Sidewalks

City homicide detectives were investigating a stabbing across from Lexington Market in downtown Baltimore. Police were called to the scene, at the intersection of West Lexington and North Paca streets, at about 4:50 p.m. Friday. Crime scene tape blocked off a stretch of sidewalk in front of the Lexaco appliance store, across from one of the main entrances to the market. Blood could be seen on the sidewalk just outside the front door, while detectives stood over items marked for evidence inside the store.

Perry Hall residents have spent years pleading for new sidewalks along parts of busy Honeygo Boulevard, trying to keep pedestrians safe from the cars and trucks that whiz by. This week, their efforts will pay off as Baltimore County pours $125,000 into new sidewalks along that stretch. The county will build a 750-foot section of sidewalk on Ebenezer Road, and a 1,700-foot section on Honeygo between White Marsh Boulevard and Silver Spring Road. The project started Monday and could be finished by the end of the week, officials said.

A man was shot and later died of his injuries in Northeast Baltimore, according to Baltimore Police. Officers responded to the 1500 block of Roundhill Road, just east of Loch Raven Boulevard, at about 11:30 p.m. for a report of a shooting, police said. The victim was lying on the sidewalk next to a vehicle, as if he was sitting in the driver's seat when he was shot, police said. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:40 a.m. Investigators are working to confirm his identity, but have tentatively stated he was 25 years old, police said.

The problem Holes remain in a Northeast Baltimore sidewalk months after streetlight repairs. The back story The Holts did what they were supposed to do. About five months ago, they called Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. to report problems with the streetlight in the 7600 block of Mars Ave., in the North Harford Road neighborhood. Contractors came to repair the light. They dug holes in the sidewalk, and afterward, filled most of them with asphalt, not concrete. "They filled in a couple of the holes but put a bucket over the one and just left it there and never did anything with it," said Linda Holt, who lives across the street.

The problem A Hampden sidewalk was repaired, but a walkway was not replaced. The back story When Baltimore contractors are hired to do work for the city, they should complete the job. But when a contractor fails to replace a walk, forcing a man with two knee replacements to go out of his way to get to and from his house, that seems especially wrong. Linda Bradford Barron's 78-year-old father lives in the 3500 block of Roland Ave., just south of 36th Street — otherwise known as the Avenue — in Hampden.

The problem: A Cub Hill sidewalk remains unrepaired after a storm drain is fixed. The back story: Sometimes a simple problem has a simple solution. And sometimes, two arms of the same agency experience communication problems. About a year ago, a crew from Baltimore County's Department of Public Works repaired a storm drain near Diane Hopple's Cub Hill home. They had to tear up a sidewalk on Montreal Avenue near Erie Avenue to do the work. Members of the crew told Hopple that the other storm drains in the area were also made with inferior pipe and workers would return to fix them.

The problem: "Green slime" grows behind a building in Riverside in South Baltimore. The back story: What do you do if you fear The Blob has moved into your neighborhood? While taking a walk, Dawn Dulaney and her husband noticed what she described as "green slime" on a sidewalk in the 1400 block of Stevenson St. The green stuff was on the sidewalk, and there was some trash mixed in, she said in a call to Watchdog. She worried that it was mold or a substance that could harm people, pets or the environment.

After a record-breaking winter, the beginning of spring in Baltimore could not be more welcome. With beautiful weather and the start of baseball season, spring brings many opportunities to get outdoors and enjoy our city. However, the melting snow drifts revealed a dirty secret: thousands upon thousands of cigarette butts littering our streets and sidewalks. Baltimore faces a huge pollution problem from littered cigarette butts, which is only exacerbated as we spend more time outdoors.

The problem: A fence around a demolition site on Charles Street forced pedestrians into the street. The backstory: John Dorsey finds himself at Charles Street and North Avenue pretty frequently. Sometimes it's on the way back from driving his daughter to Baltimore International College, he said. Other times, it's as a pedestrian, walking to the Windup Space to watch his children and their friends play music. But for nearly a year, by his estimation, the fence around a demolition site on the northwest corner of Charles and North has forced him and other pedestrians into the roadway on Charles Street, Dorsey said.