United Evangelical Church News

(Click on the photo at right for more information about the United Evangelical Church.)

The United Evangelical Church, also known to long-time Canton residents as Batz's Church, is is redeveloping its school building into a multi-tenant nonprofit center. Rev. Cathy Oatman, the Pastor of UES, invites the community's input as to what services it would like to see. Everyone who is interested in suggesting and hearing ideas is invited to attend this meeting.

The meeting will be on Tuesday, July 10 at 7 pm. You can find more information about the meeting on the CCA Events Calendar.

In other news, United Evangelical Church is searching for part-time (30hrs/wk) office help. Proficiency in Microsoft Office is a must, as well as an understanding of the workings of a church. Rate is $12/hr plus partial benefits. If you're interested, please fax your resume to (410) 276-0788, or e-mail it to cjoatman@msn.com.

The (continued) Greening of Canton!

On the heels of the creation and success of the Canton Dog Park and more recently, Two Rivers Park, news of major redevelopment work in O'Donnell Square and a significant expansion of Canton Waterfront Park!

Victoria Stewart, a member of the Canton Community Association, has been a driving force in the re making of the neighborhood's business center.
(Sun photo by Elizabeth Malby)
Jun 21, 2007

Attention Voters: Meet the Candidates

Two back-to-back opportunities to meet the candidates for Mayor and President of the City Council of Baltimore City:

• The Canton Community Association will be hosting a Political Forum moderated by 1st District Councilman James Kraft on Tuesday, June 26, from 7-9 pm at the United Evangelical (Batz’s) Church at the corner of S. East Ave. and Dillon St.
• The Baltimore City Historical Society and Baltimore Heritage, Inc., will be hosting an opportunity to Talk Baltimore History with the Candidates on Wednesday, June 27, from 7-9 pm at the University of Baltimore's Student Center Auditorium, 21 West Mount Royal Ave. and Maryland Ave.
  

Come hear the candidates talk about their plans for the city, and ask them about the issues that are important to you. Thanks to CCA, BCHS, and BHI for their hard work on behalf of the citizens of Baltimore.

Breaking News: Purse Snatcher in Canton

A Canton resident posted the following to the CCA announcement list today:

"I wanted to let the neighborhood know about a Purse Snatcher that is roaming our neighborhood. I was a victim last weekend, and the cops said he has stolen 70 purses! And they haven't caught him yet. I just saw a flyer up on a light post yesterday from another victim. He is a white male, age 17 - 22, thin build, close cut hair. He typically runs up behind women, as they walk home, and rips the purse right off of their arm. Because he is not assaulting the victims, just robbing them and running away, there is less police time assigned to these cases. The neighborhood should know to be on the lookout and to try to walk in multiples and hold his/her belongings close to the body."

The Canton Connection Online encourages Cantonites to follow the writer's suggestions to protect yourselves from being robbed. If you have been the victim of the purse snatcher, call 311 right away and be sure to file a report with the responding officer and ask for the case number. That way, you can call the police later to find out what's being done to solve your case.

UPDATE (6/26): In addition to reporting a crime directly to the police, Canton residents should also make use of the Community Citizen Complaint Form which is available on the Southeast District Police Community Relations Council (SEP CRC) website. You can fill out the form online or print it out and mail it in, and complaints can be filed anonymously.

Image: iStockPhoto.com

SEAL Drill Team: Feel the Thunder

A little fun for your Sunday: the recent opening of the Southeast Anchor Library saw the debut of Rolling Thunder, the library's precision book cart drill team! For those of you who missed it -- and for those of us who want to remember the fun -- a local resident has posted a video of their performance on Google Video.

Thrill to daredevil maneuvers like Circulation and the Return! Be awed by daring moves including the Pinwheel and the Libraries of the World! Cheer and clap along with the Pratt Cat! It's five minutes of absolute fun that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.

Choreography: Loretta Colvin. On the Carts: Mary Jurkiewicz, Jazmin Jurkiewicz, Nancy Supik, Sandy Sales, Jenny Kirkbride, Michael Rios. Clappers: Nan Rohrer, Mollie Fein, Ann Cavanaugh, Karen Jennings, Jackie Watts and Tammy [last name coming soon!].

Congratulations, team, and here's looking forward to many more performances...

Tonight: Neighborhood Design Center Meeting at SEAL

The Neighborhood Design Center is presenting a series of four Community Conversations throughout Baltimore to allow residents to learn about Baltimore Housing's new Division of Neighborhood Investment and to meet the Neighborhood Project Coordinators who will be liaising with neighborhood associations.

The second meeting in the series, which is co-sponsored by the ABCD Network - City Committee and Baltimore Housing will take place tonight at the Southeast Anchor Library at 6:00. The meeting is free and open to the public. Additional information and directions, as well as the dates and times of the other meetings in the series, can be found on the CCA Events Calendar.

New on the CCA Website

Here are some items and announcements of interest to Canton residents:

• A draft of the Southeast Area Transportation plan, prepared by the Baltimore City Department of Transportation, is available for download on the CCA Parking and Transportation Committee page.
• The O'Donnell Square Stewards are now selling engraved bricks to raise funds to maintain and improve O'Donnell Square. Similar to the bricks you've seen at the Canton Waterfront Park, they will be installed around the east- and west-end flower beds. Memorialize your community support permanently on O’Donnell Square!

Over on the events calendar, there are some exciting and fun activities coming up:

• The Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association (BHWA) is having its next community meeting on June 20th at 6 pm at Lighthouse Point (RSVP required).
• On June 30, the Canton Dog Park will be celebrating its 6th anniversary with a barbecue for humans and treats for the dogs, raffle prizes, and wading pools.
• Afterwards, head on over to the BHWA's Full Strawberry Moon Promenade Party at the Tide Point Promenade, beginning at 8 pm, to celebrate local companies and organizations that care about Mother Earth.
  

This is just a sampling of the information and events covered on the CCA website. If you haven't looked at the site lately, do yourself a favor and check it out -- it's your window to the neighborhood!

Planning - no - Developing with Developers

Our friends in neighboring Federal Hill face some of the same issues we face in Canton; tall buildings, keeping communities livable and to scale, while working through these issues with developers who get preferential treatment from the Department of Planning.

A recent Sun article by Jill Rosen sums things up quite nicely:

A hearing Thursday before the council's urban affairs committee turned ugly when opponents to HarborView's plan discovered that while they were meeting with top officials to discuss a compromise idea, city planners were signing the deal with the developer.

Cross @ your own risk!

Driving is tricky, uh, challenging, often referred to as a contact sport here in Baltimore. Canton in particular has a few "fun" pedestrian crossings that reminds some of us of the old video game, Frogger. A recent "Getting There" column by Sun columnist Michael Dresser captures the essence of the moment at the corner of O'Donnell and S. Conkling quite well. Its worth the read.


A crosswalk on O'Donnell Street in Canton is notable for the almost complete contempt drivers show for it.
(Sun staff photo)
Jun 8, 2007

Canton Library Charrette in the News

The recent community charrette co-hosted by the Friends of the Canton Library and the Enoch Pratt Free Library received local media coverage. Links to a newspaper article in the Baltimore Guide, an entry on the Guide's "Write Now" blog, and two TV stories by WJZ's Ron Matz, are now available on the Friends of the Canton Library webpage.

Take a look! And check in regularly with the Canton Connection Online for the latest news about the Friends' library restoration project as well as the many other neighborhood improvement activities that are happening around Canton.

Spring 2007 Canton Connection Available Online

By now, most Canton residents have received their copies of the latest edition of the Canton Connection in their mailbox. And now, the issue is also available as a PDF download (2.8 mb) from the CCA website's newsletter page. Just click on the link in the "Print Issue Archives" on the left of the page.

The issue includes:

• Recent news about the controversial Icon project
• Two Rivers Park and O'Donnell Square updates
  
• Recent happenings at Father Kolbe School
• CCA news and committee reports
• Timely and useful advice from our regular columnists
• . . . and much more!

The quarterly Canton Connection is mailed to Canton residents and businesses as a public service of your neighborhood association. Please thank the many fine local businesses that advertise in the Connection by patronizing them. And if you aren't already a member, why not take this opportunity to check out our website and find out more about what the Canton Community Association is doing to make Canton a better place to live, work, and play?

Sing Out for Peace Concert

(Click on the photo at right for more information about the United Evangelical Church.)

Rev. Cathy Oatman of the United Evangelical Church (where CCA holds its public meetings) invites Canton residents to attend the free Sing Out for Peace Concert on Thursday, June 14, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

"Singer/songwriter Jerry Leggett and The Peace Bubble will be bringing a night of positive, non-sectarian, non-partisan music," Rev. Oatman announced yesterday. The event will also feature video interviews that will be posted on YouTube.com asking: "Is peace possible? What would peace look like?"

The United Evangelical UCC church is located at 3200 Dillon Street at the corner of S. East. Come and sing out for peace!

City Announces Open Houses for Southeast Traffic Plan

In the wake of the decision by the City Council to vote down the proposed Icon development at Lighthouse Point -- in part because of the lack of a completed traffic study for the area -- the Office of Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore City Department of Transportation have jointly announced a series of open houses for residents and City officials to meet and discuss traffic concerns.

The meeting is an opportunity to "network with other residents . . . while learning City Officials' ideas on how to alleviate traffic in this corner of the city," according to a press release issued yesterday by the Department of Planning

The two meetings will be held:

• Wednesday, June 13
  6-7:30 pm
  Southeast Anchor Library
  3601 Eastern Avenue


• Wednesday, June 20
  6-7:30 pm
  General Wolfe Elementary School
  245 S. Wolfe Street

The CCA encourages concerned residents to attend one or both of these important meetings. See the Events Calendar for more details.