June 2024 Community Meeting Recap
Note: Any changes to the minutes should be directed to secretary@upperfellspoint.org.
Hybrid Meeting
Welcome/Introductions
Guest Speakers
Wanda Watts, Lead Community Liaison for the Consent Decree Monitoring Team for Baltimore City started the presentation and Kenneth Thompson, Lead Monitor, gave an update on the Consent Decree (CD). After the death of Freddie Gray, it was determined that the Baltimore Police Dept. (BPD) had unconstitutional practices. Rather than proceeding with a long legal case, all parties agreed on a consent decree (court order). The CD does not prevent the BPD from issuing citations for infractions, juvenile citations, investigative stops, etc.; it only requires that the stops do not violate constitutional rights. Currently BPD is not in compliance with de-escalation/responding to people with behavioral health disabilities or people in crisis; more trained specialists are needed. Improvement also is needed in community policing and engagement as well as in recruiting, hiring and retention. More at https://www.bpdmonitor.com/
Mark Lautman from Ranked Choice Voting Maryland discussed their nonpartisan coalition and how the ranked choice voting election process works.
Updates
The UFPIA submitted three grant applications for $250,000 for traffic calming, tree bed fencing, UFPIA street signs, storm drain art, after school programming at Wolfe St. Academy, lighting/camera maintenance, bicycle maintenance stations, and emergency services training. Results are expected in June or early July.
Officer Reports
The Treasurer’s report was given. Also, our liability insurance increased.
Committee Reports
Beautification
Mallory Kuehn - beautification@upperfellspoint.org
Cleanup on June 22nd from 9-11am.
Dumpster Day was a success and the dumpster was full by 10am.
Community Garden
Jan Mooney - communitygarden@upperfellspoint.org
August 17th: Honey Happy Hour 4-6pm
EDUCATION
Latonya Watson - education@upperfellspoint.org
No news
FUND-RAISING
Lisa Knickmeyer - fundraising@upperfellspoint.org
A few new memberships were obtained during Dumpster Day.
Progressive Dinner – Set for November 2nd; hosts are needed; contact Lisa if interested.
Land-Use
Mark Hoffmann - landuse@upperfellspoint.org
Sweet Carolina Liquors is not in compliance with their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU); a letter was sent to the Liquor Board.
The Wire Removal Subcommittee met with Verizon and Xfinity and both parties agreed to remove their old low-hanging wires.
Safety (sub-committee)
Dan Harrison - safety@upperfellspoint.org
All of the safety lights have been installed and the rest of the cameras are being installed.
There were no safety camera inquiries.
National Night Out - August 6th
MEDIA
Jan Mooney - newsletter@upperfellspoint.org
Jewell Singletary will be taking over the 400 block of Regester, Griffin and 1700 block of Portugal newsletter route.
Deadline for the July newsletter is June 30th at 5pm.
Traffic & Parking
Parker Bratton - trafficparking@upperfellspoint.org
No news.
New Business
Michelle Lee (liaison for Councilman Glover’s office Dist. 13) stated that they have received submissions for illegal dumping and will be working with the Dept. of Public Works to resolve them.
Bill Miltenberger is collecting signatures for a referendum to prevent buildings from being built in public parks. You must sign your name as it appears on your voter registration for it to be valid.
It was suggested to change our community meetings to Tuesdays (they were originally changed to Mondays due to Covid and when they were being held at the Ministry of Brewing). The UFPIA Secretary stated that it will be included in an UFPIA survey which will be coming out in the fall so no decision will be made at this time.
Trash can updates and citations: Ethan (Councilman Cohen’s office) stated that there will be a meeting to discuss this further (the meeting is by invitation but those who would like to attend should contact him (especially those without a sallyport).
UFPIA’s Instagram now has over 100 followers. Contact Brent at vicepresident@upperfellspoint.org if you have any items you want to share with the community.
Regina Schneider (owner Spa Adagio) stated that she would like business owners and residents to support local businesses online.
Meeting adjourned; social at Spirits Tavern.
To vote on issues at a meeting, you must have paid your current dues (based on calendar year beginning in January), attended 2 of the preceding 11 meetings, live in our boundaries and be age 18 and/or attended UFPIA sponsored events/activities per our Meeting & Voting Regulations.
