City Limits

Good news, Baltimore. You're hip and healthy. Cooking Light magazine, due on newsstands this week, lists our charming city among the top 20 that are both food-forward and lifestyle-light. The magazine, celebrating its 20th year, used a variety of measures and statistics to rate the cities, but editor Mary Kay Culpepper said the city's crab cakes are a gift to the world. "Baltimore has so much going for it," she said. "I think you know it if you live there, but I think many of our readers will be surprised.

VATICAN CITY -- For some Italians, dropping an important letter in the mailbox is cause for a quick prayer. Mail sent through Italy's famously unreliable postal service can take weeks or months to get where it's going.But in the heart of Rome is a post office that handles mail efficiently, with no need for divine intervention.Vatican City, the 108-acre island of Roman Catholic Church rule inside the city limits of Rome, is a virtually self-sufficient nation-state with a police force and a pharmacy, a diplomatic staff, a supermarket and a range of other services available to anyone who lives or works within its confines.

Westminster Common Council voted 2-1 last night to approve a bond issue that would allow Montessori School of Westminster to construct a $1.2 million building on Hughes Shop Road, just north of city limits.Council members Suzanne Albert and Kevin Dayhoff supported allowing the school to use the city's bond rating to take out a loan from Westminster Bank & Trust Co., saying the school met the criteria of adding to the welfare of area residents even though it would be outside city limits."The Montessori School of Westminster is the only nonchurch-related, private, nonprofit school in Carroll County," Albert said.

The residents of Villages of Chesapeake Harbour, a waterfront condominium community on Annapolis' southeastern border, are trying again to be annexed by the city, much to the chagrin of aldermen who thought the plan had died a year ago."I can't believe this is back," said Alderman Louise Hammond, a Ward 1 Democrat who opposed the proposal when it wentbefore the city council last year.The annexation would come at a price. Under the proposal, the city would suspend the residents' property taxes for 10 years and cut their water bills in half.

The residents of Villages of Chesapeake Harbour, a waterfront condominium community on Annapolis' southeastern border, are trying again to be annexed by the city, much to the chagrin of aldermen who thought the plan had died a year ago."I can't believe this is back," said Alderman Louise Hammond, a Ward 1 Democrat who opposed the proposal when it wentbefore the city council last year.The annexation would come at a price. Under the proposal, the city would suspend the residents' property taxes for 10 years and cut their water bills in half.

The residents of Villages of Chesapeake Harbour, a waterfront condominium community on Annapolis' southeastern border, are trying again to be annexed by the city, much to the chagrin of aldermen who thought the controversial plan had died a year ago."I can't believe this is back," said Alderman Louise Hammond, a Ward 1 Democrat who opposed the proposal when it came before the city council last year.The annexation would come at a price. Under the proposal, the city would suspend the residents' property taxes for 10 years and cut their water bills in half.

WASHINGTON -- A national conservation organization has conducted a study of how much tree cover an urban center needs to sustain a high quality of life -- and guess what? Nary a city (with the possible exception of Minneapolis) approaches the arboreal goal.With the aid of urban silviculturists, the organization American Forests developed a minimum healthy tree-cover standard: At least 40 percent of a metropolitan area's acreage should have a tree canopy.Few cities come even close to meeting this leafy standard.

The city of Annapolis has hired an economic consultant to study the possibility of building a conference center on an abandoned 11-acre lot at West Street and Taylor Avenue.But hiring ZHA of Annapolis to conduct the $30,000 study does not mean there are definite plans to build a conference center, city officials insisted yesterday. It only means they want a comprehensive picture of potential Inner West Street revitalization plans before making any decisions, they said.While proposed street improvements and a traffic circle are elements in the revitalization plan, officials say they are not certain that a convention center is part of the answer.

Two Annapolis aldermen are promising to offer duelingproposals that the city collect a surcharge from the developers of new subdivisions and target that money for school improvements.One, being circulated by Alderman Carl O. Snowden, would designate the fees strictly for schools within city limits.The other, being touted by Alderman Wayne Turner, would allow the money to be used for schools as far south as Edgewater. It is based on Anne Arundel County's map of impact fee districts.The county is divided into seven large impact fee districts.

Ask the residents of Laurel what they like most about living there, and many of them will say the ease with which they can get away. Laurel's inhabitants love both its small-town feel and proximity to bigger cities."

Sometimes, in small ways, this Getting There gig is downright gratifying. Particularly when it can help a reader get something fixed. One example is an e-mail that came Feb. 16 from Crossan McDonald of Baltimore. For me one of the most hazardous stretches of road that I travel is Keith Avenue, the connector between Interstate 95 [the first exit after the Fort McHenry toll booth] and Broening Highway. To properly appreciate the problems, one has to travel this road at night. On any given evening, over half of the street lights are out of service, and the white paint lane markers are so faint that they are barely visible.

After raising the possibility of postponing Aberdeen's Nov. 6 election, a Harford County judge gave the parties involved in a dispute over a disqualified City Council candidate two days yesterday to resolve the matter at the city level. Steven C. Johnson was ruled ineligible by the city's election board. State property tax records show that his principal residence is not within the city limits. Johnson maintains that he is a city resident, filing to run using an address in the 100 block of Post Road, and sought a court order to get his name on the ballot.

Good news, Baltimore. You're hip and healthy. Cooking Light magazine, due on newsstands this week, lists our charming city among the top 20 that are both food-forward and lifestyle-light. The magazine, celebrating its 20th year, used a variety of measures and statistics to rate the cities, but editor Mary Kay Culpepper said the city's crab cakes are a gift to the world. "Baltimore has so much going for it," she said. "I think you know it if you live there, but I think many of our readers will be surprised.

DALLAS --Grass fires continued to devastate drought-stricken Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico yesterday, with Oklahoma City hit particularly hard. Oklahoma City firefighters fought 35 grass fires within the city limits - one narrowly missing two shopping centers - from early Sunday to early yesterday, said Maj. Brian Stanaland, a Fire Department spokesman. "We average about two grass fires a day in a normal year," Stanaland said. "That went up to about three a day in 2005, which was a dry year.

1896: BANNING HOGS IN CITY On Oct. 7, 1895, the mayor and Common Council of Westminster listened as Carroll County's health officer, Dr. J. Howell Billingslea, presented evidence for the prohibition of keeping hogs within city limits. Dr. Billingslea stated that no matter how clean the hog pens are kept, they are still a breeding ground for disease and thus a public health hazard. Officials were impressed with Billingslea's report and decided to take up the issue at a future meeting. The anticipated date for the prohibition of hogs within city limits was Jan. 1, 1896.

Responding to more than 100 residents who filled City Hall about a potential development that they said could clog major traffic arteries, deplete limited water resources and overwhelm nearby schools, Westminster council members said annexing the property into the city is up in the air. "This is a question of resources, not zoning," council President Damian L. Halstad told the developers and investors who want the city to annex the 146-acre Hoff/Naganna property,...

Carroll County commissioners said yesterday they probably would not support Westminster's plans to annex about 146 acres for a new housing development because adding up to 300 homes would drain resources and bring increased traffic to a mostly rural area. The commissioners said that annexing the unincorporated area of the county into Westminster hinged on a questionable assumption - that a single connecting road was enough to declare the property contiguous to the city limits. "We're talking about a significant increase in the density of the city of Westminster without being contiguous to the city of Westminster," Commissioner Dean L. Minnich said.

Carroll County commissioners said yesterday they probably would not support Westminster's plans to annex about 146 acres for a new housing development because adding up to 300 homes would drain resources and bring increased traffic to a mostly rural area. The commissioners said that annexing the unincorporated area of the county into Westminster hinged on a questionable assumption - that a single connecting road was enough to declare the property contiguous to the city limits. "We're talking about a significant increase in the density of the city of Westminster without being contiguous to the city of Westminster," Commissioner Dean L. Minnich said.

The Westminster Common Council is weighing an ordinance that would permit aircraft hangars on county-owned property that falls within city limits - a move that could increase the city's tax base in allowing for the development of additional hangars. Airport hangars are not among the types of buildings allowed in the restricted industrial zone that applies to the Westminster areas around the 26-year-old Carroll County Regional Airport. The city's zoning provision allows for the "manufacture and assembly of aircraft" but not for the storage and repair of the planes, said Gary Horst, who supervises the airport as administrator of the county's Office of Performance Auditing and Special Projects.

Excerpts from yesterday's court decision by U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis: While many African-Americans who succeeded economically chose to live in majority Black neighborhoods, others, particularly those in public housing, did not have any realistic opportunity to live in a mixed race environment absent desgregative action by governmental entities. Baltimore City's well-intentioned efforts at slum clearance and urban renewal improved the physical environment of many communities and the living conditions of some public housing residents but did little to promote racial integration of City neighborhoods.