NEWS
By Michael Dresser | October 18, 2009
You won't find Harris Creek on modern maps of Baltimore. For more than a century, it's been filled in and paved over and channeled into underground pipes. But before the industrialization of the Canton waterfront, it was a large body of water - wide enough to be navigable as far north as what is now Patterson Park and deep enough to play host to the boatyard that built the frigate Constellation. The watershed Harris Creek drains is still there in more than 50 miles of underground pipes - along with a small visible vestige of the original creek where a large storm drain spews a mixture of water, runoff and trash into Baltimore Harbor across from the Safeway on Boston Street.
NEWS
By Liz F. Kay | December 14, 2008
THE PROBLEM: A West Baltimore storm drain is clogged. THE BACKSTORY: It's a sight you might only expect to see in Baltimore. In the 1400 block of Myrtle Ave., where it intersects with West Lafayette Street, several loops of crime scene tape trail from a street light pole into a storm drain blocked by trash. Crews from the Department of Public Works' Bureau of Water and Wastewater clean as many of the city's 33,000 storm drains as they can, but this falls squarely within homeowner or tenant responsibility, said spokesman Kurt Kocher.
NEWS
By Scott Calvert | September 4, 2008
Tropical Storm Hanna could bring heavy rains and high winds to Maryland on Saturday, but forecasters predict the region will be spared the storm's brunt. The Baltimore area and Eastern Shore could see 3 inches to 5 inches of rain in places and 50-mph wind gusts, the National Weather Service said. Because of the potential for torrential downpours, flash flooding is possible. But with the severe weather expected to pass east of Ocean City, forecasters said Hanna was unlikely to cause the kind of storm surge in the Chesapeake Bay that made Tropical Storm Isabel so devastating in 2003.
NEWS
July 1, 2008
Public needs access to more of the bay When I first moved to Maryland, I was shocked at the very limited number of access points to the Chesapeake Bay for boaters, swimmers and anglers who do not live on the bay. What we have, in essence, is a public body of water supported by billions in federal, state and local taxes that a relative handful of developers and landowners are allowed to treat as their own private marina. And while the column "Blocked from the bay" (June 24) is helpful in bringing this pitiful state of affairs to public notice, it also illustrates the meek attitude of state and local officials in their acceptance of the status quo. For instance, according to one planner the column cites, environmentalists who want more public access to the bay must "partner with developers" because the "only alternative ... will be to wait for bridges to be realigned so that old structures can be used as fishing piers."
NEWS
By Rona Kobell | February 26, 2008
The stream has been hidden for years, buried under the streets of Southwest Baltimore's poorest neighborhoods, almost forgotten. Only when it rains does the stream come alive, an underground current that carries with it the litter of storm drains - plastic bags, soda cans and other trash. It emerges near the Carroll Park golf course, disgorging into a rocky bed of the Gwynns Falls that holds a fetid cocktail of sewage and garbage. Far more dangerous is the pollution that the naked eye can't see - nitrogen, zinc and lead from automobile exhaust, among other sources.
NEWS
September 18, 2007
THE PROBLEM -- Cornstalks growing in Highlandtown. THE BACKSTORY -- We've all heard about alligators in the sewers. How about corn growing out of storm drains? Watchdog just couldn't ignore this message left on the column's answering machine by Highlandtown resident Richard Rawlings, about a house for sale at Fait Avenue and South Clinton Street: "There are cornstalks growing in the gutter." This is not exactly farm country. But last week there were cornstalks, most about 1 1/2 feet high - growing from under a curb and from a clogged storm drain on the Clinton Street side of the rowhouse.
NEWS
By Jacques Kelly | November 18, 2006
Perry William Stewart Sr., who began as a laborer and retired as a Baltimore Department of Public Works supervisor, died of a stroke Sunday at University of Maryland Medical Center. The Ednor Gardens resident was 75. Born in Baltimore and raised on Boone Street in Waverly, he attended Dunbar High School before enlisting in the Navy. He served as a cook. After his discharge he worked at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point shipyard for several years until he took a job with the city Department of Public Works.
NEWS
By JULIE SCHARPER | July 29, 2006
Two years ago, the city installed a trash-straining system in Gwynns Run after a broken pipe dumped millions of gallons of sewage into the waterway. The apparatus funnels the water through nets that can be lifted up with a pulley and dumped into a trash bin. But there is a problem: The nets are frequently broken, and garbage sails through the $1.7 million system on its way to the Chesapeake Bay, environmentalists say. "The problem with Gwynns Run is that nobody comes back here, and nobody cares," said Dan Dillon, a researcher with the Baltimore Ecosystem Study.
NEWS
By Sheridan Lyons | October 6, 2004
Firefighters and Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crews returned yesterday to the scene of a gas leak in a Westminster neighborhood that affected about 40 homes Monday. The problem began about 10:15 a.m. in the 200 block of Hobbits Lane, an area of new homes in the Stoneridge Overlook development, said Jeff Alexander, assistant chief of Westminster Fire Engine & Hose Company No. 1. A leak in a 2-inch plastic gas main underground was found and repaired by 3:50 p.m. Monday, said Jamie Krumpler, a BGE spokeswoman.
NEWS
June 23, 2004
2 sought in string of convenience store robberies since May Maryland State Police are searching for two men they say are responsible for smash-and-grab robberies at several Carroll County convenience stores. Every week since the end of last month, convenience stores throughout the county have been burglarized after closing, between 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m., authorities said. Two men have been caught on surveillance cameras, but police said hooded sweat shirts pulled over their heads made it impossible to identify them.