At a recent meeting of the South Baltimore Improvement Committee, a call for volunteers went out. Apparently the City government decided to plant four trees in the park at Charles and Heath Street that the organization had turned into a Bocce Court.

    Seems that the trees, like the court itself, weren't made that well.....as the trees are dead. Apparently SBIC will take on the task of cutting down the dead trees...right to the ground, rather than remove them so that the space can be reused. No explanation was offered if the group had contacted the city requesting that the trees be replaced by the city or if the group considered replacing the trees on their own. Mention was made, however, that the City Department of Recreation and Parks had given the group additional funds for the court. One of the suggestions advanced was that the funds be used to have a party.

    So, the comedy of errors in South Baltimore continues....a bocce court that's too small and built with the wrong materials surrounded by dead trees, provided by the City of Baltimore.

   Some SBIC projects turn out much better. The group maintains a park at the intersection of Light and Heath streets. It has many plants, flowers, watering hoses and even benches.....AND a locked fence that prevents residents from the area from sitting in the park.

   One can only wonder if the tavern across the street from the court that wanted to turn the unused park into a parking lot would have planted dead trees...or if the drug trade in the city with one of the highest herion addiction rates in the country is really affected by two parks in a section of the city that is over run with drug dealers, addicts, prostitutes and real estate speculators.