On December 11th, Baltimore Green Space is sending twenty 2-person teams to explore Baltimore and use their smart phones to create a map of vacant lots that have been turned into community green spaces: gardens, pocket parks, horseshoe pits, and the like.

We need to do this because Baltimore City is working hard to streamline its sales process for land and buildings. This is great news, but it presents an urgent challenge to preserve  green spaces.  With 13,000 vacant lots, the City faces an information problem -- it simply cannot know which of these "vacant" lots are actually community assets that improve the livability of neighborhoods and thus property values.

The City is eager to learn which lots should be included in the "community use" category of their database. We've already given them about 200 block/lot numbers, but there are many, many more. And now we are in a rush!

A couple weeks ago we piloted a great way to document the exact location of gardens -- geo-coded photos using smart phones. In a 3-hour event with 6 teams of volunteers, we photographed 150 addresses, and we've got another 450 to go.

On 12/11/10 we will document the rest of our addresses as well as additional sites that we don't yet know of.

SCHEDULE

Everyone will meet at the Cork Gallery (302 E Federal St, at Guilford Ave) at 9 AM for orientation.  Individuals will be paired into teams.  The teams will start return at 11:30 for debriefing, drinking cocoa, and sharing what we've learned. Signup as a team - or come alone and get paired-up.

REQUIREMENTS

Each team needs to have a car and a smartphone (such as an iPhone or a Droid).  If you don't have either, that's great! You'll be paired up with someone who does and will help navigate, find the gardens, and talk to community members. 

QUESTIONS?

Please email office@baltimoregreenspace.org.