Patterson Park

Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the Pagoda, the 60-foot octagonal observatory tower standing near the highest point of Patterson Park. Fitting preparations are being made for the centennial: the whole neighborhood is pulling together to restore the landmark.Patterson Park is one of those urban oases that is taken for granted.Before air-conditioning, it was a place where whole families would spend the night on sweltering summer evening, hoping to catch some catnaps under the stars.

HOMEOWNERS flock to Patterson Park Neighborhoods"At first glance, the above headline may seem a bit fanciful. After all, the area north of Patterson Park is composed of inner-city working-class neighborhoods that have received their share of negative publicity overthe past several years. The 30,000 or so people who live here are experiencing the stress of urban life in a recession-plagued city in need of better schools, affordable housing and drug-free streets.But an interesting drama is playing out around Patterson Park that we believe will make that headline a reality in the not-too-distant future.

A young friend told me she wanted to "catch the energy" when she and her fiance bought a Belnord Avenue rowhouse above Patterson Park in East Baltimore. Her enthusiastic description of its open floor plans, bamboo wood floors and other renovation must-haves piqued my curiosity. That interest must be catching. As I walked along the neighborhood's streets recently, I was not alone. A production company from HGTV, the house and garden cable network, was filming. The park was full of dog walkers and moms with baby carriages.

Yesterday morning, by my measure a symphony of a morning until I picked up The Sun, this newspaper's editorial page carried letters from a Mr. Ed Rutkowski and a Mr. John Huppert, chastising me for describing their East Baltimore neighborhood in accurate terms.Two weeks ago, I wrote of troubles around Patterson Park, which is not exactly news to all those familiar with Hampstead Hill Middle School, or the Pedro Lugo baseball bat tragedy, or people cringing in their homes from such behavior, all of which Mr. Rutkowski and Mr. Huppert wish nobody would mention in public.

While many city residents say they are fearful of walking through their neighborhoods at night, residents of one neighborhood on the edge of Patterson Park don't venture outside in daylight.For about an hour each afternoon, the community sits locked behind closed doors anxiously holding its breath. One store owner closes her shop and sits inside waiting for danger to pass. And a Catholic elementary school lets its students go home 15 minutes early so that they are home safely before trouble begins.

The city state's attorney's office and Baltimore Child Abuse Center Inc. will hold their second Victims' Fund Run and Walk on April 27 in Patterson Park. Proceeds from the fund-raiser - an event that is part of National Crime Victims' Rights Week - will provide financial assistance for crime victims and cover expenses such as broken windows and locks, stolen property, medical treatment and crime scene cleanup. The event will begin at 9 a.m. Registration is $15 before April 27 or $20 on race day. Information and registration forms: 410-396-1897.

The Baltimore Police Department is sponsoring a sleep-over in Patterson Park tonight for neighborhood residents and their children to send a "very strong message" that the park "is safe."About 60 community residents and their children are expected to spend the night in the park. The event starts at 6 p.m. and will include entertainment. It ends at 9 a.m. tomorrow with breakfast from Robin Lee Caterers."This is a wonderful opportunity for the community to partner JTC with the Police Department in the spirit of commitment," said Maj. Timothy Longo, commander of the Southeastern District.

As the crowd started breaking up after Mayor Martin O'Malley's announcement last week at Patterson Park that he was running for governor, Ed Rutkowski couldn't suppress a smile. "I guess the mayor likes what we're doing," said Rutkowski, the founder and head of the Patterson Park Community Development Corp. The mayor never mentioned Rutkowski or the development group. He didn't have to. His selection of the neighborhood as the backdrop for a speech in which he criticized the state as being "adrift" while highlighting his own achievements during his six-year tenure as mayor was endorsement enough.

MAYBE NOW they begin to stop the bleeding around Patterson Park. Who can tell? Maybe now the energy returns to Eastern Avenue, and the neighborhood shops begin to show life again, and maybe now Southeast Baltimore returns to the old days, when finally moving out of your parents' house meant finding an available rowhouse on the same block, instead of a townhouse in distant suburbia.The Abell Foundation thinks it can begin to make some of these things happen. Maybe they're right. Maybe they can undo a quarter-century of political neglect and murderous housing policies that transformed one of the city's most stable communities into one with all of its vulnerabilities showing.

Mary Backer Smith, a former branch librarian at the Enoch Pratt Free Library and a well-known library authority, died Dec. 18 of a stroke at Broadmead. She was 100.A resident of the Cockeysville retirement community since 1985, Mrs. Smith began her library career in 1919 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a master's degree in library science.She moved to New York City, where she worked for the New York Public Library for a year until she married John William Backer, a Baltimore banker.