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?  

              


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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