The Garden of Kinetic Delight navigates Fort Avenue during Saturday’s Kinetic Sculpture Race.

Photo by Bill Lear

Our Lady of Fatima Church honored an annual May tradition — the crowning of the statue of the Blessed Mother with flowers. Rebecca Sloman, a eighth grader at OLF, did the honors. On Saturday the parish celebrated another religious tradition, first communion.

Photo by Anna Santana

Councilman Jim Kraft (D-1) didn’t ask for a vote from the crowd of about 200 who had gathered on Thursday night to discuss the possibility of a new use for Canton Middle School.
“Go home and think about it,” said Kraft at the outset of the meeting. “Talk to your families. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Talk to your community associations. Take a vote then. But we won’t be doing that tonight.”
Kraft’s requests for a civil discussion not withstanding, the meeting at United Evangelical Church did begin to turn contentious when Michael Sarbanes, the Baltimore City Public School System’s director of partnerships, communication and community engagement, took the microphone, presenting the case for the ‘transformation schools’ that would be operating in existing facilities beginning next year.
Transformation schools are alternative educational programs designed not only to improve students’ academic performance but to make them better members of the community. Friendship Charter Schools, operating out of Washington, D.C., was the chosen operator for Canton Middle, beginning next year.
That didn’t sit well with many Canton residents, who have long complained about the violent and disruptive behavior of some of the Canton Middle students. The meeting was punctuated by frequent outbursts from various groups of residents, who had been promised the middle school would be closed after the 2008-2009 school year.
Many of the residents, said Sue Thompson, president of the Hampstead Hill Association, had participated in the Facility Solutions program, and had believed the city’s promise that the school would be closed.
“It all goes back to trust,” said Sue Thompson of the Hampstead Hill Association. “That’s what I got out of this meeting. They’re tired of hearing it and they’re tired of what’s happening. And now they feel like the school system broke its promise to them and never asked them what they thought.”
Sarbanes later noted that some aspects of the Facility Solutions program had not worked out, including decisions regarding conversion of several elementary schools to PreK-8 schools. The situation with Canton, however, is the only one causing community tension, he said.
Sarbanes admitted that “the community has a right to expect decent behavior on the part of students who are on their way to and from school,” a statement community members applauded. There was equal acceptance of his statement that students were not being educated well and deserved better. But when he described the fact that Canton Middle had been chosen because it was a facility that was “of a decent enough shape and size,” the grumbling started again.
“So we’re not important, but the building is?” yelled one man.
“I respect the skepticism,” said Sarbanes the next day. “You have to. It’s natural. And I’m very, very sympathetic.”
Would it have been preferable to have more time to talk to Canton in advance about the upcoming reuse of the school?
“If there had been more time, sure,” said Sarbanes. “And in the idea world, there would be loads and loads of time to discuss this.”
On the other hand, he noted, it was in the best interests of the students to move forward with the establishment of a new and better educational system, one that would be in place by the fall.
Representatives from Friendship Charter School presented their case, describing the culture, curriculum and philosophy of their school. Many parents and community members were interested and enthusiastic. Others displayed doubt and vehement objection.
When the community members were allowed to take the microphone, a line quickly formed down one side of the church. Students, parents and community members — all expressing a variety of opinions — got up to speak.
Some were shouted at by those who disagreed. Some were cheered on. All, however, got their turn to speak at the meeting, which did not break up until after 9 p.m.
“There is no reason to give up on the kids,” said Carla Walker, a parent in favor of the new school. Walker expressed anger at those who, she believed, wanted to identify all the Canton Middle students as troublemakers. “With so many kids bunched up in one room and not getting an adequate education as it is, that’s not fair. Don’t give up on them. You can’t just give up.” She shrugged, sent one fulminating look at the crowd and returned to her seat.
Monica Collins, a Canton resident, told of being intimidated and yelled at by middle school students, who received no discipline in return.
“I’ll be out walking my dog, and they’re yelling the most vile things and doing the worst things. I’ll go inside, talk to the principal, point out the child who was doing it, say ‘That’s the girl,’ and I get told, ‘Oh, she’s already in trouble.’ But nothing happens to her. Nothing ever happens.’”
Friendship personnel spoke on the importance of making students take ownership for their action, and for becoming part of the community at large, and many in attendance nodded their agreement. But when told that existing Canton students would be eligible to re-enroll in their school, and that the Baltimore City Public School System would be in charge of student selection and lotteries, the grumbling exploded into outright shouting.
“You’re coming in at a crisis point” said Sue Thompson to the Friendship officials when order was restored. “You have teens attacking the elderly, attacking teens, attacking children and young women. They’re chasing people with sticks and rocks and bats.” And, she noted, if charter schools are the answer, “then that’s where you need to go.”
According to Sarbanes, although students could be admitted to and enrolled in a Friendship School, and although the administration will work with them carefully and thoroughly, students who refuse to work within the system can be expelled and sent to whatever middle or high school they would have been attending otherwise.
“They don’t mess around,” said Sarbanes.
Sarbanes said that city school system and Friendship officials would be making the rounds of community association meetings in order to discuss the situation further. He also spoke of putting together a bus trip that would allow community members and parents of prospective students to visit one of the Friendship schools in Washington.
Sarbanes said that while he understands that the Canton community has suffered at the hands of misbehaving students, he takes exception “to the notion that children do not respond to their environment — that’s just wrong. Anyone who is the parent of a child knows that. People are saying that because the behavior hasn’t been good, it can never be good. That’s just not true.”
Sue Thompson wants what is best for the community. “I’m all for the children,” she admitted after the meeting. “I’ll always stand up for them.”
But she added, the city owes Canton a better explanation by far than the fact that it has a building in good enough shape to use immediately.

There are very few things that are as essential to the flavor of Baltimore as painted screens. Formstone comes to mind, and so do tire planters and lemon sticks—things that exemplify our city’s spirit of taking what you have and making it into something you can use. No matter how odd the finished product may be, it serves its unintended purpose.
Painted screens were developed in the nineteen-teens for two purposes, ventilation and privacy. In those days before air conditioning, and in most working class houses, electric fans, people left their windows open and their shades up to catch a breeze. The problem was, that meant any passerby could see into the house. But if you painted the screen, the sunlight hitting the screen would render it nearly opaque, and the residents could enjoy both a breeze and a small degree of privacy.
At night, though, best to pull the shades. When lit from behind, for instance by the lamps in the house, painted screens are almost perfectly transparent.

CLEARLY AN ART FORM-Elaine Eff poses with the painted screen door of a local business. The art of screen painting, as well as wood graining, will be showcased in “Rowhouse Rembrandts,” to be held this weekend at the American Visionary Art Museum.

Photo by Mary Helen Sprecher

A couple of uniquely Baltimore cultural institutions—the American Visionary Arts Museum and the Creative Alliance—are collaborating on “Rowhouse Rembrandts: Celebrating Screen Painters and Urban Arts in Baltimore” this weekend, a celebration of painted screens, the people who paint them, and the diehards who display them on their houses.
AVAM kicks off the weekend with “Party with the Screen Painters,” a with an auction of Wire Guys sculpture and polka music by Joy of Maryland. The party starts at 7 p.m. Friday, May 9, at the museum, 800 Key Highway.
On Saturday morning there is a Screen Paint-a-thon in Federal Hill, led by avant-garde screen painter Monica Broere. Broere has been painting screens for at least 15 years now, and her subject matter is untraditional—instead of the usual cottage with a red tiled roof and swans on the pond, she might do tap-dancing flamingoes, for instance.
From 10 a.m.-4 p.m., the action moves in and around the museum. Tom Lipka and Dee Herget, the old masters of traditional screen painting, will give classes. (The classes cost $20—sign up by calling 410-244-1900, ext. 238.)
Lipka and Herget are two of the subjects of Elaine Eff’s documentary “The Screen Painters,” released in 1988, and Herget is featured in “How to Paint a Baltimore Screen,” Eff’s companion piece to “The Screen Painters.” Herget and Lipka have given master classes at senior centers and libraries all over town in an attempt to keep the art alive in an era of air conditioning.
Also at the Visionary, there will be demonstrations of wood graining, tire planter-making, and other Baltimore arts, and conversations with neighborhood folk. To see the art of wood graining, stop by the circulation desk at the Southeast Anchor Library in Highlandtown—above the desk are four screen paintings by William Oktavec, hung in wood-grained frames.
The celebration shifts to the Creative Alliance in Highlandtown Saturday evening with a tribute to Johnny Eck and a screening of “Freaks,” a 1932 horror movie about sideshow performers that features him.
Eck was born in Baltimore in 1911 without the bottom half of his torso, and lived for nearly all his life with his twin brother Robert, who was not deformed. Eck was a screen painter, a sideshow performer, sidewalk preacher and actor, and, with Robert, part of a magician’s sawing-in-half trick. In “Freaks,” Eck plays the Half Boy.
Johnny Eck is also featured in “The Screen Painters. He died in 1991.
Tickets to the movie are $6; tickets to the exhibit and magic show are $11 CA members, $13 others. Call 410-276-1651 or visit www.creativealliance.org for tickets and info.
On Sunday, May 11, there will be a Rowhouse Rembrandts exhibit at the Captains Hotel, 1631 Aliceanna Street in Fells Point, sponsored by the Preservation Society as part of the Historic Harbor House Tour. Tickets to the tour are $15 advance/$18 day of the tour, and are available through the society at 410-675-6750 or www.preservationsociety.org.

The Friends of the Canton branch of the library and the Friends of the Southeast Anchor Library joined forces on Saturday for their used book sale, raising $1,013.50 for the two libraries. Looking for some more books at great prices? There is a used book sale sponsored by Friends of the Light Street Branch at the Light Street Branch, 1251 Light Street, noon-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 8. The sale continues on Friday, May 9, noon-4:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 10, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Photo by Jacqueline Watts

It’s not the Golden Fences.
Tim Almaguer, executive director of the Friends of Patterson Park, wants to get that straight right away. This weekend’s exhibit, “Park Life/City Movement,” isn’t going to shut out anyone, unlike the recent project in the Mt. Vernon area of the city.
“(The exhibit in Patterson Park) is going to be the coolest thing ever,” enthuses Almaguer. “It is a cross between the Christo ‘Gates’ project in Central Park NYC and Andy Goldsworthy outdoor art - very neato stuff. It will bring many people to the park and really engage people.”
Th art project will not interfere with park use, he promises, and it will not obstruct views.
“Actually,” he notes, “it will be very beautiful and illuminating. “
This exhibition, which will be on display in Patterson Park on Saturday and Sunday, is part of the effort to raise awareness for the TreeBaltimore program as well as reinforce the importance of the tree canopy, city parks and green spaces. It is designed and created by Gensler Architects.
The primary elements are a meandering line of 3-foot wide red burlap ribbon running from the southwest park corner to the northwest park corner, a series of clusters of 2”x2”x6’ tree stake points running from the northwest park corner to the southeast park corner, and an area of sod landforms in a central event space where these two lines converge just north of the Boat Lake.
Family-friendly activities will be offered adjacent to the central event space on Saturday from noon-4 p.m. All parts of Patterson Park remain open and accessible for regular park use. The exhibit itself is free and open to the public as well.
According to Almaguer, volunteers will be needed to work in shifts to assist with set-up, breakdown and for keeping events running smootly. On May 8 and 9, volunteers can help with installation, and on May 12, can help with dismantling all pieces.
Volunteers are also needed on May 10 throughout the day for setting up, running, and taking down the tents, booths, etc. that will be used for the family-friendly event.
According to Almaguer, while the event is new to Baltimore, it is not the first time it has been offered.
“Similar events have occurred in New York City and Portland, Oregon,” he said. “This will bring positive exposure to Patterson Park and show that we are pretty hip.”
To volunteer for the event, or to get more information, send e-mail to volunteerplcm@gmail.com. Other information on the project is available by going to bmore-urbanforestproject.org, or by calling 410-467-4513.

The words ‘fuel spill’ are usually used to describe the cause of a traffic jam. Last week, however, those same words were the reason for haz-mat activity in — Patterson Park?
According to Kia McLeod, public information officer for Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, the problem started in the maintenance shed on the property. An aging waste oil storage tank developed a leak over the previous weekend, which resulted in oil flowing through the storm drain and contaminating “about a third of an acre of parkland.”
When maintenance personnel arrived at the shed on Monday morning and discovered the leak, McLeod said, they alerted city personnel.
“(The Maryland Department of the Environment), the Baltimore Fire Department and HAZ-MAT have been working with park staff to clean that area,” she noted. “They found no further contamination.”
The area affected by the oil spill, she noted, was confined to the land around the shed.
“It did not reach the boat lake or any other areas.”

Happy birthday, Mimi.
The Mimi diPietro Family Skating Center turns 40 in December, and Patterson Park would like to give it a party. Recreation programmer Mark Burke is asking anyone with photos of activities at the Mimi — ice skating, doll shows, broom ball — anything — to be a part of a display celebrating four decades.

WHAT A DOLL-The Patterson Park Doll Show, a tradition for six decades, is one of the events held annually at the Mimi. In this archival photo from 1946, Susan Slowikowski won the Best Animal category with dolls handmade by her mother.

Photo courtesy of Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks

All photos will be copied and returned to owners in a timely fashion.
The Mimi’s official birthday is December 6, according to Burke, who is hoping for a good turnout of photos.
Have photos? Contact Mark Burke at 410-396-9392, 410-869-2978 or Mark.Burke@baltimorecity.gov.

How do you get to La Scala? Practice, practice, practice!
Or, if it’s the restaurant of that name that you want, head east from the Inner Harbor on Eastern Avenue, and look to your left.
I’ve never been to the famed opera house in Milan, but I recently had dinner at the namesake restaurant in Little Italy, and (to continue the musical metaphor) while our meal had a pleasant tenor, there were few high notes.
Diners enter La Scala by climbing a curving flight of redbrick steps—“la scala” means “the staircase”—into a dining room that is unremarkable except for one thing: a recessed indoor bocce court! If you like sports with your dinner, this is a lot more fun than watching baseball at the bar.
Our waiter, a real pro, arrived quickly with menus. Very promising menus, too, packed with dishes far more interesting that the usual red-sauced fare. Polenta alla Griglia ($8.95), for instance, sauced with cognac, pancetta, and porcini mushrooms. A good polenta is delicious even served plain, and this combination sounded heavenly. However, the polenta, served in curiously flat, uniform slabs, had no flavor whatsoever, and the sauce, although good with the crusty house loaf, didn’t have the expected “wow” factor.
My companion’s Funghi Abbruzzese ($6.95) was spunkier: chopped fresh mushrooms in a warm olive-oil bath flavored with garlic, basil and rosemary and blanketed with lots and lots of melted mozzarella. It resembled a French onion soup, and was almost impossible to eat neatly, but the flavors connected.
Not so, unfortunately, her Pollo alla Scala ($20.95). The portion was dauntingly large – two huge chicken breasts – but not tasty enough to make this an asset. The poached breasts were near-tasteless, and the white wine sauce, even with its additions of artichoke heart pieces and lump crab, contributed little. The whole concoction both looked and tasted, well, beige.
I was tempted by the veal dishes, which are given a lot of space on the menu and are reportedly chef Nino Germano’s specialty. But after hearing altogether too much on the subject from PETA and my vegetarian daughter, I’ve given veal a pass for a while. Instead, I chose a special, bronzino ($29.95), served whole and simply cooked with olive oil, lemon and herbs. (The waiter will fillet and butterfly the fish at tableside, if you wish, but you’ll still have to watch out for the random bone.) Delicate yet flavorful, and very moist, it was a savory success.
The entrees are served with a side of penne with marinara; nice, but I would have liked something green to offset our rather monochromatic dinner.
For dessert we chose profiteroles ($7.95), cream puffs lavished with pudding-like chocolate sauce, and homemade tiramisu. We liked the tiramisu just fine, but I am old enough to be shocked at a price tag of $8.95 for a piece of cake. Still, if you have a sweet tooth, you have good reason to sing this restaurant’s praises.

La Scala
Location: 1012 Eastern Ave.
Hours: Open 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.,
4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.,
2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sun.
Phone: 410-783-9209
Our dinner for two: $91.64

The Latest Dish…
With spring comes the return of Baltimore’s downtown Farmers’ Market…as well as the Sunday Farmer’s Market Menu at Corks, 1026 S. Charles St. The wine-friendly Federal Hill restaurant’s chefs will be combing the market for the finest seasonal ingredients, which they will work into a multi-course menu. The offerings will change weekly, but have a look at this sample menu: black bean and speckled butter bean soup with applewood smoked bacon and fried oyster mushroom garnish; heirloom tomato salad with fresh purple basil, Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese and Tuscan olive oil; saffron-poached scallop with white baba ganouj and tarragon foam; grilled flank steak with white sweet potatoes, sautéed Osaka mustard green and black truffle beurre blanc, and apple and Asian pear blinis with apple compote and wildflower honey. The Market Menu will be served Sundays through December –including Mother’s Day! – and costs $30. For reservations, call 410-752-3810.

Kate Gleason and Cheryl Lynn Bowers play factory girls in “These Shining Lives” at Centerstage.

Photo by Richard Anderson; courtesy Centerstage

Melanie Marnich’s attempt to dramatize the sorry story of women who took factory jobs during the 1920s painting radium dials on watches is short and to the point, but never manages to stir the audience to much other than a shrug. It’s as if Marnich aimed at simplicity, missed and hit “simplistic” instead.
Director David Schweizer does what he can, moving things along efficiently like a factory line, stopping the line ever so briefly for the Important Moments.
Four actresses—Cheryl Lynn Bowers, Kate Gleason, Kelly McAndrew and Emma Joan Roberts—carry the production and wring what they can from thin material.
“These Shining Lives” is the story of Catherine Donohue (Roberts), a woman with a perfect husband who has roving hands and enlightened views about women’s work, two perfect and supportive children, and a yen to make a little extra money. She goes to work for the Radium Dial Company in Ottawa, Illinois, painting clock and watch faces for eight cents apiece. She turns out to be very good at it and for a while at least, the job returns the favor, lifting the Donohues into the bleacher seats of the middle class.
Catherine has three coworkers—the Perky One, the Preachy One, and the One with the Snappy Comebacks. There is the Boss, Mr. Reed, and Tom, the aforementioned Perfect Husband, who spends his workday building newfangled skyscrapers in Chicago.
Unfortunately this is about as far as the characterizations go, a situation that is abetted by the costume designer, who dresses the women in flat monochromatic pastels—Charlotte is green and Catherine peach, and Mr. Reed always wears a blue suit; Tom, the Noble Worker, wears brown.
The four women get sick. They find out that Radium Dial Co. knew that radium is poisonous, and behaved as corporations do when they discover a problem—they covered it up.
Catherine becomes the subject of one of the first workers’ compensation class action suits. It turns out that Radium Dial Co. appeals and appeals and appeals all the way to the Supreme Court. Not nice, and radium poisoning is not a good way to go at all.
It is a shameful story that deserves telling, but it has been done better elsewhere than “These Shining Lives.”

A neighbor was asking me last weekend how I felt about having a child and living in the city. Since she asked me this question last Saturday, the answer came even easier than usual. I told her, that while my friends in the suburbs were most likely mowing their lawns and doing other yard chores, I took my daughter to the Flower Mart, where we caught the pet parade and made sculptures at the Clayworks booth and then made tree stump art at the Department of Public Works booth. We took in some music at the foot of the monument and treated ourselves to some funnel cake. As a bonus, on the way over to the event we caught some of AVAM’s Kinetic Sculpture Race.
That was just this weekend. The Farmers’ Market under the Jones Falls also opened on Sunday and the third phase of the Jones Falls bike trail opened on Saturday morning. With all of the great things to do in the city, I have absolutely no qualms about raising a child here.
The opening of the Jones Falls trail kicks off National Bike Month in Baltimore. In recent years, the city has been striving to become more bike-friendly, but with Mayor Sheila Dixon in office, it seems the city’s bikers have an ally on their side. It’s no secret that Mayor Dixon is a fitness enthusiast. But it may surprise people that she also likes to bike to help keep her in shape. Frequently she joins other city employees and bike riders and bikes to work on Fridays as often as she can. She has been a big asset to the biking community in helping to implement the city’s Bicycle Master Plan. Did you even know that Baltimore had a Bicycle Master Plan and a Bicycle Advisory Committee to go along with it?
I didn’t know it either, but it does. I was chatting with Penny Troutner, owner of Light Street Cycles in Federal Hill and she had a wealth of information for me about National Bike Month and what’s going on in Baltimore where bikes and cyclists are concerned.
Biking is a great way to see the city—it’s a clean mode of transportation that doesn’t clog our streets with excessive traffic and take up parking spaces. It’s a great way to make us more physically fit. And more people getting out and riding their bikes can translate into safer streets.
But biking in Baltimore can be hazardous. Navigating the traffic along streets with no bike lanes can be like taking your life into your hands. Many of the storm drain grates are a danger because the wide spacing in the grates makes it too easy for a cyclist to get a tire caught. And there just aren’t enough places to secure your bike around town.
The Committee is trying to change all of that. And some successes have already been seen. The inner Harbor has been opened up to bike traffic Monday through Saturday until 10 p.m. and until 1 a.m. on Sunday. Riding a bike through the Inner Harbor wasn’t allowed at all until Mayor Dixon came into office. That was one of her first changes. Greg Hinchcliffe, the chairmen of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, said “If they can do it on the boardwalk in Ocean City at the height of summer, then why not the Inner Harbor?” Hinchcliffe said that that they would like to open up the Inner Harbor to bikes full time, but that is something that will take a of planning.
There are other initiatives that have taken place recently. Take the opening of phase three of the Jones Falls trail. The newest addition to the trail adds another 2.75 miles of paved road that winds through Druid Hill Park, parts of which had been closed off to the public for years. The trail, which starts at Penn Station, now continues to the Woodberry Light Rail Station, but it’s not completed yet. Eventually, the entire trail will extend 12 miles from the Mount Washington Light Rail station to the Inner Harbor.
The Jones Falls Trail isn’t the only bike trail in the city. We also have the Gwynns Falls Trail that winds through 2,000 acres of land, including one of the largest woodland parks on the east coast, the Gwynns Falls and Leakin parks. The entire Gwynns Falls Trail is about 15 miles and goes all the way out to the I-70 Park and Ride lot.
Both of these trails are the gems of our outdoor spaces. Riding through the Gwynns Falls is like strolling through your own green oasis in the city. And now that the Jones Falls encompasses Druid Hill Park, we have a new way to explore and enjoy our city’s green spaces.
Exploring the two great bike trails we have here isn’t the only way we can celebrate National Bike Month. The City is also participating in Bike to Work Day on May 16. Between 7:00 and 8:30 a.m. on May 16, bicycle commuters in Baltimore will converge at War Memorial Plaza, 100 N. Holliday St., across from City Hall.
The first 225 registrants will receive a free T-shirt and musette bag. The first 500 registrants will receive a Free T-shirt. All participants will also receive an on-the-go snack with coffee and the chance to win bike accessories or the grand prize: a bicycle tour for two on the C&O Canal/Great Allegheny Passage. If you want to register or find out more about Bike to Work Day, go to www.baltometro.org/content/view/258/230/. Register by May 9.
I’d like to say that I’ll be participating in Bike to Work Day, but since I work from home, my commute is just a short stairway ride down to my home office. The next event being held this month is definitely one I have done on occasion: Bike to the Ballpark Day on Sunday, May 18. The Os are playing Washington that day at 1:35 p.m. It’s also Little League Day at Camden Yards. May is a beautiful month to watch an afternoon game, and it’s a beautiful month to get out on your bike as well. Why not combine the two past times into one great afternoon?
My husband and I have biked from our home in Locust Point to the ballpark and it’s a great time. We get in some exercise, a great ride on our bikes, and we don’t have to waste gas or pay for parking. We can sit and enjoy the entire game without having to worry if we should leave early so we can beat the traffic out of the parking lot. Riding a bike to the stadium is hassle-free and enjoyable. There are bike racks right by the Eutaw Street entrance at the north end of the Warehouse next to the ticket windows. And on your way back home you can stop for a bite or a beer without also trying to find a parking spot.
I love what the city is trying to do to make Baltimore a bike-friendly city. My husband and I love riding our bikes, and we ride every chance we get. If you’d like to read the entire Bicycle Master Plan, go to http://www.liveearnplaylearn.com, choose “Publications” from the yellow menu bar and select “bicycle master plan” from the pull-down menu.
Now that spring is in full swing and summer will be here soon, this is a great time to get out and ride. If you are in the market for a bike you should stop by Light Street Cycles, 1015 Light Street, and talk to Penny or anyone on her staff about a good bike for you. If you already have a bike, but it’s a cobweb collector, now would be a good time to take it to Penny for a tune up before getting out on the open road.

Monday, May 12, 9:30 a.m., Trip Talk, free.
10:30 a.m., ¿Spanish, anyone?, free.
10:30 a.m., “Let’s Move It,” free
12:45 a.m., Monday bingo, fee.
Tuesday, May 13, 9:30 a.m., Trip Talk, free.
10 a.m., Nutrition class, free.
12:45 p.m., Conversations with Hilda, free.
Wednesday, May 14, 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Day trip to Atlantic City, center open but no lunch.
Friday, May 16, 10 a.m., Weights with Nina, free.
10:30 a.m., Board games, free.
12:45 p.m., May birthday party.
1 p.m., Friday entertainment, fee.
Upcoming trips:
June 18, Day trip to Atlantic City, $20/person, no rebate.
Sept. 28-Oct. 2, Wildwood, N.J., deposits due.
October 16-25, Eastern Caribbean cruise, accepting registrations now.
Schedule subject to change.

John Booth Senior Center
229-1/2 S. Eaton Street, Highlandtown
410-396-9202

The John Booth Senior Center has a host of programs — aerobics, line dancing, Easy Cardio Moves, Balance and Movement, singing, cards, billiards, Pokeno and bingo, to name a few. Just want to sit and relax? That’s okay, too.
Wednesday, May 7, Members Meeting at 1 p.m. Program: “You Must have been a beautiful ‘Babe.’” Members are asked to bring in a picture of themselves when they were in their late teens and up. Other members will be asked to guess who each one is.
Thursday, May 8, Health & Welfare Thursday: Blood Pressure 10 a.m. Dr. Youngworth, Podiatrist, 10:30 a.m.-noon.
Monday, May 12, The John Booth Entertainers will be performing at the Canton Nursing Home at 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday, May 14, We will celebrate members’ birthdays for the year at 12:30 p.m. with cake and ice cream.
Friday, May 16, Intergenerational Program with North Harford Rec Center at North Harford 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. We will be discussing the book, “Bless Me Ultima.”
Wednesday, May 21, Members’ meeting at 1 p.m.; Program from 1st Mortgage Bank.
Monday, May 26, Center closed for Memorial Day holiday.
Stained Glass Class is held on Thursdays from noon-2 p.m. Call the center for additional information.
All programs and schedules are subject to change. Call first to ask about planned activities. Some activities may require advance reservations or an extra fee.

The Hatton Center
Fait and Linwood avenues, Canton
410-396-9025

Thursday, May 8: One-mile videowalk at 9 a.m., two mile video walk follows; aerobics at 10:30, lunch at 11:30 and computer class at noon. The 12:30 movie is “There Will Be Blood,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis who won the best-actor Oscar for his performance.
Friday, May 9: bingo begins at 12:30 p.m.
Monday, May 12: exercise begins at 9 a.m., cards at 10:30 and Eating Together at 11:30.
Tuesday, May 13: lunch is at 11:30, Internet computer class is at noon and yoga is from 4:45 -9 p.m.
Wednesday, May 14: Health and Fitness is at 10 a.m. The topic is proper disposal of medications. Eating Together is at 11:30.
Are you ready for a manicure? We’re taking appointments for Tuesday morning May 13, so give us a call. The number of slots is limited so it’s first come, first served. The cost is $8.
We’re offering a friends and family CPR class at the Hatton Center on Wednesday, May 21 at 12:30 p.m. Almost 80 percent of cardiac arrests occur at home and are witnessed by a family member. Currently the survival rate of cardiac arrest victims is approximately 6.4 percent. CPR can double a victim’s chance of survival by maintaining vital blood flow to the heart and brain until more advanced care can be given. Sign up and also sign up a friend or family member.
The Hatton book club’s next selection is “Dream When You’re Feeling Blue” by Elizabeth Berg. The discussion is on Wednesday, June 4, at 12:30 p.m. New members are welcome.
Our trip to the Strawberry Festival in Street, Md. is set for Saturday June 14 at a cost of $10. It’s time to make a reservation.
Homeowners (and tenants whose lease requires them to pay their water bills) can apply each year for the Low Income Senior Citizen Water Discount Program. You must be a city resident , be age 65 or older, have a gross household income of $25,000 or less, and in the case of a tenant, provide a lease showing that you are responsible for paying the water bill.
If you qualify you will receive a 30 percent discount on water and sewer rates each quarter. Stop by the Hatton Center to pick up your 2008 senior citizen discount application or call 311.
There’s still time to apply for your Stimulus Rebate—forms are available at the Hatton Center.

May 8, 1958

Eleanore M. Lukowski of Fells Point signed up to run for the Democratic State Central Committee. She was president of the Fells Point Improvement Committee, a member of St. Patrick’s Sodality, a board member and treasurer of Southeast Community Council, president of the ladies’ auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and a member of many other civic groups. “I am not a member of any political organization,” Mrs. Lukowski told The Guide, “but interested only in good clean politics…I believe we should have more women in the political limelight.”
Two girls got sponsorships to Girls State, a week-long training workshop for potential leaders sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. Jannet Giordana, a junior at Patterson Park High School, and Patricia Stefan, a junior at Institute of Notre Dame, were all ready to go to Annapolis the third week of June.
All of the workshops were to be held at the State House. The article was careful to explain that the girls would be chaperoned during their stay at the Carvel Hall Hotel.
East Baltimore was ready to kick off Armed Forces Week with a parade featuring elements from the U.S. Army, Maryland National Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force. Trainees from the Naval Training Center at Bainbridge were to march along with ROTC units, veterans organizations, Red Cross and Civil Defense.
Bands representing the Second Army, Naval Academy, Maryland National Guard, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Army Chemical Center and Bolling Air Force Base were scheduled to march, as was the Second Army Pipe and Drum Corps, clad in kilts. The parade wound its way from Bank and Broadway to Ellwood and Eastern.
Four high school students hooking school led police on a merry chase through Northeast Baltimore before crashing their car into a ditch at Northern and Perring parkways. None of them was hurt, and Patrolman Lawrence A. Tawney rounded them up at pistol-point and took them off to the lockup. Two of the boys attended North Point High School, one Samuel Gompers School and one Middle River High.
A Highlandtown man fell into the Chesapeake Bay off Millers Island while cruising in a new 19-foot outboard motor boat and drowned. The body of Paul Hartman, 55, had not been recovered at press time. His wife, Thelma, dived for him until she was exhausted and had to be pulled from the water.

May 5, 1983

Economic news was bleak 25 years ago. Bethlehem Steel threatened to close the Sparrows Point steel mill within five years unless unions accepted work-rule changes, and the Esskay Company, two years after unions accepted lower wages and rolled back their own work rules announced it would close its hog slaughtering operation anyway, eliminating 130 jobs.
However, the short-of-cash and short-of-breath could earn up to $200 by participating in a study by Johns Hopkins University allergists to test a new drug in the form of a nasal spray.
Gordon Brown, manager of human resources at the Sparrows Point plant, said that Beth Steel should invest in a continuous caster, but without work-rule changes the investment could not be justified. “Without a continuous caster, in five years this plant will be about down and out,” he said, and explained later that he meant “closed.”
United Steelworkers officials said that Brown’s statement was a bargaining ploy. “The last thing we want to see is an unprofitable situation, but we don’t want to be slaughtered by the company,” said Donald Kellner, vice president of United Steelworkers of America Local 2609. “If Bethlehem is going to stay in the steelmaking business, Sparrows Point will be one of its key plants.”
Meanwhile, over at Esskay, company president Joseph Kershaw acknowledged that the 125-year-old company was profitable and producing enough ham, sausage, bacon and frankfurters to recall 57 laid-off workers earlier in the spring, but that hog killing was an unprofitable part of the business and “you can’t make money at it.” Officials of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 27 said they were talking to the company in an effort to turn the hog killing part of the business around.
A Dundalk woman was in critical condition at the University of Maryland Hospital after she was stabbed several times at her desk at work. Investigators said Janet Funk, 28, was working late in the offices of C&P Telephone Co. in the 300 block N. Charles St., when she was stabbed. Police were holding a 21-year-old janitor for questioning.

Mike Dyer, age 7, roars to the crowd during the South Baltimore Little League parade Saturday.

Photo by Bill Lear

What’s the surest way to tell that spring has arrived in the Southeast? The azaleas of Drew Street wake up and burst into bloom.

Photo by Mary Helen Sprecher

Depending on who’s talking, the idea to convert Canton Middle School to a grade 6-12 charter institution is either a brilliant example of adaptive re-use or a sneak attack on a beleaguered neighborhood.
On Tuesday morning, Baltimore Public Schools held a press conference to announce a partnership with the 10-year-old Friendship Public Charter School, an educational system headquartered in Washington, D.C. Under the auspices of the city’s Transformation Schools program, two new academies, known as “Tech Prep” schools, would open in Baltimore in the fall of 2008. The facilities, which would be for grades 6-12, would be called The Friendship Academy of Science and Technology, and The Friendship Academy of Engineering and Technology.
“Yes, there are plans to convert Canton to use as a transformation school operated by Friendship,” confirmed Vanessa Pyatt, public information officer of Baltimore City Public Schools.
Canton Middle School is located at 801 S. Highland Avenue.
“We are excited to announce the launch of two new schools in Baltimore City,” confirms an announcement on the website, www.friendshipschools.org. “These Friendship academies will serve students from sixth to twelfth grade with an accelerated Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) focus and Early College pathway that offers students college exposure and college credits even before high school graduation.”
Trouble is, says City Councilman Jim Kraft (D-1), nobody ever checked to see whether the neighborhood would be equally excited by such an announcement. Residents of the area, who have long complained about disruptive and violent behavior from the current students at Canton Middle, were under the assumption that the school would be closed at the end of the 2009 school year as part of the city’s Facility Solutions program.
Part of his irritation, says Kraft, stemmed from the fact that for all intents and purposes, the school system has tried to pull a fast one on the residents of the area.
“I got a message late Friday night regarding a meeting with parents of students who go to Canton Middle School. The call came in at 7:30 on Friday night and the meeting was supposed to be on Monday night.”
Fortunately, said Kraft, his staff was in the office — although he is suspicious that the caller was hoping that the opposite were true (“since who calls a city office on a Friday night at 7:30 anyway?”)
I told them, ‘Now wait a minute; we have a pledge here from the Board of Education that Canton is supposed to be closing.’”
Over the years, said Kraft, “many of the children who go to that school have terrorized that neighborhood.” He pointed to the necessity of an increased police presence in the area, as well as the need for school police, to help keep order. In fact, he said, residents have continued to put up with the problem because they had been promised that Canton Middle would close as soon as its current grades had been graduated.
“Everyone has been clear that as part of the Facility Solutions program, that school would close,” he noted. “We participated very strongly in the Facility Solutions program in the Southeast, and there was no real objection to closing middle schools and creating K-8 schools. We were all working on the assumption that these closures would happen.”
City school officials, he noted, have now promised that students who are presently enrolled in Canton Middle will have first preference when it comes to being admitted to the new academy.
And that, says Kraft, presents a huge problem for the neighborhood. “Those people who live down there, they can’t go out of their houses between 2 and 3:30.”
Stephany Palasik of the Canton-Highlandtown Community Association (CHICA) agrees, citing instances of fighting, littering and generally disruptive and violent behavior among the students. “Some of the neighbors just stay in,” she notes.
The fact that arrangements seem to have been made without informing the neighborhood, she added, is unforgiveable.
“It is a sneak attack. They already have problems with who can control these kids. Nobody can control them. We can’t have things just pushed on us.”
She would be willing to support a school, she added, were the students disciplined and respectful.
“If they have something that is going to work, that’s great. But if it’s not, we’ll just have the same problems.”
Friendship School’s chief academic officer, Michael Cordell, says that his organization is open to dialogue with the community regarding its concerns.
“We absolutely want to talk to them,” he noted. “We are a community school and we want to address those things.”
In a press release, Baltimore Public School system stated that the concept of transformation schools is “a direct response to unmet needs in the district’s middle and high schools.”
According to the release, six schools will open in the fall; five will be all-new schools, and one will be an existing high school that is adding middle grades. As many as 24 transformation schools could open over the next three to five years. Beginning with grades 6 and 9 and eventually serving grades 6 through 12, transformation schools will be combined middle-high schools that allow students to explore college and career options earlier in the course of their secondary education.
Friendship provides an integrated curriculum for its middle schoolers, says Cordell. It uses team teaching, with one teacher focusing on humanities and another on math and sciences. Together, the teachers work with the students on what he calls “project-based problem-solving,” such as on five-week projects dealing with solving the crisis regarding the need for affordable housing.
“Everything is driven by an essential question,” says Cordell. “It keeps the students engaged and excited.”
Under the Friendship system, teachers work with a maximum courseload of 50 students. In addition, the school works to address areas where students are lacking, such as in reading skills.
The school requires uniforms for all students. Its discipline system, Cordell added, works to address repeat problems, such as students who have been suspended multiple times.
“We educate the whole child. We are student-centered and it gets them excited.”
The Canton Community Association, says president Darryl Jurkiewicz, has adopted a ‘wait and see’ attitude about the situation.
“We’re open to all proposals,” he noted. “On one hand, there’s a good reason to close the school.”
The big question, he added, was where all the ideal students described by Friendship, and by the city school system, going to come from.
“Right now, most of those students are from the neighborhoods north of the park, which isn’t a very good environment. We welcome good schools and good students, but how do you guarantee either when there’s such a bad taste from Canton Middle School? People have been looking forward to it closing.”
In addition, say Kraft and Jurkiewicz, there are already two area schools which already are, or are converting to, preK-grade 8 facilities (Hampstead Hill Academy and Patterson Park Public Charter School), as well as one high school (Patterson). In addition, points out Palasik, Christo Rey, a career and high school academy operates in the old Our Lady of the Rosary building near Fells Point. All three individuals question the need for a new school, particularly one which would serve grades 6-12.
“Grades 6-12 sounds like a really odd age group,” said Jurkiewicz. “Of course, you have to tell people ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ If that school is closed and surplused, it might be sold to someone who will put up luxury apartments that none of us can afford, but that will bring more traffic in and out of our neighborhood.”
Kraft says that despite his reservations, and despite the fact that he feels the school board’s actions have been “surrepititious” in pushing through the new plan without alerting neighbors, he will go along with what the community wants.
“If the community wants this new school, if they say, ‘Jim, that’s fine with us,’ then I’ll support it, but if they don’t want it, I’ll do everything in my power to keep it from happening. Telling us it’s going to close and then just opening another school there with the same students? That’s too cute by half.”
And, he adds, he’s prepared to be just as sneaky as he feels the school system has been, should plans look like they’re moving forward.
“I’ll get eight of my colleagues and we’ll hold the school budget up.”