April 2004

Series on Parks and Recreation in Baltimore
This is the first installment of our series on parks and recreation assets in Baltimore. This month we will learn about the history of Baltimore’s public parks.

City residents have long understood the importance of parks and open space. America’s city park system – the vast array of open space, plazas, circles, playgrounds, lakes, ballfields, squares, golf courses, and other spaces -- do so much to make our great urban areas livable.

Baltimore is blessed with a well-planned park system, which is home to over 7,000 acres of parkland in 400 different properties, 45 recreation centers and 32 special facilities, occupying nearly 10% of the city land area. These properties
range in size from 1,200 acres of green space in Leakin Park to the small neighborhood lots and gardens less than one acre.

The second half of the 19th century saw the dawning of the American Park Movement, a period in which many urban parks were carefully planned and established. In 1859 under the leadership of Baltimore Mayor Thomas Swann, the City Council passed Ordinance 44, known as the Park Tax. This initiative assessed a 20% tax on the gross income of the horse-drawn railway franchise operating in Baltimore City. The income derived from Ordinance 44 was used to establish and maintain Baltimore’s early park system. It also allowed the city to afford prominent landscape architects like Frederick Law Olmstead to develop a plan for the Baltimore park system and suggest design improvements for existing parks. The dedicated park tax as a way to implement capital improvement projects and keep the parks well-maintained was a unique strategy to Baltimore and so successful it gained national attention.

Income derived from Ordinance 44, the “Park Tax” was used to purchase Druid Hill, the estate of Lloyd Nicholas Rogers in 1860, thus creating Baltimore’s first large public park. Land donations from wealthy industrialists combined with government support to produce large parks that are valuable assets to our city.

By the beginning of the 20th century, many of Baltimore City's major parks had been established. Druid Hill, Patterson Park, Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park and others were already providing the people of Baltimore City with valuable green space. Likewise, residential squares such as Mount Vernon Place and Franklin Square offered residents of densely populated neighborhoods some attractive breathing space. Although the park tax waxed and waned from its inception to the time it ceased in the 1940s, it contributed millions of dollars toward the upkeep and development of the park system during its eighty-year reign.

In 1948, about the time that the park tax disappeared, the Department of Recreation and Parks was born out of a merger of the Parks Department and the agency responsible for recreation. With the assumption of the responsibility of both recreation and parks, the Department also experienced a decline in funding due to the loss of the park tax. In fact, declining funds is a trend that continues. During the 1980s and 1990s, the Department of Recreation and Parks lost a significant number of employees; many more were transferred to the Department of Public Works as maintenance workers. Although maintenance responsibilities have now returned to the Department of Recreation and Parks, the number of staff for this purpose is grossly inadequate. Further, in recent years the dedicated funding source designed to care for our parks, Program Open Space, has been diverted by our state legislature.

Looking to the future, many groups are working for other sources of dedicated revenue for parks and recreation in Baltimore- contact Sandy Sparks of the Baltimore Alliance for Great Urban Parks at 410-243-2156 for more information.

Program Open Space and House Bill 880
Program Open Space

Healthy parks and vibrant open spaces are worth protecting. A significant portion of the money used to create and maintain Baltimore’s parks comes from the State of Maryland’s Program Open Space. Established in 1969, Program Open Space (POS) receives its funding through the dedicated real estate transfer tax. Though it is not widely known, when anyone buys a house or a piece of land in Maryland they pay a real estate transfer tax, and a percentage of that tax goes into a fund to support POS. In this way property owners are making a commitment to improve the quality of their communities. When fully-funded, POS acts as a balance -- as population, development and property sales increase, so does the protection of our critical open spaces and recreation facilities. This forward-thinking legislation is as nationally renowned today as it was in 1969. However each year funding for POS is threatened as the Maryland General Assembly diverts funds for other purposes.

For more information on Program Open Space visit http://www.dnr.state.md.us/pos.html.

Maryland General Assembly House Bill 880
In front of the Maryland General Assembly right now is House Bill 880 which will require any funds diverted from Program Open Space to be repaid. To read the bill synopsis and see the list of delegates sponsoring the bill, visit the web site of the Maryland General Assembly http://mlis.state.md.us/2004rs/billfile/hb0880.htm.

For more information on using your vote to help our natural environment, visit the Maryland League of Conservation Voters at http://www.mdlcv.org.

Importance of Youth Athletics
Last month the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that 400,000 deaths (16.6 %) in the US in 2000 were caused by poor diet and physical inactivity- second only to tobacco use in leading causes of mortality. The study concludes that “diet and physical inactivity may soon overtake tobacco as the leading cause of death.” The journal believes that “missed prevention opportunities” are mainly to blame.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) reports that childhood obesity is on the rise and “the main culprits are the same as those for adult obesity: eating too much and moving around too little. Almost half of children aged 8-16 years watch three to five hours of television a day. Kids who watch the most hours of television have the highest incidence of obesity.”

The NIH recommends healthy food choices and regular physical activity, including team sports. The US Surgeon General calls for daily physical education for all school children. In Baltimore City, athletic leagues at elementary and middle school levels have been nearly eliminated over the last 15 years, and physical education programs have been drastically reduced due to budget cutbacks in the Baltimore City Public School System. Consequently many children in Baltimore City Public Schools receive no physical education courses or sports programming.

The NIH also reminds us that parents are the best role models! Take a walk with your child, play ball together at your local park or volunteer for your neighborhood after school sports.

For more information on sports programs delivered by Parks & People, visit http://www.parksandpeople.org/programs_motivating_youth.html.

Sports programs are held by the Department of Recreation and Parks at the Clarence "Du" Burns Arena Indoor/Outdoor Sports Complex. Call 410-396-4202 for more information.

Tree Tips
Spring Cleaning

April is a great time for spring cleaning- not just your closets, but your trees, too! Take a look around your yard and your neighborhood for some places that could use some attention after a long cold winter.

Clean all wires and ties from the tree’s trunk and branches- maybe someone posted a “Yard Sale” sign or left some holiday decorations. This is the perfect time to remove those in preparation for spring growth.

April is a good time to consider mulching. Loosen the mulch you applied last year and top dress if needed. For new areas, add fresh wood chips around your trees to 2-3 inches in depth, making a “saucer” around the trunk of your tree. Remember, don’t place mulch right up against the trunk. The purpose of mulch is to keep an area moist- if the base of the tree’s trunk is kept moist, it is easily invaded by fungus and insect pests.

Early spring is usually considered a good time for pruning out winter damage from trees and shrubs. Pruning is meant to balance the structure of the tree’s canopy to allow for increased light, decreased competition and better air flow. However, this year consider delaying the pruning of landscape materials until after June, when the 17-year cicadas have finished laying their eggs.

The 17-year periodical cicadas will emerge in late spring 2004. These insects can’t sting or bite, but the Maryland State Department of Agriculture explains that they can cause harm to our young trees during egg-laying. “Small twigs can be damaged by deep slits cut by the female as she deposits her long row of small eggs. Very small woody stock (1-3 years) can be severely damaged by large numbers of egg sites. Larger trees tolerate cicada damage well. Those trees and shrubs that are severely hit may exhibit terminal dieback or “flagging” as twigs snap and leaves turn brown… very small trees in home landscaping can be covered with cheesecloth from the time the 17-year cicadas are first heard until they disappear.”

To contact the State of Maryland Department of Agriculture Office of Plant Industries and Pest Management Plant Protection and Weed Management Section, call 410-841-5920.

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