When Governor Martin O’Malley was Mayor of Baltimore, he followed the growing trends in cities such Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington D.C and set out to make Baltimore a more Biker friendly city. Under the direction of the Baltimore City Department of Planning in an effort to, “To enhance and promote bicycling, [in Baltimore] created a Bicycle Master Plan in 2006.” College Park based Toole Design Group, which specializes in pedestrian, traffic calming, and bicycle research throughout the Baltimore-Washington region, aided the City of Baltimore’s Departments of Planning and Transportation in creating The Baltimore Bicycle Master Plan. The Plan outline the benefits including: traffic relief, environmental benefits of decreased pollution and the health benefits that one would get from biking. The Master Plan more importantly called for “A plan to coordinate the formal integration of bicycles in existing infrastructure” , by adding bike routes, making mass transit bike accessible, provide bike parking, and provide better communication with the biker community of Baltimore by hosting various events and forums. When Martin O’Malley headed south to take residence in the Governor’s Mansion, Mayor Shelia Dixon kept forth with The Bicycle Master Plan, explains Nate Evans, the Bike and Pedestrian Planner for the Baltimore City Department of Transportation. In E-mail, Evans explained that the city has “42 miles of bike lanes” in almost all parts of the city and notes that in the Master Plan on 15 were initially recommend and primarily in the downtown business district. Evans continues by listing other accomplishments of the Master Plan over the years including more bike racks and parking, the establishment of the College town Bicycle Network, and the promotion of various bike related events such as a bike summit at the beginning May with local bike advocates and the upcoming Bike to Work Day (May 15th). Even with all the strides the City and The Bicycle Master Plan have taken in making Baltimore more biker friendly those who ride bikes in the city on an almost daily basis and are directly connected to the Baltimore biking community see room for major grounds for improvement in the overall effort. Local bikers also bikers echo similar sentiments of the positive benefits of biking. Brian Rewers, a local bartender in Federal Hill who bikes to work from his home in the Canton neighbor of Baltimore. Rewers, who has been biking in the city for almost four years, said he started biking since it was faster and he didn’t have to deal with the hassle of parking, “as well as not having to spend money on gas and worrying about [his] car getting dinged up” and more importantly “not having to worry about drinking and driving.” Rewers also sees riding a bike as a safety risk “in his commute which can lead to him “getting hit by a car at any time.” Rewers concludes that he “would always get crap for riding through the harbor and feels that’s a great spot” to ride and sees that as an issue that The Bicycle Master Plan should have addressed. Jay Claddagh, a Biology masters degree candidate at Towson University bikes from South Baltimore to school in Towson. Claddagh, who has been biking in the city for two years, likes riding his bike because he states “if it’s under four miles, [he] can get to [his] destination faster on bike,” as oppose to his car and finds biking to “make the city smaller” by giving him the opportunity to experience areas he would not have if he were driving. Claddagh also sees shortcoming in The Bicycle Master Plan. Claddagh argues that the designated bike lanes are not dispersed thoroughly enough around the city. Mike Evans, of the Department of Transportation for Baltimore responses to these concerns is that “the city is currently designing bike networks for Park Heights and Southeast Baltimore” and “Collecting bike and pedestrian numbers with automated counters to evaluate and plan future bike lanes.” Evans, understanding the daunting task states, “The reality of the bike plan is that it will probably not be complete. We only have a fraction of total roads designated as bike routes or with lanes Baltimore has a long way to go.” But on a lighter note admits, “The current budget situation [due to the economy] has [had] no impacted the plan, just the implementation,” since “the bike budget experience a modest decrease this fiscal year.” With more planning and involvement with local bikers The Bicycle Master Plan, is track for permanent
Victoria Carter, 58 The head of Northwestern’s high school special education program was arrested yesterday at Baltimore School headquarters on felony drug charges. Cater ,whose son was arrested on similar charges is being held on bail at Baltimore’s Central booking.
Today president Barack Obama will travel to Mexico before the Summit of the America’s later this week, to meet with Mexican officials to offer help in the countries fight against the violent drug cartels. President Obama has pledged to crackdown on violence on both sides, by fighting to keep drugs out of the US and guns and money out of Mexico. This comes as CNN news is reporting that the Powerful Mexican drug cartels are forcing residents to join the fighting in the violent drug war.
Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers told a Boston sport radio show that star Power Forward Kevin Garnet may missed the entire playoffs due to a knee injury suffered early in season. The defending champions play the Chicago Bulls in the best of even games in the first round of the NBA playoffs starting Saturday.
In the world of entertainment some stars fifteen-minutes-of-fame may last a little longer, there are reports that everyone from former child star Keisha-Knight Pullman to R&B singer Solange to soon to be freed convicted dog fighter and former football star Mike Vick will be getting reality shows in the near future according to various celebrity blogs.
Today Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to give a speech detailing his countries future nuclear ambitions a day an invitation for new talks from world six super powers and North Korea’s missile launch.
The United States Navy has bought in FBI hostage negotiators to aid in the release of Richard Phillips the captain of the The Maersk Alabama, that was captured by Somalian hijackers off the coast of Somali in the Indian Ocean when it was carrying food aid destined for Somalia and Uganda.
Baltimore’s Bon Secours Hospital that provides to care for the poor and uninsured residents of West Baltimore, is seeking $5 Million from the State of Maryland to avoid closure.
For centuries indigenous cultures have used the hallucinogenic properties of various plants, to break over to the other side. Psilocybin mushroom in particular were used by the indigenous people of modern day Mexico for spiritual purposes. In 2006, the U.S. government funded a randomized and double-blinded study by Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins studied the spiritual effects of psilocybin mushrooms. The study involved 36 college-educated adults who had never tried psilocybin nor had a history of drug use, and had religious or spiritual interests; the average age of the participants was 46 years. The participants were closely observed for eight-hour intervals in a laboratory while under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms. In the fall of 2008 Hopkins repeated the study. I had the pleasure of sitting down Brian Durel from Baltimore, a participant in the recent study. In the below podcast Mr. Durel talks about the reason he participated in the study and what spiritual awakens he encountered and his overall thoughts on drugs and “having respect for drugs.”
Every Sunday Latin Palace on Broadway in Fells Point has Tango lessons. The classes are led by an authentic Argentine couple, and the class is from 4-7:30. When the class is over dancers can put the applied lessons to use with Tango dancing until 12 Midnight. Also on Tango night are drink specials sll night and a Latin Tapas buffet before the class.
In my continuing quest discover new places to eat and not break the college student bank, I always keep an eye out for a deal. So today before work I head to East Baltimore's Hispanic section for such a deal. Pollo Latino (Latin Chick) located on the corner or Broadway and Bank it sits in all its glory. For $5 you get a quarter Peruvian style roasted chicken two sides (Cilantro Rice, Yuca, Fries, or Black Beans), and a can soda. I opted for the rice and fries. Needless to say it was great and for the price well worth it. As its name suggest your only options are chicken, be it whole for $15, half for $10 or the quarter special for $5. Though I didn't try they also offer an assortment of Latin desserts such as Flan (a Spanish style custard), and Dulce Arroz con Leche (sweet milk and rice, best described as a richer take on rice pudding). If ever in the Fells Point area venture up to the Latin center of Baltimore and give Pollo Latino a try, you can't go wrong with the chicken there.
