Alert - Alert - Please take notice

Our neighbors, the 2640 Cooperative reported the following incident to us yesterday.

"Hi all,
Last night (Friday, September 22, 2013) some of the people organizing and attending an event at 2640 encountered a group attempting to rob people in the area of the builsing (2540 St. Paul Street).  I was inside closing down and didn't know about it until one of the organizaers, Ken, called me today (Saturday).  He said it was a group of 8, and described them as teens wearing ski masks and carrying metal poles.  He said that they chased a man through the neighborhood and, later, a person with a bike.  Ken said that at one point he went over to the group to overhear what they were saying.  He said that they were sending "souts" out to look for people traveling alone, who would then report back to the group, and the group would go try to rob the person.  Ken also called the police at some point and asked them to send a patrol over to discourage them, and he said after that a car came and was driving around the area.  Apparently this was going on around the time of the end of the event, 10 pm.

Please take care and give folks you know in the CV area a heads up.
Thanks,
Tiffany"

On another note, we have been noticing this week that we had two police cars sitting at the intersection of the unit block of east 26th Street and Lovegrove with their lights flashing for about an hour each night around 5 pm.  Apparently it would appear that there has been similar crimes taking place which would warrant the police to be summoned and this brings to mind an issue of the Off-duty Police service that is supposed to be in place during the weekend.  Our neighbors are getting greatly concerned about the fact that there appears to be yet another crime wave going on and the neighborhood is not being advised at all of these activities so that they can better protect themselves.   A bank robbery attempt took place at the M&T Bank yesterday at 10:30 am.  At one time the neighborhood which experienced a crime issue would receive some sort of notification by written notices so that all could be advised.  This notification went out to those who don't have computers and are not on facebook, twitter or anyother electronic medium.

Removal of a CVCBD Board Member is never "without cause"

The following is by another voice from Charles Village – Pamela Wilson

Because it is a governmental entity that is supported by a surtax and is not a community association or a corporation, the Charles Village Community Benefits District's Board of Directors must present its bylaw changes to the Board of Estimates for approval as is required by the enabling legislation.  One of the egregious changes to the bylaws in 2011 was the section adding the ability to remove a board member "without cause".  Since that time new board members have been uncomfortable with this and recently attempted to have the board's power to remove any member "without cause" deleted from the bylaws.

If you think about it rationally, there can never be a removal of a board member "without" a cause.  There must be a "cause" behind why anyone would propose to remove another board member.  A "without cause" removal seeks only to hide the cause.

Think of a scenario where a board member or a committee proposes to the board membership that Mary Smith or John Alden be removed from their seat on the board "without cause".  What would the rest of the board think?  Is it "How embarrassing? What did she/he do?"  Is it "Maybe they'll pick on me next?"  "Maybe I'd better not say anything."  "Maybe I'd better vote on anything the Executive Committee puts forth, even if I believe my constituents or my organization objects to it." 

It is my opinion this exposes the board to a greater risk of a law suit than would be if someone were to be removed "with cause".  If someone is removed "with cause" the reason would be stated publicly and would be based on a sufficiently serious issue, such as the person is found to be ineligible to fill a seat under the City's law, or the person has committed an act that is either criminal or so vile as to warrant removal such as harassment or threatening other community members.  The board member would then have the opportunity to exonerate him/herself by way of publicly arguing against the complaint/reason for the removal.  Should the person then sue the CVCBD board for his/her removal, the board would be able to defend itself in court and should be covered by its insurance since it acted in good faith in removing the individual. 

If someone is removed from the board "without cause", it must mean that the board members voting for this removal are doing so for a reason that they do not wish to publicly acknowledge.  This would be unfair to the entire Board membership.

While the bylaws state that "A Board member may be removed without cause by a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the voting Board members.  Such Board member and the association, organization or officials, if any, that appointed the Board member, shall be given no less than ten days' notice of the meeting at which his or her removal is to be considered, and shall have the right to appear and speak on his or her behalf", how can they address the issue for the removal if they do not know the "cause" (reason) for the removal? The person removed thusly can sue the board claiming removal because he/she believes the removal was a result of discrimination issues of race, religion, age, sex, disability or other prejudices resulting in the removal.  Then the board will have to acknowledge in court the reason behind the removal and most likely will lose the case, possibly resulting in a substantial fine for discrimination.  Those board members voting for the removal will not even know what the real reason is behind why the member was removed and may be caught in a discrimination or other law suit without realizing what they were supporting in voting to remove the board member.  This is the real danger in such a removal and it is very questionable whether the CVCBD's Officers and Directors Insurance would cover the costs of defending a law suit with a hidden agenda behind a "without cause" removal of a board member.

It would appear that the only reason why a governmental entity, to be run by a board made up of community people, would want to remove or to have the ability to remove another board member WITHOUT CAUSE could only be to exert power over all the board members through intimidation.  This is not what the CVCBD board members want.   Actions by some of the new board members  to have the "without cause" clause in the bylaws removed demonstrates their wish to run the CVCBD properly for the good of the whole community.

NOTICE FOR THE COMMUNITY

For the Charles Village and Old Goucher communities, please note - the following handwritten notice was posted on the window of the empty space at 2438 North Charles Street, across from the Safeway parking lot:

"Notice is hereby given by the Board of Municipal and Zoning that it will hold a Public hearing Tuesday April 2, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 215, City Hill on Appeal No. 2013-72 for a permit to use ground floor of portion known as 2438 N. Charles St. for digital/graphic design, apparel, derma-graphics & Modern art.  On these premises located in a B-2-3 Zoning District."

Please note that "derma-graphics" means Tattoo Parlor. 

Taking care of garbage

The proper disposal of garbage is usually not a topic of discussion amongst most societies, but in that the proper disposal of garbage is instrumental to the health and well being of the people who reside in a neighborhood it should be an issue of great concern.  The proper control of garbage vs. the explosion of the rat population in an urban environment is of paramount importance to any community in this country as without structure and rules, the rat population will rule and cause havoc to the residents of any community.

Members of our community have been working closely with the City of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University and businesses, as well as residents to ensure that garbage set out for collections is accomplished in a professional manner to allow the City and private contractors to pick it up on a regular basis so that not to encourage a further expansion of the rat population and also to create a cleaner city.  If all parties comply with common sense approaches to garbage disposal, our community and hence therefore the City as a whole can be a cleaner place.

There are rules to be followed that are not onerous:

1.  Put your garbage out as indicated in secure garbage cans with lids at the time designated in your community.  If you are a business, lock your dumpster each time you put some product into it.

2.  Don't put out bags of garbage on top of your garbage cans or dumpsters as rats are very creative
and will figure a way to get to it.

3.  When recycling time comes to your community, make sure that the product is tied appropriately to ensure that it doesn't fly around the community.  If the items are put into boxes, then tie them down to ensure that the product doesn't move and create additional filth for the neighborhood.

There are many more rules which can be obtained from the City of Baltimore that will help you make this city a cleaner and healthier place to live, work and play in, but simply just following these three simple steps will also help in creating a better place to live.

Due to the efforts of Mr. John Houston, a resident of Charles Village, our City Council Representative, City Services, JHU and businesses within this community we have made significant strides in creating a cleaner community, that will help eliminate some of the rat population and create a cleaner environment.  This does not mean that we can stop with our limited success at the present time, but continue to move forward following very simple rules to ensure that the community is cleaner.  Thank you John for keeping all of us informed with short descriptions of the issues, along photographic evidence of what you encountered on your walks through the community.

The Charles Villager

 Oh, I love to get my copy of the "Charles Villager" as it gives me an opportunity to keep up with the fairy tales that abound in this community.  This edition, "Winter 2013" is of particular interest to the community as  the CVCA is attempting to get the community interested in appearing at the FY 2013 CVCBD hearing on the proposed new budget in order to "think creatively about new programs you would like to see implemented".  First of all, the date is incorrectly listed as April 9th at 6:30p.m. when the correct date is April 23rd as was just pointed out in an e-mail exchange to the Administrator by a community member and the April 23rd date was confirmed by said Administrator.  It would be helpful to the community if the CVCA would send out a corrected issue.

As for thinking "creatively about new programs you would like to see implemented" by the CVCBD, when the CVCBD was advertised and sold to the community it was first and foremost as a security force and people were warned "You don't want to have another murder in Charles Village, do you?" to urge them to vote to pass the CVCBD's enabling legislation.  They have only recently accomplished some "maintenance services" and we have gone many years with inadequate or non-existent supplemental security services.  What would make anyone think that they could handle any other new program?  When an organization cannot function as it was anticipated to perform by the voters, why should said organization be distracted by some other function that would also be poorly handled and diminish any service presently provided?  I would think that the City which governs its budget would like the CVCBD to accomplish its primary goals rather than embarking on some new set of ideas such as ones that have repeatedly failed in the past. 

On another note, the publication advises that Mr. Hill has requested JHU to provide funding of "$1.5 million per year for 5 years, and is one of the 32 HCPI [Homewood Community Partners Initiative] recommendations that President Daniels accepted in his announcement".  I believe that accepting recommendation does not translate into funding those proposals but only to taking them under consideration. Asking for $1.5 million and actually getting it brings one thing to mind, since when does the CVCBD need an annual commitment of $1.5 million after getting almost $767,000. per year in surtaxes from you and me?  Since when does the CVCBD need $2,267,000 a year to operate a small sanitation crew and two officers employed a few hours over the weekend?  If JHU actually decides to give the CVCBD that $1.5 million funding, then I don't think that we should have to pay this surtax and the $1.5 million from JHU could provide both the sanitation and full 24/7 off-duty policing as promised in selling the CVCBD to the community.

JHU plays an important position in our community and indeed in the State of Maryland, but the CVCBD should not be running to them for additional funding every year.  My belief is still of the opinion that the CVCBD is a failure, has been a failure since inception and has been corrupted continuously by poor management. Lack of support from this community shows this.  When CVCBD calls a meeting, most likely only the few staunch supporters will attend and then the CVCBD reports on those meeting exaggerate the figures of the attendees.  I have been told repeatedly that the CVCBD is constantly looking for supporters and cannot find them in the community, and the reason is simple, no one supports this venture which just places another tax on an already tax burdened community.   And no one wants to spend countless hours on committee after committee and meeting after meeting of what should be a simply-run, truly community governed agency with a paid manager/Administrator as the law calls him/her.

As I said on the first line of this little article, I really love to get my copy of the Charles Villager, as it allows me the opportunity to explain the facts and clear up the misinformation provided to this community by a newsletter that refuses to provide a "Letters to the Editor" column.

Compliance with the NCV PUD - since when????

We received from a neighbor an advice they received from JHU which is copied in its entirety hereunder for your consideration.

We have two questions here:

1.  How can JHU make sure that the new project will be in compliance with the "NCVPUD" (North Charles Village Planned Unit Development), incorrectly described as the "Charles Village PUD" by the author of this announcement when they can't and will not support the NCVPUD compliance now by agreeing to a "Code of Ethics"?  The PUD's are a means of getting the neighborhood closely connected to this new development to agree based on promises to the community that are never followed after the new development takes place. They are unenforceable and no one will comply to what was agreed upon.

2.  The Homewood Community Partnership Initiative is simply another name for a JHU project that gives them the appearance of being community driven, but is totally controlled by the university in this instance. So what benefit is there in stating anything with respect to the Homewood Community Partnership Initiative.  It is saying to the community that we (JHU) want this so we are using JHU to get it.  So who benefits?  JHU And who are the potential losers?  The community.

"From: jmielke3@jhu.edu
Subject: Press Release
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 15:22:20 +0000

Good Morning-

I am pleased to announce that Johns Hopkins University will issue the attached press release today that it has chosen a team headed by the Baltimore and Virginia based Armada Hoffler to develop a mixed-use retail and residential complex with parking garage on university-owned land in the 3200 block of St. Paul Street in Charles Village. 

The Armada Hoffler team was chosen by a committee of trustees and administrators from more than 27 proposals solicited by Johns Hopkins. The final terms of the transaction are subject to approval by the university's board of trustees. The Armada Hoffler team will own the improvements on land that will remain controlled by the university. The developer is responsible for overseeing design, soliciting community input, securing financing, obtaining public approvals and managing the property long term. Key principals of this team include Baltimore’s Michael Beatty of Beatty Development Group LLC and Tony Nero of Armada Hoffler.

  

Beatty was the former president of Harbor East Development Group and has extensive experience with projects in Baltimore.  Jointly with his former company, Beatty and Armada Hoffler constructed over 5.5 million square feet in Baltimore.  Beatty Development is currently working on the redevelopment of Harbor Point in Fells Point, a 2-million- square foot mixed-use project. 

Armada Hoffler's higher education resume comprises a hotel and conference center at Emory University in Atlanta, as well as all of Hampton University’s work over the past 25 years, including the university’s proton therapy institute (a cancer treatment center), the very first in the Mid-Atlantic region.   Additionally, the company has contracted with minority- and women-owned subcontractors and vendors approved by the city of Baltimore for work valued in excess of $150 million. An integral goal for each project is committing to overall quality and excellence as well as providing opportunities for local, small, minority and disadvantaged business enterprises.

Johns Hopkins University will be working with the Armada Hoffler team and area stakeholder on the public process to seek input on the design and program components, which will be complaint with the Charles Village PUD.   This winter, a public meeting will occur to introduce the development team and initiate the public process.   The project is consistent with the recommendation of the Homewood Community Partners Initiative and presents opportunities for greater planning connections to the surrounding community.  Additional details will be forthcoming.

On behalf of the development team and Johns Hopkins University, we look forward to working with you on taking the next step toward creating an exciting and distinctive destination in Charles Village.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you.

Jennifer

______________________________

Jennifer J. Mielke

Director

Office of Community Affairs

Johns Hopkins University"