This is not a police thing. This is the National Suicide Hotline shortened access number, the FCC put this out after Congress passed the 988 bill, or the National Suicide Hotline bill. A volunteer from my area helped gather signatures to get the bill passed.

I hope people don’t get confused that this has something to do with police. It’s nice the police promoted it, perhaps it would be better if the news stations promote the number without police involvement. Many people worry the police aren’t the best people to respond if someone is experiencing thoughts of self harm, police can make the matter worse instead of better.

If you need help call the number, please don’t think this is a police number, it isn’t. This is the National Suicide Hotline, no police will come if you call.

My heating system is oil, my son connected a switch the main electric box to control the heat, kitchen outlets, and the porch light by the generator. Good idea, thank you.

Good idea, thank you.

Be careful if you go out, I called 311 for salt on Wilkens and Unetta where I saw the water leaks freezing. It’s still very icy on some spots.

Is the water out for the others on your block? My water is on but there are definitely leaks under the roads because the water is coming up. Did you call 311 to report it?

Good luck, my friends without water are off Washington Boulevard. Part of their road is very icy with several hit and run car accidents so far. When I last spoke to them about an hour ago they still not have water but other neighbors did, it didn’t seem to affect the entire block.

Do you have a community resource or center that can provide updates or a warm place with water? I’m by Saint Agnes hospital, all the centers, neighborhood groups and everything that would help are gone. My house is chaos with people right now, happy chaos, but help from the city or neighborhood group would be welcome.

I have friends in Morrell Park who haven’t had water since last night, water main break. Some of their neighbors have water, some don’t. That’s in the southwest part of the city.

Google tells me to close the doors of unused rooms, put towels under the doors, blankets on the windows, dress warm and watch for signs of hypothermia. All common sense I guess.

How do we get ready for planned rolling outages? I have a generator, blankets, warm clothes. I have two neighbor families at my house now because their electricity is out, they also have blankets and warm clothes. What else can we do to be prepared. It’s a little concerning he said to be prepared for planned outages but didn’t share tips.

Oaklee is still out, my friends called again, no technician has been assigned yet.

My friends from Oaklee near the county line are out of power, they are staying with me in my home in the Saint Agnes until it’s resolved. BGE told them they are waiting to assign someone. Their entire block is still out. Do you have some lace warm to go?

Our neighborhood group got ozone machines from Sunbelt, I used one for two weeks to rid my basement of the smell after floods.

Our community garden gave all the volunteers apple crates full of goodies for the holidays. I can ask where they bought them. They used them during the summer to deliver produce, they have a lot.

You’re welcome, thank you for the work you do.

I’m glad you found an organization that had an opening, please don’t be discouraged by the lack of response from other organizations. I don’t believe the organizations you contacted meant to offend you by not taking you on as a volunteer.

I volunteer part-time, year round for an organization that offers physical and drug rehabilitation. Year end is the time when many people with mandatory community service requirements and court-ordered volunteer hours try to get all their hours in. This is also the holiday time when companies want to schedule do-good days for their employees. It takes staff to coordinate and train all these volunteers. For most non profits the type of volunteer who is only available for one day, or for a few hours at the end of the year isn’t worth the amount of staff hours it takes to do background checks, match schedules and train that volunteer.

Moveable Feast is a large organization, started by the city health department director. They have a large budget and staff to handle volunteers. Please don’t think the smaller nonprofits specifically exclude you, many simply don’t have the staff to manage volunteers. I wish you an enjoyable time with the food service.

I wasn’t implying, I wrote it. Putting large amounts of money into a small area while neglecting the rest of the city is bad for the rest of the city. It may be good for that one small part of the city but the rest of the city suffers.

The national dollar house program turned into the Urban Homestead program in the 90’s or 00’s. The city can still sell or lease any vacant property they already own for $1, the new owner has to make repairs to being the house up to code. Once the house is up to code after a few years the city officially gives the house to the new owner. The city owns thousands of vacant properties they could sell or lease for $1. The problem is those properties are in blighted neighborhoods where the city won’t spend money on infrastructure, new streets, new pipes and all that.

There was a case recently where a man bought a house to rehab on North Avenue, the city didn’t do any repairs to the streets or the pipes, then the street collapsed and the man lost everything. The city won’t pay for the repairs or the losses. But in other areas like around the UM Technology Corridor, the city invested money to improve the roads and infrastructure.

The difference in level of services makes it hard for individual investors who are not well connected to someone in control in the city. No one wants to invest in a property of the infrastructure is broken.

https://www.wmar2news.com/homepage-showcase/homeowners-forced-to-pay-a-mortgage-for-homes-that-were-torn-down-from-a-sinkhole

There is not enough money to support all of the city neighborhoods with big improvements. Instead of spreading investment across the entire city, or focusing money on blighted neighborhoods the city is improving some areas and letting other fall into disrepair. The mismanagement of city funds takes a toll, and mass improvement in certain small areas has a negative impact.

Curtis Bay is not too far from where I live, we have a similar house here. The number of drug houses in this area really increased in the last two or three years. In my area it seems someone with ill intentions moves in as soon as a family moves out, and the new residents often sell drugs, offer drugs to passers by, create odd smells. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years in the city.

I suggest you install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The squatters in the house near me did something to the hot water heater, I imagine to get hot water without paying the gas bill. The house immediately next door to them had problems with carbon monoxide and then the fire. The carbon monoxide gave the man, the one living immediately nextdoor, headaches. I remember he showed dysphasia last year, I was there when the police were dismissive to him because of his speech patterns. Carbon monoxide poisoning can alter your ability to form phrases and make it hard to make yourself understood. It’s a shame all of us recognized that but the police were indifferent. Please get a carbon monoxide detector just in case. Your story sounds so much like the beginning of the house on Saint Benedict Street near me. I wish you well, please keep writing updates. Stay safe.

A house in my neighborhood does this, even on cold days the windows are open but covered with cardboard. A boy passed away from drugs there last year, the people who live there are squatting, the owner moved into the assisted living apartments two years ago. The police won’t do anything despite how many times we call. The fire department came once when the people set part of the house on fire, but they left all the trash, furniture and burning embers in the yard.

I’m not close enough to smell the smells through the walls but we can smell it outside the house. My neighbors and the block captain emailed the mayors’s office. The Health Department came out, the smell stopped for a while. The man from the health department said it was an overcrowding rule that let them make some of the people move, even though it was a drug cooking house. He compared it to Al Capone and the tax charges. I believe we will have to keep emailing the mayor’s office until the house burns down or collapses, it’s a terrible situation.

This is the email address for the mayor, I keep it on my important contacts list.

mayor@baltimorecity.gov

I hope your situation improves soon, it’s terrible to live in fear of sickness from what your neighbors do.

Cat feces has a parasite that makes rats and mice more aggressive. Cats are only a good solution to a rodent problem when it’s a semi indoor cat like a barn cat that gets regular vet care. Otherwise feral cats make the rat problem worse. The rats in our neighborhood are getting exponentially more in number as the feral cat numbers increase.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0608310104

The Dollar Shop in Elkridge in the shopping center at Washington Boulevard and Montgomery Road is an Asian Dollar Store like you describe. I get unusual stocking stuffers there.

Baltimore has a strong no snitching, no speaking out culture. Petitions and surveys that require a name and address are concerning, at least in my area. I’d want to sign such a petition, I would be wary of potential consequences.

I didn’t realize that initiative passed. 20% of the qualified voters is a very high number. I wonder if we could someone achieve this, that would take a large budget to reach that many voters.

Can we recall council members? I thought initiative that didn’t make it to the ballot. We voters have to petition our own council representatives to recall Council President Mosby. The councilwoman for my area is Phylicia Porter, she voted for Mr. Mosby’s bill in the first round of voting and didn’t vote at all in the next round. From what I’m learning from neighborhood meetings Councilwoman Porter moved to this part of Baltimore only a year before the election, so she moved here to run for the office. I don’t think she would listen any petition from residents, especially not a petition to recall Mr. Mosby over a bill she voted for.

There used to be a drop box in the city police station on Font Hill Avenue, I don’t know if it still in operation.

There is a drop box in the Baltimore County police station on the Wilkens Avenue side of the UMBC campus. That one is there in the lobby 24 hours per day.