Ah, spring in Baltimore. I used to think it had arrived when I saw the first lacrosse stick of the season, or maybe when the first tulips sprouted in Sherwood Gardens.
But now I think I've identified the ultimate sign that spring has sprung in these parts: People start squabbling over Mount Vernon Place's lovely green squares and just how to enjoy them without, um, actually walking all over them.
On Thursday, the city threw up a virtual keep-off-the-grass sign on Mount Vernon's west park, forcing WTMD radio station to cancel its First Thursday concert that evening. And, the city said, the rest of the popular, monthly concerts will be pushed more toward the square's hard paving stones and away from the park's soft and apparently all too delicate grassy areas.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the official Mount Vernon Uproar 2009.
There was actually an earlier skirmish - in March, residents sicced the city enforcement folks on dog owners who were letting their pets run free through the parks and damaging the flower beds. But given that city law clearly requires dogs to be on leashes when they are out and about around town, a few well-placed citations pretty much got the situation under control, or at least kept it from becoming a full-blown, ongoing bone of contention.
And, of course, there was last year's springtime agita, prompted by an art student who closed off the parks in March with his Christo-like project: a series of gold-painted chain-link fences that, until the outcry grew too loud, kept people, dogs and other perambulating creatures out of the precious green spaces.
Art gave way to access, and soon everything was back to normal - normal being the perennial tug of war over how this downtown oasis should be enjoyed.
There are those who would love for people to admire the parks' grassy areas from a bit of a distance rather than right on top of it - say from the paved walkways that wind around the fountains and the plantings. And then there are those who want to feel the blades of grass between their toes, or at least underneath the blanket they brought to an outdoor concert.
Martha Dougherty, who lives in the Washington Apartments that overlook the square, almost shivers when she thinks of what happens every December during an otherwise wonderful event, the lighting of the monument.
