Madison Park

NEW YORK -- Drug dealers used to ply their trade openly there. And homeless people took up residence. But thanks to a police crackdown, those problems have abated.Still, Madison Square Park, 6.2 acres between 23rd and 26th streets, stretching from Madison Avenue to Broadway in Manhattan, is a far cry from the verdant gem it was in the 19th century.Its asphalt is cracked. Its irrigation is poor. There are missing benches, broken fences and poor landscaping.There's more dirt than green even in the warmer seasons.

Lena K. Lee doesn't consider herself a late bloomer; she's been in full blossom for nearly all of her 89 years.If anything, she's slowing down. She no longer belongs to a dozen or so professional and social organizations. "It's only about four now," she says. "That seems to be enough.She's the president of the Madison Park Neighborhood Improvement Association -- a small community below North Avenue and just west of Bolton Hill -- a teacher, attorney, businesswoman and former member of the House of Delegates, to which she was elected in 1967 at 60 and where she served for 15 years.

Residents of Bolton Hill and three nearby communities have created the city's third benefits district by voting 1,129 to 458 to assess themselves for additional security and sanitation services.Mail ballots counted yesterday at the Board of Election Supervisors authorized formation of the Midtown Community Benefits District, which covers Bolton Hill, Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Madison Park and Charles North -- an area of more than 100 city blocks.About 13,000 residents, dozens of businesses and nonprofit arts, cultural and educational institutions, are in the district.

These are rough times for Baltimore and most other aging cities. Not only is the lure of residential suburbs continuing but "edge cities" like Owings Mills, White Marsh and Columbia are increasingly competing for offices and businesses.Which is why we invite readers to take another look at a little-known in-town neighborhood called Madison Park. Bounded by North Avenue, Laurens, Morris and Tiffany streets, it is a melange of architectural styles from Second Empire and Queen Anne to Romanesque Revival.

Among the little-known gems of Baltimore City's in-town neighborhoods is Madison Park. Bounded by North Avenue, Laurens, Morris and Tiffany streets, it is a melange of architecturally intriguing town houses that were influenced by Second Empire, Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. Some have mansard roofs, conical towers and fancy window configurations.It was built around the turn of the century. At the time the area was predominantly Jewish. A block to the east were the mansions of boulevard-like Eutaw Street and the substantial homes of Bolton Hill.

Athena Lambert already was having trouble paying her bill when she got notice of a $100 rent increase in her federally subsidized townhouse in the 800 block of W. North Ave.Lambert lives in the Madison Park North Apartments, a 202-unit complex with a troubled past punctuated by rent strikes, sewage backups and leaky windows.A year ago, the landlord, who lives in California, agreed to settle a long-standing dispute with tenants by promising to make repairs and pay rent rebates to 34 tenants, including Lambert.