11/16 e-HillSider Urgent Extra
On November - 17 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS
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Given the busy, stressful schedule that Mayor Dixon is required to keep, it is easy to imagine she would rather be with family than anywhere else. However, the Mayor feels so strongly about personally hearing your views on the pending Live Entertainment and Dancing Legislation that she is coming to FHNA’s November General Membership Meeting on Tuesday.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Archive for November, 2009
News from SDPCRC
On November - 16 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS
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Popularity: 3% [?]
e-HillSider Members Only Urgent Extra 11/13/09
On November - 13 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS
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Under this new legislation, more than 23 additional venues within a 3 square block radius of the Cross Street Market would be eligible for a conditional use grant to offer live entertainment and dancing. Review the text of Bills 
Entertainment Legislation or it will automatically become law, even without the Mayor’s signature.
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Federal Hill Neighborhood Association | PO Box 27112 | Baltimore | MD | 21230
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Popularity: 3% [?]
e-HillSider Urgent Extra
On November - 11 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS
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Popularity: 8% [?]
What's better than a carousel?
On November - 6 - 2009 2 COMMENTS
In an October 21st article (What’s better than a carousel? ) the Baltimore Sun reported that the City formed a Rash Filed Task Force to entertain proposals to replace the 1906 Herschell-Spillman hand-carved carousel with a giant Ferris wheel, a pirate-themed exhibit, an updated merry-go-round or even a miniature golf course.
Let your voice be heard! Please vote in our poll for your choice.
[polldaddy poll="2217056"]
Popularity: 8% [?]
FHNA Architectural Preservation Committee Goals & Objectives 2009
On November - 5 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS
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THE PRESENT SITUATION
Despite previous FHNA efforts, many residents may not know: ” If their property is in the MURO District and/or in the Federally Registered Historic District ” Whether or not they are supposed to seek “neighborhood” approval before making changes to their homes in addition to obvious requirements for building permits ” Who to ask and how to request such approval(s) ” What, if anything, might be the consequences of not following the rules
Residents sometimes proceed with changes to their home”s exteriors and there are numerous instances of shutters being removed completely, wood shutters replaced with fiberglass, replacing wood windows with aluminum windows, placing air conditioners, painting brick facades, building non-conforming decks, and placing antennas or satellite dishes in unsightly locations.
GOING FORWARD Prior to undertaking any changes in boundaries/designations it is necessary to understand the relative benefits, costs and procedures of: ” Expanding the MURO District to conform to FHNA”s boundaries ” Whether or not to petition for a CHAPS District encompassing our boundaries ” Determine whether either designation supplants or supplements the other ” The current role and the future role of the Preservation Society if either of the above two designations is pursued. Immediately we can proceed with the following:
1. We have asserted a policy in the past clearly stating that: “Any development within or near our neighborhood must provide sufficient parking that does not exacerbate the parking situation in Area 9 by either reducing existing parking or
failing to add sufficient spaces to support the proposed development.” This policy should be reaffirmed by the current FHNA Board.
2. We should also decide what elements of design we truly care about in order to maintain the character of our neighborhood and establishing standards for these elements. Examples would include: ” Paint Colors ” Exterior Renovations ” Historical Correctness ” Visible Front Yards and less visible Rear Yard ” Roofline Alterations ” Changes in Building Height ” Deck visibility and impact on neighboring homes ” Other Guidelines
3. Review other neighborhood association”s rules and regulations for comparisons and possible cut-and-paste consideration
4. Establish and contact a “target” group of industry-related professionals to assist with this process including architects, engineers and lawyers. Non-professional participation is also welcome.
5. Assuming progress can begin on items 1 and 2, we should also facilitate the following: ” Consideration of a formal FHNA Statement of Purpose ” Attendance at Society for the Preservation of Fells Point and Federal Hill Design Review Meetings ” Review of neighborhood design proposals ” Awareness of the Montgomery Urban Renewal Ordinance (MURO) standards, procedures and remedies. ” Awareness of the CHAP standards, procedures and remedies.
6. We expect that FHNA will be able this year to evaluate and recommend whether or not to revise the MURO territory to conform to the neighborhood boundaries and/or to ask that the FHNA neighborhood to become a CHAP District.
With acceptance and implementation of all of the foregoing, there will be little value to any of these efforts unless a process for application and review is established and publicized and there is an effective “enforcement” mechanism that is put in place.
FHNA Historic Preservation – - CHAP vs. MURO 9/8/09 Board of Directors Report
Building permit applications within the Montgomery Urban Renewal Ordinance (MURO) district require approval by a design review panel.
FHNA defers those reviews to the Society for the Preservation of Fells Pt. & Federal Hill. (SFPHFP&FH)
The MURO district overlay includes an irregular shaped portion of FHNA.
The balance of our neighborhood outside the MURO district has no jurisdictional design restrictions or guidelines, except building permits triggered by zoning variance appellants.
We have been approached by Commission for Historic Architectural Preservation (CHAP) to create a district for our neighborhood.
An apparent option is to select one or the other, pick your poison.
Alternate-1 would be to enlarge the current MURO boundary to include all of FHNA.
Alternate 2 would be to abandon MURO and adopt a CHAP District.
Boundaries of either should be all-inclusive and coincide with the border of FHNA.
SFPFP&FH claims that their review would be an integral part of the CHAP alternate.
CHAP endures love-hate relationships due to normal two month scheduling delays.
SFPFP&FH endures love-hate relationships with applicants and professional presenters as it takes three months for the panel to produce minutes of their reviews.
A design review typically moves faster at SFPFP&FH than it does at CHAP.
Experience tells us that the CHAP process shows evidence of divisiveness among its own ranks.
Our interest as a neighborhood association should place focus on zoning issues and enforcement.
Neither CHAP nor SFPFP&FH would provide enforcement for either cause.
While the area of FHNA coincides with a National Historic District (NHD), only specific, voluntary applications are included under NHD guidelines and/or restrictions for tax credits.
We should pursue the strategic plan outlined for establishing an FHNA preservation committee to sort through this quagmire.
In any event, volunteers willing to make a substantial and ongoing commitment of time will be the only successful resolve”
By the way, if it”s enforcement we are after, on a case-by-case basis, neither may be an improvement”
See propose CHAP District Boundry Map;
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Residents from Federal Hill Neighborhood Association Attend a Historic Event at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday, October 10, 2009
On November - 5 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS
Lizzie Heard and Andrea Cook wave to friends and family as they arrive at the Old Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery. (Photos By Dayna Smith For The Washington Post)
FHNA SOCIAL COMMITTEE NEWS
A Patriot History Almost Forgotten
Relatives Celebrate as Revolutionary War Veteran Receives Military Honors
By James Hohmann with advisement
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Laughter and applause aren’t the norm at Arlington National Cemetery, a somber place where national leaders and war heroes are buried.
But it seemed natural Saturday morning when Oscar Marion became the first slave who fought in the Revolutionary War to receive military honors there.
About 40 people in folding chairs huddled under half as many umbrellas during a rainy ceremony in the cemetery’s Old Amphitheater.
Marion was the personal slave of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion, the legendary “Swamp Fox” from South Carolina who thwarted British Redcoats during the War of Independence. Like other slaves in that era, Marion took his master’s surname.
But Saturday was Marion’s day. An honor guard presented the colors. Soloists sang the National Anthem and the hymn “Bright Morning Stars Are Rising.” A wreath was laid at the base of the stage. A bugler played taps. But it was more family reunion than funeral, and the women in the family wore festive red outfits for the occasion.
John C. Marion, 86, flew in from Atlanta for the ceremony. He fought in World War II and was one of 17 direct descendants at the ceremony. Calvin Mitchell, 60, of Silver Spring, another Marion descendant, proudly pointed to his Uncle John.
“From the Revolutionary War and beyond, I’d like to say that my family has indeed heeded the clarion call and is very much part of America’s history,” Mitchell said.
Eleven Revolutionary War dead have been reinterred at Arlington. Relatives think Marion is buried on a former plantation in South Carolina. His story garnered national media coverage in 2006 after a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol that recognized Marion as an “African American Patriot.”
An oil painting that hangs in a third-floor corridor of the Capitol’s Senate wing depicts Francis Marion, in a military hat, talking to a red-coated British officer. Oscar Marion, kneeling behind a table and cooking sweet potatoes on a fire, is also there.
His identity had not been known until Tina C. Jones, a relative, persuaded the Senate curator to put a label with the painting that reflected the new information. Jones said Saturday’s ceremony was another important step in wining recognition not just for Marion but for the general contributions of African Americans to the nation’s independence.
‘The whole aura of just being out in the open, amongst presidents and other fellow Americans who paid the ultimate sacrifice, is awe-inspiring,” said Jones, a genealogist who runs the Rockville-based Oscar Marion Project.
During Saturday’s ceremony, several scenes from the 2000 movie “The Patriot,” which starred Mel Gibson and featured a character named Occam, who is based on Oscar Marion, played on a flat-screen television.
Robert Simons, 49, of Charleston, S.C., a distant nephew of Gen. Marion, attended the ceremony in his Navy uniform.
“It’s a wonderful story,” he said. “It’s just a wonderful piece of Americana.”
Residents from Federal Hill Neighborhood Association who attended the historic event were Lane Bert, Victoria Smith, Kathie McCleskey and Wali Mutazammil.
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News From SDPCRC
On November - 3 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS
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