Community Conservation

Moving into the Baltimore County neighborhood of Academy Heights carries a responsibility.Residents adhere to a strict covenant and strive to keep the community uniform and looking its best. But they also have a strong sense of camaraderie, evident in the way the community takes care of its own.Homeowners must follow restrictions that mandate slate roofs, black or brass front porch lights, green awnings. Mailboxes must be green, black or brass and masonry foundations must be painted white, gray or sandstone.

Mary Lynn Harvey, former director of the Baltimore County Office of Community Conservation who had led a wide array of efforts to preserve and improve communities, died Aug. 26 of colon cancer at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. The Perry Hall resident was 54. "What a woman. Mary Harvey was one of the most valuable people in my administration. She understood my renaissance program for Baltimore County, which was about improved neighborhood housing and infrastructure," said James T. Smith, former Baltimore County executive, who is now an attorney in Towson.

Mary Lynn Harvey, former director of the Baltimore County Office of Community Conservation who had led a wide array of efforts to preserve and improve communities, died Aug. 26 of colon cancer at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. The Perry Hall resident was 54. "What a woman. Mary Harvey was one of the most valuable people in my administration. She understood my renaissance program for Baltimore County, which was about improved neighborhood housing and infrastructure," said James T. Smith, former Baltimore County executive, who is now an attorney in Towson.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced Tuesday the formal consolidation of two community planning and support offices in county government that will now fall under one director - Andrea Van Arsdale, who was named as the county's director of planning in April. Kamenetz said the merger combines the former Office of Community Conservation with the Office of Planning, while eliminating one director and one senior staff level position through attrition. The new agency will be known simply as the Department of Planning.

Trying to match limited federal dollars to local priorities, Baltimore County has decided to give preference in awarding block grant money to programs that help meet the county's goal of revitalizing older neighborhoods.County officials listed their funding preferences at a meeting last week to acquaint charities with a new, consolidated, grant application process.Preference will be given to programs that help residents in the county's poorest communities, address rental housing issues, encourage home ownership, help the poor become more independent, serve the disabled and aid people threatened with homelessness.

The Baltimore County Council tentatively agreed to $933,000 in cuts to County Executive James T. Smith Jr.'s $1.2 billion budget proposal yesterday, a relatively small reduction by historical standards that members say is proof of a lean budget for tough economic times. The councilmen made no cuts at all to popular areas such as schools, the community colleges, the libraries and recreation and parks. They cut back most grants to cultural institutions such as the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to last year's levels and otherwise made relatively minor cuts to county departments, mostly through adjusting projected salary savings due to turnover.

It is no coincidence that Baltimore County's new Office of Community Conservation chose the Essex-Middle River area as its first major project. While the county faces challenges in aging urban communities all around the Beltway, nowhere are the problems so dire as in Essex and Middle River.As local County Councilman Vincent Gardina observed, the area has reached its "moment of truth." For proof of the decline to date, see the community conservation office's 23-page report on the area. The report notes the:* Inordinately high numbers of reported crimes and arrests in 1994, many of them linked to the illegal trades of drug dealing and prostitution.

Harold G. Reid, former chairman of the Baltimore County Planning Board, was named yesterday to a $40,000-a-year post as Westside coordinator for the county's Community Conservation Program.Mr. Reid is the first black to be appointed by County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III, who took office in December.Mr. Ruppersberger also named Lynn Barranger, a volunteer in his political campaign and a community activist, to fill a similar part-time role in the Lansdowne-Baltimore Highlands area of the southwestern part of the county.

Teamwork -- the watchword of the Ruppersberger administration -- is propelling an old police youth program from obscurity into the forefront of Baltimore County's effort to bolster older suburbs.Contributions from police, recreation, libraries, substance abuse and education agencies, aided by federal and state money, have turned the old Police Athletic League into a dynamic program in the county's community conservation initiative."We need to capture these young kids," County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger said of the Police Athletic League push, pointing to crime statistics showing that juveniles account for more than a third of all county arrests.

In Baltimore County Family advocacy agency will honor five county students WOODLAWN - Five students from the Family Advocacy Services' Independent Living Program, which helps young adults with severe emotional and behavioral problems, will be honored at a graduation awards dinner today. The students, Freddie Jackson, Vance Passmore, George Radebaugh, Ricardo Sheppard and Michael Suggs, have successfully completed the program, which prepares students ages 17-21 to live on their own. "These are the `throwaway kids' society doesn't want," said Bruce Bertell, FAS founder and chief executive officer.

For decades, Baltimore County was the place affluent families moved when they left the city, a place that boasted lower taxes, less crime, better schools and more stable neighborhoods. But what's been happening in Baltimore County during the last decade is something different: the spread of poverty from the city into the county. The Census Bureau released figures this week showing a statistically significant increase in the poverty rate in Baltimore County since 2000 — a rise from 6.5 percent to about 8 percent.

In an effort to offer relief to neighborhoods affected by the national home foreclosure crisis, the Baltimore County Council last night unanimously approved an application for a $4.4 million grant from a federally funded rescue plan. Maryland, which has received nearly $27 million to help communities attract qualified buyers to neighborhoods where home-foreclosure rates are high, will distribute the funds under the Neighborhood Conservation Initiative. Baltimore County is one of 21 jurisdictions to have applied.

The problem: A wooden bench at a Towson bus stop has been broken for more than a year. The backstory: Charles Carrow, who lives in the Courthouse Square apartments on Goucher Boulevard in Towson, relies on the two buses that stop in front of the complex - the No. 3 and the No. 55. The retiree uses the buses to get around Baltimore County and the city, whether he's visiting a cousin in Canton or grabbing lunch at Cafe Hon in Hampden. "I have no problem with the bus service itself. It would just be nice if they put a new bench out there," he said.

Even before the Baltimore County executive arrives in Catonsville tonight for another in his series of neighborhood roundtable discussions, civic leaders said the visit has sparked a renewed sense of cooperation in the west-side community. The business, neighborhood and religious leaders who are slated to participate in a panel discussion said that in preparing for James T. Smith Jr.'s arrival, they identified common challenges, such as the need for more after-school programs and aid for senior citizens, and assets that include good schools, a robust housing market and strong business districts.

The Baltimore County Council tentatively agreed to $933,000 in cuts to County Executive James T. Smith Jr.'s $1.2 billion budget proposal yesterday, a relatively small reduction by historical standards that members say is proof of a lean budget for tough economic times. The councilmen made no cuts at all to popular areas such as schools, the community colleges, the libraries and recreation and parks. They cut back most grants to cultural institutions such as the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to last year's levels and otherwise made relatively minor cuts to county departments, mostly through adjusting projected salary savings due to turnover.

Plans are under way for intensive, community-based revitalization projects in Randallstown and Essex-Middle River in Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr.'s first steps toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to strengthen older communities. Modeled after a highly publicized effort in Dundalk, the communities will eventually receive assistance from urban design assistance teams, roughly the American Institute of Architects version of the Delta Force -- groups of volunteer experts in architecture and urban planning who swoop into communities for a few days of intensive study and meetings and leave with a long-term plan for revitalization.

Aiming to rein in the county's upstart Community Conservation Program, Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III ordered yesterday new safeguards in how the county doles out public grant money.His executive order comes after three grants awarded by the program -- which was created to jump-start ailing neighborhoods -- have come under question.Ruppersberger, just back from the Democratic National Convention, met with the two county officials at the center of the problem grants: Community Conservation Director P. David Fields and Chief Administrative Officer Merreen E. Kelly.

In Baltimore City Council members see dirt bike speeding; operator arrested Two City Council members out riding with police Saturday night are being credited with spotting a dirt bike speeding up Walther Avenue and alerting the officer who made an arrest. Maj. Michael Tomczak, commander of Northeastern District, said Councilwoman Lois A. Garey of the 1st District and Robert Curran of the 3rd District saw the infraction about 9: 30 p.m. The cycle had been reported stolen March 17 in Baltimore County.

In Baltimore County Judge rules in favor of MdTA police in claim of illegal search TOWSON - A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge ended a multiyear legal battle yesterday between four Fort McHenry Tunnel maintenance workers and the Maryland Transportation Authority police sergeant they claimed had humiliated them when she searched them, their lockers and their cars for drugs. Judge Lawrence R. Daniels said he sympathized with the workers, who sued Sgt. Brenda Nooft and the co-worker who had prompted the search by alleging the men spiked his drinks and smoked marijuana on the job. But Daniels ruled in Nooft's favor - the suit against the co-worker was dismissed - saying not enough evidence existed to prove constitutional violations.

There's a rematch this fall for the Baltimore County Council's 1st District seat, with incumbent Democratic Councilman Stephen G. Samuel Moxley facing Berchie Lee Manley, the Republican whose council spot he took in 1994. Both candidates live in Catonsville and both say education and public safety are among the most important issues for their district. But Manley, a 73-year-old community activist and former homemaker, says she can do a better job supporting police and families. "We know that parents who care about their children's education look to buy a home where the quality of education is excellent," she said.