Washington Monument

Baltimore police suspect that alcohol was a factor in the accident in which the driver of a van ran through a section of iron fence surrounding Baltimore's Washington Monument in Mount Vernon early Saturday morning. "It appears as if the driver 'bailed-out' and fled the scene before police arrival," leaving the van said police spokesman Kevin Brown. "He or she is still being sought and the investigation is continuing. " Fifteen feet of the more than 150-year-old iron fence surrounding the historic landmark was damaged when an unknown driver ran a 1997 Chrysler van through a southeast section of the protective metal.

An unknown driver ran his van through a southeast section of the more-than-150-year-old iron fence surrounding Baltimore's Washington Monument in Mount Vernon early Saturday morning, police said. Police were dispatched just after 2:30 a.m. to Washington Place and East Mount Vernon Place after a 1997 Chrysler van struck the fence, but police spokesman Kevin Brown could not confirm if any citations had been issued. The fence, adorned with a motif of battle axes and stars, surrounds the 178-foot-tall monument designed by architect Robert Mills.

More than 300 people have signed petitions stating that they oppose a nonprofit's plan to cut down and replace dozens of city-owned trees as part of an $18.5 million plan to upgrade the public squares around Baltimore's Washington Monument. The signatures were presented Tuesday during a public hearing that Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation held on whether to approve a comprehensive restoration plan for Mount Vernon Place, part of a city-designated historic district.

Not just a home to affluent Baltimoreans, Mount Vernon is a vibrant and historic neighborhood as well as a cultural center. Mess with Mount Vernon Place — or much else in its proximity — and you are bound to stir passion and debate. In recent years there have been people up in arms over building heights (rejecting efforts by developers to allow taller construction), an art project that erected temporary chain link fences (taken down early after an outcry) and a proposed 7-Eleven on North Charles Street (built despite the complaints that it was inappropriate for the site)

Baltimore's Washington Monument is expected to remain off limits to the public for a minimum of three months, as city consultants address safety concerns that prompted the landmark to be closed last week and how to fix them. Cathy Powell, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of General Services, said the city has asked a local engineering firm, Whitney Bailey Cox & Magnani, to inspect the 178-foot-tall monument and advise city officials about the actions needed to make it safe to reopen to the public and the estimated cost.

Baltimore's Washington Monument, the first civic monument to the nation's first president, has been closed to the public until further notice because of safety concerns. Public officials closed the midtown landmark Friday "as a precaution to citizens," according to Cathy Powell, a spokeswoman for Baltimore's Department of General Services. Powell and Gwendolyn Burrell, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Recreation and Parks, said they could not say when the monument will reopen.

With the economy in the doldrums and partridges in pear trees seemingly in short supply, it's time to rethink this whole "12 Days of Christmas" thing. Maybe, instead of offering 12 things to buy, it would be better to find 12 things to do as the holidays approach - 12 days' worth of seasonal activities guaranteed to wring glad tidings out of even the most curmudgeonly Scrooge. Traditionalists should have an easy time filling their holiday to-do lists, thanks to such mainstays as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Holiday Spectacular, train gardens at the B&O Railroad Museum and the annual Mayor's Christmas Parade in Hampden.

Memorial Day in Washington, and geese swimming in the great reflecting pool that reflects the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial, depending on where you are standing, and busloads of tourists pulled up to the curbs. Heroic architecture everywhere, bas-relief sculptures of heroes, men on pedestals, monuments to Fidelity and Sacrifice and Devotion, and a milling crowd of people, many of whom are Hot and Irritable and Dazed with Tedium. Signs of museum fatigue everywhere. Stone-faced couples in shorts walk by, cameras dangling from their wrists, who appear to be on the verge of divorce.