Discoveries in Baltimore

A little bike ride to discover what has changed in recent months of mostly isolation and little unrestricted roaming is a refreshing activity. Here a few things I found on a not quite so hot Friday evening along Baltimore's waterfront:

Little Italy which clamored first for closed streets in favor of outdoor dining still doesn't have this. But they keep their Christmas decoration (I know, the Italian flag colors!) all year, as consolation.

A few isolated diners populate the terraces at the Inner Harbor pavilions, which were largely deserted even before the pandemic

The foot of the awful HarborPoint bridge has been enhanced by this outdoor dining arrangement

Mostly no water taxi service, just as during the winter and early spring, another thing that didn't work well even before COVID

A few new features at the McKeldin Plaza, an attempt to make the desolate situation after the demolition of the original more palatable. The mister is a weak substitute, but its better than nothing

A display celebrates "community based design" that "replaces concrete with green". Oh the chutzpah! If there ever was a top down planning decision, the demolition of the old fountain was one.

Slow Streets cover now miles of city streets. What would have taken years of debate became doable in weeks. This a great step towards "complete streets" or "livable streets as Delegate Robbyn Lewis prefers to say.
In the back the Perkins Homes slated for demolition for a new mixed income housing development with TIF

Intrepid travelers arriving at the Pendry Hotel where life seems to go on. 

Thames Street is largely closed to traffic so the row of restaurants can expand into the street, a much more pleasant solution than the angled parking that was there before, but why all those ugly Jersey barriers?

What is known as "parklets", small wooden terraces on what used to be parking spaces, has now been implemented on a bigger scale in Baltimore: Long overdue, but very welcome! (Broadway at Shakespeare Street)

Street performers have to do with less audience, as well but at least they play, whereas the Symphony is not.

The Avalon, once proposed as an all glass extravaganza, is now almost complete in a much more modest outfit. It will interesting to see if the influx of millennials to downtown Baltimore continues

The good old Circulator bus is still doing its rounds, now with masked operators and riders, and yes, should I mention it had troubles before COVID?

The posh restaurants in Harbor East protect their glass with progressive slogans, a too transparent approach to go with current sentiment

Extra many traffic lanes with quite a good number of cars are still the norm in downtown, Light Street is an extreme example

Space enough for some vending activities at corners that may not always be licensed but have a long tradition in Baltimore 

The always ugly Mario Shack building that once sat next to the Constellation is now gone. In its place a new water taxi terminal will rise in hopes of tourists to come back one day

Central Avenue is finally open again, but the sea of asphalt is unimaginative and crazy, given that the road dead-ends on HarborPoint. What a stark counter example to the good stuff going on in Fells Point and elsewhere. The good news: The spanking new very large Whole Foods is open now. Here, too is the question: Will the apartments fill?

Black Olive streetside eating on Bond Street

Those party barges in front of the Power Plant come in handy now, when only outdoor dining is permitted. 

Kids can run, even with a mask on!

I just can't get enough of those new parklets!

Strolling through the city, a nice form of entertainment in normal times, has become a rare luxury in a time when we have to stay away from each other, hide behind masks and are advised to avoid any unnecessary outings. How right this advice is, shows everywhere where it has been disregarded. And yet, from time it is necessary to go out, carefully, that is, and see that even under these extreme circumstances life is going on, even if it is on a much lower level.  It is also good to see that this crisis is an opportunity to fix a lot of the things that didn't work well before. Each catastrophe also includes an opportunity. 

Stay well everybody!

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA