TCNA March 2020 Newsletter

In this Issue

Coronavirus Information

Interested in serving on Tuscany Canterbury Board?

UPDATE Historic Tax Credit Legislation for Condominium Associations

Streets and Greens Committee

Calvert School

Construction & Improvements Around the Neighborhood

Neighborhood Questions and Comments

Sale Prices of Homes & Condos (February)

Neighborhood Restaurants Updates

Save these TENTATIVE Dates:

FIRST FRIDAY IS CANCELED IN APRIL

Tuscany Canterbury Neighborhood Association

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

A group of parents on Canterbury and Cloverhill Roads have set up a "buddy system" to help people during the social distancing phase of the COVID-19 outbreak. We would invite others in the neighborhood to contact us as well. It is very important for people at risk to avoid exposing themselves to virus.  Those at risk of severe illness include:  Elders and adults over 60 years of age; people with heart and lung disease; people with diabetes. 

Let’s help each other . Those of us with overdeveloped immune systems (thanks, daycare) can assist others: We’ll buy groceries, pick up prescriptions, check out library books, stop at the hardware store, swing by the post office. And anything else that makes it easier for those who especially need to minimize virus contact. A few of us talked this through, and we thought a buddy system would work best. 

If you have someone you can ask for help, great! Contact that person and run with it! No need to include us in your conversation. If you don’t have a neighbor you’re comfortable asking, we have a list of people who are eager to help. Email or call us and we’ll hook you up. If you’d like to be added to our list of errand running supporters, text about that, too.

Here is the number to call if you need help or want to help:

(443) 814-9933 or email canterburycloverhill@gmail.com

Tuscany-Canterbury has received information from a variety sources.

To prevent the spread of coronavirus and opdated ther respiratory illnesses, the Baltimore City Health Department encourages the following disease prevention practices including: 

Accurate, up-to-date information is important. The following websites are updated frequently.

Baltimore City Health Department:

  https://health.baltimorecity.gov/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov

Maryland Department of Health updates the site each morning :      https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/

Center for Disease Control :

  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center https://coronavirus.jhu.edu

The Washington Post also has a good update page:    https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/local/dc-maryland-virginia-coronavirus-cases/  

The Sun is doing frequent updates, not only the numbers but also context:   https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-md-daily-coronavirus-update--20200311-k3zo35wudvhehb5yklyjv6jjem-story.html . 

The Dos and Don’ts of ‘Social Distancing

Experts weigh in on whether you should cancel your dates, dinner parties, and gym sessions. Read in The Atlantic:  https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-what-does-social-distancing-mean/607927/

Tuscany Canterbury Board for 2020-2021

If you are interested in serving on the Tuscany-Canterbury Board from July 2020 through June2021 please let the Nominating Committee know. The TCNA Board currently meets every other month on the first Wednesday from 7:00 PM - 8:30PM. Each board member is expected to be active in one of the neighborhood committees. There are also two general neighborhood meetings each year. The board has representation from all areas of the neighborhood. The commitment is for a minimum of one year. The board and officers will be elected at the June 17, 2020 general association meeting.

House Bill HB 875

Summary of Legislation:

HISTORIC REVITALIZATION TAX CREDIT – EXPANSION –REHABILITATIONS OF COMMON ELEMENTS OF CONDOMINIUMS

Altering the definition of “small commercial project” under the historic revitalization tax credit program to include rehabilitations of structures that are condominiums if the rehabilitations target only common elements of the condominiums; requiring the Director of the Maryland Historical Trust, in consultation with the Smart Growth Subcabinet, to adopt regulations establishing application procedures for governing bodies of condominiums; applying the Act to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2019; etc. EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2020

SF, § 5A-303(a) and (b)(1)(xi) - amended Assigned to: Ways and Means

Click here for the full copy of HB 875

To contact your 43rd District Delegates in Annapolis (email)

For up-to-date information click here

Background Information:

At the TCNA General Meeting on November 6, 2019, Delegate Maggie McIntosh presented the status of her proposed legislation for  Historic Tax Credit  for condominium associations. She said the bill is not yet written but is in the formation stage, and she wanted to give the parameters of what is being proposed after doing some research on the present program. The Historic Tax Credit is a popular program which is managed by the MD Historical Trust and is allocated to certain historical structures. Currently, approximately $11 million is appropriated annually through legislative general funds, of which $9 million go to commercial projects and $2 million goes to homeowners. The tax credit may not exceed $50,000 (20% of qualified expenditures) for homeowners (the cap for commercial projects is $3 million).

Delegate McIntosh said that she found out that individual condominium units can get historic tax credits (for things like replacing windows, chimney, etc.) but that right now there are no rights specified for a condominium association. So the conversation she will have while crafting the bill in the coming weeks will include amending the law to define condominium associations as non-commercial entities, defining the boundaries of common spaces which can be applicable, defining specific types of common space improvements eligible, and setting a dollar cap 

somewhere between homeowners and commercial. The funding will come from the homeowners’ side of the present funds and will be available to communities around the state which have full ownership status. Delegate McIntosh stated that there will not be a minimum amount that must be spent, and the possibility of accumulating several small projects into one larger application will be explored.

Calvert School Liaison Committee

The Calvert Liaison Committee held the third of four agreed-upon meetings on February 12th. On the agenda: carpool and parking issues in the neighborhood, repeated instances of early truck deliveries, and some lighting issues involving the Tuscany/Lombardy community. While it was agreed that progress had been made along Canterbury Road due to the school's monitoring and prohibition of illegal parking, there have been complaints of long lines and blocked access along Tuscany Road during school drop-off and pick-up. We continue to be in discussion, and want to ensure that all covenants in our Agreement are being honored. Please feel free to contact me with concerns regarding our neighborhood's relationship with Calvert School. 

Streets and Greens Committee

Rose Weeks, Chairperson

Greens Subcommittee : Bonnie Boland, Chai r

Priorities for enhancing safety, environmental

friendliness, and livability 

CONSTRUCTION UPDATES

Highfield House Condominium Construction

The Highfield House Association just voted for a major special assessment to carry out a complete restoration of the concrete plaza that runs underneath and behind our building. The work is necessary because the 55-year old flat concrete plaza is in poor shape and is allowing water to infiltrate the structural slab below the surface topping, which threatens the roof of our garage and some occupied spaces below. 

The contractor, Structural Technologies, intends to mobilize and set up on our front lawns by the third week in March and get underway with construction in the first week of April. The work will continue through the end of the year and is expected to be completed by mid-January 2021. It will include replacing the front sidewalks, too. At the end we expect to have beautifully restored plaza looking as near as possible to the original design of our building's world-renowned architect Mies van der Rohe.

Some of the cars in the garage as construction proceeds will need to move (about 1/3 of cars at a time as the job takes place in three phases). We are making plans with other garages and spaces so that we do not compete for street space.

We will be keeping our neighbors informed as the project proceeds. 

Steve Cleghorn

Board president

Highfield House Condominium

Old Carnegie Building (115 W. University Parkway)

UPDATE: Project Schedule: January-June 2020

Questions or concerns, contact Mike Loester

443-997-4457 or  loester@jhu.edu

Why was San Martin Drive closed in February?

It was closed to install a new generator at the Space Telescope Institute.

Sale Prices of Homes & Condos

February 2020

Thanks to board member and realtor, Julia Frazier, who provides this information for each newsletter.

Address and Sale Price:

Note:  This data represents real estate activity from February 1 to February 29, 2020 in the Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood.  The information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.   

Source;  This information is gathered from BRIGHT MLS, Inc and is provided courtesy of Julia Martin Frazier of Monument Sotheby's International Realty, 4800 Roland Ave, Baltimore, MD 21210 Cell: (410) 908-1760; Office: (443)708-7074 email:  julia@monumentsothebysrealty.com

Neighborhood Restaurants Updates

Support our neighborhood businesses.

Thanks to Ann Bond who updates restaurant information monthly.

Events Happening In and Around

Tuscany-Canterbury

COVID-19 and the Politics of Information

Friday, March 20

12–12:45 p.m. ET

coronavirus.jhu.edu

As part of JHU new series, “SNF Agora Conversations: The Politics and Policy of COVID-19,” Friday's conversation will explore the politics of the information environment around the coronavirus pandemic, including what social science tells us about how public health communications work; what governments, media, and platforms can do to counter misinformation; and how COVID-19 compares to other public health issues, such as gun violence or vaccines.

Speakers:

Colleen Barry  is the Fred and Julie Soper Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on how health and social policies can affect a range of outcomes for individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders. She also looks at how communication strategies influence public attitudes about opioid addiction, mental illness, gun policy, and obesity and food policy.

Brendan Nyhan  is a professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College and a media critic who regularly contributes to  The New York Times'  “Upshot” column. His research focuses on misperceptions about politics and health care, including the effects of misinformation during disease epidemics and outbreaks.

Hahrie Han , moderator, is a professor in the Political Science Department and director of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. She specializes in the study of civic and political participation, collective action, and organizing. She focuses particularly on the role that civic associations play in mobilizing participation in politics and building power for social and political change.

 SNF Agora Conversations: The Politics and Policy of COVID-19

As coronavirus spreads across the country and around the globe, we are facing a crisis not just in health care, but also in how we live, work, learn, engage, and come together to govern ourselves as citizens and in communities.

How do the politics of the pandemic shape the way individuals, communities, and institutions respond? Likewise, how does institutional and governmental response to the pandemic shape people’s political views and behaviors? Do citizens trust what their governments are telling them? Why are some countries controlling the spread of the virus better than others? In the U.S., how will this affect the 2020 elections? And how do we practice social distancing and also protect and promote civic engagement and inclusive discourse?

SNF Agora Institute will host a series of webcast conversations, with experts from Johns Hopkins University and beyond, that will explore the political and policy implications of COVID-19. For more information, visit   SNF Agora Institute Events .

Tuscany-Canterbury FIRST FRIDAY IS CANCELED IN APRIL

If you know of other events that you think should be included in the Tuscany-Canterbury E-newsletter, please send them to the Newsletter Coordinator. PresidentTCNA@gmail.com

Tuscany-Canterbury Neighborhood Association        

T uscany-Canterbury is a treasure of a neighborhood. If you are not a member of the TCNA, we hope you will join. If you know someone who is not a member, send them this newsletter and ask them to join.

Co-Presidents:   Andrew and Luciene Parsley  (Tuscany Road)

Vice President:   Garth Thompson  (Ridgemede Road)

Past Presidents:   Anne Perkins and Linda Eberhart (Tuscany Road)

Treasurer:  Bill Bass (Cloverhill Road)

Secretary:  Alison Moliterno   (Cloverhill Road)

Board Members :

Find out more about Tuscany-Canterbury Neighborhood