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Creating green spacesMonday, May 18, 2009Posted by Miriam Avins, Founder of Baltimore Green Space and OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow, under Big Visions Post the next comment (3 so far) |
Everyone knows that Baltimore has a plague of vacant lots that attract nuisances such as dumping, drug use, and crime. Some folks even do something about it, turning a vacant lot in their neighborhood into a community vegetable garden, pocket park, or even horseshoe pit.
If you are troubled by a vacant lot near your home, why not green it with your neighbors? To get started, contact the Parks & People Foundation. If you already have an established green space and want to see it last the ages, contact my organization, Baltimore Green Space.
But why green? And why involve the whole neighborhood?
Community-managed open spaces benefit their neighborhoods and the entire city in many ways—social benefits such as a place for neighbors to meet each other and work together, reducing or eliminating dumping and crime, and access to a bit of nature in the city; health benefits such as exercise and fresh produce; and environmental benefits such as a place for migratory birds to rest, and a place for stormwater to sink into the soil rather than wash pollution into the Chesapeake Bay. There’s no doubt that the people who tend community open spaces enrich the life of their neighborhoods.
Yet such green spaces are too often considered a marginal use of the land, something acceptable until a new building is put in. And that means that the benefits of community-managed open spaces can be lost very quickly.
A simple solution—and one used in cities such as Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and Seattle—is to preserve community-managed open spaces in a land trust. The gardeners still own the site in spirit—they do the work and enjoy the benefits. The land trust, however, holds the deed, deals with any tax issues, and also provides liability insurance and technical assistance. The neighborhood gets to keep its treasured open space, and all of Baltimore benefits.
Baltimore Green Space is a new land trust that partners with communities to preserve and support community gardens, pocket parks, and other open spaces managed by neighborhoods. The land trust is now working with Baltimore City’s Office of Sustainability to develop criteria and procedures for preserving established community gardens. To learn more, write to bgreenspace@gmail.com or visit www.baltimoregreenspace.org
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Monday, May 18, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Hello. My name is Takia Wicks and I am a debater and apprentice in the Baltimore Urban Debate League from Western High School. This year the resolution, or debate topic, was “The United States Federal Government should increase alternative energy incentives in the United States” and we discussed different green solutions that could be implemented in the U.S.
One problem that constantly arose in connection to greener communities is the fact that communities that are not unified and working towards the same goals often lead to failures in the attempt to clean up the neighborhood. Neighborhood violence and crime is an inherent problem that must be solved before any progress can be made in our communities. Too many times has the story been told of a few good samaritans whose hearts were broken when their efforts to clean up their neighborhoods were destroyed by vandalism and crooks’ need for a safe place for their activities.
In the Baltimore Urban Debate League, we discuss all sides to an argument and weigh the impact analysis’ of each decision that could be implemented in our communities. This is a good case to made, however, and I enjoy finding websites like this one that are attempting to make a change in our community. Thank you.
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Good Afternoon evveryone! My name is Martise Brown and I am an representative from the Baltimore Urban Debate League, as well as a debater for Mergenthaler Vocational Technical Senior High School with in the Debate League. This debate season we had to debate this topic or something very simular! “The United States Federal Government should substancially increase alternative energy incentives with in the United States.” My particular argument stated that the United States should become more energy efficient by revitalizing brownfields (abandoned, or underused commercial or industrial facilities or pieces of land). I argued that by cleaning up these brownields would in turn clean up the enviornment by reducing the amount of deadley toxins released in to the air. I also argued that to just clean up these brownfields wasn’t enough! We must then also provide more ways of recieving clean energy (i.e. wind, solar, geothermal). By adding these entities in just one community could effect the entire nation. We all must rememer that just the slightest change can save the wold from Global Warming. So if your not using a particular room in your house be sure to turn of the lights or unplug things from the electrical sockets. These steps are sure to save the world as well as your electric bill!
If you have any questions regarding the Baltimore Urban Debate League, please feel free to contact us at 410-752-2835!
Thanks everyone, and have a great day!
Friday, May 22, 2009 at 12:14 pm
One of the really nice things about community gardens and other community-managed open spaces is the degree to which people respect them. While you might expect that vandalism could be a big problem, in general it is not. In fact, I’ve heard from quite a number of people who have found that the gardens and other spaces they maintain actually reduce littering, dumping, and crime.
Thanks for leaving a comment!