UNION SQUARE BALTIMORE

24th annual Union Square Cookie Tour

2009-12-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

Come enjoy the 24th annual Union Square Cookie Tour on December 13, 2009. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased the day of at 1401 Hollins St. The event begins at 11:30AM. See you there!

Workouts in the Park Continue!

2009-07-06T07:14:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Sylva Lin and Sherri Pickens, we are still meeting on Saturday mornings in the park for some fun fitness! Starting between 10-10:30am, community members can come out and get a great workout by personal trainer Sherri Pickens (or our own Sylva Lin)!

Movies in the Park

2009-07-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

Throughout the 2009 spring and summer, the Union Square Association has been playing Movies in the Park. Free to everyone in the community, movie nights are a chance for us all to come together, use our park for positive things, and watch great movies. Last weekend for the 4th of July, we showed "Independence Day." Before the movie started, many neighbors came out to picnic and BBQ together. Keep checking the website for information about the next movie showing.

Union Square at Taste for the Arts

2009-06-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

On June 13th, Young Audiences of Maryland hosted a fund-raiser at Center Stage called "Taste for the Arts." The evening included food from various restaurants, performances from different artists, and items for auction. Union Square participated on many levels: Tonya Osbourne, a community member, is a big part of the organization. She serves on its board and chaired the committee that put the entire event together. Tonya also asked our president Chris Taylor to be an ambassador for the event. In this role, he introduced different acts and sold several tickets. The Union Square Association donated $250 to the cause and many community members bought tickets to support the event. We were the only neighborhood in the entire city that donated money to the event. In addition, one of the performances during the night was a great African drumming and dance number by the students of our own Southwest Charter School, run by Erika Brockman. The students dressed up in African attire and showed off the skills they learned through the Young Audiences program. The night was a huge success!

The 19th Annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast

2009-06-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, the mayor held her annual prayer breakfast at Created For So Much More Worship Center in Cherry Hill. During the breakfast, she recognized 11 different individuals for their contributions toward making Baltimore a better place to live. Our president, Chris Taylor, was one of the people recognized. The breakfast included a sermon by Bishop Saunders and Mayor Dixon presented awards to each of the honored guests. Dixon had a lot of kind words for our community leader and our neighborhood, calling Chris "relentless" and "defiant leader for change." She complimented our housing stock, saying that if you put our neighborhood anywhere else, we would have multi-million dollar homes. She praised our community organization and the dedicated involvement of our members. Over 20 people from Union Square came to the event to show support for our neighborhood. It was another great day for Union Square.

Hampton Bound - Fundraiser

2009-06-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the late notice on this, but one of our community members/neighbors is having a fundraiser at Zella's tonight from 6pm-10pm. If you happen to check your email between now and then, stop by and support a great cause. For more information, see below:

Team Bucky Lee @ Oliver Recreation Center is Hampton Bound
For the 13 & Under National Amateur Athletics Union Basketball Championship
July 23rd – July 26th, 2009
However we need you to be our sixth man, our hopeful donors and sponsors
Please join us on June 15th, 2008 - 6:00PM – 10:00pm at Zella’s Pizzeria
1145 Hollins Street, Baltimore
For an evening of good food, drinks, and fun.
A portion of the proceeds during this time will be donated to Team Bucky Lee to help
offset the cost of uniforms, transportation, league, tournament and official fees,
and a host of traveling expenses.

Our Assistant Head Coach, Mark Strand will be the Guest Bartender for the evening.

Mark along with the rest of the coaching staff, Coaches Melvin Vines and Lamont Brown

will also be in attendance to answer any questions you may have, and ensure you have a great time!

So please mark your calendar for June 15th and help support this worthwhile cause.

Thank you for your support,

The Coaching Staff of Team Bucky Lee

Chris Taylor (President) - Honored by Shelia Dixon

2009-06-03T08:47:00.001-07:00

As some of you may know already, Chris was selected by the mayor as a honored community leader this month at a Friends of Sheila Dixon breakfast/event. The event is on June 20th, 8:30am at the Created For So Much More Worship Center in Cherry Hill. The cost per ticket is $35.00. I think it's a great thing for Chris to be recognized for all he does and at the same time, it's another opportunity for our neighborhood to get its name out there.

We need your help with our park!! Take action!

2009-05-27T12:55:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

We need your help! As those of you who were at Wednesday's meeting know, we were approved by Maryland HIstorical Trust for the restoration of our pavilion, but they denied our replacement of the existing fountain. So, what now?

We would like everyone to send emails or make phone calls to our elected representatives to let them know that we support the replacement of the fountain and that we would like their help on this issue. Take a look at the attached letter from the Maryland Historical Trust to get a sense of what they said before you compose your email or make your phone call.

Here are some things that might be useful to know in your emails/phone calls:

1. Be thoughful in your approach. Several of the names below have already said they will help and have already voiced their support of us...We should thank them for their initial support and kindly ask for them to continue to help. Our goal is just to use our numbers to get action. Remind these people that you are a voter and an active member of your community and you want results from your elected officials.
2. The neighborhood raised and spent over $10,000 of association money on the replacement fountain already. This will be a donation to the city, since our park is a city-owned park.
3. With the exception of two people, who do not currently live in the neighborhood, we have overwhelming support in the community for this project.
4. The current fountain is not the original fountain anyway. As far as I know, it is made of plastic resin. Fran Rahl would know more about this than I do of course.
5. We met for two years as a park committee to talk about and discuss these plans. Numerous times we invited MHT to come to those meetings and get involved and they always declined to participate.

Again, we do not need to construct long narratives to each of these people, nor do we need to be antagonistic.. We are concerned most with the numbers. If 100 people call or email regarding this one issue, we will get their attention. Make sure if you choose to email that you put our name, Union Square, in the subject heading. In addition, please mention to each official that he/she can get in touch with our elected president, Chris Taylor (443-415-0554) or taylfour@msn.com, to coordinate efforts to support our endeavor.

Thank you in advance on this. If you do this by email, cc me, schulzemegan@gmail.com on the email, so I can keep track of our numbers. If you call instead, let me know that too if possible. Forward this to any neighbors who you know are not on our email chain. This is the centerpiece of our neighborhood and we must all work to try to push this forward! Our goal is to do this ASAP. If you can get your emails or phone calls off on or before Monday, that'd be great. The sooner, the better!

Emails and phone numbers are below:

Email and phone numbers of elected officials:

1. Delegate Keith Haynes Keith.Haynes@house.state.md.us (410) 841-3801

2. Mayor Dixon mayor@baltimorecity.gov

3. Governor Martin O’Malley- mom@gov.state.md.us 410.974.3901

4. Senator Verna Jones- Verna.Jones@senate.state.md.us (410) 841-3612

5. Delegate Ruth Kirk- ruth.kirk@house.state.md.us (410) 841-3802

6. Delegate Melvin Stukes- melvin.stukes@house.state.md.us (410) 841-3544

Thanks again,

Baltimore Cardio Kettlebells in Union Square Park

2009-05-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Baltimore Cardio Kettlebell's in Union Square park is every Saturday morning @ 10 AM. Sylva Browning is promoting the events from Union Square and the Sherri is the physical trainer from downtown athletic club. Check out some images and video from the last session on May 9th 2009. Let us know if you want to attend. The fee is only $10 to participate. BRING A MAT!

LINK TO SHERRI'S BLOG