Please Park Next to the Bike Lane

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The following notice was issued this week by Kohl.Fallin@baltimorecity.gov; (443-984-4095 (Office) who is our city neighborhood transportation liaison:

The Roland Avenue Resurfacing project from Cold Spring Lane to Northern Parkway has been completed. This is the first parking-protected bike lane in Baltimore City, and the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT) would like to alert residents of the new parking pattern on Roland Avenue.  People in cars are advised to park in the parking lane next to the bike lane and not against the curb or in the striped buffer zone.
The BCDOT has alerted parking enforcement that there will be a 2 week grace period of enforcement until October 1, 2016 for residents to adjust to the new parking arrangements. After October 1, 2016, cars parking in the bike lane or the buffer may be issued a citation. The below diagram illustrates where the parking lane is placed relative to the curb as well as examples of how to park properly.

ALSO, a friendly reminder that the speed limit on Roland Avenue is 25 mph. Lower speeds makes our roads safer for everyone, especially pedestrians. We all want to arrive safely, so please be mindful to not exceed the 25mph speed limit.

Parking enforcement supervisor, Yolanda Cason has clarified the amounts of parking tickets as:  be $32 for parking in the buffer, $32-52 for parking in no stopping areas and $77 when parked in the cycle track lane. Please send requests for assistance with individual tickets to tickets@rolandpark.org.  Police patrol cars will also be issuing speeding tickets per Major Gibson, Northern District. The City’s 6 month review is expected to be complete in early 2017. The Cycle Track Committee continues to meet monthly, collect data and interface with the City’s Department of Transportation staff. Plans are underway for a related community meeting to be held later this fall, details to follow soon.

Zika spraying and bees

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Andrew Marani has provided this in depth information on the topic.

The state of Maryland is now doing targeted spraying for Zika. They are using a product by Bayer called Permanone 30-30, which is very toxic to bees, among other things. A link to information about this product is below.

https://www.backedbybayer.com/~/media/BackedByBayer/Product%20Labels%20-%20pdf/Permanone%2030-30.ashx

Currently they are not spraying Roland Park, but this can change.

You can get on an email list to be informed where and when “unscheduled” spraying is going to occur by sending an email to mda.news@maryland.gov.

You can also get spraying information on this web page, along with general mosquito information.
http://mda.maryland.gov/plants-pests/pages/mosquito_control.aspx .

And you can follow this twitter feed @MdAgMosquito and receive unschedule spraying information. Probably the simplest solution, for those with Twitter.

My advice to beekeepers in a spray area: Close up your hive before spraying begins at roughly 7:30 PM, most of the girls will be home for the evening by then. It would be best if you closed the entrance with a screen so the bees can still ventilate the hive, otherwise they will likely overheat. If the temperature is not too high (low 80s and below, at a guess) and you can shade your hive, I would also keep them in the next day. Spray water on the hive to cool it and into the entrance so the bees can use the water to do their evaporative cooling trick. If you have a water source set up for your hive, hose it out in the morning to get rid of any spray residue. As an aside, mosquito dunks are a “relatively” benign way of killing mosquito larvae in your water source with minimal harm to the bees. I am available for emailed questions.

Andrew Marani
A Roland Park bee keeper
Andrewmarani@armarani.com

Temporary Closure of Stony Run Path

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Caroline Wayner, President of Wyndhurst Improvement Association, has forwarded along this important information from the Baltimore Department of Public Works (DPW) to the Roland Park Civic League.

While inspecting sewer lines in Tuxedo Park near the Stony Run path, DPW has found an old terra cotta pipe in danger of imminent collapse. Were it to collapse, it would severely impact the sewer system of the surrounding neighborhood. DPW is going to fix this right away, but the procedure will require the closure Stony Run path between Gladstone and Deepdene for up to two weeks. Please see the following map:

Stony Run Path Detour - Aug. 2016

The pipe in question runs from the dead-end of Colorado Avenue and under the Stony Run.

Tree removal will begin this week. The Friends of Stony Run, Blue Water Baltimore, the North Stony Run Green Team, and the City’s Urban Forestry Division are working with neighborhood groups to make sure that plenty of native trees, shrubs and other plants will replace what is removed. As it happens, much of what is being removed is invasive and undesirable.

Excavation of the dirt above the pipe, which lies 10 feet under, will begin after tree removal. Then the repairs will be made and the path rebuilt. Replanting will commence after September 15.

DPW has advised the Wyndhurst Improvement Association that all work should be finished by the start of public school, which is Monday, August 29th.

Update on Organic Debris program

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Dear Neighbors,

Currently, any resident who pays Full Fees and Civic League dues is entitled to have 2 cubic yards of organic debris removed from their property monthly during the months of March, April, May, June, July, September, October, and November. The sign up form on the website previously included the following question: “Do you request pickup greater than the allowed 2 cubic yards?” If the answer was “yes” the resident was charged $45 for every additional 2 cubic yards removed from the property.

Recently, we have had a significant uptick in the number of properties from which debris well in excess of the allotted 2 cubic yards has been removed but the residents have not agreed to pay for the overages. The Civic League then has to pay for those overages. I know that sometimes the resident is not to blame for this disconnect. Neighbors who are not entitled to the service dump their debris when they see a pile. Sometimes the pile is within limits when the resident signs up but, by the time the pile is picked up, it has grown beyond the allotted amount.

While I acknowledge those problems, the Civic League simply does not have the resources to provide unlimited debris removal.

We know that the program is important to the community, so we have to find a way for it to pay for itself. Parks & People removes the entire pile from the addresses we give them. We cannot ask Parks & People to remove only 2 cubic yards from the houses that do not agree to the overage for a host of practical reasons. The fees we pay to Roads & Maintenance cover not only debris and snow removal but are what we use to repair our failing infrastructure, mainly the paths that crisscross the neighborhood and the green spaces throughout the community.

For all of these reasons, we are going to modify the organic debris program in the following manner beginning with the next pick up, which occurs in September: When a resident signs up for pick up, the resident will have to agree to pay for any overage or the resident will not be entitled to pick up. The online form has been changed to reflect this new policy. I know this may cause some hard feelings among residents who feel their neighbors are abusing the program.

The world would be a better place if every resident of Roland Park would pay Full Fees and Civic League dues. We would have the resources to operate this program and money to improve infrastructure, trim trees, etc. Until we achieve that goal, the services we offer must be limited by the budget we have. I appreciate your anticipated cooperation.

Very truly yours,

Trudy Bartel
Chair, Maintenance Committee

For information on the Organic Debris program, including where to sign up, visit this page.

This information originally appeared in the  July 21, 2016 Roland Park e-letter.

Message on Public Safety – July 2016

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Dear Fellow Roland Park Community Members- as I am sure all of you are aware, our community has experienced some violent crimes in recent weeks. Indeed, I can only imagine the shock that Molly Macauley’s family, friends, and colleagues are still going through. Obviously, these events are unusual in this safe community we know and love, which has caused me – and many of you – some serious concern and to question what we could and should do to enhance our public safety. To that end, I plan on dedicating our next scheduled RPCL board meeting [Wednesday, 9/7/16, 7PM, RP Presbyterian Church, 4801 Roland Avenue] to discuss and define the problem and options.

I invite you to join us, as we, the board, need to capture all perspectives on this important issue.

At present, we are working on gathering information to define the problem and options; the former to include Police reach-out on crime statistics and trends, and the latter, for instance, on investigating additional actions we may take, such as hired security or citizens’ patrols. Just recently, at a Northern District Police event, I connected with Homeland’s citizens’ patrol leader, and I will be connecting with Guilford leaders to learn more about their community-paid security service. I realize some of these topics have arisen in the past, and while we need to learn from that past, we also must address our current situation.

Finally, although this has been a truly awful time, I now have the benefit of firsthand knowing that our Police, led by Major Gibson, are there for us and will do everything in their power to secure our safety and work with us. For that, I am very thankful. I hope to see you in early September. In the meantime, please feel free to contact your RPCL Plat representative (contact information here), be safe, and look after your neighbors.

Thank you….Ian MacFarlane, RPCL president

July 4th Parade 2016 Gallery

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We were lucky this year that the rain held off until after everyone who wanted to get soaked went under the hose!

Thanks to the crew of Baltimore City Fire Department Engine 44 for bringing the fun.

Thanks to those who organized the event on behalf of the Roland Park Civic League, including Nigel Sequeira and Patti Ephriam.

Thanks to the elected officials who took part, including Delegate Sandy Rosenberg and Council President Jack Young.

Thanks to the Baltimore Sun for including the Roland Park festivities in their roundup article.

Thanks to Beth Hayes for all of these photos.

 

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Roland Park Footpaths featured in City Paper’s Walking Issue

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This week, City Paper published The Walking issue, featuring stories about walking in Baltimore.

The features include a story about Roland Park’s footpaths.  Enjoy a walk this weekend!

 

Review the draft Stony Run Strategic Plan

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Should you wish to download the DRAFT Plan and save it to your computer (ideal page display view is as a two-page spread, with cover page showing), there is both a high resolution and low resolution version available. Additionally, a separate PDF packet of the map exhibits are provided. 
Comments should be provided using the Draft Comments forum, and should be provided by June 30, 2016.
 
In reviewing this draft, please note the following:
1. Because of limited resources, the website, combined with the public meetings, walking tours, and online surveys, had been the primary source of stakeholder input. Focus group discussions with individual community associations, advocacy groups, etc. were not feasible. Review of this draft is the opportunity to comment on the recommendations and provide any necessary clarifications on background information that may be incorrect or additions of information/current initiatives that need to be included.
2. Final formatting is not complete and some introductory text and implementation text needs to be developed. You will also notice that some photos are missing or low-quality. This will be addressed.
3. Some stakeholders have commented on some of the recommendations and suggested changes following the May 23rd summary presentation but  prior to the posting of this draft. To be fair to the process and to all stakeholders who have participated, we have kept the content of the draft consistent with the presentation; however, the draft provides further detail for each recommendation. Any changes to the content will be made following the review of this draft.
4. Please consider individual recommendations in context with the entire plan and planning process.
 
We appreciate your input, participation in this process and commitment to Stony Run.
Mary Page Michel — President
Roland Park Community Foundation

Ciclovia 2016 cycles on through the rain

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Well, we did it! Baltimore’s Ciclovia trajectory is back in motion.

There were occasional squalls and the sun almost poked through at about 2PM. One needed a jacket. Undaunted, at least 500 of us enjoyed the afternoon together. In the end, pure fun trumped the bad weather.

Thanks to the Police Dept. and Dept. of Transportation for making it safe for all of us. Thanks to our Baltimore Councilwomen Mary Pat Clarke and Sharon Green Middleton for joining us. Thanks to Caitlin Doolin and her DoT team for demo-ing the new electric bikes soon to be available to share throughout the City.Thanks to Joe Traill and Katie Gore for fixing innumerable bikes under the Joe’s Bike Shop tent. Thanks to Suzanne Frasier for updating the masses on the Roland Water Tower restoration project.

Above all, thanks to the merry band of volunteers who served one-hour shifts all up and down the three-mile course: Michael Marren, Charlie Wright, France Warner, Mary Magenta, Patrick Atwood, Dan Zywan, Megan Griffith, Tom McGilloway, Kate Kreamer, Evie Hersperger, Mary Page Michel, Richard Truelove, Caroline Wayner, Kathleen Talty, Liliana Manfredi, Chris Cortright, Andrea De Leon, Connor Cortright, Carson Cortright, Lydia Wilson, Kevin Kenny, Ellie Kenny, Chris McSherry and Elizabeth Leik.

It was a pleasure working with you all.

Shall we do it again? Send me your feedback and comments and I’ll pass them on.

Cheers to all of you and congratulations for making Ciclovia VI a great event.

Mike McQuestion

Cycle Track Documents 2015

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The cycle track presentation from the public meeting earlier in 2015 can be found here: Cycle Track Presentation 2015

A letter from Baltimore City Department of Transportation in response to questions at the November 4th meeting can be found here: Cycle Track DOT Response letter November 2015