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?  

              


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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