October 2024 Community Meeting Recap
Note: Any changes to the minutes should be directed to secretary@upperfellspoint.org.
Hybrid Meeting
Welcome/Introductions
Guest Speaker
Eric Holcomb, Executive Director at Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP), discussed conservation districts, an upcoming potential designation for neighborhoods that provide protections for historic character without being as onerous as CHAP. The Program is expected to begin in Dec. The designation process works with communities to define historical features of the area and approves only those features such as facades, front entrances, masonry, etc. There will be tax credits for this program depending on the work done and possibly further tax credits through the State. (Note: CHAP is part of the City’s Dept. of Planning and oversees 36 local historic districts, over 200 landmarks and manages a local historic preservation tax credit program.)
Updates from District 13
Shea Winpigler, Councilman Glover’s new Constituent Services Aide, introduced herself and will be attending future UFPIA meetings. She can be reached at 443-219-7163 or shea.winpigler@baltimorecity.gov.
Shea mentioned that there is a street light outage tool available with BGE as an alternative to 311 - https://bge.streetlightoutages.com/public/default.html. She also noted that Councilman Glover is aware of the problem with the BGE substation and is working with the central district to assist with a bilingual officer before any citations are issued.
Officer Reports
UFPIA membership survey results/discussion: Of the twenty-nine people who responded, the majority thought we should keep the hybrid format, share more information from city agencies and mainly focus on local issues followed by city and state issues. One of the topics of discussion was to hold the community meetings on a different day instead of Monday due to several Mondays falling on holidays. Changing the time of the meeting also was discussed. A possible vote will be taken in Nov.
Summary of 311 requests for UFP: The period Sept. 21-Oct. 21 showed that the majority of complaints were for parking and 48-hr parking/abandoned vehicles, rat rubout and sanitation concerns.
Environmental Justice Community Health and Safety Works Grant Update: We have received $45K of the $91K grant for traffic calming. Two UFPIA planning teams have been created (Lady Day Way and traffic calming on Eastern and S Ann). Initial meetings have been held and meetings with the contractor have been scheduled to learn about options for installation of traffic calming. If you would like to work on either of these teams, contact Ben at president@upperfellspoint.org.
Water main repair: The Dept. of Public Works will be replacing the water main pipes. They will be starting with the 2400-2500 blocks of Fait Ave and the 800 blocks of S Port and S Milton. UFP will most likely not be affected until this time next year - we will keep you posted.
The Treasurer’s report was given.
Committee Reports
Beautification
Mallory Kuehn - beautification@upperfellspoint.org
Eliza will be assisting Mallory with the cleanups.
There will be a cleanup on Oct. 22nd this will be the last Tues. night cleanup of the year.
Community Garden
Jan Mooney - communitygarden@upperfellspoint.org
Oktoberfest was a beautiful day with a great turnout – thanks to everyone who attended and to our gardeners and volunteers.
We will be replacing/building the rest of the raised bed boxes on Nov. 2nd as the old boxes were rotten and falling apart.
Also please water a street tree near you – we are in a drought and the young trees are very stressed. Please take 5 minutes and water one near you; they need at least 5 gallons of water a week.
EDUCATION
Latonya Watson - education@upperfellspoint.org
Wolfe St. Academy and Commodore John Rogers needs coats (sizes 5-14) and other supplies. Donations can be dropped off on school days from 7:30-3:30 or contact Tiffany Long at 410-396-9140 or tlong@baltimorecp.org. (Donors will receive a tax receipt.)
The Commodore John Rogers (CJR) School needs: backpacks, pencils, erasers, reusable water bottles with closed top and spiral and composition notebooks for individual students. Also needed are hand sanitizer, gallon size Ziploc bags and black dry erase markers for classroom shared materials; to donate, contact Mr. Batson at 410-396-9300.
FUND-RAISING
Lisa Knickmeyer - fundraising@upperfellspoint.org
Progressive Dinner – November 9th
Tickets on sale
$50/p to attend (includes 3 courses and beverages)
LadY DAY WAY
Beth Russo - ladydayway@upperfellspoint.org
Discussions are in process with 224 S Durham about installing a light on the new Billie Holiday mural.
The garage door at 243 S Durham is to be painted soon.
Land-Use
Mark Hoffmann - landuse@upperfellspoint.org
Two properties with violations were discussed and the hearing results will be discussed in Nov.
Sweet Carolina Liquors was fined $1,250 for multiple violations.
It was requested that BGE provide daily trash cleanup at the substation.
Safety (sub-committee)
Dan Harrison - safety@upperfellspoint.org
The camera installations are complete and there is one lighting installation still remaining.
The Central District (CD) monthly meeting was held but not many were in attendance.
If interested in participating in Citizens on Patrol (COP) walks, contact Dan.
MEDIA
Jan Mooney - newsletter@upperfellspoint.org
Deadline for the Nov. newsletter is Nov. 3rd at 5pm.
Reminder there is no meeting or newsletter in Dec.
Traffic & Parking
Parker Bratton - trafficparking@upperfellspoint.org
There are two project teams working on traffic calming – one is Lady Day Way (200 block of S Durham) and the other one is for the corner of Eastern & S Ann. If you are interested in working on either of these, contact Parker.
At the Nov. UFPIA community meeting we will discuss the possibility of permit parking in general as well as give details about what’s involved if we were to pursue it in our neighborhood. More at https://parking.baltimorecity.gov/residential-parking
New Business
Cranksgiving will be held on Nov. 23rd. https://www.bikemore.net/cranksgiving
Bill briefly discussed Question F (charter amendment/Inner Habor Park) and encouraged people to vote against it.
Kristen asked everyone to consider how passing Question H (reducing the size of City Council) would impact community representation and Lisa encouraged everyone to vote no on it.
Brian discussed health care for the homeless and asked that the flu shot/coat drive project be added to the UFPIA calendar.
Suzanne asked everyone to compost their pumpkins or cook them as opposed to throwing them in the trash.
Meeting adjourned
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.
