On yesterday evening, I walked with residents of an east Baltimore neighborhood.  We wanted to see with our own eyes a new fence that had been erected to eliminate illegal dumping at night.  Later, the community matriarch and I gathered at her home to make calls to neighbors
- inviting them to participate in a scheduled neighborhood clean-up.  Upon completing the calls, I stopped on one of the neighboring streets.  I saw a resident that we had called earlier on her porch; I stopped to chat.  She and her family have lived in this community for over 50 years.  For just a moment, she and I dreamed of stabilizing a drug corner by purchasing and
establishing a community safety house in the midst of the thriving drug activity. The beginning of hope is the ability to imagine something different; we have that.

- Lottie Sneed, NE Baltimore

Photo credit: flickr/baltimike