SoBoBlog: News, rumors and oddments by and for the people of South Baltimore
by Colleen Wolfe
soboblog@baltimoreguide.com
I have to admit that I have been having a good streak dealing with public servants lately. So much so, that I recently had to stop and make sure I wasn’t in some bizarre episode of the Twilight Zone.
From the clerk at the EZPass office who answered all my questions with a smile to a worker at Animal Control who was able to point me in the right direction concerning a question I had to the woman who answered the jury duty phone number at District Court, to a woman at the Health Department who helped me track down someone who could answer a question, I’ve had great experiences with our public employees recently.
To top that all off, I couldn’t believe it the first time I saw it. I had to pass by a few times before I could confirm that lo and behold, the City of Baltimore finally repaved Hanover Street. Last winter I wrote about the horrible conditions on Hanover which only got worse after the city had to do tear up the street in order to do some water main repairs. The work, albeit necessary, left Hanover between Montgomery and West streets looking like a detonated mine field. After the street was ripped up for several blocks and then patched back together like an old quilt I thought for sure that we’d never see the street repaved—but hooray, the city has come through.
Now something on the South Baltimore artistic front: inspired by maps from the current Walters Art Museum’s exhibit, “Maps: Finding Our Place in the World,” Art on Purpose held artistic map-making workshops last fall with youth and adults from 23 Baltimore neighborhoods. Now you can see these masterpieces on exhibit at School 33 Art Center, 1427 Light Street. “Maps on Purpose: The Big Picture” runs May 8 to June 14. Numerous maps, drawings, photographs, and preliminary sketches from the workshops are brought together at School 33 Art Center for the show—the only time something from each and every participating neighborhood will be exhibited in one place at the same time.
Art on Purpose partnered with mostly at-risk Baltimore City neighborhoods to create community-made maps to coincide with the Walters exhibit. In a series of workshops, residents map such things as: neighborhood treasures, how people travel within their community, what people are doing to improve their neighborhoods, and other topics. Maps on Purpose workshops took place in Belair-Edison, Charles Village, Druid Hill Park & surrounding areas, Greenmount West, Hampden, Harlem Park, Hamilton Hills/Lauraville, Highlandtown, McElderry Park, Middle East, Morrell Park, Patterson Park & Patterson Place, Oakenshawe, Oliver, Remington, Sowebo, Sandtown-Winchester, South Baltimore Peninsula, Southern Park Heights, Tuscany-Canterbury, Upton, Waverly, and Westside.
On the business front, Ledo Pizza is now open in the Southside Marketplace. There are booths and tables if you want to eat in and carryout service if you’d rather relax at home with a pie. I was riding by on Sunday evening and the place was doing a brisk business with plenty of booths and tables taken up mostly by families. I’m glad to see the place doing so well right off the bat and that the vacant space left by the former laundromat has been filled.
Federal Hill has a new addition to the neighborhood, and just in time for the warmer weather. Flipsides Footwear is now open at 1137 S. Charles Street where Vineyard Wine and Spirits once did business. As its name infers, Flipsides sells mostly good-quality flip-flops and sandals as well as some other accessories and clothing items for men and women. Now that summer is right around the corner, check it out.
Just a reminder that I am still looking for book titles for my summer reading list column. Send me your recommendations to soboblog@baltimore guide.com. And check out my May 21 column when I reveal the titles you shared with me.
