CCA Public Meeting Minutes 8 20 2019

CCA Public Meeting
Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The meeting started at 6:35PM at the United Evangelical Church. Mark Edelson, President, introduced himself and thanked everyone for coming. Special thanks to the United Evangelical Church for use of their hall tonight. Also thanks to Jasa Kabob and HomeSlyce for the food.

Mark said we have a packed agenda tonight. He always starts the meeting asking if anyone is attending for the first time for whatever reason. There were nine people who introduced themselves and spoke for a few seconds.

Announcements:

O’Donnell Square Park Update – Torbin Green:
Torbin said this takes place on the second Saturday of the month. Volunteers help with weeding, cleaning up and planting for the next season. If anyone is interested, please email outreach@cantoncommunity.org.

Dumpster Days – Amanda Bourgeois
Amanda said she found out the City will do this four times a year. The upcoming dates are Saturday, September 14 and Saturday, November 23. The dumpster is in the rear parking lot of the Broom Factory (3500 Boston Street). She advises getting there early since it becomes full quickly.

CCA/Brewers Hill – Combined Meeting – Canton Collective – Mark
Mark said this is the first of two major meetings that night. It takes place Tuesday, August 27, at 6PM at Mobtown Brewing Company (4015 Foster Avenue). Canton Collective is a major development across from Canton Crossing. It will be a mixed-use area with green space. Also Rails to Trails is involved. This meeting will have Department of Transportation (DOT), developers and City officials in attendance. This is a good time for input by Canton residents.

City Council President’s Legislative Town Hall – Mark:
This is City Council President Brandon Scott’s meeting to be held at the SE Anchor Library on the same night. He is hosting a number of town halls for community input.

Light Night Canton – Amanda:
This is taking place Saturday, November 9 from 5:30-10PM. Amanda, Torbin and Julie Kichline are working on this. This is the second year in O’Donnell Square Park (the first year it was at Dypski Park). It is in conjunction with the week-long City event. It is very family friendly. It is a partnership with the CCA with checks being made payable to the CCA. Money goes to the parks in the area.

Restaurants are involved. Amanda asked that if anyone knows of any major fundraiser for this event to let her know. Volunteers are needed. Ideas are welcome. She said the library might get involved and mentioned a possible book sale.

Presentations:

Public Safety - SE District Police Department – Joe Koehler:
The COP (Citizens on Patrol) walk will be this Thursday, August 22 starting at Southern Provisions at 7PM. If it rains, the group can go inside and go over available data. Joe also reported that the monthly CCA Public Safety meeting is not meeting. However, it has been combined with the SE Task Force on Safety run by Councilman Zeke Cohen’s office.

Joe went over some recent crime data summaries which is mostly larceny. He urged folks not to leave things in their cars and please lock house and car doors. He also suggested having packages shipped somewhere other than their homes.

CCA Public Meeting

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

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Public Safety - SE District Police Department – Joe Koehler:
Joe introduced Sgt. Chris Merino/Officer Jake Quase. They spoke about micro-policing where resources are sent to areas where the most crime is happening. Sgt. Merino said there is not a lot going on here in Canton. There is an overtime unit here: 7A-3P, 3-11P and overnight.

They reminded us to please lock all doors and to please not leave guns in cars – even if going hunting early one morning, they shouldn’t be left in cars at night. Any videos of crime can be uploaded to Facebook. However, please call 911 first. There were a few questions. The suspect in the carjacking on 722 Clinton Street has been arrested. Also, the rape suspect from Elliott Street has been arrested.

Maryland Insurance Administration – Kejuana Walton:
Kejuana put a lot of information on the table. She talked about getting flood insurance even if not in a flood area. She advised people to go over their current policies regarding “Actual Cash Value” and “Replacement Cost”. Insurance is based on the cost to rebuild. She also advised not over insuring, knowing your deductibles and looking at bundling as opposed to not bundling.

She also mentioned the Move It program for cars involved in an accident. When possible, the car should be moved. The Maryland State Highway Administration has information.

Food and Water Watch – Rebecca Mark:
Rebecca spoke about the 50 groups that are helping people to have affordable water bills saying some pay 3% of their income or more. The Water Accountability and Equity Act was introduced by Mayor Jack Young to help with the water issues here. They want to work with the Department of Public Works (DPW) and would have a liaison to help with these issues. Rebecca put information out urging people to contact City Council members. She is asking the CCA to support this. This will be discussed at City Council President Brandon Scott’s meeting. Their website is foodandwaterwatch.org.

Clean Water Action – Emily:
Emily works on policies saying Baltimore is under a Consent Decree with the EPA and MDE to repair and improve our sewage system. She urges people to call 311 to report backups. Their website is cleanwateraction.org/md.

Julie Community Center – Tray Smith:
Mark introduced Tray as being very exciting. Tray wants his group to get involved here as well as Greektown and Highlandtown.

Creative Alliance:
They are working on a very exciting project at 3137 Eastern Avenue across from the Creative Alliance. This will be a 2-2 ½ story building with a dance studio and art space. The present building will be knocked down with a fence around it while construction is being done. They hope to start in the summer of 2020. They hope to raise a total of $5M. Their 25th anniversary is in 2020. They are looking for creative people.

VOLO City Kids Foundation – Nayla Bautista, Floyd and Jen:
Nayla, Executive Director, thanked the CCA for inviting her group. They teach kids various sports and also provide snacks on Saturday mornings. They have many volunteers. VOLO is very open to partnerships. If anyone knows of any kids wanting to participate, please let them know. She feels this is a good way to bring down crime. Their site is volocityfoundation.org.

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Tuesday, August 20, 2019

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Doors Open Baltimore – Tiffany James, Event Planner:
Tiffany thanked the CCA for being able to attend tonight. This is a two-day festival October 5 and 6 in partnership with AIA giving access to the wealth of architecture here - 50+ places. It is free. Some of the places are Mt. Vernon and Penn Avenue among others. It features unseen areas of Baltimore. There is a happy hour for volunteers on Thursday, Sept. 5 at Mt. Vernon Marketplace. There were a couple of questions. It was recommended to look at the map first and decide where to visit.There is no shuttle bus. The website is doorsopenbaltimore.org. Information for this and Baltimore National Heritage Area (explorebaltimore.org/grants) was left at the table.

Candidate for Mayor – Thiru Vignarajah:
The Mayoral election is the same as the Presidential one in 2020. Mark introduced Thiru who is running for Mayor. He spoke on his background saying his family came here in 1970 and the City gave them a chance. He has devoted his life to public service. He is running for Mayor because he loves the City but feels we are “in a crisis” citing crime, killings, property taxes, schools and corruption. He hopes we check into his story.

There were questions. Someone asked about the possibility of surveillance planes. He said that is a hard question and doesn’t know where City Hall stands on this issue. He does feel it should be considered involving the community. If this is implemented, a list could be published with data from the planes, what was done and the results. Thiru said 80% of murders go unsolved.

He was previously Deputy Attorney General. He is now a litigator. He was proud of his record as a prosecutor.

He knows the police force is at a low level. There were many online applications not screened at one time.

He would like to see what Teaching America did be applied to the police situation.

Thiru said while the gun buy-back program isn’t the answer, he would probably still do it.

Sign-up sheets are being passed around if people are interested in participating in any way with his campaign

Liquor Board Community Liaison – Matt Achammer:
Matt passed out a Presentation on the BLLC – Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore City. The hearings are on Channel 25. His email is matt.achhammer@baltimorecity.gov

Coalition for Humane Hopkins – Sheron:
A report was done on what Hopkins did suing people for unpaid medical bills. She said that although Hopkins can legally do this, patients never received notices. There was a big rally in July. Monthly coalition meetings are being planned

Beautify Baltimore Brunch Club:
This is a group of 15-25 people who go out every other Sunday for about an hour and weed, mulch and clean ablock. You can nominate your block. After stopping home to shower, they meet for brunch.

Homecoming Hero Award – Chris Hallager – not present

CCA
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
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Upcoming CCA & Partner Events:

CCA Happy Hour – Wednesday, August 21 – Raw Bar – 5:30-8PM
Movie Night Canton – Wednesday, August 21 (A Wrinkle in Time) and September 18 (Jurassic World)—8:30PM
COP (Citizens on Patrol) Walks – 3rd Tuesday of the month (different starting points) @7PM This month it is Thursday, August 22
Southeast Police Dept. (CRC) – 1st Monday of the month @7PM (SE District) Meeting Changes - Transportation Committee and Public Safety Committee – now part of Councilman Zeke Cohen’s Task Force Committees
CCA Board Meetings – 1st Wednesday of the month @6:30PM – Broom Factory (No December meeting) –All are welcome
Economic Development Committee (EDC) – 2nd Monday of the month @6:30PM – Broom Factory Marketing Committee – 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6PM
Third Fridays on the Square – September 20 is the last one this year
Next Public Meeting – Tuesday, November 19 @ 6:30PM – doors open at 6PM

The meeting ended at 8:10 PM

Respectfully Submitted,
Denise Aversa