B'more Urban Forest Project Closing Exhibit Saturday Night

The closing reception for the Baltimore Urban Forest Project is tomorrow night, Saturday, June 28th. 

Other than this City Paper article I can't recall any other press about this city-wide, multi-dimensional undertaking, which is odd considering how "hot" green is with the media. The design community has been aware of this for months, of course, and it's just slipped mind to mention it here.

There will be posters available for the six top vote getters based on on-line voting. Those winners are here. I wouldn't call them the best, just the most popular. I'd take a Kevin Sprouls or a Dani Stitz poster, but the rest, no. 

My other favorites are from Jocelyn Anderson, Viviana Cordova & Joseph Galbreath, Eamonn Donnelly,  Jenn Julian, Jann Rosen-Queralt, Whitney Sherman, and Lindsay Story. I regret not posting a "Best of" when they first went up. Here are all the banners.

I found it odd that some of the bigger names in town (Ashton, Spur, etc.) did not participate. Hopefully, that means they've got too much paying work.

 

See you there Saturday evening!

Amtrak vs. The Railway Express Building

I'm pretty sure you all know the Railway Express Building. It's that great old Art Deco structure between Calvert and St. Paul Streets right above or more accurately between the Amtrak line and the JFX/I-83. Its western side is almost directly across from the St. Paul Street entrance to Penn Station. It's a great building that has, you guessed it, been converted into apartments and retail. 

When I heard there was going to be 30 residential units and perhaps 20 commercial spaces my first thought was, where is everyone going to park? I knew residents would get some parking spaces, but what about their guests? There is no mention of parking in this article from March. However, "below-building parking deck" was mentioned this past April in this article.

It seems, now that the condos are built, there is a controversy over said "below-building parking". Check out this story from the Maryland Daily Record website.