Quality Of Life

Paul's Place Outreach Center is a wide-ranging community center in Southwest Baltimore's Pigtown neighborhood. The center has a dining room where lunch is served five days a week. Paul's Place also includes a clothing center, literacy program and computer lab, as well as programs for children. The mission of Paul's Place is to improve the quality of life in Southwest Baltimore, according center's Web site. A quote in the dining room reads, "Hope, personal dignity and growth in a welcoming, safe and respectful environment."

A retirement filled with leisure pursuits was not what Wilde Lake village resident Vivian C. Bailey had in mind after a public service career spanning more than 30 years."

An overwhelming majority of Baltimore-area residents say the quality of life here is good or excellent, although city residents are less enthusiastic than are their county neighbors, according to a massive metropolitan survey announced today.The poll, prepared by the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy this spring in a partnership with the Baltimore Regional Council of Governments, asked 2,500 area residents to rate life in their community and identify the region's most pressing concerns.

Once again, a Finksburg community group has given Carroll's commissioners abysmal marks in 13 areas that affect the county's quality of life, including the environment, road signs and watershed protection. Released yesterday, the twice-yearly report card grades the commissioners' performance from April through September on issues ranging from the three-member board's responsiveness to the Finksburg Planning Area Council to the county's master plan to public schools. With failures in four areas: watershed protection, road signs, open government and zoning, and borderline grades in three others, the council thinks its political leaders need its help.

Let's eliminate all the reasons for petty crimes The Sun's editorial "Criminal citation don'ts" (July 18) includes the following paragraph: "Police should enforce the nuisance laws. These crimes may seem petty, but they affect how we live, where we live and how we feel about where we live. Prostitutes under street lamps. The stench of urine in alleys. Knots of men parked on stoops. Shattered liquor bottles littering sidewalks." Wouldn't it serve society a lot better if we were to concentrate on eliminating the cause of such petty crimes?

A majority of callers to The Evening Sun's SUNDIAL say they believe that Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who recently characterized the quality of life on the Eastern Shore as an outhouse, has been rude.Of 1,857 callers yesterday, 1,706 (92 percent) said they think Schaefer, who also has written strong and personally insulting letters to private citizens who have disagreed with his policies, has been coarse and discourteous, while 151 (8 percent) of callers said they feel the governor has the right to freely express his opinion to those who might disagree with him."

It's open phones this week. Whether it's a complaint or compliment, here's your chance to speak your mind. Do you have a suggestion for improving the quality of life in Howard County? Does a neighbor deserve notice for a good deed or helping hand? Any ideas for the new school year? Want to bend the ear of a politician? Whatever the topic, the soapbox is yours.Let us hear from you, in 30 seconds or less, on our comments phone line, 410-715-2830. Or, in 50 words or fewer, send e-mail to howard.

When it comes to growth and development, the two candidates for Baltimore County executive are about as different as Frank Sinatra and Eminem. James T. Smith Jr., a Democrat, and Douglas B. Riley, a Republican, have made the same promises: improving quality of life for residents and increasing the county's tax base. But their differences over development suggest opposing viewpoints. While Smith would make revitalizing older neighborhoods part of his overall plan for governing, Riley would concentrate all the powers of the county executive on such efforts.

Carroll County's appealing quality of life dominated the annual State of the County speeches, delivered by the commissioners. Carroll started the new year as the safest county in the state for the third consecutive year and also had nearly the lowest unemployment and some of the best schools, officials said. Its quality of life is attracting hundreds of families a year, and its solid planning has won national notice. Carroll is building new parks, schools and senior centers while preserving its farmland.