Side Streets

Nearly 48 hours after the last snowflake fell in the Blizzard of '93, exhausted Baltimore area road crews were still plowing and salting snow-covered thoroughfares yesterday, but with the focus shifted from major arteries to side streets.The weekend's arctic temperatures and strong winds proved to be a double whammy for road-clearing efforts, leaving pockets of deep snow and tough veneers of ice. Baltimore County crews had to bring in front-end loaders to free six rural north county roads where snow drifts reached 10 feet high.

New curb cuts to improve handicapped access on Falls Road near Mount Washington will get folks only so far. Say, about 20 feet. Light poles, street signs and hydrants obstruct the sidewalks, preventing anyone in a wheelchair or walker from continuing very far beyond the aprons of new concrete that blend the sidewalk down into the street. "When I saw them putting in the curb cuts, I thought, 'Oh, good.' But when the work was done, I thought, 'What's the point? You can't go anywhere,'" said Ben Dubin, an accessibility advocate who lives in Baltimore County.

The Big Dig-Out of 1996 began in earnest yesterday across Central Maryland, with an overture of shovels scraping, trucks rumbling -- and budgets breaking.By the end of the day, thousands of state, local and private employees working round-the-clock had made many main roads passable, especially in Baltimore City. But in outlying areas such as Howard, Carroll and northern Baltimore counties, workers had an uphill battle even clearing thoroughfares.And every jurisdiction still faced the near-impossible task of plowing miles of side streets while trying not to bury the cars and driveways that residents had shoveled out.They worked knowing that their best efforts might be set back by Friday, when the National Weather Service predicts another storm.

Over the weekend, a demolition crew turned One, a chic night club for most of the last decade, into a pile of brick, broken cinderblock and sand. If you're of a certain age and missed One's run as a nightclub, you will know this location, at Guilford Avenue and Saratoga Street, as House of Welsh Corner. Instead of big dance floors and theatrically-lighted bars stocked with Dom Perignon, you'll think of a classic Baltimore tavern that served sizzling steaks on metal plates and Maryland whiskey at a bar without stools.

Yesterday, as Baltimore's campaign to make its narrow side streets passable finally began in earnest, homely diggers and dozers became as important as the familiar snowplow.Three days after the first flakes fell, the drifts still were high in neighborhoods, with cars nestled inside them like slumbering bears. Enter the backhoe, a buglike, 2-ton contraption with a bucket in front to scoop the drifts away -- 4 cubic yards at a time -- and monstrous back wheels that can pack snow nearly to the pavement in one pass.

My neighbors dug our entire city street only to find that the main street at the end had yet to be plowed. Some people have driven on it and smashed down the snow, but there are serious ruts and holes. I'm not expecting miracles on the side streets, and I know the crews must have a lot going on, but really Harford Road is still unplowed??!! How can that be? My husband and I made it out in my SUV today, thanks to neighbors who pushed us until we were able to move on our own -- and while we were out we didn't see a single plow, and the streets were clearly not salted.

It's as if Mayor Martin O'Malley landed in the world's largest playground. Since he took office Dec. 7, O'Malley has hit the streets on the back of a trash truck, fired up a jackhammer to repair a city road and blasted graffiti with a high-powered sand and water blower. Yesterday, the mayor climbed behind the wheel of a Ford Super Duty F550 pickup truck to clear snow from streets in former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's Ashburton neighborhood during the city's first winter storm. "I ran for office so I could be a public works technician," O'Malley said as he raced up and down side streets off Liberty Heights Avenue, raising and lowering the plow on the front of the big yellow truck.

Baltimore City housing officials deserve strong support for their plan to acquire the 900 block of Whitelock Street -- and offer the site for redevelopment. This plan finally gives some real hope for a Reservoir Hill corridor that for years has been identified as a major drug and crime area.Fifteen years ago we would have hesitated to recommend surgery that may include demolition of a mixed-use block of businesses and residences that is the heart of a community. But passage of time has persuaded us that nothing short of giving the dilapidated stretch a new identity is going to turn the neighborhood around.

SPRING was unwieldy in Cumberland. The last traces of snow melted down into the valley; heavy rains flooded the narrow streets; forsythia stacked the hills; unexpected blizzards sang through the mountains. For us as children, spring was roller skating time.We skated in the old-fashioned way in the 1940s, our skates secured to the soles of our shoes by side clamps, regulated by a key which we wore around our necks. The shoes had to be just right: old enough that we were allowed by our mothers to risk ruining them, but not so old that the soles were likely to separate from the shoes in the process of skating.

As Baltimore's side streets remained snowbound two days after a record-setting snowstorm, the city's efforts to clear neighborhoods have been slowed by equipment failures in almost half of its plows. While 101 snowplows continued to clear major streets yesterday, another 87 sat idle in repair shops with transmission problems, broken salt-spreaders and other troubles, city officials said. "The equipment failures are starting to hurt us," Mayor Martin O'Malley said. "This is a lot more snow than we're used to, and every imaginable thing is happening - engines are blowing up, plows are breaking, windshield wipers aren't working."

Saturday is the day Fifi looks forward to every year. Fifi is the American Visionary Art Museum 's giant pink poodle-with-wheels, who once a year ventures outside to take part in what is clearly Baltimore's funkiest annual event, the Kinetic Sculpture Race . This year, some 36 land- and seaworthy vehicles, all strictly people-powered, will be taking part in the 15-mile race over land, sea, mud and sand. Like Fifi, some are designed to resemble animals; one of last year's crowd favorites was a hookah-smoking caterpillar.

Nearly a week after the season's first major winter snowstorm, large patches of ice and snow still cover streets in some Northeast Baltimore neighborhoods, and residents say they are waiting for trash and recycling pickups. That's a common problem in Hamilton Hills, resident Jere Danaher said Tuesday. Last year, following the February blizzards, was the first time in 30 years that he remembers city crews being sent to clear neighborhood streets. This year, a plowing crew cleared some roads after residents complained to the area's city councilman, Robert Curran.

In her 24 years of delivering mail to hundreds of East Baltimoreans, Earline Bushrod has faced all manner of weather-related challenges. She says the worst mishaps occur when things aren't what they seem. An example? Stepping into 2 feet of snow when you're expecting only a few inches. "It just leaned me over a bit," Bushrod said as she stumbled before regaining her balance during her route. "But I'll continue to do what I do." Bushrod, 54, and the rest of her fellow postal service workers went back to business Thursday while city, state and federal employees had another day off. Baltimore streets were largely clear, but pathways to mail slots at many homes were not, after two 20-inch-plus storms in five days.

My neighbors dug our entire city street only to find that the main street at the end had yet to be plowed. Some people have driven on it and smashed down the snow, but there are serious ruts and holes. I'm not expecting miracles on the side streets, and I know the crews must have a lot going on, but really Harford Road is still unplowed??!! How can that be? My husband and I made it out in my SUV today, thanks to neighbors who pushed us until we were able to move on our own -- and while we were out we didn't see a single plow, and the streets were clearly not salted.

Heavy, blowing snow quickly covered the Howard County streets that prompted complaints about the clean-up after last weekend's blizzard, but now exhausted county officials and workers face more days of plowing, digging and frustration. Angela Beltram's observation about county snow-clearing efforts on her street off St. John's Lane in Ellicott City resonates with lots of Howard County residents after every major snowstorm. "All I know is, our street is one of the last" to be plowed, Beltram said, though she hadn't fully explored the neighborhood.

It sure looked like a well-planned Super Bowl party, with chili, fresh guacamole and macaroni on the counter, moms and kids milling everywhere and a few dads glued to the game in the living room. But actually, the idea came to Annette Baldwin on Saturday afternoon as she and her Ellicott City neighbors strained their backs shoveling 2 feet of snow from their driveways. A lot of folks wouldn't be able to make their planned parties, Baldwin figured, so why not have a potluck right there, in the heart of their neighborhood?

The Westminster City Council is expected to award a $2.1 million contract tomorrow night to renovate West Green Street. The project, which includes reconstructing the road and sidewalks between Liberty Street and New Windsor Road, has been in the works for at least two years, said Thomas B. Beyard, the city's director of planning and public works. The street lacks storm water drains, and West Green Street often floods. "The whole street is like a big river when it rains," said Councilman Robert P. Wack, who lives on the street.

Saturday is the day Fifi looks forward to every year. Fifi is the American Visionary Art Museum 's giant pink poodle-with-wheels, who once a year ventures outside to take part in what is clearly Baltimore's funkiest annual event, the Kinetic Sculpture Race . This year, some 36 land- and seaworthy vehicles, all strictly people-powered, will be taking part in the 15-mile race over land, sea, mud and sand. Like Fifi, some are designed to resemble animals; one of last year's crowd favorites was a hookah-smoking caterpillar.

Detectives define a shooting as an unsuccessful homicide. If that's true, the Baltimore Police Department needs to start worrying, if City Hall wants to end the year with the lowest number of slayings since the mid-1980s. Shootings are down, but not as much now as they were a few months ago. In June, the number of people shot this year compared with last year was down 30 percent. As of two weeks ago, the latest firm numbers available, shootings were down just 16 percent compared with last year.

The aptly named Side Street Cafe is indeed entered from a side street, just off York Road. Though it's not far from the newly glammed-up Hunt Valley Towne Centre, with its Wegmans and fancy stores, gentrified parts of York Road still seem a world away from this little alley. The location can lead to low expectations, but once inside this charming little restaurant, memories of the potholed parking lot quickly fade. The space, painted in tans and browns, has the cozy yet airy feel of a country cafe.