Reservoir Hill House of Peace

2011 Neighborhood Health Profile - Penn North/Reservoir Hill

2011-12-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

Here is the December 2011 Baltimore Health Department report on the Penn North/Reservoir Hill neighborhood. It has a distinct feel of two communities divided east-west by Madison Street. Reservoir Hill, located on the east side of this divide, is the community which is showing signs of a renaissance. Taken together, these two neighborhoods still lag the city average in several health and social indicators.

Baltimore City Neighborhood Health Profile

RHHP Christmas celebration

2011-12-12T21:39:00.000-05:00

Joseph's fried spring rolls

Amy preparing fruit plate

dessert table

Mark leads house meeting

Caroling

caroling

This year's Christmas celebration was a nice potluck that Joseph organized. Our monthly house meeting followed dinner and the evening concluded with the tree decoration and caroling.

An early Thanksgiving at RHHP

2011-11-24T07:43:00.001-05:00

Pastor Dave sharing the Thanksgiving message

Worship

A feast for 50

Anita and Anna

Amy and friend

Eshelmans

Ruth, Aaron, Anita and Chris

fellowship in the kitchen

I think Jonathan likes my stuffing

We had our pre-Thanksgiving potluck last Saturday. About 50 friends and residents enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal featuring two turkeys, two hams and numerous side dishes. The feast was preceded by a short worship. Pastor Dave Greiser shared a Thanksgiving message and Anita Greiser led the singing. It was a great time of fellowship and new friendships. In the week following, we have been dining on left-over turkey.

The annual RHHP non-violent self-defense/safety training

2011-11-07T07:10:00.000-05:00

Marty begins with community safety

Bekoli in demonstration

demonstrating a subway scenario

Take this bag! Take this bag!

Yesterday was the annual RHHP non-violent self-defense and response-to-violence training by Marty Langelan. We were joined by three German Brethren volunteers who recently arrived in the Baltimore for their volunteer assignments. A big thank you to Anna for providing simultaneous translation in Spanish. Also, a big thank you to Ellen for providing soup and cookies for lunch. Thanks also to Laura and Amy for providing garlic toast and salad respectively.

As in previous years, Marty taught us how to develop street-smart habits for staying safe and avoid becoming victims of violence. She also taught us non-violent ways to confront harassment on the streets and other situations. Most important of all, she taught us that personal safety and self-defense begin in our awareness, in our attitudes and through personal preparation. Yesterday's training was particularly relevant as one of our housemates was recently harassed and another physically assaulted but fortunately escaped with minor injury.

Visitors from New York City

2011-10-30T19:14:00.001-04:00

Our guests preparing for their presentation yesterday morning.

Adrian, Housing Coordinator for Picture the Homeless

G-K-M makes a point over pancakes

Marcus - homesteader and occupier of an abandoned home

Housing Organizer of Picture the Homeless

Andres, Adrian and Kalaif checking abandoned homes Reservoir Hill and entertaining the idea of setting a chapter of Picture the Homeless in Baltimore

Shailah, Stephanie and Andres - very nice kids!

In addition to the work day, we also had a delightful time hosting seven housing activists (including three youths) from NYC for the weekend. They are staff and volunteers (homeless or formerly homeless persons) from Picture the Homeless http://picturethehomeless.org/, an advocacy group on homeless issues. They came to Baltimore for the Fair Development Conference http://unitedworkersassociation.org/ organized by Workers United which Anna, our housemate, is involved with. Our guests conducted a workshop on the establishment of land trusts and the occupation of vacant homes in NYC. They were lovely guests and really enriched our lives by their brief stay with us. They were articulate and passionate about their mission. Although I disagree with them on why many people are homeless, I concur with their goals of putting people into abandoned homes. Our time with them added a dimension to my understanding of the problem of homelessness.

Among the activities of PTH is the occupation of abandoned houses in NYC through occupation and homesteading (squatting) and using existing New York laws to put homeless persons into vacant housing. They begin to fix up these homes and begin to pay utilities and property taxes to establish a record of occupancy. (I am sure I am not describing the process accurately.) It seems to me that with the thousands of boarded-up homes in Baltimore and the inability of the city to deal effectively with it, we could use an organization such as this. In fact, this is an idea that is brewing among our guests. I took them on a short tour of Reservoir Hill and showed them some blocks with vacant homes where such an approach might work. They were impressed with the possibilities.

Our guests left us late this morning to participate in a United Workers march in downtown Baltimore after which they took a bus back to NYC.

Ellen with our guests

Fall work day at RHHP

2011-10-30T11:55:00.002-04:00

Elaine working hard

Laura and Elaine doing some serious scrubbing of the kitchen wall

Scrubbing the filter in the hood

Pizza lunch

Cleaning the back staircase

Yesterday was our Fall work day in which we did some deep cleaning of the kitchen and changed the batteries in most of the smoke alarms. We also updated the inventory of repairs that needed to be completed. We celebrated our accomplishments with the customary pizza lunch.

RHHP displays at the Atlantic Coast Conference Fall Assembly

2011-10-23T08:29:00.006-04:00

Ellen with Bekoli and Ruth Karebu.

Conference moderator, Warren Tyson, opens the session.

Ellen with Pastor Sam Walters, associate pastor of the Great Joy Fellowship, a church plant in
Delaware which is a Caribbean congregation.

with Warren Tyson

Me, with Delbert Seitz, the conference treasurer. Showing some of the
remodeling projects
at RHHP that the conference paid for.

Ellen with Sam Wanjau, pastor of the African Community Church in Lancaster. With him is Ruth Karebu, his wife.
They were interested in how RHHP supported asylum seekers.

Lynn Carlson, who stayed briefly at RHHP when it was still the
Baltimore Discipleship Center,
stopped by.

We decided this year to have a RHHP display at the ACC Fall Assembly held yesterday at the Blossom Hill Mennonite Church in Lancaster, PA. Kenton Bontrager of the RHHP House Committee made a table display and some brochures for the occasion. Our housemate Bekoli, Ellen and I left Baltimore at 6:30 am in order to make it up to the Assembly by 8 am and found the delegates already in the thick of deliberating the conference's business. Several other Mennonite institutions were also present with their displays and we were situated next to the MCC display.

We had a fine time meeting delegates and members of various congregations from around the conference. It was a great opportunity to share the work of the North Baltimore Mennonite Church and ACC through RHHP. Kenton's display garnered much interest among those who attended the assembly.

lunch with members of the African Community Church of Lancaster

As is often the case, the people we met and the connections we established were the highlights of the assembly. Bekoli and I had lunch with the pastor and members of the African Community Church of Lancaster and engaged in an interesting conversation of how the charismatic worship style fit in with the staid style of traditional Mennonite worship.

It was a productive time and we made a number of interesting connections. Ellen found out from the Everence (a Mennonite financial institution) representative that Everence now has a credit union and one may join it without being physically close to a branch. The main requirement is that the person be associated with a Mennonite organization. Therefore, it might be possible for our asylees to set up accounts and begin building their credit after winning their cases. This is important as they rent their first apartments after leaving RHHP.

Ellen with the Everence representative

Several others stopped by the display to learn more about the work of RHHP and we were able to highlight how the conference supported its work.

RHHP resident wins the Whitelock Community Farm Greens cook-off!

2011-10-16T22:38:00.000-04:00

It was a beautiful day for the second annual Reservoir Hill Harvest Festival held in the lot across from the Whitelock Community Farm. There was a soul group and a marching band to raise the noise level to the prerequisite decibel level.

Marching band

the balloon man

Pumpkin coloring

The main feature was the much anticipated Greens cook-off which comprised two categories - vegetarian and with meat. As mentioned in the previous posting, our RHHP resident chef Remi entered his Cameroonian cabbage with peanut sauce (containing beef and chicken). Visitors to the cook-off paid $10 each to sample the more than 20 entries. The shredded cabbage, smothered in a creamy peanut sauce with a strong suggestion of ginger, stood out among the various permutations of boiled collard greens and ham hocks. Someone who sampled it remarked that he thought it had an Asian character.

Remi receiving the first prize for the greens with meat category.

Remi serving up some samples.

Visitor asking for Remi's recipe

When the votes were tallied, Remi's entry came up on top and he collected a first prize of a $100. He was elated and became for a few minutes a celebrity chef and put RHHP on the neighborhood map, so to speak. Of course, there were also requests for the recipe.

It was also a good time to meet neighbors and make new friends. I met Erin, an Americorp volunteer at the Reservoir Hill Improvement Council, who recently completed a year working in a woman's shelter in Tucson. It turns out that she knows a former colleague of mine who moved to Tucson and had volunteered at the same shelter.

Ellen chatting with friend

Ellen talking to another contestant

Ellen

Preparing fufu

2011-10-16T11:58:00.000-04:00

Here is Remi, our house mate preparing fufu, a staple in many African countries - often made with corn meal or yam flour cooked into a paste with the consistency of a thick mash potato. He also made a cabbage and chicken stew and a spicy pepper sauce that went with the fufu.

RHHP completes the Baltimore half-marathon

2011-10-16T11:43:00.000-04:00

Joseph preparing to catch the Metro to get to downtown.

Joseph still going strong and coming down Howard Street with only 3 miles to the finishing line.

Joseph waves at us.

Ellen, Bekoli and Jeff cheering the runners.

Joseph had been training for the event for several weeks. His training paid off and his finishing time placed him in the top ten percent among the ten thousand participants in the half marathon. A few of us at RHHP went to cheer him on.

RHHP resident helps occupy Baltimore

2011-10-16T11:36:00.000-04:00

Protesters at the corner of Pratt Street and Light Street, in Inner Harbor

Anna coming out of her tent.

Occupiers' tents in the Inner Harbor Baltimore

Ellen and Anna catching up.

RHHP also hosted Russ, one of the protesters, for a few nights. Here he is preparing to ride to Washington DC and then to Ashville, NC. I enjoyed visiting with him and learning about his life and his view on life.

Our house mate Anna is participating in the Occupy Baltimore protests that has been continuing over the past few weeks. As a person with a keen sense of social justice, she has been involved in union organizing and other ways of speaking out for those not in the position to do it for themselves.

Another RHHP resident wins his asylum case

2011-10-16T11:35:00.000-04:00

Our housemate Bekoli won his asylum case recently and adding to the string of victories by ASHN clients that has been unbroken in the past four years we have lived here. Two former residents are still awaiting the outcomes of their cases.

RHHP house blessing

2011-09-17T21:37:00.003-04:00

Sitting around the kitchen table one night, our conversation drifted to the changes in the past couple of months with all the turnover in house residents. Remi and Bekoli shared that in their countries, it was common to celebrate with a party and ask the pastor to provide a blessing whenever there are significant changes such as the birth of a child or the purchase of a new house. We thought it would be a great idea to invite Pastor David Greiser of North Baltimore Mennonite Church to join us for dinner one Sunday night before the monthly house meeting and provide us with a blessing. Pastor David joined us on September 11 for dinner and shared a short message based on Dietrich Bonhoffer's "Life Together".

Catching up

2011-09-17T20:48:00.000-04:00

Our house survived the earth quake and hurricane in good shape. Church at North Baltimore Mennonite Church was cancelled on hurricane Sunday. RHHP residents decided to have the first ever RHHP jammies church. Amy led singing and accompanied with her guitar. Asylum seeker Bekoli shared a short message.

More changes on the block

2011-08-15T22:03:00.022-04:00

For the last couple summers, we have adopted the empty lot across the street. The city owns half the lot and the other half is owned by someone who lives a couple of doors down. The lot had been neglected and as a result, it became weedy and trashy. After becoming tired of looking at the knee-high weeds which seem to be permission to litter and and invitation for nearby residents to dump their trash we decided to mow it on weekends. Even as I mowed the empty lot, the owner of the house adjacent to the lot would have a yard crew mow his back yard every couple of weeks. However, as I fell behind on the mowing in the past couple of months because of travel and weather, the yard crew began to mow the lot and to edge it. It is looking nice. Kids are playing on it more often. It may not seem like much but it is nice to see kids actually playing on the field. There is an abundance of empty lots but there are not many that are safe for kids.

Is this another step in the revitalization of Reservoir Hill? I'd like to believe so. It is a modest yet significant indicator of progress. At the least, another Reservoir Hill home owner believes strongly enough in the neighborhood to invest his own money in an empty lot.

Harvesting

2011-08-13T20:55:00.021-04:00

The recent rains and our housemate Bekoli's faithful watering has done wonders on the garden. The basil thriving and we are having several cantaloupes growing on the lawn. This morning we had eggplants, beets, a bowling pin size zucchini and a cantaloupe. I had a nice bunch of baby carrots from thinning out the row of carrots. While at it, I also eradicated an infestation of harlequin beetles which decimated the kale. I discovered that a spray bottle and a strong solution of dish detergent worked wonders.

In one photo, you will see a cantaloupe hanging off our chain link fence. It's anybody's guess if the vine will be able to support a full-size cantaloupe. I allowed it to climb up the fence thinking it was a cucumber plant.

Temporary residents

2011-08-11T22:00:00.009-04:00

We had a wonderful family who lived with us for a few weeks until they moved into their own house in East Baltimore. Matt is handy with his hands and made a number of repairs around the house that were overdue. Joanne is expecting their second child and busy with her residency at Johns Hopkins. Jessie, their gregarious son, brought much joy to our household.

Comings and goings

2011-08-11T21:55:00.019-04:00

August is a month of transitions. The volunteers moved out over the past week and three new ones will move in over the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, three asylum seekers moved in. For the first time we have someone from El Salvador. The other two are from Congo and Cameroon.

Earlier, Stephanie, a native of Baltimore, moved into the "loft room". Amy, who attends NBMC, will move into a room on the third floor later this month. When the dust settles, we will have fifteen residents in our house.

Our new resident from El Salvador happens to make a mean pupusa. She whipped up a batch for us last week. They were delicious and better than the ones from our favorite Salvadoran restaurant in Fells Point.

2011-08-11T21:50:00.008-04:00

It has been a great summer for growing basil. I have been making pesto for freezing every couple of weeks and will have enough to last us through the winter. When they are frozen, I just pop them out of the ice-cube tray and keep them in Ziploc bags. All I have to do is to make the pasta and defrost a few cubes for pesto pasta.

Catching up from the earlier part of summer - Jeff's birthday celebration

2011-08-11T21:47:00.004-04:00

Jeff celebrated his birthday with a blueberry cake that Sarah made. Here he is blowing out the candles.

Our new neighborhood playground

2011-06-19T20:31:00.017-04:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-playground-ravens-20110616,0,1740688.story#tugs_story_display

Last Thursday found scores of purple-clad volunteers converging on the German Park playground to erect a brand new playground for the neighborhood children. The Ravens helped pay for it and energized a community effort to provide the local children with play structures that they were actually excited about.

RHHP resident Anna was one of those volunteers who put in a day's of hard work and had sore muscles to prove it. There was a party at the playground this afternoon to celebrate the opening of the park. An ice-cream truck stopped by and handed out free ice-cream cones.

Sarah's big concert

2011-06-04T14:14:00.018-04:00

Sarah, of Sarah and Jeff, our housemates and neighbors on the second floor, recently pulled off a chorus performance involving half the student population of the Baltimore Highlands Elementary School. It was a musical featuring space aliens (green, of course) who delivered an urgent message that the earth is fragile and needed to be protected. It was a clever way to encourage greater environmental consciousness through conservation and recycling . Feedback from the parents and her colleagues was overwhelmingly positive. One parent had said that this concert was the most successful in 20 years! The principal also gave her a rave review.

Also, Paul Schlitz, member of North Baltimore Mennonite Church, accompanied the chorus and band. We were greatly impressed by Sarah's professionalism and the way she exercised command over a situation involving large numbers of squirmy kids. Any number of things could have gone wrong and they did but she handled those with great poise.

Project PLASE event - A Night of Monologues, A PLASE to be Heard

2011-05-15T07:15:00.017-04:00

Ellen and I attended a Project PLASE fund raiser event last night at the Strand Theater. Two VSers, Kendra and Sarah work at Project PLASE which provide shelter and transitional housing services to the homeless. Several current and former clients shared their personal stories of loss and recovery and the struggles in between. Each person spoke of making a wrong decision that led to involvement with drugs eventually to homelessness. Their stories of redemption all included Project PLASE and a turning to God along the road to spiritual and physical salvation. We heard some very moving testimonies which put some faces to a well known problem in Baltimore.

Carpet cleaning at RHHP

2011-05-15T06:55:00.012-04:00

There were three carpeted rooms that were overdue for a cleaning. Ellen arranged for them to be steam-cleaned by the Baltimore Steam Cleaning, a one man operation. Not having seen this done before, I found it to be interesting. It was very reasonably priced and minimally disruptive - no running to the supermarket to rent a machine and purchase the chemicals. All we had to do was to move some furniture out of the room. The cleaning was done with superheated steam and left no discernible chemical odor. The steam also kills any bugs that might lurk in the carpet fibres. It was over in about an hour.

The amazing thing is that he charged us only $100. I think any service that involves a house call and costs only $100 is a steal. He gave us a break and offered to steam-clean our rugs without charge because he liked what RHHP does. We recommend this guy.

The Whitelock Community Farm stand

2011-05-15T06:46:00.015-04:00

We now have a farm stand two blocks from RHHP! The Whitelock farm stand began this past Friday and the season's first produce were on sale. I bought some salad mix and baby spinach. It's feels good to buy from the people who actually planted and harvested the produce. In the picture you will see Thor (he has on a red polo shirt and a hat), one of the farmers. They hope to introduce healthy foods to the neighborhood. In the process they have transformed the intersection of Whitelock and Brookfield from a weed and garbage choked corner into an attractive area. The empty lot across the street will be made into a park thanks to a grant.

Hassan visits

2011-05-15T06:36:00.005-04:00

Our dear friend and former housemate, Hassan was at RHHP for a short visit from Damascus, Syria where he is temporarily staying with his family. It was good to see and to enjoy his cooking.

Easter egg coloring

2011-05-15T06:30:00.010-04:00

We had our annual RHHP Easter egg coloring event. The asylum seekers didn't know what to make of this curious ritual. Ellen made delicious Easter bread.

A friend and a Reservoir Hill institution passes on.

2011-03-17T22:00:00.021-04:00

Father Tom Composto, our local priest who lived at the Saint Francis Center (1 block east of RHHP) for the past 47 years, died in his sleep yesterday at the University of Maryland Hospital. He complained of not feeling well a couple of Sundays ago before mass. We suggested that he cancel the service and get some rest. Later in the week he went to see his doctor and was immediately hospitalized. We visited him on Sunday at the intensive care unit but he was sedated but we thought he looked well. Ellen received an email this morning from the director of St. Francis center informing her that Fr. Tom had passed away in his sleep.

I will miss his presence in the neighborhood when he was out and about on his daily walks with his dog Vicky. It was comforting to know that he kept an eye on things on the streets and he knew the goings on in the neighborhood. I will also miss his short masses and three minute homilies. The services were informal and intimate. He had a weird (and irreverent) humor and a maniacal laugh which punctuated the liturgy.

He was a man of faith and conviction who believed in justice and stood by Reservoir Hill right through the blighted years while those with the means moved away to safer neighborhoods. I regret that I did not have the chance to learn more about his life in Reservoir Hill through the 60's and 70's. That would have been fascinating.

A new era in RHHP composting!

2011-03-17T21:44:00.009-04:00

With Jean's help, I was finally able to assemble our brand new composter. No more stinky compost in my home-made composter! This one actually is a drum that rotates on its axis and turns over the composting material relatively effortlessly. This enables ample oxygen to reach the material and speeds up the decomposition. Here is Ellen depositing the ceremonial first bucket of kitchen waste!

Another success story

2011-03-17T21:37:00.007-04:00

Long time resident and former ASHN client, Michael, moved out of RHHP about two weeks ago. He moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Lancaster where he also started a job. He is expecting this family to join him sometime this summer. Ellen and I went up to check out his apartment as he moved in. He expressed his appreciation to RHHP, the ACC and NBMC for the help in getting a fresh start in the United States.

Immigrants can help grow Baltimore

2011-02-20T09:55:00.005-05:00

In case you missed the editorial in today's Baltimore Sun... It states an idea that is obvious to those of us from cities which have seen blighted neighborhoods revived in large part because of influxes of immigrants and refugees. Unfortunately this is not an idea which has been given its rightful place in the national immigration debate.

It is a phenomenon which is overdue in Baltimore. What better way to help revitalize the blighted portions of Baltimore than by making it attractive to people hungry for opportunities to improve their lives and who come with their energy and entrepreneurial spirit?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-vacant-houses-immigrants-20110220,0,3875830.story

An international city
Our view: Immigrants could provide the impetus for reclaiming Baltimore's vacant housing stock; officials need to do much more to reach out to them

February 20, 2011

The Census Bureau reported recently what many people have long suspected: Over the last decade, the growth of Maryland's population has largely been driven by Hispanics, who increasingly are settling in suburban areas of the state. The data don't say how many of them are immigrants, but it's a good bet that many are. At the same time, the report noted, the population of Baltimore City, which has been declining for decades, fell by another 30,000 residents since 2001 — more than half again as much as city officials had expected. The only reason the city's population didn't drop even faster was the surge in its Latino population, which doubled over the past decade.

By coincidence, the Census story and a report about Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's efforts to revitalize neighborhoods by reclaiming vacant and abandoned houses in the city ran on the same page of The Sun that week. Which raised an intriguing question: If the city has a surfeit of vacant housing it would like to see rehabilitated and occupied, and if the influx of immigrants has been the state's largest source of population growth, what are city officials doing to bring the two trends together? Shouldn't Baltimore be making more of an effort to reach out to the thousands of Latinos coming to Maryland?

Historically, cities have been the first destination for immigrants arriving in this country. That's where the jobs were and also communities made up of people of similar backgrounds. Today, the Washington area's job market is the primary magnet for the growing Hispanic population in Maryland, which is centered in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. But as rents and home prices in the capital area rise under the pressure of development and increased demand, Baltimore is likely to become an ever more attractive entry point for new arrivals.

It's a role for which there is ample historical precedent. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Baltimore was famous as a patchwork of immigrant neighborhoods that served as springboards into the larger society for people from Ireland, Greece, Poland, Italy, Germany, Lithuania, Russia and other European countries. The diversity, vitality and energy of those old immigrant communities helped make Baltimore a truly international city.

Yet, despite the growth of Hispanic residents in Baltimore since 2000, Latinos officially make up just 4.2 percent of the city's population. That's up from 1.7 percent in 2000 but still less than Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties and far less than Prince George's and Montgomery counties, where Hispanics now make up 15 percent and 17 percent of the population, respectively.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake's efforts to reduce crime and support the reforms that have led to better schools are aimed at making Baltimore's neighborhoods more attractive to everyone, be they newly arrived immigrants or fifth-generation Baltimoreans. And she's certainly right to say that nobody will want to move here if the city doesn't focus on those things.

But with the city's still relatively low rents and housing prices compared to Washington, and its abundant supply of vacant houses waiting to be reclaimed, Baltimore could be missing an opportunity to turn around the long-term decline in its population by not marketing itself more aggressively among immigrants. Printing housing materials in Spanish, as Baltimore does now, is important but hardly sufficient. If current trends continue, Hispanic immigration will represent the biggest single factor in the growth of Maryland's population over the coming decades. For the sake of its own future, Baltimore City ought to be making every effort to be among the first to welcome them.

Morning surprise!!

2011-01-16T22:22:00.009-05:00

I came down to the kitchen early this morning and was greeted by the startling sight of this sitting on the kitchen counter....Joseph brought home some leftover from a potluck.

Good news and progress

2011-01-14T06:47:00.016-05:00

After anxiously waiting for several months, our house mate Marcus was granted asylum in court yesterday. He is one happy guy. He can now move on with his life.

Michael, another house mate/asylee was recently informed by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services that his application for his family in Ethiopia to join him was approved. They only have to complete the necessary paperwork and interviews before they are able to travel to the US in the spring or early summer.

Congratulations to Marcus and Michael.

Yesterday was Joseph's birthday which we celebrated last night with him providing most of the treats for a party. Ellen made him a nice birthday cake.

The remodeling of the downstairs bathroom is almost complete. Three great guys (Bob, Merle and Jim) from Lancaster came down and put in a good day's work. Bob even brough his wife's pumpkin cupcakes for the house. (See the attached snapshots of Jim installing a towel bar, Bob perched on a step ladder and the whole crew sharing soup and bread with us.)

Only the shower door and grab bar need to be installed to complete the job. They did a great job. For the past few weeks, eight of us on the first and second floor had been sharing the two bathrooms on the second floor.

Putting up the RHHP Christmas tree

2010-12-12T22:54:00.021-05:00

The action item following tonight's monthly meeting was to put up the RHHP Christmas tree. It is an artificial tree that leans to one side but it was a nice tree nevertheless. Ellen organized the making of origami and a paper chain which went well with the plastic and glass globes.

The annual RHHP Christmas breakfast

2010-12-12T16:29:00.026-05:00

Once a year, Joseph brings out his fine china and decorations and makes a Christmas breakfast for all his house mates. True to form, he once again made his fabulous flan but with a new twist. It has cream cheese which makes it wickedly rich. He also made a great vegetable omelette, a baked ham and pastries. We could have easily had a few more persons at the table and still had plenty of food left over. Thank you Joseph for this great RHHP tradition.

Good news and a request for prayer

2010-12-02T20:57:00.023-05:00

After weeks of frenzied preparations and anticipation, Jeff and Sarah were finally married last Saturday at the North Baltimore Mennonite Church. It was a simple but lovely wedding that included a foot washing ceremony that symbolized their love for and submission to each other. A simple soup and salad dinner reception followed the ceremony. Children and adults tried their hands at whacking a pinata. Many visited over board games.

With this wedding, Sarah exchanged one room mate (Anna) for a life long one. Anna moved into another room on the first floor. We welcome Jeff into the RHHP household and look forward to all the different small and large projects he will do around the house. It will be great to have a real live engineer who is actually handy with a screw driver and wrench living among us.

On a somber note, we request prayer for our asylum seeker house mate who seriously injured himself while at work. He is at home recovering and continues to have doctor visits. He is receiving great support from members of RHHP and the African community in Baltimore but this is a trying time for him.

This old house..

2010-11-14T22:48:00.026-05:00

Being a hundred year old house, RHHP merits its own maintenance crew. In last Friday's episode in the continual upgrading of RHHP, a plumber who has been re-plumbing the main floor bathroom accidentally discovered a hole in the side of the furnace through which the gas flame is visible. This called for the furnace to be turned off and is only to be turned on when someone is supervising it. So Ellen was "trained" to turn on the furnace so that the house may continue to be heated and have occasional hot water for showers. Residents wanting hot showers are to coordinate with Ellen as she has to stand guard outside the furnace room to keep an eye on it. (See photo above.) Fortunately, the weather has been mild and no one has suffered unduly from the shivers.

The good news is that the Brubaker Plumbing crew from Lancaster, PA, will be here on Tuesday to replace the furnace. They should be familiar with our furnace room after having spent an entire day a couple of years ago replacing one of the boilers.

RHHP Visioning Meeting

2010-11-14T21:50:00.014-05:00

Representatives of the RHHP Committee, Asylum Seekers Housing Network, the Mennonite Voluntary Service unit, residents and the house managers met yesterday to review the progress of RHHP over the past eight years, especially the period since the visioning meeting in May 2008, and to look for ways to strengthen the RHHP's fulfillment of its mission in the future. Ruth Clemens ably guided the group through the three hour process. We reviewed the mission statements of the ASHN and MVS to ensure that their missions are in support of the RHHP vision. The respective groups came away with assignments to complete. The group also discussed different ways the community residents, ASHN clients and VSers could be better integrated.

Two RHHP birthday girls

2010-10-20T22:54:00.006-04:00

We celebrated two birthdays tonight. Kendra and Sarah had their birthday this week. We all had delicious birthday cupcakes.

St Francis Center community potluck

2010-10-20T22:00:00.021-04:00

Tonight was the St Francis Center community potluck. An email had gone out last week letting us know that it will be a surprise celebration to honor Fr Tom's retirement after 48 years in the neighborhood. It was a good turn out. I sat with a group of elderly women who made up the Druid Hill Neighborhood Group who presented Fr. Tom with a card and some cash. These women were part of the great migration from the south. Gloria, who sat to my left, had lived in Reservoir Hill since 1956 and had seen the neighborhood through good and bad times. It was a history lesson for me to talk to them. She described how, in 1992, the city had condemned and demolished a row of businesses on Whitelock between Brookfield and Linden because of the drug and crime around it. The plan had been to redevelop these lots and had been pushed through by some white folks who had recently moved into Reservoir Hill. Unfortunately, the plans to redevelop the lots were never carried out and to this day, we still have a row of empty lots including the one Ellen and I adopted.

I also got to visit with Madeline and Jacob, a young couple and their infant. They moved out here from Berkely, CA, after finishing school. They bought an apartment building on Madison, one block west of RHHP, and instantly became landlords to tenants they inherited from the previous owner. After evicting the criminal elements and finding new tenants, they set about starting a cafe on the ground floor of their building. Unfortunately, they ran into problems with the contractor and ended up firing him but loosing some money in the process. I think that I am seeing a trend here. It seems that the energy driving the changes in Reservoir Hill is coming from the infusion of people with pioneer spirits and visions of what they want in their community.

Reservoir Hill Improvement Council annual meeting

2010-10-20T21:51:00.010-04:00

This year's RHIC was held last night in the fellowship hall of the Beth Am synagogue one block north of RHHP. It was a well attended affair with numerous awards handed out to people who have contributed to the improvement of Reservoir Hill. Many were individuals who have lived and worked in the neighborhood for many years. The group of neighbors who started the Whitelock Community Farm were also honored. Others were partners from the city departments, John Howard Eager School and community center. The mayor sent an assistant on her behalf. It made me realize how many pairs of hands it takes to make a neighborhood a good place to live in. Father Tom was honored and his retirement from the ST Francis Center was recognized. Here is a snap shot of Fr. Tom accepting his award.

Whitelock Community Farm festival

2010-10-20T20:54:00.025-04:00

Last Sunday, the group of neighbors who live on Brookfield and converted the empty lot on the corner of Brookfield and Whitelock into a farm held its farm festival. The event was blessed with spectacular weather. There was face painting and apple bobbing for the neighborhood kids, pumpkin carving, spiced cider and several boxes of Dunkin Donuts. Justin brought out his three hens and wowed the kids. Many of them had not touched poultry of any sort. The turn out was very encouraging and I got to meet many of the neighbors. The new rabbi of Beth Am temple was there. He moved into the neighborhood when he took over the congregation and appears to be making a deliberate effort to reach out to the neighborhood. Then I met Justin and his wife Rebecca who recently moved here after completing school in Michigan. Justin teaches middle school in a public charter school and his wife is a social worker. Justin's dream is to begin a ministry to house homeless people in their house and to help them get on their feet. Rebecca's passion is bread baking and dreams about starting a bakery in Baltimore. She also has a passion for good food and hopes to introduce good food to the neighborhood. In erecting the greenhouse, she hopes that the farm can extend its growing season. The plan is to eventually produce enough vegetables to be able to sell them cheaply to residents. The group also hope to start a farmer's market in the lot across the street from the farm. It is amazing what these few families have done to this once empty weed and garbage filled lot.

Then I met Cynthia and her husband who lives across RHHP on Eutaw Place in the house that they bought from Brian and Cheryl Martin who once directed the YES program. Glynette, our neighbor from the north was there with her son, daughter in law and grand daughter. Glynette just returned from a couple of months in Florida taking care of some family business. I offered to let her have her own plot of land in the RHHP garden. She has a spigot right near the garden and she can run a hose to our garden. She thought that was a good idea and she was interested in having her own garden next to mine.

English First?

2010-09-30T20:50:00.019-04:00

It's been a while since have I seen any coverage in the media about the English First movement. This is a movement made up of folks who fear that foreign languages(primarily Spanish) are encroaching into official government business and who are disturbed when some government entities accommodate non-English speakers by translating forms into various languages. These same people feel that legislation is needed to make English the official language of America and to stop the erosion of its traditional standing as the sole language used in official government business.

I want to share with you one instance in which no legislation is needed to encourage two immigrants to learn English. In recent weeks I have noticed that two of my asylum seeker house mates have been waking up at 5am and leaving the house at 5:30 am. I found out tonight that they recently began free English classes at the Baltimore County Community College in Dundalk just outside of Baltimore City. Instead of taking a bus downtown to catch the number 40 bus to Dundalk, they have been riding their bicycles. I looked up the route on Google map and discovered that it is more than 9 miles on city surface streets and partly by freeway which is undoubtedly a more direct route. Their more circuitous route is very likely more than 10 miles each way. It takes them an hour each way which is about the same length of time by bus and they save the bus fare.

I think this illustrates the folly of measures designed to force immigrants to learn English. Given the opportunity, most new comers will learn English without coercion. Most of them know that the ability to speak English is the first rung on the economic ladder and determines the height to which one can reach. Instead of devising ways to force immigrants to learn English, it would be more productive to increase the availability of English classes to immigrants, especially those who have to work while learning English.

Fruit of my labor....sort of

2010-09-25T09:02:00.010-04:00

Out of my compost pile sprang a couple of melon plants. One is a cantaloupe which is producing a few fruits. Here is the first of what I hope will be a crop of at least three or four fruits. Thank goodness I was able to pick it before the rats got to it. It is as big as my head! (It is not an optical illusion.) It's fragrance filled our pantry as we waited for it to ripen. It was as sweet and succulent as any of the cantaloupes we bought this summer. It was sweeter because it was a surprise gift from the garden.

Follow up to earlier post

2010-09-22T06:50:00.037-04:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-rebuilding-playground-hill-20100921,0,666502.story

Here is the follow up to the September 14, 2010 post on Dan Rodrick's column about one church's effort to reclaim a small area in East Baltimore. Carolyn Pitt's quote at the end of the article points out an uncomfortable fact that we can identify with. The struggle to reclaim her neighborhood will require coordinated and sustained effort. Left on its own, the neighborhood will quickly return to it old self much the same way an untended garden quickly becomes choked by encroaching weeds which thrive on neglect. It will also require the belief that individuals, banding together, are able to make a difference. Mixed in there is a strong conviction that an improved neighborhood is in one's interest. Christians will have to be obedient to the biblical injunction to bring about the kingdom of God in the here and now. I will leave it to those of you who are more theological minded to assay the soundness of this theology.

Community volunteers clean up playground near homicide site
Councilman says effort is follow-up to vigils after high-profile deaths of church worker, Hopkins researcher

By Jessica Anderson, The Baltimore Sun
10:08 p.m. EDT, September 21, 2010

The weeds behind the vacant lot next to Carolyn Pitt's Aiken Street home had reached her clothesline, but on Tuesday, volunteers mowed the plants down, picked up trash and painted the nearby playground to ignite efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.

"Beer bottle, glass, needles — you name it" can be found in the small patch of pavement with a missing basketball hoop, Pitt, 54, said from her tidy front steps. "It's wonderful they are giving kids a chance to play over there," she said as she sat with two of her grandchildren, who she will not allow to play in the area because of the constant drug traffic.

About 50 volunteers with the nearby Ark Church and the Police Department's Eastern District cleared more than 20 tall bags of debris from the playground. The cleanup was part of "Operation Good Faith," an East Baltimore effort that calls on religious community members to look after a four-block radius around their place of worship.

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Less than two months ago, Pitt's neighbor — the caretaker of the Ark Church — Milton Hill was found slumped against a fence in a pool of blood behind his home next to the church. Police believe he was shot for his green scooter. Five days earlier, Johns Hopkins researcher Stephen Pitcairn was stabbed less than a mile away. The two crimes captured the city's attention and inspired two mournful vigils.

"This is a follow-up to the vigils. We won't just pray but move into action," said Councilman Carl Stokes, whose district includes both homicide sites and who attended the cleanup.

He said the city, with help from the Charles Village Civic Association, is hoping to place new playground equipment there in the next two months, as well as replace the lights where the wires were torn out. Members of the Ark Church will maintain the area.

Stokes said the cleanup is not only an effort to clear debris and paint, but "symbolic" that "we're saying no more to drug dealing."

The paved area on the corner of East Lafayette Avenue and Aiken Street is considered "an open-air drug market," said Eastern District Commander Maj. Melvin Russell. The district is committing a strong police presence to the area, and if drug dealers return, "we'll deal with them," he said.

"We didn't do this for nothing," he said of the cleanup. Russell himself helped, hopping on a shovel to dig out the strip of weeds and grass between the playground and the alley.

He said no arrests have been made in Hill's death, but that "we're getting close. We've got good leads."

Two people have been charged in Pitcairn's death.

The Eastern District has been one of the most violent, leading the city in the number of homicides. While last year it saw major decreases, the Eastern now leads the department with 32 homicides.

Russell said the district has seen a 15 percent decline in homicides so far this year, but he said it takes the community "buying into the vision that we can make this happen." He said he tries to encourage his officers to work with residents, otherwise, "as long as we have that great disconnect, nothing is going to change."

While a set of rusted monkey bars and two worn wooden jungle gyms remained, a fresh coat of green, yellow and orange paint was left to dry on a playground wall.

"They are doing a great job, but we don't know how long it's going to last," Pitt said.

Sylvester Toles, a member of the Ark Church, admitted he wasn't excited about the cleanup at first, after a long day at a moving company. But the 54-year-old said "the preacher wanted us to do it for the kids, to make it presentable for the kids. Somebody's got to show that somebody cares," he said.

As he worked up a sweat, he said, "I feel like I've accomplished something.

RHHP fall workday

2010-09-19T09:29:00.027-04:00

Every few months, our household get together on a Saturday morning to tackle tasks that we normally don't have the time to do or that require a collective effort to accomplish. Besides, it's more fun to do it together as a household. Some of the more grimy jobs (such as cleaning the hood over the stove) are tackled on workdays.
The Fall workday is also when we change the batteries of the smoke alarms. Our major accomplishment yesterday was the disposal of much of the stuff that had accumulated in the attic over the years. Most of what we hauled out were 2x4's that were once the bunk beds during the Youth Evangelism Service (YES) era. That allowed Ellen to reorganize the storage area. We also took out old TV sets, dead computers and other appliances. They were deposited on the curb at the back of the house and most of the electronics were quickly picked up by passers-by. Richard, who lives across the street, picked up some lumber but as of this morning, most of the pile is still there. If they remain unclaimed they will end up, regretfully, in the landfill.

We concluded the workday with pizza from Bolis and delicious chocolate chip cookies that Kendra whipped up on short order. Ellen made the lime-ade.

Our social experiment goes on....

2010-09-15T20:41:00.022-04:00

Since we did not have small group tonight, I arrived home with earlier than usual and had a couple of daylight still remaining. Our adopted lot had become scraggly and I decided to run the mower over it to tidy it up. Ellen did her usual litter patrol to clear the lot ahead of the lawn mower. In the meantime, the manager of the apartment building across the street(an Ethiopian young man who is the son of the owner of the building and whose mother is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University) and his maintenance guy, Jose, were hauling some furniture and an old refrigerator out of the building. After I was done with the lot and returned to RHHP, he began, unbidden, to use his leaf blower to clear the grass clippings off the sidewalk. Yeah, it's a small gesture but a fine one nevertheless. I am very encouraged to know that one more person believes that our block is worth investing in.

Ellen and I received an email from an activist in Reservoir Hill inviting us to participate in two projects down the block on Whitelock. One project is to make raised beds in the Whitelock Community Farm. The other is to help with the landscaping on the lot across from the farm to convert it into a multi-purpose community space for recreational uses and community events such as a farmer's market or outdoor performances. This latter project is funded by a Healthy Neighborhoods Capital grant. I am grateful that there are people in our community with the skills and energy to write the proposals and do the organizing. Oh, I think I will help with the landscaping since I do enough gardening at home.

Veggie burger with yogurt sauce

2010-09-15T20:26:00.013-04:00

In response to popular demand, (the cook's brother is very popular. See comment on previous post) I am posting the recipe for the veggie burger courtesy of the Baltimore Sun. I think the yogurt sauce is optional. It tastes just fine with mustard, ketchup and pickles.)

Recipe finder: Homemade veggie burgers beat frozen variety
By Julie Rothman, Special to The Baltimore Sun

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Elaine Kwedder of Shenandoah, Pa., was looking for a recipe for a homemade veggie burger. Amanda Milewski of Eldersburg, Md., sent one in that she cut from a parenting magazine some years ago and makes on a regular basis. She says her family finds that the burgers are a more flavorful alternative to the store-bought frozen veggie burgers they have tried.

Milewski says that sometimes she preps all the ingredients earlier in the day or even the night before and stores them in zip lock bags in the fridge. That way the burgers are a snap to prepare even during a weeknight dinner rush. When served with the accompanying yogurt sauce, these burgers are a tasty and healthful alternative to an ordinary burger.

Veggie burgers with yogurt sauce

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 onion, finely minced

1 sweet potato, peeled and grated

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons pickle relish

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a large bowl, combine egg, carrot, onion, sweet potato, flour and baking powder. Add salt and pepper to taste. Form mixture into six 5- to 6-inch patties and set aside.

To prepare yogurt sauce: In a small bowl combine yogurt, ketchup and relish. Set aside. In a large skillet, heat oil until very hot. Saute burgers for 4 minutes per side, until golden brown. Remove burgers to plates or set on buns and serve with yogurt sauce. Yield: 6 burgers.

Approximate values per serving: 189 calories, 5 grams protein, 6 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 30 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams fiber, 36 milligrams cholesterol, 257 mg sodium.

Ellen's veggie burgers and buns

2010-09-14T21:39:00.013-04:00

Here is a shot of Ellen's favorite veggie burger (recipe from the Baltimore Sun) that has sweet potato as the base that holds together shredded carrots, onions, flour, one egg and some other stuff. She also made the sesame seed buns that went with the burgers. They are low in fat, high in fiber and totally satisfying.

Taking back the east side, one church at a time

2010-09-14T06:38:00.019-04:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-rodricks-20100913,0,3137763.column

Here is today's column by Dan Rodricks, a columnist who writes for the Sun. Rodricks writes about civic activist Carl Stoke's plan for churches to make Baltimore a better place to live by simple and direct action right where they are located, or more precisely a four block radius around each church.

It caught my eye because of his simple and common sense approach for churches to make a difference in Baltimore. This modest bite-size approach to neighborhood improvement/development strikes me as manageable and sustainable. All it needs is for a congregation to have a vision and a desire to make a difference to its immediate neighbors. No need for endless congregational meetings.

This in similar to what Ellen and I are trying to do at RHHP. We have enjoyed getting to know some neighbors and to know the neighborhood better. I am also amazed that we are actually getting to enjoy Reservoir Hill, which on the surface appears to have little to offer beyond the architecture of the grand row houses along Eutaw Place. I think that given enough time and investment, we can develop an attachment to most neighborhoods if not a more nuanced appreciation of. I am beginning to understand why so many people continue to live in neighborhoods that appear to outsiders to be utterly desolate if not outright dangerous. I am realizing that there are more to a neighborhood that attracts people than the presence of a Starbucks (or name your favorite coffee shop) or and Eddy's. Once upon a time, I used to believe (perhaps unconsciously) that the neighborhoods we live in define us. But now I am not so sure. Perhaps it is somewhere in between - we can become more like our neighborhood and we can also change (or at least attempt to) our neighborhoods to be more reflective of our values. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.

Here is the article in case you don't want to go to the Baltimore Sun web site.

I also included photos of a recent birthday celebration and residents painting.

Taking back the east side, one church at a time

Dan Rodricks

5:19 PM EDT, September 13, 2010

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There are an estimated 120 churches in Baltimore's Eastern police district, for years one of the two most violent in the city. "There are more churches than liquor stores," says City Councilman Carl Stokes, "but the liquor stores seem to be winning."

He means those who sell wine and booze from behind bullet-proof glass — as well as those who sell heroin on corners — seem to have more influence on community life than those who stand in sanctuaries and preach salvation-through-Jesus. While the statistics show overall decreases in some of Baltimore's most-tracked crime categories, and while city police have made a significant dent in the number of shootings there, the east side is still infested with drug-dealing, gang activity and violence.

It has been that way for a long time, and there have been attempts to organize the churches to do something about it before.

Mr. Stokes, a Jesuit-trained civic activist and one-time candidate for mayor, is mightily aware of that.

As a city councilman in the 1980s and 1990s, he attended numerous neighborhood crime meetings. He's attended vigils held in the wake of senseless killings, too. Like a lot of middle-aged people in this town, he wears a been-there-done-that T-shirt.

Now, having returned to the council this year, he's back in the thick of things. He helped organize a large vigil in July on North Avenue after a church caretaker, 71-year-old Milton Hill, was shot to death in an apparent robbery. Mr. Stokes pledged to build a street-level movement to reduce crime and revive some of the east side's left-for-dead neighborhoods.

This time, Mr. Stokes has a simple plan that he's pitching to pastors — take back the four blocks around your church and the one across the street, and pretty soon the east side gets healthy again. He calls it Operation Good Faith, and he's challenging ministers to challenge their congregants to get on the street, sweep up trash, pull weeds from the cracks in the sidewalks, fix up nearby playgrounds, conduct evening walks, meet the churches' neighbors door-to-door, and keep in touch with the police.

"In African-American communities," Mr. Stokes says, "we have looked to the church leaders to also be the leaders in political life, in civic life — there's a long tradition of that — and there was a time when church leaders lived among us. Now, being upwardly mobile, many of them — and their members — have left the old churches; they are no longer there. So people in the neighborhood wonder why do they come back [on Sundays] and take our parking spaces, then leave. They leave us with the drug dealers they walk by on the way to church; they leave us with the trash. They might wonder why the ministry that goes on inside the church does not leave the sanctuary. Where is that ministry?"

That is a question Jeffrey MacDonald, a religion journalist and minister in the United Church of Christ, asks in a new book about what might be called comfort-zone Christianity. Christian churches in America, Rev. MacDonald writes in "Thieves In The Temple," have become more about entertaining and soothing their members than about challenging them to sacrifice for others and to "stretch their hearts" for Christian-inspired purposes.

In small congregations and in megachurches — and numerous churches in between, in city and suburb — pastors are pressured to make churchgoers feel good, to provide a kind of spiritual escapism for an hour or so on Sunday. Those who don't, he says, risk the same consequences as any retailer who doesn't give his customers what they supposedly want.

Rev. MacDonald sees in the modern "consumer-driven church" a profound problem: Forsaking core Christian principles for feel-good spirituality diminishes the power of churches and church leaders to move people to action and to inform the nation's moral conscience.

So, in Baltimore, in these old neighborhoods that have been under siege so long, Carl Stokes is making another push to get the ministers and their congregations into the streets with the men and women of their churches, just four blocks at a time. It's not enough to go to Sunday services and drive away.

"This will change lives," Mr. Stokes says of Operation Good Faith, conscious of the history of such efforts and of the dramatic sound of his claim. "I think it will change neighborhoods. … We're tired of going to vigils."

Melissa's birthday

2010-08-30T21:06:00.004-04:00

Melissa, one of the new VSers, had her birthday recently.

New house members

2010-08-21T20:12:00.024-04:00

We welcome Daniel Miller, Sarah Jadrich, Melissa Gingerich and Kendra Allison to RHHP. Ellen has been very busy preparing for their arrivals and providing the usual house orientations.

Today is the annual Reservoir Hill Community Resource Fair organized by the St. Francis Center with Sarah Tarigi, the director of St Francis spearheading the planning. We blocked off a block of Linden Avenue. Ellen and I helped with the set up which involved setting up tents and moving chairs. Sarah, Melissa and Kendra served hot dogs and drinks while Daniel patiently supervised the moon bounce. It was a great day with many local agencies represented ranging from Morgan State University to Catholic Charities. Those who wanted to could get their blood pressure checked. Many school children also received back packs to start the new school year with.

The beginnings of gentrification?

2010-08-18T22:22:00.025-04:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-reservoir-hill-20100817,0,6735402.story

The above story is on the front page of Wednesday's Baltimore Sun. Madison Park North is a 70's style collection of brick and mortar buildings located on North Avenue which makes up the southern boundary of the Reservoir Hill neighborhood. (It is about a ten minute walk from RHHP)There are probably building complexes such as this in every city - well intentioned housing ventures to help the poor but that go off track over time. Madison Park North has been the topic of heated debate at many community meetings but the problems seem intractable. I hope the city's recent threat to pull the owner's license is a strategy to force the Tricap Corporation to make the necessary improvements in the complex and that the current residents will not have twill sell their building at prices to relocate. But a comment by Mr. Herring, long time Reservoir Hill resident, caught my eye. He asserted that the newer residents of Reservoir Hill are trying to "push residents who are poor or black out of the neighborhood." I sense that his remarks foreshadow the unavoidable and acrimonious debate about the gentrification of Reservoir Hill. This is a debate that will take place along the fault lines of class and race but more so on class. (There are also professional African Americans moving into the neighborhood.) The makings of this debate is becoming obvious as we see young white couples move in the area and fix up previously run down houses. These new comers (including ourselves) of the neighborhood are the ones who see the potential in the neighborhood and are eager to invest in it. They are out there with sleeves rolled up and pitching in to improve the neighborhood - mowing the empty lots, picking up trash and planting a community garden. They are over-represented at the community meetings and communicate with each other in the local list serve. They have become the driving force for change. I have not sensed any overt resentment and in fact, some old timers have expressed their appreciation for the changes in the neighborhood. I hope that the newcomers will conduct themselves gracefully and be considerate to the sensitivities of the old timers.

I can easily imagine how in a few years Reservoir Hill will turn the corner and become well known as a desirable place to live in. This will be followed an influx into the neighborhood and cause an increase in property values that some long time home owners will find difficult to resist. The displacement of renters will become a problem. Some call this "gentrification". The status quo is untenable but what are the other acceptable alternatives to "gentrification"?

Poison amidst beauty

2010-08-15T20:21:00.033-04:00

Here is another attempt at beautifying our neighborhood - a hollyhock in a hollowed out tree stump the other side of Whitelock. While on litter patrol yesterday, I came across five glass vials in the stump. They contained suspicious white crystalline substance. They were probably hastily dumped there by one of our local crack dealers upon sighting the cops. (It seems that we are seeing cops busting dealers and harassing customers weekly.) Until yesterday, I had never seen crack cocaine. I have often found glass vials and the plastic tabs on the streets and sidewalks but I had mistakenly thought the tabs were from from syringes. I flushed them down the toilet where they belong. Thus continues my education about the harsh realities of life in Baltimore. I have since learned that crack is the poor man's drug with each vial probably going for $10-$20. Inexpensive as it is to buy, crack nevertheless exacts a heavy price on the addict's life.

Signs of hope in Reservoir Hill

2010-08-07T17:15:00.015-04:00

Here are some signs around the block exhorting residents to get involved and help improve the neighborhood. I don't know who put them up but they brighten up the area. The sign about recycling was erected by some new residents on Brookfield who are passionate about recycling which has yet to catch on in a big way in Reservoir Hill. But then recycling was introduced in Baltimore only a few years ago. So there is hope..

Sarah gets ready for school

2010-08-07T17:01:00.009-04:00

Here is RHHP Sarah preparing for her first day of school at a South Baltimore County elementary school where she will teach music. After surviving last year in a Baltimore County high school teaching mostly uninterested and unruly students, she is excited to be doing what she had been trained to do - teaching music to elementary school children. She was offered two positions - one in a wealthy area in north Baltimore County (near the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line) and the other in a diverse and lower income neighborhood south of Baltimore. She ignored the advice of many and took the more challenging and most likely, interesting, job in the south county position where more than half of her students will be Latino and refugees. We are glad for Sarah and proud of her sense of adventure and faithfulness to her calling to serve the poor and needy. Her mom came out from Ohio and helped her clean out her classroom and organize her materials. Here is a shot of her tuning an auto harp....

Updates

2010-08-07T16:10:00.020-04:00

The van that one of the Menonnite volunteers had planned to haul her belongings to Indiana with was stolen out of our parking area a couple of nights ago. That culminated a series of thefts in which someone stole a number of my potted plants in broad daylight. Someone had also rummaged in our garbage cans tearing open a garbage bag full of paper. One wonders if these incidents are all linked.

On a positive note, our neighborhood continues to improve and look better and the force for change appears to pick up momentum. As far as I can tell, there are two others neighbors who have adopted empty lots near their homes - Brian, on Linden Avenue and Mrs. Brown on Brookfield. (I am fixated on litter because I believe the cleanliness of a neighborhood streets and sidewalks is an indicator of its health.) Mrs Brown also does her litter patrol along the stretch of Whitelock near her house and Brian does his block of Linden . Sometimes Mrs Brown picks up bigger items and hauls them to the dump in her station wagon. I think they were doing this before we adopted our own vacant lot.

Jose, the handyman for the building across from us on Whitelock was whacking weeds this afternoon and has been picking up litter. The vacant lot on the corner of Whitelock and Brookfield, which was once a weed patch, has been converted into a vegetable garden and now bills itself the Whitelock Community Farm, complete with a sign. Corn grows on one corner (although they don't seem to be doing too well), sunflowers, squash and lot's of other stuff that seem to be flourishing. The area continues to look better and I wish there is a way to capture this progress the way you can see a seed germinate in time-lapse photography.

Big tomatoes

2010-07-18T22:09:00.010-04:00

Urban gardeners, like country ones, have to contend with pests. In Baltimore, rats are our counterparts to Seattle's raccoons and possums. I am learning that the timing the harvesting of tomatoes can be a delicate art - leaving the fruits on the vines for as long as you dare to get them to be as sweet as possible but not so long the furry critters start to nibble on them. That is why today's tomatoes are slightly greenish around the stems. I could not bear the thought of having to loose these gigantic ones into the compost. According to our office scale, they weigh over a pound each. (I am not sure what one has to weigh to be considered to be of county fair championship caliber) Here is a snapshot of our house mate, Anna, modeling with the fruits. Also, while I was watering the tomatoes this morning, I met the owner of the first row house north of us. He was patching the broken concrete on his front steps. We had a nice visit.

Bee on sunflower

2010-07-12T00:41:00.004-04:00

More veggies from the garden

2010-07-11T23:51:00.014-04:00

The tomatoes are are a day or two from being ready. The tomato plants, forced by the wire cages to grow upwards, are beginning to be top-heavy. I am using guy wires/twines (like tent poles) and sticks to keep them from tipping over. Garrison Keilor talks about competitive tomato growing in Lake Woebegon. One can definitely lapse into obsession while in pursuit of the perfect tomato. I can definitely see why that can be a sport in the Midwest although it would be a stretch for gardeners who have to labor in the mild summers of Seattle.

Notice the black eye peas to the left. My Sudanese colleague at work tells me that she cooks the vines and the tender leaves.

Garden photos

2010-07-11T23:39:00.011-04:00

The recent heat wave has done wonders for the vegetables. The cherry tomatoes are the vanguards of the this year tomato crop with the rest catching up in the next couple of days. I am eager to see what the heirloom tomatoes will look like. Some little fruits have formed on the purple and red pepper bushes. I have seen for the first time, black eye peas in pods hanging off their vines.

Our neighbor, Glynette, stopped by this evening as while I was watering the vegetables. She is the retired school counselor from Florida I mentioned in an earlier posting. Ellen and I had a fun visiting with Glynette and we learned about her fascinating childhood on her parents' dairy farm and of the upcoming Bowers family reunion in Bascom, Florida, when about 200 relatives are expected to attend. We sent some cherry tomatoes with her but not before she gave me instructions on preparing the black eye peas.

Other refugees in Reservoir Hill

2010-07-07T22:11:00.007-04:00

Ellen and I had the good fortune to meet John who lives three blocks south of us on Eutaw Place. He is a refugee from the Congo but had come by way of India. He now works in the IT department at Johns Hopkins University. Quite an amazing guy. at some point he decided to serve other refugees by providing housing. He bought a three-story row house and is housing single men who are struggling to establish themselves. There are four men who live with him. They are all from the Congo and are either students or working. He charges them a small amount of rent but forgoes the rent if they have difficulty paying. We dropped by a couple of days ago to visit him.

John also volunteers as a family mentor for refugees resettled by the International Rescue Committee resettlement office in Baltimore. He recently bought a small condo on Park Avenue in Reservoir Hill and is providing cheap housing for a couple of refugees. We hope to organize a Reservoir Hill refugee/immigrant potluck one of this days. Speaking of immigrants, I recently became acquainted with Jose, who lives, with his wife and child, catercorner from us on the intersection of Whitelock and Eutaw Place. He is from Guatemala and works as a maintenance man in the building across the street. The face of Reservoir Hill is changing. Here is a snapshot of Ellen with John in front of his house.

Off to the Appalachian trail.

2010-07-04T12:55:00.001-04:00

RHHP over the 4th of July weekend

2010-07-04T10:09:00.014-04:00

With 15 people living in RHHP, the house still feels empty. I feel like the lord of the manor (minus the servants) with the whole house to ourselves. The exodus began before Saturday with some of the volunteers house sitting for someone from church. Jeff and Sarah had been preparing for their backpacking adventure for the past few days. The have been carefully planning their inventory of food and equipment.

On Wednesday, VSer Beth, and her colleagues at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service invited a local song writer and some refugees over for dinner and music jam session. Some folks from church also joined us. The song writer plans to compose a piece for use by the LIRS mission advancement department to promote the work of LIRS.

Progress in the hood

2010-06-21T21:43:00.010-04:00

We were pleased to see a family setting up a portable swimming pool yesterday afternoon on our "adopted" lot and kids having a ball on what was once a weed-choked lot carpeted by litter and broken bottles. Residents in the row houses on Eutaw Place no longer dump their bags of garbage along the alley that runs by the lot. I think landlords are doing a better job providing enough garbage cans for their tenants and the city inspectors are doing a good job enforcing the ordinances. All around a good thing for the neighborhood. If I get bold enough, I might start a little garden on the lot and see how the neighbors take to that.

Speaking of garden, the RHHP garden is beginning to yield its bounty. We have been dining on freshly-picked lettuce, basil and Swiss chard this week. The tomatoes will ripen in earnest soon. I have already promised some to Gene, our elderly neighbor to the north of us. Here is a snapshot of Ellen with a head of romaine from the garden. I love Maryland weather. It lets me grow veggies here the way I could not in Seattle.

Baltimore's crumbling infrastructure

2010-06-12T21:05:00.006-04:00

Hardly a week goes by without reports of broken water mains which disrupt the water supply to entire neighborhoods in the city as well as the county. It is a matter of time that Reservoir Hill's water main conk out on us. As part of emergency preparedness, we have stocked up fifteen gallons of distilled water for drinking. We recently purchased 3 garbage cans which will be our emergency water supply for flushing toilets. We think this should last us a couple of days.

Baltimore government service that works

2010-06-12T20:34:00.009-04:00

Ever since we "adopted" the empty lot down the block, we have mowed it and kept the litter picked up. It is looks much better. However, the occasional dog still does its business on the grass. Father Tom suggested to Ellen that she call 311 and ask the city to put up a sign to remind dog owners of the city ordinance requiring dog owners to pick up after their dogs. Ellen called in early April and was told that a sign would be erected. Sure enough, a crew came out with spray cans a few days later to mark the spots where the signs would be placed. Nothing happened for several weeks and then suddenly last week three signs appeared! We mowed the lot again this morning and there were kids tossing a ball around on the lot. That was something we had not seen since we moved here more than two years ago. This lot often had grass up to the knee and broken glass made it hazardous for kids. That was gratifying to see kids have a place to play like normal kids. With all the coverage on city hall scandals and budget cuts, it is a pleasant surprise that such a service still existed.

June house meeting

2010-06-07T06:36:00.012-04:00

Our monthly house meetings are on the first Sundays of each month. Attendance is required but with 15 residents and varied work schedules, full attendance is unusual. For example,Daniele, an asylee, will be in upstate New York for the rest of the summer for an engineering internship. Whenever the Orioles or Ravens have a home game on a Sunday afternoon, Michael has to work late in his job as a parking lot attendant.

We usually begin with devotions which have been readings from the commentary on the Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages by Joan Chittester which offer practical guidance on living in community. Sometimes important parts of the meeting are translated for the benefit of the residents whose primary language is not English.

The agenda for these meetings includes mundane house keeping such as the cleaning schedule and work days. Last night, Sarah and Joseph gave a demonstration on the proper way to assemble a blender. Recently the guest of a resident installed the O-ring incorrectly and ended up making rubber-flavored humus complete with bits of rubber. Follow each meeting is an action item which vary from a fire drill to celebrating the month's birthdays with cake. Last night was a party with cake, strawberry and ice-cream to celebrate Chak's birthday. It was a nice way to end the weekend.

RHHP wedding

2010-06-04T21:03:00.010-04:00

Pam and Frederick were married at St Francis last Sunday morning after mass. Father Tom officiated the brief ceremony. Frederick is another Asylum Seekers Housing Network and RHHP success story. Possessing the mildest temperament you can find in anyone, he is an unlikely asylee from an African country. He sought and won his asylum while living at RHHP. A successful business man who owned a bank, a school and an insurance agency, he was forced to flee his homeland after he ran afoul with the dictator ruling the country. After gaining asylum, he worked in a factory packing clothing in plastic bags. He also received tutoring in English from an American woman who moved back to Baltimore from the Seattle area. They fell in love and now are married. Frederick is now attending a community college and hopes to transfer to a four-year college to obtain a bachelor's degree.

Link to the previous article

2010-05-09T13:29:00.002-04:00

http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=20091.

Here is the link to previous article in case you did not want to have to download it.

Article from the City Paper on Reservoir Hill

2010-05-05T06:20:00.001-04:00

Reservoir Hill -

Two points of light

2010-04-30T06:54:00.007-04:00

Monday editions of the Baltimore Sun often carry the roundup of the weekend's crime stories. One can often catch up on accounts of murders over the weekend that did not make it into the papers. Monday last week was no different. It painted a grim picture of the city's life.

I witnessed two events on the way to work that week which tilted the city's civility meter a few more degrees to the positive end.

Walking south on Charles Street (south of Lombard) on Tuesday morning, I saw this Honda sedan swerve round the corner from Pratt charging northbound in the center lane. About fifty yards into Charles and after straightening out its course after a couple of wags of the tail-end, the car swerved to the left lane and pulled up abruptly in front of a man in a wheelchair and holding a cup in his hand. This man is a regular downtown and I had seen him a number of times before. He was an amputee. As the car pulled to a stop and the driver-side window and an hand reached out to the wheelchair bound man and dropped in a couple of bills into the cup. He then pulled away from the curb and tore away. (I got a feeling that this is the way he normally drives.) I wondered what prompted his act of charity.

A couple of mornings later, walking down Light Street towards my office, I decided to stop by the Dunkin Donuts to pick up a bagel.
this is the store that frequently has a line of customers stretching out onto the side walk but not this morning. As I stepped into the store, the young lady behind the counter beamed me the widest and brightest smile I had seen in a long time. In fact, the two counter crew(I think they were from India or the Middle East) seemed determined to spread good cheer to everyone who stepped into the store. They were engaged in a friendly rivalry of being the first to snag any customer who entered. "I got him!" punctuated the store lending it a definite festive ambiance. I just stood there, jaw just about hanging, marveling at the sight of such enthusiasm behind a counter I had, until then, not seen in Baltimore. You could tell by the greetings that many were regular customers and I wondered how many of them were there for a regular dose of morning cheer as much as the coffee.

That reminded me of George H W Bush's thousands points of light. Hokey as it sounded when he uttered it, I nevertheless wonder what would happen to Baltimore when these two encapsulations of positivity were repeated five hundred times daily across the city.

The No. 5 bus

2010-04-25T12:13:00.019-04:00

The 7:17 run of the number 5 bus from Mondawmin to Federal Street or Johns Hopkins/Cedonia takes me downtown to my office. It usually takes about 25 minutes to arrive at Charles Street where I alight compared to the 7 minutes or so that the subway takes. But I stick with the 5 for a number of reasons.

The bus is seldom crowded and I am usually able to get a seat. It is a good time to take a nap or meditate while the bus meanders towards downtown. I am usually the only passenger who is not African American but after a couple of years, I am no longer self-conscious about it. However in the past year, an Anglo woman is usually on the bus when I board it. Her demeanor suggests that she has had a hard life.

The ride is relaxing and I find pleasure in the predictability of the 5. MTA drivers work on their routes for a few months at stretch before they switch and so I enjoy greeting the same driver each morning. When I am late to arrive at the bus stop, they will even stop for me when they see me dash from the house to the bus stop. When I take the 7:17 run of the 5, I also see the regular riders get on and off. On most mornings, the same middle aged couple gets on two stops further down the route and greets everyone as they amble down the aisle. I wonder what their stories are as they do not appear to be headed for work. Then there is the sullen high school student who tries to have the seat to himself by placing his pack next to him and only removes it when asked by newly alighted passengers. Perhaps he is sleepy and needs his space. When it is lacrosse season, he usually has his stick with him. I wonder what his story is. A couple of Latino guys get on the second stop on North Avenue and it seems they are on their way to some kind of construction work although they do not carry any tools or equipment. They usually get off after a short ride about 5 stops on Druid Hill Avenue and I wonder why they do not walk. It would have taken them ten or fifteen minutes. I also wonder where they work since they have been riding this route the last couple of years. In the past year, a former colleague of mine at LIRS who now works for the State Education Department has started getting on the 5 and it was good to reconnect with him.

When I ride the 5 gives I get a sense I am part of a neighborhood that has its own rhythm. I probably won't feel if I drove to work. (Automobiles, like houses, can isolate us from our surroundings This is especially true for us since we live in a stand alone house with its own parking area.) Sure, Reservoir Hill is not Mr Roger's Neighborhood. Nonetheless I am re-assured that Reservoir Hill is not all boarded up homes and drug dealers. It becomes clear to me that this is a community where people live purposeful and productive lives.

Mass for one...not counting Fr Tom

2010-04-25T12:04:00.002-04:00

Service at St Francis this morning was a brief affair. Ellen was away at the Women Retreat at North Baltimore Mennonite Church and the rest of the congregation did not show up. It is made up of mostly elderly folks or persons in poor health and it doesn't take much to prevent them from showing up. So it was just Fr Tom and me. It was in a way meaningful and intimate to be the only person receiving communion. One day when I remember to I will ask Fr Tom why he labors on year after year with his little flock...

Meeting more neighbors and caring for your neighborhood...

2010-04-24T16:39:00.024-04:00

I walked down to the Bolton Hill Garden Club plant sale this morning and returned with a red sweet pepper and a purple sweet pepper plant. On the way back, I walked by a two gentlemen who were chatting outside their row house on Eutaw Place, a couple of blocks south of RHHP. One of them, whose name was Mike, was preparing to do some yard work. He noticed my pepper plants, and decided to aske me for some gardening advice. He wanted to know how to tell the weeds from the flowers in his little flower bed which had a clump of day lilies and some cosmos seedlings. The three of us entered into a pleasant conversation ranging from the pleasures of eating fresh vegetables to the differences between Seattle and Baltimore. Mike turned out to be the owner of the building and the other gentleman, Peter, was a tenant in Mike's building. Peter had relatives in Seattle and extolled the beauty of Seattle.

Somehow the conversation drifted to the subject of the Baltimore police. Mike recounted the time when he was approached and questioned by a police officer while he was dropping a bag of garbage in the can in the alley behind his building. The officers asked him for his identification and wanted to search him because he fitted the description of a black male wearing a white tee-shirt and there was report of someone of that description prowling the neighborhood. Mike was resigned to the incident and recognized that police officers had difficult jobs. I am happy to have met two more neighbors.

In the afternoon, I swept the carpet of flowers and pollen shed by the tree on the corner of our lot. As I did so, it occurred to me that it was almost a lost cause as more flowers and litter would soon carpet the sidewalk again. As I contemplated this sisyphean challenge, it occurred to me that it important for us to continue to keep our parts of our neighborhood tidy. One way to improve our neighborhood is for more residents to show that they care about their neighborhood. I believe a neighborhood is healthy not because of the wealth of its residents but because enough of them care for the place they call home. If this is true, then there is hope as I see more people in Reservoir Hill (mostly newcomers) out there in front of their houses tending to their yards and cleaning the sidewalks. One such person is Brian who lives one block away on Linden. On his own initiative, he keeps his block clean. He also mows the vacant lot across the street from his house every two weeks. Inspired by him, I mowed the vacant lot on the southwest corner of Linden and Whitelock and will adopt it as my ongoing project. I hope that there will soon be enough of us to form the critical mass. I think effort of many individuals can make significant changes to a neighborhood. Gentrification and affordability of a neighborhood is a whole different discussion.

I hope that through our own modest effort that we can be North Baltimore Mennonite Church's contribution to the community. Instead of merely taking advantage of the cheap real estate, NBMC is actually participating in Reservoir Hill through Ellen and myself.

Meeting more neighbors

2010-04-17T12:40:00.003-04:00

Today is the neighborhood clean-up. Father Tom, Ellen and I were there but the organizer was no where to be seen. It was a beautiful morning so I decided to mow the overgrown vacant lot across the street on the southwest corner of Whitelock and Linden. While mowing, a couple of men were loading building supplies onto their truck. One of the men turned out to be the owner of the house across the street on Whitelock. We commiserated on the burdens of home ownership. He then asked me where I lived and I gestured towards RHHP. He inquired to the nature of the and I explained the relationship of RHHP to the North Baltimore Mennonite Church and the residents. He said that he is Ethiopian and that his wife went to a Mennonite college in Virginia 25 years ago. I suggested that it might be Eastern Mennonite University which jogged his memory. He said that his name was Akele and introduced me to his son Adam and Jose who appeared to work for Akele. Small world.

My First Roach

2010-04-12T17:02:00.003-04:00

My name is Beth and I am an RHHP resident. I am living in Baltimore this year doing Mennonite Volunteer Service. I am a recent graduate from Seattle Pacific University, and have experienced some significant changes in moving from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast.

A few weeks ago I had my first cockroach sighting of Baltimore, which, if you talk to others, is incredible that I have only seen one my entire time here! Let's be honest... I was kind of dramatic immediately after spotting it. Here are some pretty funny notes that were exchanged on the kitchen counter.

More Easter Eggs

2010-04-12T16:55:00.004-04:00

More photos from our Easter egg dying.

Some residents dyed eggs for their first time, while others have done this every year since they were young. We sat around the table discussing different egg dying techniques. We also talked about Easter egg hunts, and the different traditions that our families have!

More pics from the RHHP Garden

2010-04-12T16:52:00.002-04:00

The beginnings of a garden...

More police activity

2010-04-11T22:58:00.003-04:00

When I got off the bus one evening last week, there were a few marked and unmarked police cars surrounding another car outside our parking lot. It appeared to be a drug bust - of either buyers or dealers. The subjects were white and male and female so I can safely conclude that they are buyers. (I couldn't tell how many there were since there were a few plainclothes cops and I didn't want to stand and gawk.) It has been an ongoing complaint that Reservoir Hill and other neighborhoods around here are the markets for white folks from other neighborhoods. Father Tom, who is the neighborhood fixture and historian, recognizes some of the frequent buyers. The police department appears to be responding to community pressure to crack down on buyers by carrying out such busts. A responsive city hall is encouraging but residents also recognize that such measures merely drive the buyers to other neighborhoods. That is not so encouraging. In the long run, the suppression of the drug trade through police action does not seem to be the answer although I must say it feels good when it is my neighborhood the dealers and their customers are staying away from. It conjures up the image of people going around with shovels to pound down gopher hills. The critters will simply pop up elsewhere in the meadow.

Aaron's 23rd birthday celebration.

2010-04-11T22:25:00.003-04:00

We had cupcakes following tonight's monthly house meeting to celebrate Aaron's birthday yesterday.

Introducing Father Tom Composto and the Saint Francis Center in Reservoir Hill

2010-04-11T21:48:00.006-04:00

Ellen and I attend church at the St Francis Center where Father Tom Composto conducts mass. He lives in an apartment above the center. A retired college professor in his seventies, Fr Tom has resided in Reservoir Hill for over 45 years and has seen the neighborhood through all the changes with the times. The congregation is small and made up of primarily of African Americans from the neighborhood as well as those who used to live in Reservoir Hill.

His masses are brief and to the point. His homilies are even shorter and he has his notes in his trademark yellow pad. He plays the organ with a flourish. The hymnal is a binder of 60's hits such as "We may never pass this way again" and "Put your hands in the hand". We are in an out in less than 40 minutes. He will hold service for as few as one as in a number of occasions when Ellen is out of town and no one else is present. He and I will sing duets!

The center is a block from RHHP and is home to tutoring programs, a computer lab and occasional Narcotic Anonymous marathon group sessions. Neighborhood groups also use the center as a meeting place.

He makes it his business to keep an eye on the goings on in the neighborhood including the drug dealers who ply their trade along Whitelock Street. On weekends, Fr Tom plays a baby grand piano and sings show tunes at Vinny's Cafe, an Italian restaurant in Dundalk, a blue collared neighborhood in east Baltimore. He also hires out for parties.

Eutaw Place row houses

2010-04-09T06:46:00.001-04:00

Beautiful row houses

2010-04-09T06:39:00.001-04:00

The trees are in full bloom

2010-04-09T06:35:00.002-04:00

RHHP romance moves to the next level

2010-04-08T20:40:00.004-04:00

2010-04-05T21:57:00.004-04:00

More signs of renewal and hope

2010-04-05T21:45:00.004-04:00

Tonight Ellen and I attended the monthly meeting, at Saint Francis Center, of the newly formed Reservoir Hill Neighborhood Association which was formed by a group of formerly disaffected members of the Reservoir Hill Improvement Council. There were about 15 of us present. The focus was on tapping into a federal Healthy Neighborhood fund that could potentially be worth up to $5 million dollars. The goal is for the group to identify a number of houses in Reservoir Hill for rehabilitation and sold to new residents. Some ideas for recruiting prospective buyers. We also discussed the upcoming Reservoir Hill Garden Tour and the neighborhood clean up preceding that.

On an even more positive note, the trees I mentioned in the previous post were put into the ground. It looks nice.

There was a bit of an excitement a bit past midnight this morning. A fugitive involved in a high speed chase by the police hit another car at the corner of Eutaw Place and Whitelock, right outside our house. The car that was hit was pushed onto the sidewalk and took down the corner post of the fence that was just recently repaired. The fugitive tried to run but was wrestled down by some cops. The unfortunate driver of the other car had to be taken away in an ambulance.

Veggies from last year's garden

2010-04-04T22:59:00.002-04:00

New signs of change and renewal

2010-04-04T22:29:00.003-04:00

Springs brings about new growth as well as renewal. Signs of renewal in Reservoir Hill are popping themselves along Whitelock and Eutaw Place and beyond. Some activities are of the city investing in this neighborhood. Walking around the neighborhood, we see trees with root-balls wrapped in burlap getting ready to be planted along the sidewalks. There are also signs of new neighbors and residents reclaiming the areas in front of their houses. I was encouraged yesterday to see a neighbor across the street sweeping the sidewalk and street in front of his brownstone. I feel we have another partner in the effort to reclaim the neighborhood one beer can, one wine bottle, one fast-food wrapper or one used condom at a time.

Garden on Eutaw Place corner of yard

2010-04-04T22:09:00.003-04:00

2010-04-04T22:06:00.001-04:00

2010-04-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

Getting to know the neighbors

2010-04-04T20:32:00.005-04:00

Ellen and I have lived in Reservoir Hill for almost two and a half years and it seems that we are just beginning to get to the neighborhood. People seem to be reserved but given the right opportunities, they will reach out. I discovered it accidentally this past summer and fall while working in the garden. A number of people, overcome by their curiosity, asked about the vegetables in my modest garden. In particular, some asked about the red Swiss chard with its striking red and green foliage. Many had never seen or heard of it. I had the opportunity to give some to a sister of a neighbor who visits often and we discuss different ways to cook this vegetable. In the course of a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, three different people stopped by to ask about the garden and about the house. A young couple who lives in one of the brownstone across the street were out walking their dog and stopped by to ask about the house. The husband works for the Voice of America and was acquainted with asylum seekers. His wife was interested in the Mennonites and was surprised that the Mennonites have a presence in the city. Shortly after, Glynice, a neighbor who lives in one of the row houses to the north stopped by to ask for advice about her little garden in front of her house. She was also interested in the Mennonite connection and said that her nephew in Jackson Mississippi attends a Mennonite church. I offered her some of my extra parsley and she accepted my offer. I look forward to many such encounters with the neighbors and to know the neighborhood better.

Article about the original owner of 2401 Eutaw Place - you may also download this article.

2010-04-04T10:21:00.002-04:00

Ernest Schmeisser - original owner of 2401 Eutaw Place

Article about the original owner of 2401 Eutaw Place

2010-04-04T10:15:00.001-04:00

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/32863704/Ernest-Schmeisser---original-owner-of-2401-Eutaw-Place

Please cut and paste the above link to your browser and read the article. Sorry I don't know how to make it easier to read this article.

2010-03-31T21:47:00.001-04:00

2010-03-31T21:43:00.000-04:00

Baltimore Blizzard 2009

2009-12-22T13:13:00.007-05:00

With my two years in Baltimore, I've come to expect two things from Winter: almost no snow, and a few ice storms per year. I was surprised and overjoyed this weekend to discover almost two feet of snow falling in the city! Driving was nearly impossible for 2 days and with many side-streets still snow-covered, schools are closed.

A few words about this blog......

2009-01-04T18:45:00.002-05:00

This blog is the brainchild of Sarah Buskirk, one of our Mennonite volunteers. Everyone in the house is welcome to contribute to it. Just ask Sarah if you would like to post anything.

Individuals in the household will not be identified unless they agree to be. There will not be any photographs which will identify asylum seekers. Understandably, they are wary of their identities floating out there in web. We will also not post images of others who do not want to be seen by all in cyberspace.