Dear Mayor

Dixon,

Did you have a playground growing up?

Over the course of 8 weeks in the summer 2009, four children living in Park Heights

participated in a self-publishing workshop with two designers and one artist

through the Pimlico Road Youth Program and ARTblocks. They were asked what

they would like to see happen in their neighborhood. This was their response. All

of the following images and words were generated by them.

Well we don’t.We are writing to you to ask you if you could help us build a playground in our neighborhood.

Park Heights is a neighborhood in Northwest Baltimore that is rich with culture and

history. However, it is not without its problems. Crime, drugs and economic depression

are serious issues within the community. Despite these challenges, the residents of

Park Heights are making a wide variety of efforts to improve the quality of life in their

community. The neighborhood’s largest demographic segment is children under 18.

Here are some reasons why Park Heights needs a playground:

“On November 20th 2008 Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon took the first strike to bring

down the 31-unit Pall Mall Apartments located at 4300 Pimlico Road… The complex

had a national reputation for the quality of illegal drugs sold there and the ease in

which drug dealers peddled narcotics… Park Heights resident Kenneth Morrison said

he considered the change a sign of hope. “I believe Park Heights is in transition. There

are so many possibilities for this community,” he said.” -WBAL TV

The kids really want a playground!

It will keep kids off the streets.

Kids that don’t have friends can make friends at the playground.

It would be a good place for parents to spend time with their kids.

A playground would make the neighborhood a better place.

Also, you can have fun parties there.

We have people to help us design and build it.Here are a few plans for the former site of the Pall Mall Apartments created by kids in Park Heights.

“To provide opportunities for Park Heights’ residents, especially youth, Park Heights

needs a system of large open spaces that provide adequate, safe, active play space…

Several open spaces are unsupervised due to their inaccessible or out of the way

locations, and could be converted to better uses. Choices need to be made about the

best uses of these properties.”

–Baltimore City Department of Planning “Park Heights Master Plan”

How you can help: If you are interested in supporting this

playground being built, please cut out

the letter from the adjacent page, add

your signature and mail it to Mayor

Sheila Dixon or District 6 representative,

Sharon Green Middleton at:

As of right now, Baltimore City owns the land where the Pall Mall Apartments

once stood. We are encouraging the city to make the land available for the

purpose of building a playground on it.

You can also donate time, money and equipment to the organization that will be handling the building of the playground:

ARTblocks P.O. Box 65085 Baltimore, MD 21209

ARTblocks is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Make your tax-deductible checks or money orders payable to ARTblocks

Mayor Sheila DixonCity Hall, Room 250 100 N. Holliday Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Sharon Green MiddletonCity Hall, Room 516100 N. Holliday Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202

This publication was edited and designed by Becky

Slogeris and Carey Chiaia. We would like to thank the

following people and institutions for making this

publication possible: ARTblocks, Bernard Canniffe,

Pastor Greg Knepp, Linco Printing, Janet Mathias,

MICA, Deborah Patterson, Mike Patterson, Pimlico

Road Youth Program, St. John’s Church, and all of

the parents of the kids involved.