Neighbors

Beds of well-tended, hot-pink petunias brighten the Southeast Baltimore sidewalk across the street from a rowhouse where no one lives, with chipping red paint and a sheet of wood covering its doorway. North Port Street in McElderry Park, where two city police officers were shot Monday evening, is like so many places in Baltimore - a mix of old brick rowhouses with cheap rents and gleaming rehabbed homes selling for six figures, where the working-class residents who have lived there for decades share a block with their newer, more affluent neighbors.

Good weather, good crowds and a host of attractions — from rides to a dunk tank, food to raffles — combined to make a successful 2012 edition of the St. Pius X Carnival, hosted this past weekend at the church and school on York Road in Towson. During the three-day event, from Friday to Sunday, carnival patrons enjoyed rides and games, raffles, a silent auction and food that included pit beef, crab cakes, baked goods, fudge and lemonade. The event also included sales of collectibles, used books and other items.

In hopes of improving quality of life in the neighborhoods around it, Loyola University Maryland has begun a series of one-on-one sessions with community leaders and residents to solicit ideas for how students and faculty members can help revitalize the nearby York Road corridor. "Rather than have us suppose or assume what the community needs or wants, we figured we should ask them," said Terrence Sawyer, Loyola's vice president for administration. More than 30 Loyola students, administrators and professors received training from American Friends, a consultant that has helped run community listening projects in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Columbia Gas Transmission's underground pipeline runs alongside David Raymond's house in Cockeysville today, as it did when he bought the place 30 years ago, quietly delivering natural gas to Baltimore County and beyond without incident. Still, Raymond stands with dozens of others - including the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, state legislators and the Gunpowder Riverkeeper - raising questions about or in opposition to a proposed 21.4-mile line running along much the same route from Owings Mills to Fallston.

Have you ever noticed how people just seem to know your business around here? Maybe it's bred into the culture, part of our rowhouse roots or that whole smallest-big-city thing, but no man is an island in Baltimore. I remember grilling lamb chops in my backyard shortly after I'd moved into my current house, when someone I hadn't met yet materialized at the fence and asked, "Want some rosemary to go with that?" Um, sure, and I'll take some disaster survival insurance, too. Engaged neighbors, Daniel P. Aldrich tells me, are key to surviving and recovering from natural disasters.

M y wife and I and our dog attended my aunt's funeral recently. We drove from our home in Washington early Sunday morning to the funeral home and then joined family and friends at the cemetery. My wife and I were both born in Baltimore (delivered by the same obstetrician), but she left when she was 1. I have deeper roots. I left Baltimore for college over half a century ago, then went on to graduate school and a career in universities in the United States and abroad. But I know Baltimore - my parents were born there and lived their whole lives there; my brother and I both grew up in Baltimore; my sister and her family, and my son and his family, and other relatives live there.

The expansion of Beans and Bread shouldn't just worry "some neighbors," it should worry all neighbors ("Soup kitchen's plans worry some neighbors," Nov. 28). The motives of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore may be genuine, yet the facts on the ground tell a different story. When the soup kitchen Our Daily Bread, expanded, it was a horror. Right across from the main library, the clients didn't eat and leave; they crossed the street to harass library patrons. They also abused the public restrooms and created other serious problems.

100 Years Ago Of-fensive neighbors In the Howard County courthouse column: "After the completion of the criminal docket, the civil docket was taken up and the first case on it was the one of Curtis vs. Thompson. This grew out of a dispute over a fence between respective properties. The original fence was an old worm fence and Mr. Curtis took a portion of the fence down. Then Mr. Thompson replaced that portion with a straight rail fence. Mr. Curtis claimed that Mr. Thompson trespassed on his property in doing so and entered suit against him. After the evidence was in and the jury had listened to arguments for each side by Mr. Rogers and Messrs.

From Beth Barbush's front porch at Huntingdon Avenue and West 30th Street, she has a good view of Remington. On warm summer nights she sees neighbors chatting, some holding babies, others walking their dogs and kids she knows by name who call her "Miss B." She remembers a different scene upon her arrival to the neighborhood in 2007, when she observed kids "just running up and down the street with no structured activities or much to focus on." Now, neighbors gather each week in the summer in front of Barbush's house for "Porch Art," a program she runs with help from others on her street and the Greater Remington Improvement Association.

After reading about Greg Baranoski and his "public shaming" of his neighbors who haven't shoved their sidewalks yet ("In Bolton Hill, tales of the unshoveled," Feb. 12), I am so very grateful that I don't live in Bolton Hill. Shame on you, Mr. Baranoski, for wasting your energy being so nasty and negative. Why don't you check on those neighbors and make sure they are OK? Organize a shovel brigade and get those walkways done. Shoveling 4 feet of snow is dangerous for all but the young and fit. Many of your neighbors might be trying to find someone to hire to shovel for them -- better than ending up in the emergency room with a heart attack.

100 Years Ago Of-fensive neighbors In the Howard County courthouse column: "After the completion of the criminal docket, the civil docket was taken up and the first case on it was the one of Curtis vs. Thompson. This grew out of a dispute over a fence between respective properties. The original fence was an old worm fence and Mr. Curtis took a portion of the fence down. Then Mr. Thompson replaced that portion with a straight rail fence. Mr. Curtis claimed that Mr. Thompson trespassed on his property in doing so and entered suit against him. After the evidence was in and the jury had listened to arguments for each side by Mr. Rogers and Messrs.

Younger members of Gail L. Dener's neighborhood association suggested a neighborhood website in the '90s, but older members didn't see the point. Who needed to go online when you could just go right outside? There was no easy way to set a site up, either. "We tried to get some help in establishing a website for county neighborhoods, but could not connect with anyone who had the expertise," Dener wrote me in an email. Well -- the once-robust association for the Parkville neighborhood since died "with a whimper.

I usually enjoy Dan Rodricks ' columns, even when I don't fully agree with them. This one — about the recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision deeming any "pit bull" or "pit bull mix" dog to be inherently dangerous — I simply find dismaying ("Pit bulls: Own one at your risk," April 30). I live in the Pigtown neighborhood of Baltimore. When my suburban friends come visit, they hold their kids close, and they look askance at some of my more "unusual" neighbors. Some of them are only too happy to hop back in their cars and scurry back to the counties.

For people-watching, there is no better spot than Joe Caliguro's Columbia townhouse. He and his wife can walk out to the porch and find a stream of people walking by on the path below. Caliguro, a retired television producer, owns one of about 130 houses that border the nearly 2-mile public trail next to Lake Elkhorn. For the residents who live nearby, the man-made lake is also an extension of their backyards, providing picturesque views and lots of foot traffic just beyond their porches.

An adult movie and accessory store in Halethorpe that has been the target of neighbor complaints and Baltimore County penalties for years was ordered by a judge on Monday to stop showing videos and to dismantle viewing booths. Circuit Judge Dana M. Levitz's preliminary injunction ordered the Lovecraft store on Southwestern Boulevard to stop showing videos as of 5 p.m. Monday; it will soon have to remove the video booths. "It's about time," said Mike McAuliffe, president of the Halethorpe Improvement Association, which has been complaining about the store since it opened in 1999.

My friend offered me extra plants from her yard. She said they are pretty but spread a lot. I'm a little nervous about accepting them. What do you think? Beware pass-along plants when a friend says they are indestructible, spread fast, and outcompete other plants. If you hear "Nothing kills it!" that can be a recipe for disaster. (When the plant is not native, it's a perfect description of an invasive plant.) You don't want to be fighting these plants for years to come. Many plants will spread or reproduce in the landscape when they are happy — and that's great — yet most do not get out of control.

The abandoned rowhouse next door to Wendy and Brian Malaney has been a nightmare of a neighbor. The rowhouse's roofing material blew off, and water seeped through the Malaneys' adjoining walls. Later the pipes burst in the neighboring property, flooding their basement. The air they and their two young daughters breathe is now heavy with the noxious stink of mold. Abandoned buildings are a perennial problem in Baltimore — a city where many residents share connecting walls.