So Many Donations!

I spent my day canvasing last friday, I received many no's. But, I also received a good number of yes's. Knowing we are trying to avoid gift cards I tried to push towards other things, but if a gift card was all they were willing to give I didn't say no. So in all I have a $10 gift card to Cy's Swimwear, a $50 gift card to a boutique that not only sells merchandise but also does tanning and waxing, a pair of sun glasses, a silent auction alcohol (yet to be determined what kind), and 4 tickets to an Orioles game (10th row behind the O's dugout). I also spoke to a few companies that needed to discuss with the owner before they could give me any final answer, there were a few food donations that seemed very promising! I will be following up with these businesses later in the week.

As well as canvasing I also contacted a local printing company about our brochures, she is quoting the final price for us and is looking into 100% recycled paper.

Community Unite!

On Thursday Rachel and I attended the CBIA meeting, we got a chance to speak to the community members about the event. Many had reservations about transportation to the event, thankfully Jason Reed was there to explain that we are getting a school bus to shuttle community members to the event and back. We also learned that the community center as well as the park surrounding it is now under video surveillance, money for the cameras was donated by CSX. CSX also funds the GED program at the community center.

During the crime statistics report one of the police officers explained that car thefts were occurring in the area on late model cars, and to report any suspicious activity to police immediately. Many were concerned about ending this trend and the officer explained that there was a good chance it wouldn't stop, but if people report it they will be more likely to move away from the neighborhood and do their business elsewhere.

The police officer also announced that their station is getting remodeled and they are asking for volunteers to help clear out the station of all the old stuff. The days are April 16th and 17th from 8am to 4pm. Food and drinks will be provided. The address is 10 Cherry Hill Road.

Truck traffic was a concerning issue and they announced that tolls for trucks on 895 has dropped from $24 to $12. They are planning on returning Pennington back to a 2-way street so that truck traffic will be completely eliminated within the town. If this is to occur the residents would like to have another crossing guard to assure their children's safety walking to and from school.

We were also told that Habitat for Humanity is working in Baybrook to help lower the number of abandoned homes in the area.

I also talked with Cailin Benson from the Council President's office and have her number should we need to contact her. Rachel and I also spoke with Pat Wills about working through her to get our printing done.

So Many Ask's, So Little Time

As a committee we need to work on getting together the green space brochure and the program booklet.  We have separated the work out, I am working on putting together the program. I will need an introduction, stories, ads, possibly even images of art. Once these become available I will be able to better estimate how many pages the booklet will be.

I sent out a good number of asks, I have been looking up more businesses that were not on the list and begun to contact them. A couple of the businesses that I was supposed to contact were not allowing me to e-mail them, it immediately sent my message back announcing it was viewed as spam. These businesses I will contact either by phone or in person. For those that I have contacted I am hoping for a quick response, if not I will be doing follow ups.

Scheduling and Planning

I have begun to work out a schedule for the event, who will be doing what when? I need some information about the plan for the evening; what time will bands be performing, how long will the sets be, do we want to limit the time on the silent auction, etc. For now though I have only received responses from 11 classmates about their job preferences, I would like to have all of them before I get started but if need be I can just put them anywhere.

I'm still thinking on the asks, because I would like to know if we are strictly sticking with local businesses, Baltimore City based businesses or are we spanning out to the surrounding county as well. If county is included I have a couple ideas as where to start. We need to get solidified in our concepts a little more before we start at it.

Chit-Chat with Marc

The dinner at Tavern on the Hill gave us a chance to talk with Marc Steiner. I found this to be incredibly helpful, we were able to not only bounce ideas about the radio show off other students, but we were able to get direct feedback from Marc. We were able to arrive at a couple different ideas, but they need to be developed. The meeting on April 5th should help to clear things up even further.

I have begun to dig into my own resources to get started on my archival organization i will be doing this semester. The hardest part so far has been trying to find a basic outline that everything fits into. I hope once I get Nicole's files things will start to fall into place.

Off Roading

This weekend, since it was nice, I thought I would drive through the main streets and see if I could find any spots that were hangouts for the locals. A good amount of people were outside but none were very congregated to one place. That is, except for the park. People of all ages were in the park between Curtis Ave and Pennington enjoying the nice weather.

I was not trying to appear creepy so I avoided taking pictures of people. But I did want to explore a little further then I ever have. Pretty sure there were points in my adventure that I was "trespassing."

You probably remember seeing this on our way into Fairfield on our drive through. This is the old location of the FMC Corp, what is now the location for the trash incinerator.

As you can see, even though they say that work has started on building the incinerator, the lot remains empty.

This picture and the one below are signs I've driven past many times but never stopped to read them. If you look closely at the bottom right sign you can see the millions of dollars being put into the Waste Water Treatment Facility and where it comes from

These two images (above and below) were taken on Asiatic Avenue, right down the street from the Waste Water Treatment Facility. This and one other building are all that stand on this property which runs up to the water. The lower picture shows the dirt, smog, and mess that industry causes.

In the direct center you can see the top of the water tower that sits next to the Filbert Street Garden. This view is from Fairfield Road in Wagners Point.

Tony's Diner was surrounded by empty lots and storage tanks on Vera Street. I'm looking into the years it was opened and operating.

The images with street signs are the two instances  in which I felt like I was trespassing. Although the streets are clearly still marked as public roads, they are shut off in many parts and there is little to no pavement on any of the back roads in Fairfield. The image above is at the corner of Tate and Brady. The image below is at the corner of Tate and Carbon. I was driving around just snapping pictures and did not even realize that both images were on Tate, I was turning around and around because of the damaged roads and barriers. Hint for anyone who wants to take this drive, don't do it unless you own or can borrow an SUV, I'm honestly surprised that I got out of there with no damage to my car.

 This house looks like it was quite nice in earlier years but now its state of disrepair makes it look like the scene of a horror film.

Weekend Update... Not the same without Seth Meyers

So my research is coming along slowly, I was unable to find either the full transcription or interview with John Jefferies. Other things require a bit more research, I am finding a lot of names attached to stores and store names but locations aren't clear.

The history committee has begun to come up with ideas on how to present our research at the event. After the trip to the 2640 some ideas are becoming less plausible and others are beginning to surface.

This couch area could open up an opportunity for a chat between residents or anyone who has a story to tell during the event. Or a small group question and answer session.

I am willing to participate at the table for the craft fair but do not have anything to contribute.

The trip to the 2640 proved to be very helpful. This picture is from the stage =>

This picture is facing the stage from the balcony

The hall has a bar with two bar fridges and a half box fridge. They all work and are available to us.

There is a large kitchen that is available to us, some things are not to be used but most of it is.

The grill burners work but the flat top does not.

The space seems very promising, it is large and open. It is easy to find and parking was not a problem. We have enough space to have what needs to be available; tables and chairs, art space, research productions, etc.; as well as other things such as the couch corner or other discussion space. They have tables and chairs for us to use as well as art walls. While we can't hang things on the wall there is a lip on the wall where we can lean things against. A silent auction would sit nicely around the edges where people can view and bid while exploring the space and other table set ups.