Sidewalks

To restaurant owners, sandwich boards on the sidewalk are a cheap and easy way to lure customers with specials on crab soup or chicken salad. To downtown residents, said Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer, they are "a visual clutter problem." She intends to introduce to the city council tomorrow a bill to repeal a law that bans the easel-like chalk or white boards, called sidewalks. Rather, she wants business owners to apply to the city for approval and to limit them to one board apiece. "My intent is not that there would be a sandwich board in front of every daggone building on Main Street," she said.

Residents of downtown Annapolis have long hated those newspaper racks and boxes of free publications, those perceived insidious eyesores that clutter their beautiful historic district.Like mushrooms, they pop up. Three, five, 22 in a row on the city's narrow sidewalks. Last summer, Alderman Louise Hammond, a Ward 1 Democrat who represents downtown, was so frustrated that she counted all the boxes within the city dock area.She counted 98. In an area just about the size of three city blocks.

MY BEST SHOTWings of colorSiyuan Le, BaltimoreIn mid-September, I took this picture in the Butterfly House at the Hershey Gardens in Pennsylvania. At this outdoor butterfly house, hundreds of butterflies with brilliant colors and unique patterns fly freely around the wonderful garden. This is truly a remarkable, colorful kingdom.MY FAVORITE PLACEAt home -- in New OrleansCybelle Churches PomeroySpecial to the SunMy husband says I can't be homesick for a place I've never lived. I don't know about that, but my mother (the English major)

Annapolis Alderman Herbert H. McMillan is considering amending his controversial anti-loitering bill so that police could only ask drug offenders with at least two previous convictions to move along.McMillan, a Ward 5 Republican, said he started contemplating the amendment after a public hearing Monday night, where some people protested against the portion of his proposal that allows police to ask anyone convicted of drug possession, use or distribution to move along.Opponents argued that the bill would unfairly target those convicted long ago who had cleaned up their act afterward.

For nearly nine years, the marble memorial with the gold-painted cement eagle on top has stood in a grassy, otherwise empty lot, a white and bright slab standing out from the weeds, crumbling sidewalks and the unrelenting gray of life in Curtis Bay.In winter, the memorial spends its time alone, a solitary monument to all the young neighborhood men who gave their lives to defend the United States. In the summer, it's a rallying point for impromptu stickball games, block parties and events held by the monument's owner and caretaker, American Legion Post 187.This year, the city's decision to fix one piece of decaying Curtis Bay -- its sidewalks -- might cost the neighborhood its memorial.

The Annapolis city council narrowly passed last night a bill that allows police officers to arrest loiterers suspected of sidewalk drug activity in public housing communities.After almost an hour of debate, during which several aldermen carefully articulated their reasons for supporting or opposing the measure, the council voted 5-4 to approve the bill.The bill, which requires communities to apply for "anti-drug loitering zone" status before it can be enforced, has won the support of Annapolis Housing Authority executive director Patricia Croslan and Neighborhood Watch block captains.

WHAT IS Baltimore's greatest problem? A murder rate four to five times New York City's? A public school system in which almost two-thirds of the students drop out? The unrelenting exodus of the middle class?Did the lack of attractive sidewalks downtown come to mind?City government and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore believe that the lack of such sidewalks is a serious problem, and they plan to spend several million dollars to provide them, along with landscaping, benches and light fixtures.

AMERICANS are trying to build better, more livable communities, but we are caught in a stubborn gridlock.After four decades of following the recipe for suburbia, we are rediscovering the virtues of the traditional Main Street. We like the idea of communities with personality, where it's pleasant and safe to stroll down the sidewalk to this store or that restaurant, the way our parents and grandparents did.Slaves to the autoBut this is not 1910. We are a nation of drivers, a people in a hurry.

I TOOK a spin last week through Woodberry at Severna Park, a new luxury tract of imposing homes.Located off Ritchie Highway, south of Magothy Bridge Road, it is typical of developments being built nowadays with edifices costing $350,000 or more. With huge brick fronts, these are immense structures. They boast all the amenities a person could want -- from sprawling, fully equipped kitchens to whirlpool bathtubs to walk-in closets as big as a backyard shed.However, this pricey subdivision lacks one amenity that used to be taken for granted.

Owners of businesses along a 1.7-mile stretch of Eastern Boulevard in Essex said last night that plans to build a sidewalk would eliminate road shoulders where their customers park and put them out of business.The new sidewalks are included in a nearly $6 million streetscape project, part of an effort to revitalize the county's east side."I look at this proposed plan and I can see my business going down the drain," said Ron Wasner, owner of J&H Tires at 1786 Eastern Boulevard. He spoke at an information meeting sponsored by the Baltimore County Office of Community Conservation at Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School in Essex.

It's not hard to spot the flaws in the study released this week that ranked Maryland 49th among 50 states in per capita spending of federal transportation money on pedestrian and bicycling projects. In looking for big projects, researchers missed the far more numerous little ones - as well as all those financed primarily with state rather than federal funds. When the Maryland State Highway Administration refurbishes a road, sidewalks are often upgraded to meet higher safety and accessibility standards - yet that's not the kind of effort that would be considered in the report.

A brightly banded chameleon, a strongman tattooed in academic symbols and a guy with the gears of his mind exposed all took their places above midtown Wednesday when the University of Baltimore unveiled a series of banners depicting the connection between institution and city. The illustrations are musings on UB's campus slogan, "Knowledge That Works." Officials also hope the 50 banners will be a flamboyant manifestation of the university's overall quest to be more recognized. "The whole idea when I came here was to begin defining our borders," said UB President Robert L. Bogomolny.

In 1984, downtown Baltimore was a very different place than it is today. After reaching its pinnacle in the 1940s, Baltimore began to witness a decline in population, employment and investment that continued well into the next four decades. The downtown area was no exception. Despite successful efforts to redevelop Charles Center and the Inner Harbor, much of the area outside of these districts remained unchanged. Vacant storefronts along Charles Street were the norm. Graffiti and other signs of vagrancy were increasing.

I was about to suggest that the folks at the State Highway Administration take a hike. Then I found out they already have. It's no secret that previous generations of highway engineers gave little thought to the safety of pedestrians. (Or bicyclists, though this column is for the folks on foot.) All over Maryland you can find state highways where pedestrians are forced by the road's design to walk in the travel lanes and hope passing motorists aren't drunk, angry or talking on cell phones.

Darryl Melvin likes to smoke a cigarette on the sidewalk in front of Mercy Medical Center after he sees his cardiologist - an appointment he keeps every three months. "It eases my nerves," Melvin, 45, said yesterday as he enjoyed his smoke amid butts littering the grounds around the hospital. "I have bad nerves. I have twin 15-year-old boys." But if the Baltimore City Council adopts a bill introduced last night, Melvin would have to cross the street before lighting up. The initiative would create smoke-free zones on sidewalks adjacent to the city's 17 hospitals.

The Annapolis city council eliminated a controversial fee to maintain the city's sidewalks and approved refunds to the thousands of residents who paid it. How the city will maintain its 120 miles of sidewalks is unknown. Legislation approved at the council meeting called for more study of the issue. The council passed the fee - $25 for individual property owners and $125 for business owners - last year with little fanfare. But when residents received the bills last month, residents made clear their disdain for the fee, calling and e-mailing members of the council and speaking out at meetings.

Twenty-five dollars. It's not even half a tank of gas, less than the cost of a ticket to Six Flags, maybe a dozen crabs. But it's enough to drive Annapolis citizens to flood City Hall and city council representatives with furious calls and e-mails over the new fee to fund sidewalk maintenance and repairs - and enough to cause two aldermen to say they will introduce legislation Monday to suspend enforcement of the fee. The bills, which charge owners of...

Members of the Annapolis city council are looking into repealing a little-known new law requiring all city residents to pay a sidewalk-repair fee after receiving an avalanche of criticism from people - including those without sidewalks - who just got their bills in the mail. The $25 fee per household will allow the city to take over responsibility for maintaining the city's sidewalks. Property owners are supposed to repair and replace sidewalks at their own cost, said city spokesman Ray Weaver.

The steady beeping of machinery, the thunderous slam as jackhammer hits pavement and the constant crunch of gravel under the tires of a backhoe have overtaken the sounds of commerce on Main Street in downtown Bel Air. The $8.8 million Main Street Streetscape Project that is expanding a half-mile section and enlarging the sidewalks might eventually improve business in the county seat, but for now it is taking a bite out of sales. At least nine empty storefronts with "For Lease" signs in the windows line Main Street.

What's the point? -- To all the runners, joggers and power walkers out there, this is for you. Do you have a running path that you use every day? Ever wonder how far you're really running? This site, powered by Google, provides the answer. This pedometer map, which includes all locations in the United States, enables you to outline your running path, which can include roads or sidewalks, and tells you the distance you've traveled. What to look for --Turn on the calorie counter to enter your weight and see how many calories you burn by running the designated path.