Lauraville
Here you will find much of interest and importance if you live in or near the neighborhood of Lauraville, in NE Baltimore City. Please explore the links to the left.
News & articles
When the Going Gets Tough and Lauravillians Get Going!
From all across our neighborhood came stories from Lauravillians of how they banded together to dig out of the Storm of 2010 and help each other here is a small sample: Alexander and Chris Waldt spent many hours digging out elderly and disables neighbors around
The intersection of Grindon and Ailsa is always a snow trap even for 4-wheel drives. Several hearty souls shoveled it clear for easy traveling for all. Very generous! Our street owes a great debt of thanks to Joe Vogel, who, after both blizzards, used his snow blower to find the asphalt of the 4600 block of
Wow- where can I begin? Our
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The Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge is in NOGLI!
The Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge (or BNEC) is a nine-month pilot program, brought to you by Baltimore's Office of Sustainability and the Baltimore Community Foundation, which aims to reduce Baltimore's energy consumption by 15% by the year 2015. NOGLI has been chosen as one of 8 neighborhoods in the city to participate in this initiative. All NOGLI residents are eligible to receive the benefits of BNEC, which include free and low cost energy saving products, services, and tips for all participating residents, as well as involvement in workshops and community-building activities around saving energy and money in your home. For more information on BNEC, visit: www.baltimoreenergychallenge.org, or contact Nicole@greaterlauraville.com.
Hamilton Gallery to Host National Aquarium Inspired Exhibit
The Hamilton Gallery, located at
Light refreshments will be provided by the local restaurants and pubs of Hamilton & Lauraville. Members of the
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Lauraville Restaurants Get a Decade of Praise
With all the best of decade lists that were released at the End of 2009, it was nice to see Lauraville get recognition for the great restaurants that have come to our neighborhood since 2001. Elizabeth Large of the Baltimore Sun wrote in her Dining at Large Blog an article titled “Top 10 Local Restaurant News Stories of the Decade” of the “. . . rise of the Lauraville/Hamilton neighborhood as a place to get very good food. It began with the Chameleon Cafe, which opened in 2001 but was something of an anomaly. It wasn't until later in this decade that we also got Hamilton Tavern, Clementine, Red Canoe, Parkside and Zeke's Coffee”
AND if you want any of Lauraville’s restaurants to show up in Baltimore Magazine’s 2010 Best Restaurants Readers Poll, place your vote at this link:
Snow Removal!
The Association has received several calls and emails regarding the lack of snow removal after the storm on December 19th. The best way to help ensure that your side street is plowed is to:
Call 311 or go to http://baltimore.customerservicerequest.org and select snow and icy conditions.
Ensure you keep a note of the tracking number to that the Association can follow up if necessary. You can also help with snow clearance by not parking in snow emergency routes and ensuring that streets are kept clear of parked cars wherever possible. This allows the plows to get through. Remember, it is your responsibility to clear snow from side walks.
Dear Lauravillians, is it time we started proactively reducing crime?
Over the months and years we have heard that crime is a consistent concern in our neighborhood. As a community, you have done many of the things that make a neighborhood safe. You maintain consistent and open communication with the police, and you identify problems to law enforcement. We respectfully suggest now is the time to take our community's fight against crime to the next level and participate in a proven crime prevention program, thereby becoming a proactive participant in your community's safety.
The NorthEast Citizens Patrol (NECOP) is a group of citizens who have been patrolling the communities of Northeast Baltimore since 2000. Their efforts have resulted in a:
- 26% reduction in violent crime and a 21% reduction in property crime in Northeast Baltimore.
- Communities that have consistently participated in the Patrol have experienced even greater crime reductions
This award winning Patrol has
been a significant component of the crime fighting strategies of five different
commanders of the Northeast Police District, and it is internationally
recognized.
So, how does the NECOP work? Citizens use their personal cars to patrol their
communities on Thursday, Friday, and two Saturdays a month. They are in direct
communication with a Baltimore Police officer dedicated to the Patrol operating
the Command Car via two way radio. They relay suspicious activity to officer.
The officer then responds to the incident and rectifies the issue; summons
other on-duty police from the patrol division to abate the problem, or records
the information and relays it to the appropriate investigative unit for action.
This eliminates the necessity of calling 911, and it results in a swift
response to problems identified by Patrol members. It also nips crime problems
in the bud, before they are permitted to fester and grow.
Can you contribute one Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night a month to patrol Lauraville and keep it safe, thus preserving the exceptional quality of our community and the value of its housing stock and your home? (You can even split an evening with other people to lessen the time commitment) Do you want to get to know a fellow Lauravillian by sharing an evening per month on COP? Do you want to get to appreciate parts of the neighborhoods that you seldom travel? Do you want to stand up and be counted? Then reach out to Lauraville's NECOP coordinator, Mary Etta at: Millsmarye@aol.com.
We also strongly encourage that you to participate in NOGLI's cooperative NESafe effort, which will be rolling out in 2010. This is a brand-new grant-supported safety effort. Building on the great work of NECOP and the LIA has done: adding additional community safety tools. For more information, check out NESafe.org.
Kenneth Lockie, President LIA
Mike Hilliard, Community Relations Director, HARBEL Community Organization, Inc
Mark Tough, Executive Director , NOGLI
Chris Muldowney , LIA Legislative Liaison
Councilman Curran 3rd District
Lauraville:
Anyone who has ever lived in Lauraville, or even stopped by and spent a few minutes, can see that we are a neighborhood filled with colorful, creative, hard working people who love to just be with one another. A landmark that’s a metaphor for these attributes is the “Lauraville:
While the full project involved around 55 Lauraville neighbors, the project was the vision and under the direction of Toby Rivkin, Lauraville resident and ceramics teacher at
With the inspiration from the drawings, Toby set out and secured funding for the project from the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. Through the NOGLI website and word of mouth Toby organized a group of neighbors that met every afternoon on the empty lot at
The finished mosaic is 400 lbs of clay—glazed by neighbors, broken into little bits by Toby’s students, placed back together, glued, grouted, mounted by the neighborhood—and now serves as a testament to art and involvement in Lauraville. “I’m proud of it. I’m proud of all the neighbors for getting together, I met so many people that I didn’t know in this neighborhood,” says Toby, adding that her favorite part of the whole project was everyone getting together and “just the neighborhoodness of it all.”
Written by
The
The Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge (BNEC) is a pilot program of the Baltimore Office of Sustainability and the Baltimore Community Foundation.
They are working with 8
Because you live in Lauraville—you can get a free pledge kit that includes energy saving tools, tips on how to save energy, resources for connecting with local contractors and planning home energy products.
Learn more by contacting our neighborhood representative
Nicole Mattocks @ 410-444-9188 or Nicole@greaterlauraville.com
BNEC Website: http://baltimoreenergychallenge.org
The BGE Online Energy Calculator
This past month BGE launched their “new and improved” online energy calculator aimed to help residences track their home efficiency. According to the BBJ, “ The calculator pulls data from usage history and past bills to help customers determine what are the largest and smallest contributors to energy bills, and how costs change over time.”
This new tool is similar to others being launched around the country to hopefully help make everyone’s dollar go a little farther this winter. Check out the BGE website to learn more about the calculator and other incentives for energy efficiency improvements.
Check out these top 9 ways to reduce your carbon footprint!
http://www.cleanergreenerbaltimore.com/uploads/files/EARTHDAYEVERYDAY.pdf
Thanks to Jen Brock-Cancellieri for her help
Some Pictures from the 2009 Lauraville Fair loaded on to Flickr by John Laur
A Video Interview with Omotayo Ola-Niyi "Miss O" New Principal at Garrett Heights
Garrett Heights Elementary & Middle
has a new Leader!
By way of Indianapolis, Omotayo Ola-Niyi took the principal reigns this summer at Garrett Heights! “Miss O” as her students call her, started her teaching career in Oklahoma City
before consulting with the Chicago Public School System, working with over 30 schools, and eventually landing in Indianapolis in 2003 as the founder and CEO of KIPP Indianapolis College
Preparatory. KIPP stands for Knowledge is Power Program and operates 82 schools nationwide that are renowned for their parental involvement programs, community partnerships, and increased time spent in the classroom. KIPP Schools have seen HUGE SUCCESS—More than 80% of KIPP Alumni have gone on to college!
So what does this mean for Lauraville—a principal who has phenomenal experience in a successful urban school and understands the vital role that parents and communities play in the success of the students.
Why Garrett Heights? Miss O’s husband’s family is from Baltimore and she was impressed with some of the initiatives and programs being implemented in BCPS!
Primary Goals for this Year? Figuring out what the “Garrett Heights PreK-8” program looks like! The school has been adding a grade each year the past 3 years to become an Elementary and Middle school and just this year also added Pre-K. Miss O looks forward to working with the teachers and school community to further build a strong school culture of pride and clear expectations.
Community + School? Miss O believes that the school and community should be resources for each other and is interested in exploring partnership opportunities that both enhance the mission of the school and addresses the community’s needs.
~Bobbie O’Connell & John Laur, Jr.
Check out the great video below! The creator of the video is Josh Flynn, a senior at Towson University that will be graduating in the Spring with a B.S. in Mass Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a B.S. in Electronic Media & Film with a concentration on Radio/Audio Production.
Josh lives right on Morello and has written some great articles on Zeke's, Chameleon Cafe, and the Tuesday Market Connection, available at http://www.flynnfinity.com/greaterlauraville
Lauraville Business Association Block Party video
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake tells us what she thinks of Lauraville! Video
Best Old House Neighborhoods 2009: Fixer-Uppers - Lauraville
Herring Run Park Master Plan Update
Annual Summer Potluck (Photos)
A Day At The Fair 2007 (photos)
Lauraville's Rich History
Though today's Lauraville was largely built up over the two decades between 1910 and 1930, the community has a history dating back at least from the late 18th Century.
Early settlements were sparse and limited to a scattering of farms along the Harford Road. One of the earliest community buildings in the area was a log schoolhouse - reputedly the first in Baltimore County - that stood just outside of today's Lauraville, approximately where Echodale and Twin Oaks Avenues meet.
Traces of schoolhouse foundations remained at the site until well into this century. The schoolhouse land was owned by the Read family, who also owned quarries and in the early 1800's built a grist mill along the Herring Run. Read More!