LPCA General Meeting Minutes - May 13, 2015Preliminaries:

• Pledge of Allegiance• Roll Call of Officers Present: Greg, Ginny, Justin, Laura, Will, Cheryl,

Harry, Monica, John, Matt, Allison• New Neighbor Introductions: Eddie, Sandra (MAIF)• Treasurer Update: $39,221.74; $4,372.18 in Dog Park account.• Membership: 80 members last meeting, 10 new members tonight.

Approval of previous minutes:• April minutes: no changes.• Motion to approve, seconded, passed unanimously.

Committee Reports

Communications/Newsletter: • If you would like to receive our emails, send note to contacts@mylocustpoint.org and like our

page on Facebook for updates. Send any editorial ideas or interest in volunteering on the newsletter - communication@mylocustpoint.org .

• Request to put 2014 year end donations into newsletter.Design Review:• Anthem House (900 E Fort) Groundbreaking - rescheduled for June 3• Latrobe Field House - received letter 2 weeks ago indicating design documents are done but

estimate came in well over budget. Working on reducing cost, expect to be underway in summer. Found millworker to reuse the wood salvaged from the Bath House.

• 1405 Cooksie - lots of applications for permits for renovations/additions. All developers/owners should present plans to LPCA Board in advance of hearing to help avoid any issues.

• Bus Stop in front of 900 E Fort will be returning, but depends on when site is far enough along. Temporarily moved in front of firehouse. Circulator stop temporarily relocated to corner of Key and Lawrence.

• Question: Regarding design of Anthem House, will there be sidewalk from Fort to Key?Not likely. Plans do not include that, but Bozzuto willing to come to future meeting to answer any questions.

• Property Tax Appeals - please see Will if you have any questions on the process.• 1332 Towson St - several properties encroaching, city is now very close to getting settlement

done but is still in litigation. Very confident as of today it will get done.

Dog Park: • First Yappy Hour in 5 years; raised $800. Special thanks to The Unofficial and Michael from

Miguel’s who hosted, offered specials and made a donation. Water feature is finally fixed. dogpark@mylocustpoint.org or locustpointdogpark@yahoo.com with any questions.

Parks & Beautification:• Melvin Stone (Rec Center) - soccer camp for ages 5-12, 6 weeks for 3 nights/week. Come to

rec center to sign up.• April 19 was Ecoweek cleanup; we bagged 1300 lbs of debris off streets, thanks to 50

volunteers including kids from FSK, Under Armor, Domino Sugar, and others. parksandbeautification@mylocustpoint.org . May 16 from 9-12 is spring cleanup park maintenance day. Looking for co-chair for event.

• Grass needs to be mowed, working with subcontractor. Trash cans will be in soon, have been delays city-wide. Would like to collect any remaining plaques from benches that anyone may have so we can re-install them on new benches. Need helpers for that project too.

• Doda Memorial (Hap Duffy) - Good news, major part of rotten sign on old memorial and large bushes have been removed. Went to quarry last week and found pink & white marble stone to serve as centerpiece for pavilion. Thanks to Will for huge efforts on preparing Right of Entry permit, should be ready in a week or two. Contractor can start soon after that.

Education & Schools: • School 1514 is what to link to if you go into Harris Teeter to sign up - must renew annually

(Aug - May). If you register through LPCA, we will create a database of VIC numbers and automatically renew you in future years - either check the box on your membership form, or email VIC number to education@mylocustpoint.org .

• Principal McComas: Announced leaving as principal of FSK. In last 3 years, have made tremendous progress with help of many in this room. New position will allow more time with family. Thanks to LPCA for all the support, and please extend same to Chris French, new assistant principal, who will be serving as interim. Will be having new landscaping in tandem with Bozzuto to plant new trees and create ecology study areas in rear of school.

• Chris French (Acting Principal): Updates - Met with Scott Plank and Dr. Thornton to finalize plans to build staff fitness room, and Dr. Thornton has contributed $100K. With that comes more resources and coaches to provide health & recreation opportunities to school. Finalizing PARC assessments over the next few weeks. More students will be outside for field day activities or walking field trips in community, fully supervised. PTO will be donating a bike rack. School trying to build support for keeping Banner Route for students to get down Fort.

Safety:• No issues this month. Officer Vaught -.

443-681-0920 (mobile) or kevin.vaught@baltimorepolice.org if you need to get in touch. • COP walks will start soon, 3rd week in May, June, August & September. Meet 7pm @

Himalayan House, date will be confirmed and announced.

Social:• May 18 - social committee meeting• Annual picnic is June 14 from 5-7. Need volunteers for setup, cleanup, grill, etc.• August 22 from 8:30am - 2pm is cookie baking event. Had great turnout last year; really need

lots of volunteers again this year.• Saturday, Sept 12 is LPCA Festival, also need volunteers to make this happen.

• New events - community meetups 3rd thursday of every odd month, at JR’s. Next one in May, next week from 5-8pm. Will include drink specials and snacks.

• Starting to ramp up for picnic and festival planning, need lots of volunteers - email social@mylocustpoint.org to sign up.

Parking:• Nothing new to report, still waiting on city for news on reverse angle parking process.

New/Old Business

Presentation from State Delegates• Brooke Lierman: Newest Delegate from District 46. Helped set up food dropoff sites to help

people in west Baltimore in aftermath of recent unrest, was very impressed by amount of response. Working with Del. Bill Ferguson to increase number of positions for YouthWorks program, which places young people with employers over the summer. Had 7900 apply, but only funds for 4500 this past year. New focus on finding slots for extra 3900 kids who want to find jobs. Need volunteers to review applications and coordinate: buildforbaltimore.com .Bills worked on this session included the budget (appointed to appropriations committee), also see end of session reports, which are available on brookelierman.com . Governor proposes the budget; general assembly can only cut or move money. Worked to find money for planned cuts in education ($144M, $35M for BCPS), COLA increase for state workers, and adult care programs. Found savings in programs that were over-resourced to fund cuts, and GA passed budget. Up to governor to spend it, so far has exercised state worker COLA increase, but not education. Cut structural deficit by 70%. Couple bills sponsored/worked - angel investor tax credit bill, public transit improvement plan for MTA bill, community cleanup & greening act. Please contact with any issues. Community picnic May 31, all welcome.

• Pete Hammen: 2 focus issues - community redevelopment, and a new model to address addiction problem. Put together white paper proposal to help with capital development, with 4 pilot areas - Dundalk, Reservoir Hill, Central, and area just east of JHU hospital. Working on legislation to make pilot a permanent program at state level. Working on proposal for Brooklyn, Curtis Bay, and Brooklyn Park now. Other topic of addiction problems - has been focus to bring about more drug treatment. Focus now is on creating stabilization centers to help addicts, instead of taking them to emergency room or central booking. Got $3.6M to create one for Baltimore. Will receive medical treatment, social workers, addiction specialists, and case managers. Model has been done in San Antonio already, saving them $10M per year. Hope Baltimore center will open early 2016.

• Question: For the money that the governor may not spend, what is timeframe? July 1st, start of next fiscal year.

Board Elections• Nominees for 5 board positions are Caroline Baker (current), Jamie Kelley (current), Caitlin

Regan, Corey Benedict, Matt Farcosky (current), and Damian O’Connor. No additional floor nominations made.

• Caroline: Lives on Decatur, resident 6.5 years, on board for 2 years. Working on new LPCA business partnership program.

• Corey: Lives on Clement for 6 years, works in IT. Excited to be able to help community and board if elected.

• Matt: Been on board for year, really enjoy it and all the good things we are doing. Serves on mini-grant committee and delivers newsletters.

• Jamie: Lives on Towson for last 11 years, associate dean of JHU School of Nursing. Just completed second term on board, also in the band The Unofficial. Worked on many projects, and would like to continue serving the community.

• Damian: New here, moved here last April. Writes history series for newsletter on Streets of Locust Point, and helps with delivery. Very much likes it here and would like to be bigger part.

• Caitlyn: Lives here last 7 years; serves on membership committee. Lives on Andre and has initiated and run a block party; would like to expand that initiative neighborhood-wide.

Motion to close and vote - seconded. Passed unanimously. (Ballots distributed)Clarification: 6 people running for 5 seats, please only vote for 5.Call for ballots, counting commenced.

LPCA wants to recognize Cheryl and Allison who are stepping down and have both made huge contributions in their time on the Board, and will continue to be involved in Parks committee and LPCA website.

Results: 57 ballots cast for 5 positionsCaroline - 56Corey - 39Matt - 43Jamie - 45Damian - 49Caitlin - 43

Elimination of CCC Banner Route• Recent discussion on Circulator loss of funding, but last Tuesday we became aware of DOT

report recommending cutting Banner Route. Was voted on and approved the next day by Board of Estimates. LPCA Board is against elimination, but wanted to also get input from membership to decide how we want to take any actions. Comments by membership:

• Possible to extend Purple Route to Ft. McHenry, possibly charge small amount?• Important because allows access to the city, and improves our property values - to lose would

be to lose connection to all the stuff going on all over.• I use it and think it’s great, but also see federal funding is gone. In Bicycle Master Plan,

supposed to be bike lane on Key Hwy, but there is no timeframe. If we lose the Banner Route, can we move the bike lane along faster?

• Grew up in Charles Village, and this area is significantly underserved. The proposed changes seem to move in wrong direction.

• Like having access to city, why we moved here. Only complaint is Banner Route doesn’t run late enough.

• Thinks Banner Route provides same type of service as Red Line, which is still being supported and funded.

• We have lots of new development coming in, seems like bad time to cut transportation when expanding.

• From school standpoint, we take lots of field trips through Banner Route to cut costs, instead of renting charter bus for $300-600. Enrollment is increasing, and expect more people to need Banner Route.

• Wouldn’t attend sports events at stadiums if route went away.• Talk of redundancy between #1 MTA bus and Circulator - but I suspect willingness to switch

would be very low because of reliability, tracking, ease/lack of paying. Many would be willing to pay, but only for quality.

• Use Charm Card on MTA bus, DC Metro, etc.• We pay lots of taxes to live in city, and is way for us to enjoy city and spend our money in city.• If we didn’t have route, would have to either take cars or not go, with both environmental and

parking/traffic impact.

• Poll: Who takes circulator ever/often? - (Both questions receive almost unanimous support by show of hands.)

• Lots of local community organizations & businesses have reached out to us to join together in support for the Banner Route.

Motion to extend meeting past 9pm, seconded. Unanimous approval.Motion that LPCA send letter in partnership with all other interested organizations & stakeholders to relevant offices in city, that we are extremely unhappy with Banner Route cancellation and its impact.Amendment to add that we want to at least be part of the conversation.Additional amendment to enable Board to work with State & Local representatives to move this forward strategically.Amendments accepted. Motion seconded.Motion passes unanimously.

Councilman Costello: Willing to work with LPCA on issue. BoE vote is not granular to specific changes, only overall funding to be cut. Purple Route change is in response to public commitment Mayor made earlier to that neighborhood. Part of problem is Banner Route was federal-grant funded, and only intended to run to end of CY15. Needs $900-$1M new funding. Banner Route has lowest ridership, costing $2.41/rider, requiring collection of $3 - $3.25 per ride due to administration fees. Doing everything in my power to keep route, but it is Mayor’s decision ultimately and landscape is quite bleak.Question re: cost savings assessment of extending purple route.With Green & Banner ending, 2 bus reductions on another, and one added to Purple route, expect increase in ridership of 600K on Purple route & lost ridership from Banner is only 330K.Question: More methods involved than just ridership, is there any way to estimate financial impact lost from those riders in city?

Most important thing to do is get in touch with Mayor’s office. We have 550 senior living units in harbor on fixed incomes that rely on routes to get groceries, not to mention lots of new developments coming online in peninsula. Where does the $3.1M cut come from?Question: Can we get a discounted rate for MTA Smart Cards for residents of this area, or to get connected to the Purple Route for free? Where are DOT representatives?Asked for them to come tonight.Question: Federal grant, knew it was ending, why didn’t we go back to them for more money?That specific grant was for Sailabration, was no longer available. Question: Is small scale sponsorship from businesses an option?UA is already contributing to Harbor Connector; Mr. Sapperstein not willing to fund Circulator.Have spoken to Deputy Mayor on this regularly for last six months on either keeping the route or extending another route down here.LPCA Question: Were Council-members blindsided by this? We heard from the Sun.Councilman found out night before article ran. Study had been run previously, had been trying to get results from Deputy Mayor. Only received 2 page summary the night before, not the full results. The way city government is set up, BoE signed off on this, which is controlled by the Mayor. The only ability City Council has is to cut a budget.Question: Did Council President vote against on BoE?He abstains on budget every year, since he will be deliberating on it in Council.Question: Other than talking to Mayor, how can we help?Letters, emails, phone calls. CC: Councilman Young & Costello.Question: Wasn’t the study taxpayer funded, why can’t we get it?Agreed, have asked for it every day. Looking into how much revenue from parking tax structures in area contribute to Circulator.Question: DC tried to do this and it didn’t have enough revenue, so switched to $1/ride and it’s still working, has that been considered?Part of problem is that there’s not parking tax revenue here in Locust Point.

Delegate Clippinger: As a delegation, we have worked on language in budget to wall off $200K of money given to City with stipulation that Banner Route keeps running or similar service is provided by MTA. MTA is reviewing routes, looking at whether #1 could be express route from LP into downtown. I take Banner and Purple Routes all the time myself; we have to have good mass transit here - we all see what’s coming with new developments.

Delegate Hammen: I’m scheduled to speak with Sec. Rahn at the State DOT level to see if we can find any additional resources to keep Banner Route. May ask for delegations to meet with him directly, and will follow up with LPCA.

Greg: Now that we do have consensus on will of the community, we will move forward aggressively on this issue. If you know of businesses with concerns as well, please get them to send separate letters as well. Consider having FSK or PTO do a letter writing campaign. Our letter will be in place by end of next week.

Adjourned 8:40pm