Sushinsky, who has kept a meticulous log of events on her street, including a "bloody street fight" April 2, said she was told by police that with all the crime in Baltimore's Northern District, enforcing the ban on drinking by minors "is not necessarily" a top priority.
"Hampden is one of lowest-crime neighborhoods in the city," said Doug Gibson, the police community liaison officer for the district. "These are some of the tough neighborhood kids. They're not Bloods and Crips who have parachuted in from Los Angeles. Some of these kids, they're the second or third generation that's into substance abuse. Our officers know some of their parents well, and their grandparents. The parents are not functional, and their aunts and uncles are overwhelmed trying to keep them out of foster care."
Sushinsky and her neighbors want the Department of Recreation and Parks to repair and improve the swings and other equipment in the park as a way of enticing mothers and small children to use it.
Spokeswoman Kia McLeod said the parks department "has worked very closely with the Hampden community" to ensure that Elm Park "is both a welcoming and inviting place." She said that park rangers "randomly patrolled the park last year" and that maintenance of its playground equipment had improved, with broken parts being fixed on several occasions. In addition, McLeod said, new trees were planted and "recurring" graffiti removed.
Sushinsky's response to McLeod's comment was that "every piece of equipment" in the park "is bent, broken, graffiti-ridden, rusty and not properly functioning."
"Parks and Rec may have done what they thought was the bare minimum - a Band-Aid," Sushinsky said. "However, it clearly has not reduced illicit activity."
Sushinsky has grown attached to her century-old house, which she began restoring after buying it for $203,000 from an elderly couple who had lived there for three decades.
"I want to live here for 30 years," Sushinsky said. "I love this house."
She pointed to the inlaid wood floors, pocket doors and, in the kitchen, the tin ceiling and exposed brick walls, which she plans to varnish. Sushinsky found a marble countertop that had been in a house in Charles Village and plans to use it as a bar.
Up the street, at Elm and 36th streets, the owner of Avenue Antiques, Elissa Strati, acknowledged the problem of what she called "ill-mannered children" who sometimes spatter her store windows with ice cream and other things.
"But we're a thriving business district here," she said, recalling the boarded-up storefronts of just a few years ago. "As long as these kids don't congregate on the street we're fine; they drive customers away."
Strati, who said she was unafraid for her safety in Hampden, commended Sushinsky "and the citizens with whom she has been working on their successful efforts to improve the neighborhood."
nick.madigan@baltsun.com
