Oasis

THE PROBLEM -- Two explanatory panels at the National Katyn Memorial have been damaged for months. THE BACKSTORY -- Vicky Schetelich and her husband, who have lived in Harbor East for nearly three years, take daily strolls along Aliceanna and President streets. They walk past the National Katyn Memorial, a soaring golden statue and fountain that commemorates the 1940 massacre of Polish soldiers by Soviet troops during World War II. Schetelich called the memorial "a little oasis in the middle" of construction that's taken place over the past several years.

If it weren't for a generous gift by Baltimorean William Patterson in 1827, the Patterson Park neighborhood might look a little different in the 21st century. Patterson donated nearly 6 acres to the city in hopes of creating a "public walk" like those he had seen in Europe. After his death, his heirs sold some of the adjacent land to the city and in 1853, Patterson Park was born. Patterson's family leased the remaining acres that they inherited to speculative builders, who then built rowhouses on it. Many of those houses are still standing -- as is a neighborhood that has experienced a host of changes in its long history.

From this home in a residential oasis in downtown Annapolis, every window offers a view - whether a slice of the city and its waterfront, or a peek at a serene garden. "You can see the capitol, the steeples, the cityscape, and it's so open with the big windows," said Gary Richardson who, with his wife, Mary, owns the house overlooking Spa Creek. Eleven-foot ceilings on the first and second floors add to a sense of openness in the house, which is a short walk from the business district, but seems a world apart from its daytime bustle and nightlife.

For some young soldiers, it's mom's turkey and ham and greens that lures them home. For others, two weeks' holiday leave means a chance to hang out with high-school buddies again after months of training, to just chill and play video games. For Pvt. Misty Floyd, 20, going home for Christmas means a chance for a morning catch-up with her mother back in Tupelo, Miss., whom she hasn't seen since Sept. 3. "Oh, man! Me and my mom drink coffee every morning," Floyd said with a smile as she sat with dozens of other young servicemen and -women in the USO Metro lounge at BWI Marshall Airport before dawn yesterday.

Cornell Bass, a devout Christian who helps feed homeless people twice a week at the Oasis shelter at the corner of Gay Street and Fallsway, is also the media director of the Maryland State Wrestling Association. So it's no surprise that Bass immediately recognized Ron Taylor when he visited Oasis one day. After all, Taylor was an assistant coach in wrestling, football and track and field at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School for 12 years. He was also an assistant wrestling coach at the McKim Center, which fields an inner-city junior league grappling squad.

Surveying the flood-damaged Echo House last week, contractors paused when they reached the second story: ruined floors pockmarked with craters, tangles of wires where the ceilings had caved in and crumbling walls. "This is where it really got it," said Kevin Maggio, a restoration expert. "No, this is only the second-worst floor," said Janice Lockwood, executive director of Echo House, a center in West Baltimore that provides a food pantry for the neighborhood, after-school programs for 80 children and treatment and counseling for hundreds of drug addicts.

If Baltimore wants to get more people to live and work downtown, it needs a greater variety of stores, better restaurants, more to see and do in general. It also needs more attractive public spaces - not just passageways between office towers, but inviting parks and plazas where people will want to linger, meet friends, and get some fresh air, after work and on weekends. Toward that end, the city took a giant step in the right direction with the recently completed, $7.5-million makeover of Center Plaza, a once-barren open space that has been transformed to an oasis of greenery in the heart of downtown.

The marble fountain that sits near the Pagoda at the northwest end of Patterson Park is among the first architectural elements designed at the park and serves as a peaceful oasis from the noisy traffic that zooms past on nearby streets. A popular spot among Baltimore residents, it was designed by George A. Frederick in 1865 and restored by the Department of Parks and Recreation in 2004.

Carol Oppenheimer describes the garden in front of the old courthouse building in Towson as "magical," so visually arresting that the first time she saw it she nearly caused a car accident swerving to see it closer. To Elyssa Baxter, it's the antithesis of the grass and concrete expanses that ordinarily fill public outdoor spaces. And it reminds Holly Sefter of the lush public squares that have made Savannah, Ga., famous. But a consultant is recommending that changes be made to the favorite spot of many Towson gardeners, residents and county workers - just a year after a team of planners recommended that the garden be plowed over.

It is fitting that a swing beneath an arbor occupies a prominent place in Hanna's cottage garden. Considering all the work he did to transform his small back yard into a flowering oasis, this 51-year-old manager for Verizon deserves a front-row seat from which to admire his handiwork. You can read about his efforts tomorrow at baltimoresun.com/gardener