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Green Towson Alliance Green Platform for Baltimore County 2019-2022

Green Towson Alliance submitted its recommendations for Baltimore County’s long-term success as a healthy, safe, beautiful, liveable environment to the office of the new county executive on November 26, 2018. The Green Platform lists action steps to create environmental sustainability, which it believes is a key determinate of the quality of life in Baltimore County. Environmental sustainability influences where people and businesses choose to locate, and impacts our tax base and budget in Baltimore County. Read the full GTA Green Platform here: Green Towson Alliance Green Platform

Creating a Wildlife-Friendly Garden

Nancy Lawson, author of “The Humane Gardener,” will offer practical ways on how to nurture a backyard that is friendly to all the creatures who live in your neighborhood on Sunday December 9 at the Towson Branch of the Baltimore County Library. This program is free, and begins at 2 PM in the basement meeting room at the library. Light refreshments and a book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

Lawson will have constructive tips on how to garden to benefit insects like butterflies, bees and other pollinators, and the birds and mammals who share our neighborhoods. Gardeners will learn how to cultivate compassion for all creatures by using animal-friendly landscaping practices to eliminate potential hazards to insects and wildlife.

Nancy Lawson is the founder of Humane Gardener, an outreach initiative dedicated to cultivating compassion for all creatures great and small through animal-friendly, environmentally sensitive landscaping methods. She is a columnist for All Animals magazine and volunteers as a master naturalist and master gardener in central Maryland.

This is the third of the Green Speaker Series hosted by the Green Towson Alliance and the Friends of the Towson Library. Green Towson Alliance is a coalition of volunteers who care about the environment. They work with community members to make Towson neighborhoods healthy and green by planting trees, cleaning up streams, and protecting mature canopy trees. Green Towson Alliance works with local and state officials to encourage green open space in Towson’s communities.

Green Speaker Series to be held at Towson Library

This fall, an innovative series of “Green” programs will be presented by the Green Towson Alliance (GTA) and the Friends of the Towson Library. All three programs are free to the public. On Saturday, September 22 at
2 PM, the first green presentation, “Native Plants for Containers,” will feature a demonstration on how to design and use native plants in container gardening.

In this presentation, Leigh Barnes, a local garden container expert and owner of Companion Plantings, will demonstrate good design methods that use native plants in attractive container gardens. It will also feature Rob Jenkins, Manager of the Herring Run Nursery, who will offer his own tips on using native plants in containers and explain why using native plants is essential to Maryland’s butterflies, birds and bees. Herring Run Nursery is operated by Blue Water Baltimore, an organization whose mission is to restore the quality of Baltimore’s rivers, streams and harbor to foster a healthy environment, a strong economy, and thriving communities.

The GTA Green series will be held at the Towson Branch of the Baltimore County Library in the Meeting Room on the basement level. The September 22 program will run from 2 PM – 3:30 PM. Light refreshments will be served.

The fall series will continue in October with “Lessons for Towson: Good Urban Design Equals Green Design” on Thursday evening, October 18. In this session, GTA member and architect Beth Miller will share a green vision for Towson which could improve everyone’s daily quality of life. Then on Sunday, December 9, Nancy Lawson, author of The Humane Gardener, will discuss how to cultivate compassion for all creatures through landscaping practices that are sensitive to the environment and wildlife.

Green Towson Alliance is a non-profit coalition of volunteers in the Towson area. GTA works to make Towson neighborhoods healthy and green by planting trees, cleaning up streams, protecting mature canopy trees and working with local and state officials to encourage green open space in Towson’s communities.

County breaks ground on Radebaugh Park

After more than three years of planning and community advocacy, Baltimore County officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday morning for the Radebaugh Park in Towson’s Aigburth Manor neighborhood.

The 3.76-acre park is named for the fourth-generation of the Radebaugh Florist and Greenhouses family, which sold the land to the county. On Tuesday, a skeleton of the florist’s greenhouses still stood on the property behind a yellow bulldozer.

As more than 50 people gathered on a sweltering morning upward of 90 degrees at the new park’s entrance on Maryland Avenue, speakers called the project a success story, an example of collaboration between government, business and community.

“I think this project is a really good example of what all of us need to do, in government and in the communities, in terms of working together,” County Executive Don Mohler told the crowd. “When you get an idea or concept, if somewhere along the way you have to work through some road blocks, it’s OK to do that. But when you get smart, dedicated, committed people in a room and you roll your sleeves up, literally, and you say ‘let’s solve these problems,’ then good things will happen.”

County Councilman David Marks, who represents Towson, said that when he initially heard in 2015 that there were plans to sell the land to a developer to build townhouses, he “immediately said ‘uh-oh.’”

Instead, the idea for the park was born in early 2015, when the county was surveying Towson for park space at the same time as the Radebaughs were considering selling the land, Marks said. The Radebaugh family sold the land to the county for $1.1 million in 2016, according to a county press release. Marks said to applause Tuesday that the community will get a “permanent green space.”

Aigburth Manor Vice-president Paul Hartman praised the Radebaugh family for selling the land to the county instead of a developer, saying more townhouses would have overcrowded the area. A park, by contrast, could increase property values for the surrounding communities, he said. And Hartman was glad to see the sale of the land benefit the local Radebaugh business.

“It’s a win for the community, not just having a park, but also strengthening this family-owned business right in the middle of our neighborhood,” Hartman said.

“I think our grandfathers would be very excited to see a park for the community in our name,” said Kaitlin Radebaugh, 37, a co-owner of the family business. “We very much realize that we’re a business operating in a residential area, and we’re happy that we can give something back to the community.”

The total cost of the park, including demolishing the greenhouses, will be $1.76 million, according to a county press release. The “passive park,” which is too small for athletic fields but will have space for people to stroll, is slated for completion in December this year.

“It’s a wonderful expenditure of tax dollars,” Mohler said. “I’ve always believed that when you give people a vision of what you’re trying to accomplish with tax dollars, they’ll rally around it, and they will support it.”

Baltimore County Recreation and Parks Director Barry Williams said the environmental advocacy group, Green Towson Alliance, was instrumental in advocating for and planning the park.

Carol Newill, a Green Towson Alliance member who helped lead the group’s efforts on the park, said in a press release that because of the group’s efforts, “Radebaugh Park will not be bulldozed into a flat area, but instead will be sculpted into curves and will include a bioswale [a landscape element designed to concentrate or remove pollution out of surface runoff water] for rainwater to drain into the western branch of the Herring Run.”

Multiple people also praised the late County Executive Kevin Kamenetz for his work in getting Radebaugh Park off the ground. In his speech, Marks recalled a promise from Kamenetz in 2016 that the county would create a park on the land – and “he kept his word,” he said.

“I said back in May that for the next six or seven months, County Executive Kamenetz would be on my shoulder,” Mohler said. “He is clearly on my shoulder and smiling down today.”
Derek Radebaugh, 46, another member of the family, said he had mixed emotions about the groundbreaking, which marked a change for the land on which he grew up, working in the family greenhouses. Still, he said, it felt good to see the family’s legacy continue.

“Our name’s going to be in this town for a long time,” Radebaugh said.

(Photographs of the groundbreaking are posted on the GTA Facebook page.)

Radebaugh Park Groundbreaking Celebrated

When ground is broken at Radebaugh Park on August 28, 2018, the Green Towson Alliance will celebrate the new neighborhood park and the collaborative partnership that made it happen. Radebaugh Park will give families and neighbors a green, natural environment where they may enjoy trees, nature and a peaceful setting. At the groundbreaking ceremony, GTA volunteers, the Radebaugh family, community members and Baltimore County officials will celebrate the commencement of construction that will bring this park to fruition.

The Groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, August 28, at the entrance to Radebaugh Park located at 11 Maryland Avenue, Towson, Maryland. Radebaugh Park, which will be enjoyed by the Aigburth Manor, Knollwood/Donnybrook, Burkleigh Square, and Towson Manor Village communities, is scheduled to open to the public in 2019.

“The proposal to create this park and the founding of Green Towson Alliance came around the same time in the spring of 2015. Neighborhood parks and green space are a huge part of what GTA is all about,” states Beth Miller, an original member of GTA.

“So many people were involved in making this new park a reality,” Miller continues. “The Radebaugh family, who offered the property rather than selling it to a developer; our state legislators, Delegate Steve Lafferty and Senator Jim Brochin, who secured bond money from the state to finance the demolition and grading; Councilman David Marks, who championed the park with the administration; Baltimore County, which bought the land; and all of the community members who shared their ideas and dreams of a park that everyone could enjoy all played key roles.”

“Under the direction of our late County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, Baltimore County applied for and received state Open Space funding to help buy the land,” says Dr. Carol Newill, another GTA co-founder. “We worked closely with the county on how it could purchase the property, and its plans to grade the land.”

“As a result, Radebaugh Park will not be bulldozed into a flat area, but instead will be sculpted into curves and will include a bioswale for rainwater to drain into the western branch of the Herring Run, which is near the property,” adds Newill. “We are grateful that Baltimore County, current County Executive Don Mohler, and our legislators have gone the extra mile to work with us to create a peaceful and beautiful place for neighbors to gather and enjoy nature.”

Radebaugh Park was the site of greenhouses run by the Radebaugh family, which still operates its decades-old nursery and florist business in this Towson neighborhood. The Radebaughs got to know the families who were their neighbors, and after relocating their greenhouses decided to sell this surplus property to Baltimore County to be used as a neighborhood park.

GTA and Councilman Marks co-sponsored the Community Input meeting about the park in December, 2016. Barry Williams, Director of Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks, also attended. At that meeting, neighbors said they wanted the park to have large shade trees, walking paths, and flowers in honor of the Radebaugh family. Working in conjunction with its partners, GTA doggedly pursued the park to make it happen.

Radebaugh Park will be accessible for individuals who have physical challenges. Neighbors may walk or bike to the park to enjoy time there.

6.75 Tons Of Trash In Towson Removed By Volunteers

A 100-pound hubcap and fallen utility pole were among the items found in streams by volunteers in Towson during clean-ups at 21 sites this spring.

Green Towson Alliance Volunteers Remove 6.75 Tons of Trash from Local Streams

Loyola students with some of the trash they pulled out of the stream.

In the last two months, Green Towson Alliance (GTA) volunteers have cleaned out 6.75 tons of trash from local streams in Towson neighborhoods. Everything from car bumpers, cinder blocks, chairs, seats from cars, a table umbrella, a shopping cart, a 10 foot length of steel pipe and a downed power pole to a 100 pound truck tire, street signs and a framed picture were removed, along with the usual array of hubcaps, glass, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. One group of GTA volunteers found an illicit discharge site into the stream and reported it to the authorities.

Working in partnership with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, GTA coordinated clean-ups of local Towson streams at 21 sites from late March through early May. Over 400 volunteers cleaned up the streams and cleared away debris and litter to save mature trees and restore the natural beauty of the local streams. Invasive vines were also cleared away at two locations, to help save mature trees in the watershed.

Volunteers, including Towson University students, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Youth Group members of the Towson Presbyterian Church and the Woodbrook Baptist Church, students from Loyola Blakefield’s Environmental Club, community residents, county and state elected officials and GTA members, spent over 100 hours cleaning up local Towson tributaries at 21 different stream locations. The streams included branches of the Herring Run and the Jones Falls/Lake Roland tributaries from Towson Run and from Roland Run.

Green Towson Alliance, a non-profit collaborative coalition of local Towson area environmental volunteers, works to make Towson neighborhoods healthy and green by planting trees, cleaning up streams, and removing vines that are strangling trees as it works towards its goal to encourage green open space in Towson’s communities.

After years of planning and of collaboration with community organizations and Baltimore County government, it looks like East Towson will become the home of a new neighborhood park.
Construction on Radebaugh Park in Towson expected to start in July

Author: Admin