The new recreation center plan is well intentioned and is spot on for right sizing the number of centers to the current population of the City, but so much of the conversation was driven by the condition and maintenance costs of the buildings.  A lot of the citizen response was about the idea of closing some of those buildings.  We people get attached to “stuff”, you know physical things, but that is not where this conversation needs to go, the conversation needs to be about programs. Yes, some recreation centers need to close but that does not mean that citizens will have to go without their recreation programs.

These programs can happen anywhere, like the library, the senior center, or the school, all of which already hold activities like zumba classes and chess tournaments for youth, and which stay open for community events. In times like this we need to be more creative and sit down with each other to think this through. Just because the building is not run by the recreation department does not mean that programs cannot happen.  And, some centers are going to close, but this is not about any one rec center, this is about all the centers. Citizen groups must come together to talk and work through what programming fits the needs of their community or neighborhood.

Several of the recreation centers’ volunteers have already come together to form their own committees to keep programming in their neighborhoods. They have come together to work out the details that are needed to attract partners and to seek other opportunities. We here at CPHA ask that citizens be supportive of the Task Force’s recommendations and the City’s plan, and ask that citizens form their own committees to work on the programs that are needed for their communities. We collected some volunteers at our Briefing on May 1^st, and we will be reaching out to everyone to help get these local conversations started.  If you know you would like to be involved with the conversation about the rec centers or about a specific rec center, please fill out the form on our Contact Us page.

• Bill Tyler, Chief of Recreation at BCRP
• Carolyn Wainwright, President of the Advisory Board for the Department of Recreation and Parks
• Tim Almaguer of Safe and Sound
• Hathaway Ferebee of Safe and Sound

Plenty more information about why we’re holding this briefing, along with details about the rest of the evening’s program, is available here. Registration can be found here. Here’s the time and location information:

Tuesday, May 1st
6pm-8pm
War Memorial Hall
101 N. Gay Street Baltimore, MD 21202

CPHA would like to thank the sponsors of this event for making it possible:

The Urbanite

Utrecht Art Supplies

Sparks @ Play

We look forward to seeing you this Tuesday!

The City budget for the 2012 fiscal year greatly reduced funding for the Department of Recreation and Parks.  Needing to alter their services in accordance with these budget cuts, the Department responded by establishing a Recreation Center Task Force, which has established a plan to close some recreation centers and consolidate others.  Despite the assertation that recreation centers would remain open for the rest of the fiscal year, Mayor Rawlings-Blake and City Budget Director Kleine have made it clear that the City’s continued operation of all 55 recreation centers is not “financially possible.” According to a Baltimore Brew article from August 2011, the Recreation Center Task Force has recommended:

• construction of three new recreation centers by 2015
• expansion of eleven other centers by 2015
• transfer of twenty-eight centers to non-profits, private groups, or other agencies
• sponsorship of rec centers adjacent to schools by the school system
• closure of thirteen centers deemed “obsolete”

Unfortunately this plan, although flawed, has not been fully implemented as suggested by the Task Force.  There is a significant amount of confusion about the future of each center, due to the impromptu changes adopted by the City officials.  In addition, opposition to this plan within City Hall further complicates the situation.

CPHA (Citizens Planning & Housing Association, Inc.) will hold a briefing on this issue.  The evening will begin with an opportunity to explore informational displays on each recreation center.

The Activate Your Inner Citizen: Briefing will inform Baltimoreans about:

• the Task Force recommendations, and the status of the implementation of those recommendations;
• the method the City is using to accept applications for privatization of the centers; and
• several alternative ideas for funding solutions that would enable the City to retain certain centers in their system.

Expert panelists will explain the recommendations, the current process for privatization, and elaborate on alternative budgetary solutions that could yield a different set of closures or other changes.

CPHA’s Activate Your Inner Citizen: Briefing about the Future of Our Rec Centers was held on Tuesday, May 1st at the War Memorial Building

• For presentation materials and other documents from the Briefing, Please Click Here

The Briefing was covered by three news agencies:

• Rec centers as the centerpiece of citywide obesity effort (by Mark Reutter in the Baltimore Brew)
• Baltimore City Recreation & Parks Plan for Local Centers (Fox 45)
• Four city rec centers to close (by Julie Scharper in the Baltimore Sun)
• CPHA briefing on the future of Baltimore rec centers (by Mark Reutter in the Baltimore Brew)

More news on this issue:

- What the Mayor would like to see for the rec centers in 2013. (Baltimore Brew)
- Council President Young’s objections (Baltimore Brew)
- Previous plans to keep centers open through FY2012 (Baltimore Sun)
- The disappointing first round of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) (Baltimore Sun)

Please consider attending our FREE Activate Your Inner Citizen: University, featuring a traditional lineup of community leadership training classes, this Saturday, April 14th at the University of Maryland BioPark. Details and registration here.

CPHA apologizes for any inconvenience and we hope to be able to bring you a program on this crucial issue in our city soon.

Click here for the registration form.

Monday, May 21st
6pm-8pm

The City budget for the 2012 fiscal year greatly reduced funding for the Department of Recreation and Parks.  Needing to alter their services in accordance with these budget cuts, the Department responded by establishing a Recreation Center Task Force, which has established a plan to close some recreation centers and consolidate others.  Despite the assertation that recreation centers would remain open for the rest of the fiscal year, Mayor Rawlings-Blake and City Budget Director Kleine have made it clear that the City’s continued operation of all 55 recreation centers is not “financially possible.” According to a Baltimore Brew article from August 2011, the Recreation Center Task Force has recommended:

• construction of three new recreation centers by 2015
• expansion of eleven other centers by 2015
• transfer of twenty-eight centers to non-profits, private groups, or other agencies
• sponsorship of rec centers adjacent to schools by the school system
• closure of thirteen centers deemed “obsolete”

Unfortunately this plan, although flawed, has not been fully implemented as suggested by the Task Force.  There is a significant amount of confusion about the future of each center, due to the impromptu changes adopted by the City officials.  In addition, opposition to this plan within City Hall further complicates the situation.

CPHA (Citizens Planning & Housing Association, Inc.) will hold a briefing on this issue.  The evening will begin with an opportunity to explore informational displays on each recreation center.

The Activate Your Inner Citizen: Briefing will inform Baltimoreans about:

• the Task Force recommendations, and the status of the implementation of those recommendations;
• the method the City is using to accept applications for privatization of the centers; and
• several alternative ideas for funding solutions that would enable the City to retain certain centers in their system.

Expert panelists will explain the recommendations, the current process for privatization, and elaborate on alternative budgetary solutions that could yield a different set of closures or other changes.

The event, originally scheduled for April 17th, is now scheduled for May 1st.

Please REGISTER Here

More news on this issue:

- What the Mayor would like to see for the rec centers in 2013. (Baltimore Brew)
- Council President Young’s objections (Baltimore Brew)
- Previous plans to keep centers open through FY2012 (Baltimore Sun)
- The disappointing first round of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) (Baltimore Sun)

On Wednesday, February 15th, CPHA and the Community Law Center will be holding an AYIC: Briefing that will educate those who attend on two important pieces of neighborhood-related legislation on the agenda in Annapolis, the Maryland HOME Act and amendments to the code enforcement laws to help communities address deteriorating properties that are a nuisance on the neighborhood  There will also be opportunities to take action!

On Monday, March 12th we will be hosting AYIC:workshop – Grants 101 in the CPHA board room, 3355 Keswick Road, Suite 200 from 6pm-8pm. Abby Cocke from the Baltimore City Office of Sustainability will be presenting.

Also, save the date Saturday, April 14th! Our Spring AYIC: University will be held on that Saturday and will feature a traditional lineup of leadership classes.  The location is the University of Maryland BioPark, and the University will last from 9am to 12:30pm.

In addition to the three sponsoring organizations, groups that offer assistance to gardeners will also be available to discuss your garden and open space needs.  Organizations include: Power in Dirt and the Community Law Center.

Saturday, January 28th, 2012 – 9am to 12:30pm (@ Sojourner Douglass College, near the Johns Hopkins Hospital)  Fee: $1 to $3 donation requested.

Click HERE for Details.

View our photos on Facebook!

The theme of the event was Baltimore: Building from Strengths, Coping with Challenges, and it was inspired by a presentation during AIA week.   Paul Brophy, co-director of the report Reinventing America’s Legacy Cities: Strategies for Cities Losing Population,  began the program with a presentation that broke down Baltimore’s population loss in the past decade and offered strategies for attracting potential residents to Baltimore.   Click here for a copy of the PPT presentation.

The subsequent panel discussion was moderated by CPHA board member Jayne Miller of Channel 11 WBAL-TV and featured Scot Spenser of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Dana Johnson of The Reinvestment Fund and Tom Stosur, Director, Baltimore City Department of Planning as well as Mr. Brophy.

The discussion was spirited and wide-ranging, with significant differences among the panel on how best to present Baltimore to outsiders, and whether successful redevelopment of harbor-adjacent areas can be seen as progress in addressing Baltimore’s biggest challenges.  The advantages and disadvantages of “mothballing,” or prohibiting occupancy in heavily blighted areas so as not to expend public resources on those areas until they are redeveloped, were discussed.  Audience questions brought school quality and other related issues into the discussion.

CPHA’s Frances Morton Froelicher Civic Statesmanship Award was given to City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young, and CPHA’s Hathaway Ferebee Neighborhood Achievement Award was given to the No Boundaries Coalition for their outstanding work in community organizing.

Thank you to everyone who attended.  The event was quite informative, and we look forward to more discussions about Baltimore’s future!