Why the City of Baltimore needs to come up with 5000 Trash Cans for the Harris Creek Watershed Residents!

The Harris Creek Watershed (246) Stormwater Plan has now been completed and is waiting the final comment period before seeking Funds to carry out many of the Stormwater Projects identified in the Plan. To develop Success in this Plan,the Community of 17 Neighvborhoods will need to become more involved. This will never be accomplished until there is a Major Cultural Change needed to bring the City of Baltimore and the Residents of the 246 Watershed more together. Input from the Residents indicated that their Number One Concern was the Trash Issue......Trash that was allowed to build up (over many months and possibly years) in the Backyards of the many Vacant Houses in the Watershed Area. This also extended to the many Vacant Lots in the Watershed. Trash Collection that did tahe place at times took on a subculture of its own with the residents being told to place their Trash Bags at the ends of the Alleys to allow the City to pick them up at this location. What's wrong here?   Trash Bags are illegal in the City and are easily broken into by Rats that create Health Problems.

Recently,The Harris Creek Watershed Group was able to convince the City to do a Major Trash Sweep in the Watershed. What was discovered was astonishing to those of us who toured the Back Alleys to find Trash that obliviously was neglected for months. It was not hard to find. It raised the Question of Baltimore being made up of two Cities.....one that got needed Services .....and one that got less Services. Why is this so Important?    One reason is that with this Major Trash Sweep,we were able to see a significant reduction of Trash going into the Baltimore Harbor at its Outlet on Boston Street in Canton......and dropping the hint that if we Clean Up our Strrets in Baltimore in this Watershed....and extend this logic to the other 25 Outlets into the Baltimore Harbor,we may one day soon see a Cleaner and Safer Baltimore Inner Harbor.

 The second reason has to do with Fairness and Justice.....and how we can use this to our advantage. With this Major Trash Sweep,we were able to buy about 500 Tash Cans to replace some of the Trash being put out in Trash Bags..........We think that we can get Citizens (residents) to do more if we can get more Trash Cans (5000 or more). Sure,we can continue to criticize and blame,but here is a chance to perhaps change what has been going wrong in the past....and get off to a fresh start.  We think that the City owes this to the residents of the Watershed for their performance in the past that helped to create many of these mini-landfills in the Backyards.  

       We can be Silent no longer.   We need to speak up   This is a Fairness Issue that can be turned around . We can create a better Community by promoting Justice.    Raymond D.Bahr MD

Action Steps for the Harris Creek Watershed Project

   The Community and Watershed Plan is out for a 30 day Comment Period.   Meanwhile,we need not be collecting dust under our feet,but become fully engaged in building Community that will sustain the Watershed Efforts.   In the graphic cartoon depicting the Journey that we took to successfullly develop the Watershed Plan,we listed "Cleaning" first.....followed by "Greening" as the way to develop a strong Community. As one observor once stated,"you build Community by promoting fairness and justice".....and this is what we intend to do.   We will start with (1) "Cleaning".....and continue our Efforts to rid the Backyards and Alleys of Trash by a constant bombardment of DPW 311 line reporting SRs or Service Reports (they have two weeks to clean these sites up)......(2).We will get rid of the Trash Bags in the 246 Watershed and replace them with metal Trash Cans. It is incredible that we have let City Services allow Trash to be placed in plastic Bags at the front of the Alleys to be picked up by DPW workers. This underground subculture way of dealing with  Trash in this way needs to stop. The continued damage that comes with Bags of Trash easily being broken into and serving as a food source for RATS and the Health Problems associated with this activity can no longer be tolerated. It is a Preventable Problem and our Mayor and City Council Members need to be part of this Solution.   Placing Trash in Trash Bags can best be stopped by providing metal and durable Trash Cans. We are asking for 5000 Trash Cans that freely be made available to residents in the 246 Watershed . The cost here is very cheap ($14 each) when contrasted with the Benefit that it will bring.....(3) We will be requesting an Opportunity to sit down with Director Al Foxx,the New DPW Director to discuss New Ways to take care of Trash Pickup in the 246 Watershed.   Presidents of at least three Neighborhood Associations have requested a Change in Trask Pickup and would like to see Front of the House Trash Pickup......this way,they can see who is putting out the Trash the right way.....and try to influence those doing it the wrong way (ex.Trash Bags).......This would be a Great Way to get Community Members policing their own Neighborhoods. We hear always the Criticism that the Residents need to step to the plate and do more.  Well,here is an inexpensive way to get the Ball Rolling....by providing Free Trash Cans.....and listening to New Ways to do a Better Cleanup Operation.


 As we continue the Cleaning Phase,we can start to promote more Greening Activities and give  Pride to the Community of 17 Neighborhoods by providing City Farms,places to have Events to engage the Youth,Faith based activities etc.  Part of the Watershed Plan will be to eventually hire a Community Director to oversee many of these Activities. Some of this is unclear at the present time,but what is Important is that the Development of the Harris Creek Watershed Plan is about to unfold as the Funding Opportunities become available under the Newly Formed Watershed Alliance.

    Respectfully,Raymond D.Bahr MD    

What's next for the Harris Creek Watershed Project? September 26,2010

   The Project that the Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association took up nearly two years ago has been completed. Final Changes will take place shortly and be incorporated in the Draft that will be available early this week both on the BHWA Web Site (http://www.baltimorewaters.org/)  as well as sent out to all the people who took part in developing this Community Stormwater Plan.

  Along the Way (Journey Page),we discovered that Baltimore City Services (DPW) needed to enhance their Services to Clean Up Trash that had been building over a long period of time in the Backyards of Vacant Houses,on the large number of Vacant Lots and in the Alleys where Trash Trucks could not get through. To understand this Problem better,to the Credit of the Department of Public Works Solid Waste and Code Enforcement Housing,a Plan was designed to get at this accumulated Trash Dumping by targeting an area in the middle of the Harris Creek (246) Watershed to undergo a Major Trash Sweep. It was from Fayette St (south) to Eager St (North) and Streeper St (East) to Duncan St (West) where 4000 Houses/Homes were located. Leaders in the Community first informed citizens that a Major Trash Sweep was about to take place and that all illegal practices would be in violation. Citizens were being asked to call in (311) all Trash Problems as a Way to Clean Up their Neighborhoods. In addition,approximately 500 galvanized Trash Cans were pruchased and given out Free to some residents. This is all we could do.We did not have the Funds to purchase the 5000 Trash Cans that we needed.  Why are they needed?  Because,well over 70% of the Trash that is put out comes in Trash Bags which are all over these Neighborhoods.....all of this illegal and needs to be addressed. In many cases,residents are encouraged to place their Trash Bags at the ends of the Alleys so that the Trucks can easily pick them up. To make a long story short,more that 100 Service Reports (SRs) on accumulated Trash Dumpings were entered into the 311 Call System over this 10 week period from June 14 to August 31,2010.      

 When a Visitor from outside Baltimore comes up to you NOW and ask the proverbial Question,Where does all of this Trash in the Baltimore Harbor come from and where do we strart to Clean it up?  You can tell them that it comes from upstream Trash Dumpings that have been allowed to pile up without Action Steps from Citizens as well as Baltimore City Services.  Yes,it probably is more Complex than that. There are a Huge number of Vacant Houses that provide Dumping Spots in their Backyards....and go unnoticed and neglected....poverty stricken areas have many more other problems....and you have to pick your poison to complain about....left too long,Trash Problems seem insurrmountable...and soon only a few complain. Many of these Houses are owned by the Mayor and City Council,others by HUD,and others by absent Landlords....and as you can see,this is another Major City Problem which demands Action Steps. As the Saying goes,"Poor People get Dumped Upon" and often little address to their Problems. What is to be seen by all is that these are unfair practices....and unjust...and calling these as such is the First Step to doing something about them.

  Perhaps the Most Important Finding is the Fact that we are seeing a significant Reduction in Trash being delivered to the Harris Creek Watershed Outflow Drain on Boston St in Canton.  Previous to this Trash Sweep,we were seeing between 3-5 Tons of Trash each month.  NOW,we are seeing very little Trash  coming out.    We are hoping to say that we have now found a way to prevent Trash from coming into the Baltimore Harbor....that is having Major Trash Sweeps in the Backyards of Vacant Houses throughout BaltimoreCity. There are 26 Outfalls to the Baltimore Harbor and the one at Harris Creek is one of them. If we establish this Discovery in the Harris Creek Watershed ,we can take this successful Model and implement it in the other 25 Outfalls.  How can we establish this Discovery?   Simply by measuring before and after a  Major Trash Sweep.......but unfortunately,the Trash Collector now located at the Harris Creek Watershed Outfall has been broken many times and not given the DPW Prioity to complete this very Important Part of the Trash Collection Equation Problem . We are having the DPW Director Al Foxx visit with us tomorrow to go over this Problem and to review the more than 100- Service Reprts collected so far to see as to how many of these SRs have been cleaned up.   Respectfully submitted,Raymond D.Bahr MD

Worthy Public Servant Congressman Cummings Watershed 246

  The Harris Creek Watershed Project,having recently completed it's Strormwater Plan,is very anxoius to get started. One of the recommendations is to Promote Urban Farming efforts in the Communities of the Watershed. We are gifted to have Real Food Farm as part of the Watershed in Clifton Park.   Baltimore Hoop Village involved in Sustainable Agriculture is a Project of Civic Works and has as its Mission"to work toward a just and sustainable food systemby improving neighborhood access to Healthy Food,providing experience-based Education,and developing an economically viable,environmentally responsible local agriculture sector".

  The Goal of Real Food Farm is to be a catalyst for the Creation of a Vibrant Local Agriculture Sector through provision of Skills,Training,Creation of Jobs,and Demonstration of a Relicable and Sustainable Business Model. The Harris Creek Watershed will work to take advantage of this golden opportunity.  We had a chance this week to present this Watershed Plan to Congressman Cummings and were very appreciative of his comments as well as from his Staff.   Hope Williams is his new laison person on this issue. We were delighted to see this in view of her past role of being the person in charge of the Cleaner,Greener Program of Baltimore City. It was through her Leadership that the Harris Creek Watershed Project was able to do so much.

   We are grateful to Congressman Cummings for always being there for the right causes and his passion in getting proper things done. It is great to see a Public Official so dedicated and compassionate with the People and Concerns in his District. We are Blessed to have him

     Sincerely,Raymond D.Bahr MD   BHWA

Unintended Consequences leading to Urban Ghettos

Not too long ago,I was engaged in a conversation about the Artscape Event and all the excitement that it brought to the Baltimore Scene. Truely,this has been very successful over the years and attracts a wonderful mix of people from all walks of Life. What disturbed me most was when I suggested adding a meaningful free educational program to the Artscape Event,I was rebuked by someone who commented,"you mean you are going to invite "those people"?  I was mortified and shocked...and walked away from the conversation.  Sure,I could have stayed and delved more about what this person meant.....and maybe tried to change the person' thinking........but,I knew that this would be almost impossible.

It got me to thinking.....thinking deeply about how this type of thinking comes about.  There is an Urban Myth that areas in our City that are characterized by having concentrated poverty....that we now call Urban Ghettos owe their development to the African American Population......and that these are the areas to avoid or get killed....including even the trasitional areas surrounding them.  I suppose these are "those people" that the person above was commenting about. If we were to take a poll of Baltmore Citizens about the genesis of Ghettos,we would probably find out that the majority of citizens would conclude this.

But,this is not true.  It is an Urban Myth that needs to be corrected.....and the sooner,the better if we want to do something about it. It had to do with a series of Government Programs that brought about "unintended consequences" and created pockets of severe poverty,especially in the African American Population. These have been descibed best in two books.

         Urban Injustice-How Ghettos happen by David Hilfiker MD
         Not in my Neighborhood by Antero Pietila

  To convince yourself,you can read about the effects of Government Insured Mortgages by the VA,the effects from developing the Inter State Highway System,the Government promoting Home Ownership over Renting and the Exclusion Surburban Zoning Code. 

The question may arise,"why can't these people get jobs and work themselves out of poverty?  That would be OK if jobs in the City were still available in adequate numbers. Most of the "blue collar"jobs have been lost. Inherited poverty brings with it the consequences of despair and lost hope....and leads to many dysfunctional families. Beaten down over many years has its own consequences........the worse occurs when easy money is available through the drug business. Crime related to drug activity becomes the norm and innocent bystanders are affected.  Being immensly poor,little education,having a dysfunctional family at home,needing drug money etc......can only lead to criminal activity in our Society.

What can we do?     The Best Way to start is to become aware of all of this and do more reading about the issues.   Fairness is something that we all understand.  When we see injustice in these areas,we should advocate for doing something about it.  An example here is what the Watershed found on making Trash Rounds in these Neighborhoods....that the Trash that had been allowed to collect in the backyards of vacant houses  would fill a landfill.  It was almost as if we had two Baltimores....and that City Services depended on where you lived.

When City Funding is cut off,these areas suffer the most. You just have to ask yourself why is $390 Billion going to the War to create Democracies elsewhere when the Core of our Cities are going to pieces before our very eyes.......and every other month we get our dander up when someone innocent is killed.....and we point our finger at the Police Department and the Mayor...have Meetings that serve to change very little.

What does this have to do with developing a Watershed Plan for the Harris Creek Watershed ?    Maybe,developong a Watershed Plan is a way to do Community Organizing and help bring Neighborhoods together and start a grassroot effort to bring back Baltimore and make it Safe once again.

    Respectfully,Raymond D.Bahr MD   BHWA

 

Why is a Cardiologist involved with the Trash Problem of Baltimore City?

Blocked Heart Vessels vrs Blocked Storm Drains
       Blocked Heart Vessels choke off Blood Supply to the Heart Muscle and leads to Heart Attacks. Early Chest Symptom Recognition helps prevents this from occurring.   http://www.deputyheartattack.org/
       Blocked Storm Drains in Baltimore City usually results from excessive Trash from Neighborhoods that goes down the Drain with Rain Runoff (Stormwater). Cloggage here can suffocate the City ,creates habitat for Rats and Cats and is Unhealthy for residents living within the Watershed. Since Rainwater runoff is untreated,it leads to Pollution of the Baltimore Harbor as well  When this Trash Problem is added to the Poor Living Conditions associated with Poverty and Neglect of Houses (becoming Vacant and a place for criminal activities),we see the development of Inner City Pockets ( Breeding Places)  for Crime and.Illegal Drugs.
    Thus in a sense the Blockages are similar.....one leads to heart muscle damage and death of the individual.....the other becomes a factor in leading to deterioration (death) of  pockets of Baltimore City.   Just like outside Medical Help is required to open blocked vessel ,so too is the need to start a Process in the City (jump starts) to Clean up...... and then to Educate and Demand that Responsible Citizenship begin to take place.    Ray Bahr MD   BHWA

Walking the Alleys of the Harris Creek Watershed and being Shocked!

Walking the Back Alleys in the targeted sweep area of the Harris Creek Watershed enabled this observer to see and discover that two Baltimores exist in this town when it comes to the Services of Baltimore City. It is true that the poverty stricken areas in the deep inner City have more Trash,but these areas do not have to be forsaken. There are Back Yards in some of these areas that have been neglected for months and even years.  Back Yards become the "Dumping Grounds" for many Bags of Trash that the City does not pick up. Over time,this accumulation leads to a Habitat for rats who establish Burroughs amongst the piles of trash. The Rats feast on easy to open trash bags. Rats multply fast. They have up to 4-7 litters per year and have 8-12 offsprings.  This amounts to 50 new Rats each year. Rats present a danger to our children in many ways Citizens in these urban areas should expect and Demand the same type of City Services as Citizens living elsewhere in the City. It is a two way street however in that once we see Enhanced City Services,we should expect and Demand more responsible Citizens taking on Responsibility for Future Trash Disposition.
      Ray Bahr MD   BHWA   Harris Creek Watershed.

The Harris Creek Watershed Project summed up.

How to sum up aWatershed Project that you have been working on for over a two to three year period of time?   To do it Justice,it needs to include the many Elements that were present and helped to shape the Final Plan.  Perhaps the Best Way to appreciate it would be to view it as a Journey,because that indeed is what it turned out to be.......I say that because early in the effort,we decided to begin by seeing this Project as a "work in progress"......and that we would be open in listening to the Community of 17 Neighborhoods.......even though these Neighborhoods were connected by storm drains beneath the surface of the street,they were diverse as can be.......ex. 5% unemployment  vr  50-70%, medium income 42K vrs 7K,65% African Americans vrs 10% etc..... What opened this up for this was the eye opener that had us see the injustice that was seen in the Trash Dumping taking place on vacant lots and back yards of vacant houses. Increased Trash removal was very much needed and Code Enforcement needed to be Enhanced.We were able to coordinate this effort in a targeted area within the Watershed 246 with the idea to move out into the rest of the Watershed. This is well underway... and needs to clean out as much chronic collected trash as possible to make a significant reduction of Trash going into the Baltimore Harbor at the Outflow Drain in Canton (5 Tons each month).

   Since the Purpose of this Project was to develop a Watershed Plan to implement best management practices to reduce storm runoff that picks up the trash and takes it down the drain system. However,we realized that this could never be achieved unless we created the conditions or the chemistry that would unite the Citizens of the 17 Neighborhoods.   We realized that when we were able to see the injustice in the trash issue,we were uniting with the citizens.....and that the missing ingredients were  the strengths shown to us  by the citizens...their Faith,Trust and sharing Justice.......The Concept of a Journey....a Journey of Hope that would take us to where we needed to go......but not accomplishable until steps before it had been solidly accomplished........that we had to work through relationships that enabled us to move forward with our watershed projects.

    Perhaps,the Most Important Contribution that we were able to introduce was the "Humane Metropolis Baltimore Initiative" at the end of the Journey. What is this about?  Basically what this Initiative states is that Metropolis  (City-State) usually talks about it being Exploding (Sprawl),but here we are talking about a Humane Metropolis which states that we should makib    e the most of what we have but in a Humane sense. In the Harris Creek Watershed,we are on a Journey to do that which is right......cleaning up our neighborhoods of chronic trash that should not be there....promoting green community gardens....developing the chemistry that is needed to moveahead with best management practices that provide storm water manaagement.....and reaching to get even better....with what we call as the Humane Baltimoire Initiative........providing more green,engaging gathering spaces that areafe,efficient and equitable.....that will result in creative,communicative and artistic spaces.     Connectivity and Sustainability are the Goals of this Journey..to be continued
     Is this Mission impossible?  

              


 s

Urban Ghettos in Baltimore
The genesis of Urban Ghettos lies in unintended consequences from Government Actions,but the continued presence of them today has become our problem and the need for City Government to work to undo their existence. What happens if we fail to do so? We allow a festering unrest of unfairness to take place that fosters a different type of living for citizens.......leading to all the problems that we have in"the inner city".......crime, illegal drug use,educational drop outs....leading to a high rate of poverty,unemployment etc....affecting mostly the African American Community (65%). We have created and continue to maintain two kinds of Baltimore for the residents.

What does this have to do with Watersheds? What does this have to do with the Health of our Baltimore Harbor? Well,I will tell you. It has a lot to do with both. The Harris Creek Watershed is composed of 17 very diverse neighborhoods that are connected below the street surface with many inlets and drains that go down into the Baltimore Harbor. We are finding ways to connect above the street surface and in doing so found out that there is much more Trash laying on the streets,piled up on vacant lots and clogging our storm drains. With Trash,there are Rats and there are plenty of them....and all kind....not safe for our young children or us. We know that there are many vacant lots and vacant buildings in the poverty strickened areas. There is unfairness when we allow Trash to pile up in large piles (how large,try 10 yards by 10 yards by 3 yards high ....and there for a long period of time....try 3 months or longer). We are finding this out now as we do a Major Trash Sweep through a targeted area within the Watershed and working with a coordinated effort of Housing code enforcement and DPW trash removal. What we are finding does not exist in neighborhoods elsewhere. We are seeing two Baltimores and we don't like it. Unfair practices continue to undermine our making the City of Baltimore better and our Baltimore Harbor clean and safe. As we continue our Harris Creek Waterhed Project,we will report out what we see. The Project is designed to help introduce best management practices for storm water,but it will never be able to do so unless we address the services that we provide our citizens. We will try and introduce "greener"ideas that result in community gardens,small farms,rain gardens etc but these must go hand in hand with trash removal,rats taken away and fairness in City Services.... to these seemingly forgotten areas of our Baltimore City.

It is true that City Government has less and less funds to attack these problems,but we should not stop there. We must raise the Question WHY? Here,we might turn to MLK who came to the conclusion that the way to have people work themselves out of Ghettos is with Jobs,Jobs and more Jobs.....and Poverty is made worse with Wars. Wars steal the money needed for Cities to make comebacks. Wars make Inner Cities "third world countries" If this be the case,we have to ask the Question,why don't we have money and when we come to this conclusion,we have to question why we have Wars and Why our Leaders get us into a situation of stealing from our Cities. Less we forget,our Military Budget is 550 Billion dollars a year (China 50 Billion,Russia 50 Billion). It is estimated that Povety throughout the World can be reduced significantly with the use of one-fifth of this Military Budget.

Why do we have Poverty and Ghettos and Two Baltimores? Perhaps,unanswerable for some,but for me,it has to do with the decisions our Leaders make. Let's hope that we can get back on the right tract. It is not unpatriotic to wish for this. Raymond.D.Bahr BHWA

Cleaning up Trash in Baltimore City and Baltimore Harbor

Trash,Trash.Trash everywhere....on the street....in the gutters....down the corner inlet and drain.....and down into the Baltimore Harbor. Has it reached a point of no return? Are we helpless to do anything? Will the unsightly Trash Problem always be with us? Hell "no"!

Where is this Trash coming from? We know that there are too numerous to count vacant lots and houses in the middle of this Watershed and many are just filled with Trash. Could this be the Source of the 5 Tons of Trash that enters the Baltimore Harbor through it's Outflow Drain? We will know shortly. We have set up a Plan with the Baltimore City Code Enforcement Office and the DPW Solid Waste Trash Pickup Section to aggressively clean up the Trash in a targeted footprint in the middle of the Watershed and keep it cleaned for at least ten weeks to try and see if we can reduce the Trash coming into the Baltimore Harbor (June 14 through August 30,2010). We are also beefing up Community Participation in this Effort. The second part of the Plan is go after "hobt spots" in the rest of the Watershed and reduce Trash even moreso.

We are able to measure the amount of Trash because we have a Trash Interceptor that collects and measures what comes to it. Trash is not the only Pollutant,but it is the most visible one. Reducing Trash will bring about a Safe and Healthy Baltimore Harbor that can become one day fishable and swimmable. Come,Watch our Progress and help us to create a Cleaner,Greener and more Humane Baltimore. It is Doable with your Help! Best,Ray Bahr MD

Harris Creek Watershed Project Update May 22,2010

The Harris Creek Watershed Project is about to enter an important phase of its Project. From the beginning,it's goal was to complete a Watershed Plan with the help of the Center for Watershed Protection,the Parks and People Foundation and the Community of Neighborhoods (17) in the Watershed. Information obtained from the residents indicated a great deal of illegal trash dumping on vacant lots within the Watershed. As a result of this information,the BHWA has set up a Plan of Action that will consist of a Major Trash Cleanup in a targeted footprint in 246 that will include the Code Enforcement Office of City Housing,the DPW Trash Pickup Team and the Community Residents . This will take place starting June 12 with a Kickoff and go through August 30,2010. We hope to see a Major Reductiuon in Trash being delivered to the Harris Creek Outflow Drain on Boston St.(presently it is 5 Tons of Trash each month). If so,we plan to offer this Model to the other direct watersheds emptying into the Baltimore Harbor. Along with this Trash Sweep will be the Second Workshop (June 5th) that will introduce Storm Water Management Practices within the Harris Creel Watershed. Stay tuned for more to come. Ray Bahr MD BHWA

Community Organizing of the Harris Creek Watershed

The Harris Creek Watershed Project has come a long way,but it still needs to go much further. It was helped greatly this week with a meeting that focused on the amount of illegal trash dumping on vacant lots,especially in the middle of the 246 Watershed. Input from over 400 completed Survey Questionnaires as well as input from listening to residents from the 17 Community Neighborhood Associations identified this as their number one problem. Despair from inability to do anything about the chronic problem was to be a concern that the 246 Watershed needed to address. Yes,this is a Watershed Project with a Stormwater Plan when completed....and Yes,we want to prevent the trash from coming down into the Baltimore Harbor........but,even more important,the 246 Watershed is interested in going after this illegal trash dumping as an Injustice to the Community and Advocating for a Program to quickly clean the trash up and to develop aggressive measures to prevent it from happening. Plans are under way to coordinate the efforts of many to bring this about. Engaging our Citizens at a deeper level of committment is a way to strenghen the Community of 17 Neighborhoods needed in this 246 Watershed Effort. The Clean "Harbor" comes only after we prevent permanently the illegal trash dumping from taking place on vacant lots and in vacant buildings in the Harris Creek Watershed. We are deeply appreciative of the role of Baltimore City Housing Department and their Code Enforcement Division as well as the Baltimore City Department of Public Works and their Cleaner,Greener Program,Solid Waste Program,Community Education Program etc As initially stated,we still have a long way to go......but the Direction is now clearer.
Respectfully for the Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association,the Parks and People Foundation,the Center for Watershed Protection,Raymond D.Bahr MD Harris Creek Watershed Program Coordinator

Trash HearingsCity Hall March 9,2010

Trash in the Baltimore Harbor was the Topic of Discussion. The Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association (BHWA) presented evidence that 5 Tons of Trash was being delivered each month to the Baltimore Harbor at the Outflow along the 2700 block of Boston Street (across from the Safeway). To investigate this,the BHWA obtained Funding to do the Harris Creek Watershed Project (HCWP). This includes 17 Neighborhoods and 2 great Parks and covers 1270 acres and has a population about 44,000 residents.

The Question that we raised was,"How do we bring about a Community of these Neighborhoods to address this Pollution of the Harbor? How do we deal with the tremendous Diversity existing in these Neighborhoods medium income 44K vrs 6 K unemployment 6% vrs 40-50% African American population of 10% vrs 65% ? This is and always will be our Challenge. Intetresting enough,these 17 Neighborhoods are connected beneath the surface of the street by 55 miles of storm drains that lead down into the Baltimore Harbor.

This Problem would seem like a "slam dunk" to solve. Reduce the Trash and find ways of recycling as much as possible. Find ways to get the storm water to go into the ground rather than onto impervious surfaces (concrete and asphalt streets). Could we change culture by education alone? No,and we knew that going into the Project. We planned to "Listen to the residents" to see what their Issues were and what their Priorities were. We prepared a Survey Questionnaire to get this Input and we went further by going to all the Community Neighborhood Association Meetings and listened further to their Issues.

What did we find? We found out that the Input from the 400 completed Questionnaires that Trash was their number one concern and that it was more than Trash,bur Illegal Trash Dumping on Vacant Lots and Buildings within their Neighborhoods. We began to study this and took photos of this Illegal Practice. We were amazed at the amount of this Trash Dumping and that the"crys for help" were often times neglected or treated lightly and with disrespect. We remembered the saying that'"Bad things happen to poor people". They get dumped upon. They are most vulnerable and their voices are not often heard. They needed people to advocate for them. This is a form of Environmental Injustice and should not be tolerated. We needed to correct this in order to get the trust of the residents if we wanted to clean up the Trash in the Harbor. How can we do so?

It was our initial plan to develop the concept of a "landkeeper" who would be the middle person between the residents and the City,but we discovered that the City through the Housing Department had already began an aggressive approach to this Illegal Dumping. We pointed out that this was Great but it could be greatly improved with a few changes. We are planning now to work and tweak this a little to do even a better job. We are very optimistic about rapidly accomplishing our Goal to reduce significantly the Trash going into the Baltimore Harbor.


"Veni,Vidi,Vici" We have found where a major part of the Trash to the Baltimore Harbor is coming from. It is coming from the middle part of the 246 Watershed where their are many Vacant Lots and Vacant Buildings.....and it is coming from Illegal Dumping of the Trash on these sites. We hope to now work close;y with the Housing Department and Department of Public Works to put into place a Plan that will aggressively attack this Problem. If so,we should start to see a significant reduction in the 5 Tons of Trash each month entering the Baltimore Harbor. Ray Bahr MD Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association
Coordinator Harris Creek Watershed Project

Workshop Outcome of the Harris Creek Watershed Feb.20,2010

The Workshop was successful in addressing Trash that was coming from Illegal Dumping on Vacant Lots and in Vacant Houses. Most of this was taking place in the middle part of the Harris Creek Watershed. The Community of 17 Neighborhoods appears to be coming together to be a spokesperson for this injustice. Calling 311,even though considered by the City DPW the procedure to do,just does not seem to be working. This Information was obtained from over 400 Questionnaires completed within the Watershed. It was learned that the City Housing Department has hired a number of Code Enforcement Officers whose job it is to go after Trash Violators. The number of Citations has more than doubled within the last six months. Community Leaders are asking that residents be able to directly work with these Housing Inspectors to get better results in cleaning Trash from our streets. We will attempt to do this at the next Trash Hearings at City Hall under Councilperson James Kraft's direction. This may turn out to be a Win-Win-Win situation. What is very much needed in these Neighborhoods is to restore the Trust that was lost by inaction and abuse over the years. It is the Plan of the Harris Creek Watershed to regain this Trust by action steps that will bring about Environmental Justice. The Community of Neighborhoods will then develop into a strong Watershed Association that can address Trash in all aspects and give Sustainability to the Watershed Project. We are gathering and asssessing the feedback information from the Workshop and shortly will be setting up the second Workshop to be conducted in about six weeks. Stay tuned in! Respectfully,Raymond D.Bahr MD BHWA

Cancelation of the Harris Creek Watershed Workshop Feb.13,2010

Snow.....Snow.....Snow.......and more to come.
The Harris Creek Watershed Workshop scheduled for this Saturday Fe.13 has to be canceled due to the Snow. It is being rescheduled for the following Saturday Feb.20,2010. Despite our excitement about this Conference,we could not ignore the obvious. People would put themselves at Risk,and this we did not want to chance this. We are planning to have it at St.Anthony's Hall at St Casimir's Church,but we need to confirm this. Stay tuned and if you have Questions,call me at 410-534-7655 or e-mail me at RDB60@aol.com.
We are excited because of the possible of New Initiatives that would include (1) a Landkeeper position who would work with City Housing to reduce trash violations and do Justice to these Neighborhoods (2) Hoop Greenhouse Farming that could make fresh produce available all year round at the City Schools and provide Education,Environment intoduction and "Green"jobs. This would enhance Proper Nutrition and help to offset Childhood Obesity and Adult onset Diabetes. (3) adoption of the "Humane Metropolis Baltimore" Initiative as advanced by Parks and People Foundation. (4) Facilitating the Community of 17 Neighborhoods in coming together with a StormWater Plan for the Harris Creek Watershed. Thus,You can see why we are Excited to have this Workshop. Respectfully,Raymond D.Bahr MD BHWA

Workshop for the Harris Creek Watershed (246) Project

The First Workshop for the Harris Creek Watershed Stormwater Project will take place Saturday February 13 from 9 AM to 1 PM at St.Anthony's Hall in Casinmir's Parish on the corner of O'Donnell and Kenwood Ave. Come, share in the excitement of this Project that is aimed at cleaning up City streets and preventing Trash from going into the Baltimore Harbor. This has been a "listening project" for us in that we discovered that years of abuse and illegal dumping on vacant lots had eroded the trust residents had for the City. It became obvious that we could not just push the Trash Problem unless we undertook the task to understand the injustice issues confronting residents in the Harris Creek Watershed. We could only build real Community by promoting Justice. On february 13,we (the BHWA) will be discussing our Mission,our Strategy and our Plans that will enable us to make this a Win-Win-Win situation for all concerned. Join us as we tackle the issues that divide us so that we can identify the concerns that bring us together. Success here will have us wind up with a Cleaner City and a Cleaner Baltimore Harbor. Raymond D.Bahr MD Harris Creek Coordinator BHWA 2/3/10

Neighborhoods in the Harris Creek Watershed

The Harris Creek Watershed consists of two Parks,Clifton Park and Patterson Park as well as 16 Neighborhoods. These are as follows,

Darley Park

South Clifton Park

Four by Four

Oliver

Broadway East

Berea

Biddle Street

Middle East

Milton-Montford

Madison Eastend

McElderry Park

Patterson Place

Butchers Hill

Baltimore Linwood

Canton

Ellwood Park/Monument


These Neighborhoods will be visited by Phillip Stafford (Parks and People Foundation) and Ray Bahr (BHWA) in the month of January 2010. Input from the Survey Questionnaires will be obtained. 2-4 Stakeholders from these Neighborhoods will be asked to attend our First Workshop to be held Saturday February 13 9-12 at St.Casimir's Hall in Canton.

Ray Bahr BHWA

Completing the First Leg of the Harris Creek Watershed Project

The Strategy from the beginning for the Stormwater Project in the Harris Creek Watershed was to not only educate the residents about Trash and Pollution and the implementation of Best Management Practices,but also to deeply engage the residents by identifing Issues that were more of a concern to them.Many of these Issues had to do with Environmental Injustice. An example here is the pollution of a stormwater drain located at the Baltimore Recycling Plant. This Business recieves the demolition material from the houses being torn down North of Johns Hopkins to make way for new development. MDE was notified and after inspection,found the Plant to be in Violation and as a result now requires certain conditions to be carried out while undergoing periodic inspection. The Community Associations in the 17 Neighborhoods in the Harris Creek Watershed noticed this accomplishment. The more deeply the Project gets involved like this,the more chance we have of giving Sustainabilty to the Project.

The Masterplan continues.............We worked with the Environmental Justice Partnership at Johns Hoplkins to set up the Watershed Project at the Community Outreach Stand at the Northeast Market, both in November and December and were successful in obtaining more than 100 completed Questionnaires on the Harris Creek Watershed. Incidentally,this was the exact Questionnaire given out by the DPW at the recent educational conference at the Rowing Club. We are trying to see if we can add the DPW completed ones to our numbers. The next step is to present what we are doing in the Watershed Project to all of the 17 Community Asssociation Meetings in January. We plan to get more Community Input through handing out and completing the Watershed Questionnaire. At these meetings,we will try and identify Stakeholders that will come to our First Workshop scheduled for Saturday Feb.13,2010 at St.Casimir's in Canton. The Center for Watershed Protection will be responsible for setting up the Program Agenda for this Meeting. The Parks nd People Foundation will gather up all the Questionnaires (hopefully 600-800) and subject them to Analysis for Presentation at the Workshop. The Department of Public Works will be asked to participate as a Partner. This is being coordinated by the Batimore Harbor Watershed Association.

This Workshop,as well as several others to follow will enable us to write a Stormwater Plan for the Harris Creek Watershed and will thus complete the First Leg of the Journey to reduce significantly Trash and Pollution coming out of the Harris Creek Outflow Drain located on Boston Steet next to the Anchorage Towers. Presently,we are collecting 5 Tons of Trash each month. If we are successful here,we can take this Model around to the other 26 Outlets in the Baltimore Harbor and one day see a Healthy and Clean Harbor that is fishable and Swimmable.

We are proud that the BHWA is in sight of seeing the First Leg of the Harris Creek Watershed Stormwater Project completed. Thanks to Phillip Stafford from Parks and People Foundation and Donna Kirsh from the Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association for contributing so much to make this dream possible. Raymond D.Bahr MD Coordinator of the Harris Creek Watershed Project.