Canton Community Association and Gary is the founding president of the Canton Garden Association. Their years of tireless service on behalf of Canton and Baltimore City can not be adequately summarized in just one message.

And while goodbyes are never easy, they are necessary, especially when the meeting place is Canton's own Pickled Parrot on Thursday, June 7th from 7 to 9 pm.

So please, come, share a smile, shed a tear and raise a toast to two good mates as they embark upon the next stage of their life journey. Gents, we're going to miss you.

Progress on O'Donnell Square

Canton residents may have noticed that the central berm on O'Donnell Square has sprouted a ring of wooden stakes. Victoria Stewart, President of the O'Donnell Square Stewards, informs us that the stakes were installed by the Baltimore City Department of Public Works as a preliminary step to digging holes for the new fence around the statue of Captain O'Donnell.

DPW will be digging the holes this week, Stewart says. "We're waiting to find out when the actual fence will be installed," she added.

In other news, the Stewards announced that they are launching a new fundraising initiative on behalf of the square. For a donation, people will be able to buy bricks engraved with their names, which will be placed on the square. Keep an eye on the ODS page and the Canton Connection Online for more information.

Community Charrette for the Canton Branch Library!

With the opening of the Southeast Anchor Library, what's in store for the Canton branch? The Friends of the Canton Library and the Enoch Pratt Free Library invite Canton residents to help make that decision at a community charrette, Monday, June 4, 2007 @ 6:30 pm at the Clarence "Du" Burns Arena, 1301 S. Ellwood Avenue and Boston Street. Parking is free and refreshments from the Canton Cooks cookbook will be available.

"The charrette is an interactive meeting where residents, the staff from Pratt, and design professionals work together to create a visual plan for the Canton Branch Library," says Mary Jo Lazun, treasurer of the Friends. "This is our chance to decide what we want to see in our local library."

Comments collected by the Friends from residents who use the library include:

• A separate children's area
• Comfortable seating
• Restoration of the historical part of the building
• Additional computers and wi-fi
• "Parking" for strollers
• Real ADA access to the building
• Easily configured meeting space
• Expanded collection of audiobooks

Residents who use, or who would like to use, the library are encouraged to attend to help "realize the vision of a restored, renovated, and reinvigorated Canton Library," according to a Friends e-mail that was distributed earlier today. "A large turnout from the community will send a strong message to the Enoch Pratt Free Library that we want the Canton Branch to be the centerpiece of our community, both as a functional modern library and as an irreplaceable historical structure."

If you can't attend, e-mail your comments to the Friends at library@cantoncommunity.org or call Mary Jo Lazun at (410) 534-6662.

Southeast Anchor Library open - check it out!

Finally, the first new library in Baltimore City (Southeast Anchor Library) in more than 30 years is now open up in Highlandtown! You have to check it out (pun fully realized & intended)! It will change your perception of what libraries can be!

Southeast Anchor Library
3601 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21224
410-396-1580

Hours:
Monday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: Closed

Letters to the Editor regarding the Icon project.

As Meatloaf once famously sang in his famous song of the same name, off of the seminal Bat Out of Hell album (remember when albums existed?!?), "Two out of three ain't bad."

Click here (and scroll down a bit) for the latest letters to the editor regarding the Icon project, dated May 18th.

Keeping Charm City Cleaner & Greener!

The Baltimore City Department of Public Works Pilot Program offers increased hours at the Eastern,
Western and Northwest Sanitation Yards.

As part of the continuing commitment of Mayor Sheila Dixon to make Baltimore City CLEANER AND GREENER you now can do these things and more. Baltimore City Public Works Director George L. Winfield has announced a pilot program to increase the hours of operation at 3 city sanitation yards.

Beginning Monday, May 14, citizens are now able to drop off trash and debris from 9:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday at the following yards:

Eastern Sanitation Yard
6101 Bowleys Lane

Northwest Sanitation Yard
2840 Sisson Street

Western Sanitation Yard
701 Reedbird Avenue

Previously, these locations had been opened until 5:00 p.m. Unwanted items accepted at the sanitation facilities include trash, yard waste, recycling, e-cycling and bulk items. For additional information or to schedule a curbside bulk pick up, citizens should call 311.

Upcoming CCA Public Meetings & Home & Garden Tour Update

Date: May 22 Monday (6:30 pm.) -- Come on out and meet your State Delegates (Hammen, Krysiak, and McHale) along with your State Senator (Della) as they recap the session in Annapolis that was (2007 edition) & find out what's ahead for us in 2008.

Additional presentations will include Jennifer Peterson with Believe In Tomorrow Foundation's Children's House at Saint Casimir, Phil Lee with the Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association's pilot program of storm drain screening, & Tim Almaguer with the Friends Of Patterson Park. There's a lot of good stuff happening right here in Canton. Come and find out more.

Date: June 26 Tuesday (6:30 pm.) -- Come on out for a very special CCA Public Meeting! Meet the Candidates, Political Forum, 2007! Come, meet, and question the candidates campaigning for Baltimore City Mayor & Council President.

Date: September 15, 2007 -- Saturday (11 am - 4 pm) -- Local residents interested in participating in the tour are invited to submit their homes and or gardens for consideration. There are also many fun volunteer opportunities for those interested in helping both in planning and on the day of the tour. Tickets go on sale June 1st! They're just $15 in advance... $20 at the door... $15 for Seniors. All proceeds support projects of the Canton Community Association and the Canton Garden Association.

Watch the blog for more information, coming soon!

City Council Committee Votes Down Icon Project

Breaking news on the Icon project:

Cignal President Armando Cignarale (left), with attorney Joseph R. Woolman, watches as the City Council's land use committee votes unanimously against the Icon project.
(Sun photo by Monica Lopossay)
May 16, 2007

The Baltimore Sun today reports that the City Council's Land Use and Transportation Committee voted against the proposed Icon development.

From the article:

Council members, nearly all of whom have recently championed the neighborhood's side, blamed Cignal's president, saying that Armando Cignarale's outspoken obstinacy turned them off and doomed any chance for a compromise with the civic groups.

"When the community took the stand that they did, the council had no choice but to say to him, 'You are not listening, you're just not listening,'" said Councilwoman Rochelle "Rikki" Spector. "He defeated himself on this."

Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, who a day before the vote issued a news release saying that the Icon plan would fail, said Canton leaders and the developer had unwavering ideas for the Lighthouse Point tract.

"If they had shared a vision, we'd have a great win. Instead, it was a monumental collision," said Rawlings-Blake. "Any developer should know it's always to their benefit to work in earnest on the resolution of significant community problems."

An artist's rendering shows the $75 million Icon project, a 23-story condominium tower that would have risen along Canton's waterfront. Community activists had feared that the project would overwhelm the neighborhood and worsen traffic.
May 15, 2007

See the full text at "City panel kills tower project in Canton," by Jill Rosen.