Tall Trees

Inside Westminster Abbey, eight 20-foot-tall live trees lined the center aisle during the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. The trees transformed the space, doing what even the most elaborate floral arrangement could not — providing a natural, living sense of permanence and an air of drama. The move was unexpected, unpretentious and bold. A potted tree on your patio or deck can have the same effect. While not every tree is well-suited for a container, there are a surprising number of options, ranging from crape myrtles to hollies.

Question: In my very shady back yard, grass is very difficult to grow - tall trees, compacted soil, and slight slope. Since moss seems 'determined' to grow, how about accepting it, nurturing it, instead of grass? I realize the deeper roots of grass would be better to hold soil, but moss is better than bare ground, right? Answer: You're right. It's impossible to grow grass in shade. Grass is a prairie/meadow plant and demands 3-4 hours of direct sunlight a day. Moss is an acceptable ground cover, in fact moss is prized in some countries.

Jan Kelly, mother of three, grandmother of seven, was brought in to help clean up a drug problem and other troubles in the Villages of Tall Trees, a low-income apartment complex in Essex.The first thing she did was have all the pay telephones removed. "Why do you need 13 pay phones in less than four blocks?" Ms. Kelly said.And on a hot, muggy day in September 1990, less than two weeks after she took over as manager of the Villages of Tall Trees Condominium Association, she walked out alone onto Rickenbacker Drive, the main thoroughfare in Tall Trees, to confront a dozen grinning adversaries.

It's hard to stand out in a wonderland of kitsch, but Jim Pollock does just that. In 1996, the scrap-metal artist made a tiny Christmas tree out of hubcaps. Today, it's 8 feet high, incorporates more than 100 wheel covers and stands in front of his house at 708 W. 34th St. in Hampden, a dented destination of choice for the thousands who crowd his block for the famed miracle of lights every holiday season. They come for his hospitality - he opens his home to visitors, including 30,000 last year - but also for the whimsy in his work.

With the Baltimore County Council approving the purchase of 19 aging east-side apartment buildings last night, officials are offering rent subsidies of at least $5,250 to many families who will soon be displaced. The County Council agreed to buy nearly a fifth of the 105 buildings that comprise the Villages of Tall Trees in Essex for $2.4 million with negotiations continuing to purchase the remainder. The county intends to raze the World War II-era brick buildings for park space, and is developing more sweeping plans for an upscale waterfront village nearby.

A $2.4 million contract to purchase 19 blighted apartment buildings at the Villages of Tall Trees -- a key component in the plan to revitalize Essex-Middle River -- is expected to be approved tonight by the Baltimore County Council. "The council is backing the revitalization initiative and so far they are very pleased," said Robert J. Barrett, assistant to County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger. County workers are also expected to meet this week with the first wave of more than 2,000 Tall Trees tenants who will be displaced by the demolition of 105 World War II-era brick buildings at the complex to make way for a park.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday that the county government is a voting member of the condominium association at the Villages of Tall Trees in Essex. Judge Robert E. Cadigan's ruling opens the door for demolition of the apartment buildings on Old Eastern Avenue, a once-proud enclave for World War II-era workers that became a forlorn and violent reminder of better days. The county wants to clear the site for a 50-acre public park, part of an ambitious east-side revitalization plan featuring new houses, a waterfront destination, the extension of Route 43 and streetscape improvements on Eastern Boulevard.

EVEN THE most careful preservation of the 105 buildings in the Tall Trees apartment complex won't make Essex a World War II equivalent of Colonial Williamsburg. When 53,000 people worked in the Glenn L. Martin Co. factories building the aircraft that helped to win World War II, there was a need for thousands of units of hastily built housing. That need no longer exists. Trying to preserve all these apartments is an exercise in economic futility. Labeling them "historic" won't change that.

The Villages of Tall Trees, a World War II-era apartment complex in Essex that in recent years has deteriorated into a bazaar of criminal enterprise and violence, would be transformed into a community of condominiums under an ambitious plan proposed by private investors to county leaders.A preliminary blueprint, discussed in several meetings, calls for developers to convert 80 of the 100 buildings into affordable three-bedroom condos, eventually eliminate hundreds of low-income rental units and bring stability to an area once recognized as the worst crime zone in Baltimore county.

An Essex man was arrested yesterday in the death of his neighbor, whose body was discovered Saturday. Joseph Carpio Colwill, 26, of the first block of Stemmers Run Road was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Stanley Gordon Fisher, 44, who lived in the same building in the Villages of Tall Trees apartment complex, police said. They said Colwill was being held without bail at the county detention center. A bail review hearing was set for today. Police did not report a motive for the killing, and did not report what evidence led them to suspect Colwill.

The Laurelford community off Falls Road in northern Baltimore County is resplendent in its variety of stately, custom-built homes. Predominately Georgian and Colonial in style, they rest on large landscaped lots surrounded by tall trees. One of the first houses in the neighborhood - built in 1988 - was set apart in both space and style. Placed off the beaten path on nine wooded acres at the end of a cul-de-sac, the contemporary design, with its brick construction and commercial-looking doors and windows, was the joke of the neighborhood.

Music lovers with tastes from pop to bluegrass, from big band to gospel and from jazz to reggae have the opportunity this summer to experience the music they enjoy at a free, scenic and local venue at the 13th annual Catonsville Lurman Woodland Theatre Summer Concert Series. "We like to call it Catonsville's best-kept secret," said Al Loyd, chairman of Friends of Lurman Woodland Theatre. From June to August, often both Saturday and Sunday nights, returning bands and groups new to the series grace the concrete Lurman stage, which is surrounded by tall trees.

For the Chiodi family, the good life is all about land - tall trees, acreage, even a stream filled with trout in their back yard. They realized this dream a year ago on purchasing a two-story colonial in northern Baltimore County. In an area off Cuba Road near Oregon Ridge Park, where a smattering of new homes have been built among older houses and farms, their $500,000 investment offers unlimited possibilities for expansion. Lisa Chiodi, a 36-year-old mother and homemaker, recalls finding the 3-year-old house on the Internet.

The first phrase of a long-awaited public park in Middle River will include a community center, baseball diamond and walking trails, all part of Baltimore County's efforts to revitalize waterfront communities. The Department of Recreation and Parks will begin this week seeking design concepts for the 13,000-square-foot meeting center at the Village of Tall Trees Park, where a dilapidated and crime-ridden apartment complex once stood. When completed, the 50-acre park will be between two new housing developments, WaterView and Hopewell Pointe.

Undaunted by repeated rejections by the county executive and a strong community backlash, an eastern Baltimore County legislator continues to press for a plan to allow private developers to construct housing on a 52-acre site where a public park is planned. In his latest effort, Del. Richard K. Impallaria, a Republican representing the 7th District, sought legal guidance from the state attorney general on his proposal to build houses at the former site of the Villages of Tall Trees, a troubled, World War II-era apartment complex demolished last year.

East-side Del. Richard K. Impallaria and several other state legislators have asked Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. and other officials to drop plans for a 52-acre park at the former Villages of Tall Trees in Essex and instead build housing where the crime-ridden World War II-era apartment complex once stood. Impallaria said he came up with the idea of a housing development to replace the planned park "because the county, and the state, is in financial trouble. Housing would mean more people on the east side.

The transformation of Villages of Tall Trees, once a crime-ridden and dilapidated section of Baltimore County's Eastside, begins tomorrow with the dedication of four spacious condominiums, where a condemned apartment building once stood.The $60,000 units have been sold pending credit approval for buyers, and developers are prepared to close deals on three other buildings in the Essex complex, continuing the process of replacing renters with property owners."It's a major step in improving the area, bringing in homeowners," County Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, a 5th District Democrat, said yesterday.

The Baltimore County Bureau of Land Acquisition is seeking approval from the County Council for seven contracts of sale worth $4.5 million to buy 29 more buildings at the Villages of Tall Trees in Essex. The council is expected to approve the latest step in the county's acquisition of the 105 World War II-era apartments for demolition. When the demolition is completed, the land will be used for a park, officials said. The razing of Tall Trees, on Old Eastern Avenue, is part of the revitalization plan to upgrade Essex-Middle River with new homes, a beautification project on Eastern Boulevard and the development of a riverfront tourist destination.

Sixty years ago, they were sturdy monuments to America's work ethic and resolve. Now they stand as faded, red-brick tombstones marking the final, troubled days of a once-proud community. The demolition of 105 apartment buildings at the Villages of Tall Trees on Baltimore County's east side began yesterday amid speeches and hope for the public park that will replace the buildings as part of a huge revitalization project. For some, the demolition offered a reason to celebrate with complimentary hot coffee and doughnuts on a cold, rain-soaked morning in Essex.

Hundreds of Baltimore County officials, civic leaders and east-side residents celebrated yesterday the long-awaited groundbreaking for WaterView, a project designed to replace a crime-ridden apartment complex with quaint homes and a sense of community. Gathering in a large tent near where drug dealers once ruled in the old Riverdale Apartments, government leaders appeared buoyed by the festive mood of the crowd. Those attending carried tote bags bearing the WaterView logo and nibbled on catered fruit and mini-muffins.