All Posts Tagged With: "neighborhoods"

Baltimore Medical System (BMS) is building a Healthy Living Center in Highlandtown on a City-owned parking lot. From the lifeless asphalt will soon rise a LEED Certified building, housing a LEED Platinum community health center. On Friday, June 13, we went to their groundbreaking ceremony, which was both heartwarming and well-attended.

Twenty-three years ago, BMS began providing quality primary health care to the citizens of Highlandtown, many of whom were elderly and wished to age gracefully in their own homes. Today, BMS provides care to 14,000 people, including traditional east Baltimore residents, as well as new refugee and immigrant patients from around the world.

This new center will continue to provide the full range of health services for all people, whether insured or uninsured. The new space will allow BMS to increase their patient base to 21,000 and to provide educational programming such as smoking cessation, prenatal classes, and healthy eating in a new community room. As it increases its staff, it will continue to be the largest employer in Highlandtown. Continued

"In a viable neighborhood, neighbors ask themselves what they can do or provide for one another, and they find answers that they and their place can afford. This, and nothing else, is the practice of neighborhood." -Wendell Berry, "The Idea of a Local Economy," Orion magazine, 2002.

In recent years, Baltimoreans have enjoyed a steady growth of earth-friendly businesses. Among the many pleasures and benefits of buying locally: merchants and restaurateurs become your friends and your money stays in the community. A study in Maine by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance found that local businesses have a much greater positive impact on their economy than the big box chains. For every $100 spent in a big box store, only $14 stays in the local economy. By contrast, $100 spent in a local business results in $45 staying locally.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELa5CHsUepo[/youtube]

Greg Cantori, Executive Director of the Knott Foundation, and an avid bicyclist, discovered “Ciclovia” while visiting Bogota, Colombia. Every Sunday, they close 70 miles of streets from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Up to 2 million residents bike, rollerblade, walk, do group exercise classes, and generally enjoy themselves.

Greg immediately set about importing this community-wide exercise program to Baltimore. Here is what he envisions that Sunday Streets will mean for Baltimore:

• Increased activity -physical activity, economic activity and tourism.

• Youth engagement and employment opportunities

• Clean air and some quiet for a day

• Free exercise classes – Frankly few people can access health clubs, and what’s so fun about being stuck indoors when our whole city is available and waiting for us? Let’s get out and spin, dance, stretch, twirl, run and jump!

• Social re-engagement – This is our physical INTERNET. We provide the network (routing) and our entrepreneurs and communities go from there. Imagine the possibilities…..

• Putting Baltimore on the map nationally for something extremely positive that fosters real Happiness.

Already thousands of people know about it – let’s make it 10,000, 100,000 and then a million. Isn’t this a perfect, visible program to help promote Mayor Dixon’s “cleaner, greener” Baltimore? Tell everyone you know about this, and if you have any questions, contact Greg Cantori (gcantori(at)knottfoundation.org) or Carol Silldorff (carolsilldorff(at)comcast.net).

1000 Friends of Maryland seeks primarily to fight poorly planned development. They work to protect Maryland’s natural areas and waterways, strengthen neighborhoods, and restore Maryland’s cities through education, technical assistance, and advocacy. Protecting historic and natural resources, assuring efficient transportation choices, and supporting development that takes the public’s interest into account are all part of their commitment.