Gatehouse Community Resource Center

07/14/2024

Still time to donate! Due to a recent surge in donations we have decided to extend the Gatehouse Renovation fundraiser. Phase 1 renovations are complete and the building looks great! But we need $192,000 for Phase 2, which includes all the mechanicals - plumbing, electric, and HVAC - plus interior sheetrock and finishes. An outdoor deck will also be built to enable us to host social events to include larger groups. Please DONATE NOW! This project will make a big difference for our community - increasing safety, offering educational resources and programming, and enrich the history of this already historic area of Baltimore.

07/08/2024

We have extended our Gatehouse Community Resource Center fundraiser. We have raised $3,425 so far, but we need to get to $10,000. PLEASE DONATE TODAY! Go to our Fundly site and donate online

https://fundly.com/gatehouse-safety-campaign

or send a check to:

Forest Park Action Council, Inc.
5214 Windsor Mill Rd.
Baltimore, MD 21207
(make your check out to the Forest Park Action Council and write Gatehouse in the memo line)

The Forest Park Action Council (501(c)(3)) is renovating the Civil War era Gatehouse to create a center for COMMUNITY SAFETY, COMMUNITY ADVOCACY, and HIS...

07/05/2024

Gatehouse Update #4 – July 5 ,2024

Gatehouse security upgraded!
The renovation project is not just about taking back our corner; it’s protecting the Gatehouse itself.

Old window grates:
The old window grates were not just ugly, it turned out they were ineffective. See photo below.

New window grates:
The new window grates are are more effective and they fit in better with the hisotric motif of the building. See photo below.

Weaco Ornamental Iron (https://www.weacowelding.com/ ) fabricated and installed the new exterior iron work.
See a photo of the Weaco crew below.

The side windows in the vestibule were removed in favor of new ornamental grates that create a well ventilated and more secure space.

The old vestibule entry was difficult to maintain and not secure.

The new vestibule entry is open and airy space yet quite secure.
Welcome!

Many thanks to Ryan Parnell, Project Manager for TRA LLC, our contractor, who has a knack for developing creative solutions to difficult problems.

Fundraising continues!
Go to our online donation site slsewhere on this FB page OR Send us a check:
Forest Park Action Council, Inc.
5214 Windsor Mill Rd.
Baltimore, MD 21207
(write ‘Gatehouse” in the memo line)

07/05/2024

An urgent message from a community that needs your help!
"There is no doubt that overt drug markets destroy neighborhoods, contribute to crime, and have a
multitude of other negative effects on communities. 11
"Whoever controls a neighborhood's public spaces controls the quality of life in that neighborhood,
and that control must rest with the residents. 11
These quotes, from Ronald L. Davis, Director of Community Oriented Policing Services of the U.S,
Department of Justice and former Chief of Police of East Palo Alto, California, speak directly to the problem we
are experiencing in my neighborhood of Franklintown in west Baltimore. The crossroads of our community,
Windsor Mill Rd. and N. Forest Park Ave., is home to an open-air drug market that controls this public space
and is destroying our neighborhood. The corner has a history of shooting deaths and violent crime and is a place
that law abiding locals avoid.
Here are a few recent quotes from people who live and work close to the comer: "Forest Park is a real
problem these days." "These kids are running through our back yards and scaring our family members. We can't
even sit outside anymore." "The recent increase in criminal activity is deeply concerning and threatens to
undermine the stability of Windsor Fore st."
Working out of the Gatehouse, a small stone building directly across from the comer, in close
coordination with the Baltimore Police Department, Franklintown shut down the drug trade from 2002-2011.
Because of unhealthy conditions inside the Civil War era building we had to leave the Gatehouse in 2011.
Within a few years the drug trade was back. With it came 2 shooting deaths in 2015 and other violent crime.
The Forest Park Action Council (FPAC) was formed in 2016 to combat the open-air drug market. Our first
success was shutting down the gas station at the comer, which was complicit in the illegal drug trade.
FPAC is now the nonprofit in charge of the Gatehouse Renovation Project. I am the volunteer Project
Manager. Phase 1 of the renovations will be completed by the end of June. Phase 2, which includes all the
mechanical installations (plumbing, electrical, and HVAC) will cost at least $172,000. The total remaining cost
to completion and ribbon-cutting will be $192,000. Phase 2 will only take a couple of months, but we are out of
money.
I know re-opening the Gatehouse will enable us to shut down the open-air drug market at the comer
because we have done it before. FPAC, a group of stakeholder executives, is behind the project, as well as
many other local and state leaders. The situation at the comer is deteriorating. Right now we are still a "middle
community," critical to the future of Baltimore City. We are another gunfight or shooting death away from
becoming one more Baltimore neighborhood that needs to be saved.
With your help and the help of others in our city and state, we are stepping up to meet this challenge.
FPAC is renovating the Gatehouse. It will become the Gatehouse Community Resource Center, maintaining its
historic character outside, but inside, a modem office and meeting center with a robust computer network. It
will be more than a community safety center. It will offer educational resources and presentations, a co-working
space for FPAC and other nonprofits, and focus on the rich history of our community in west Baltimore, which
stretches back to the 1 8th century.
We need your help NOW to pull together the money to complete Phase 2 as soon as possible. The
enclosed flyer offers more information on the project and provides the information you need to donate. Your
generous donation will go directly to our capital needs to complete the Gatehouse renovations.
DONATE TODAY!
Go to our page - Gatehouse Community Resource Center - to read the Gatehouse Story, see Updates on renovations, and more.

DONATE TODAY!

The Forest Park Action Council (501(c)(3)) is renovating the Civil War era Gatehouse to create a center for COMMUNITY SAFETY, COMMUNITY ADVOCACY, and HIS...

06/26/2024

Gatehouse Update #3 – June 23 ,2024
Phase 1 is nearing completion

Stairway: A new, widened stairway, to adhere to modern building codes has been installed.

ADA restroom: The floor and wastepipe are prepared to accommodate the new ADA restroom.

The exterior of the Civil War era building is being painted according to the historically appropriate color pallete developed by Matthew Mosca, Historic Pain Finishes Consultant and historic preservation specialist.

Workforce development: Our contractor, TRA Construction, is training young employees to enter the workforce as skilled construction workers.

06/26/2024

Gatehouse Update #2 – June 16 ,2024

Phase 1 Progress is advancing quickly.

Windows: We have new windows! Custom made double-pane wood windows have been installed. These windows conform with Maryland Historical Trust guidelines that the windows look similar from the exterior to the old windows that needed to be removed due to deterioration.

Exterior siding on the addition: An addition was added to the Gatehouse - date unknown. At some point asbestos shingles were installed on the 2nd level of the addition. The asbestos shingles had to be removed because they were deteriorated and broken, posing a health risk to the window installers. A delightful discovery was made when the old shingles were removed. The original siding on the addition (the addition itself was added after the original Gatehouse was built) is a Dutch Lap siding.

Next steps to complete Phase 1:
• New floors and stairway: As work progressed it became clear that keeping the original southern pine flooring on the main level was not feasible. The floor was too damaged and included several poorly done repairs. The floor in the old main level bathroom, which will become the administrative office for the Gatehouse Community Resource Center, was rotted out and unsafe. The main level floor and newly widened stairway will be red oak, clear-coated with a water-based finish.
• Exterior painting: The exterior of the Gatehouse will be painted using a historic paint palette developed by nationally renowned Paint Analyst and Historic Restoration Specialist, Matthew Mosca.
• Exterior chimney repairs: To conform with Maryland Historical Trust conditions for renovating the Gatehouse the exterior chimney, no longer in use, must remain a fixture of the building. The chimney will be repointed and closed off.
• Exterior masonry: The rusticated concrete lock base of the Gatehouse addition will be repaired, repointed, and repainted following the same historic color palette developed by Matthew Mosca.
• Lower-level exterior door: The existing lower-level exterior door will be removed and the opening widened to accommodate an ADA compliant door.

06/26/2024

Gatehouse Update #1 – June 2024

Phase 1 Interior renovations move ahead! The interior chimney and hearth were damaged during the demolition to remove lead paint, asbestos, and mold. They have been removed to accommodate a widened stairway and the ADA restroom. Framing for the ADA restroom has been erected. Studwork has been installed to accommodate electrical and computer wiring, and improved insulation.
Computer Network & Security
Shortly after Phase 1 is completed, computer networking specialists will enter the Gatehouse to wire the building and install a robust and secure computer network. Thanks to FPAC Board member Rick Briemann of Atlantic Realty, FPAC has been able to receive consultation, design, and installation services of computer cable and networking equipment from two local leaders in the field, Advanced Telecom of Emmitsburg, Maryland and DP Solutions of Columbia Maryland. FPAC was able to purchase the equipment to create this state of the art and network thanks to a grant from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. Advanced Telecom and DP Solutions will manage the installation free of charge.
As part of the same grant from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, FPAC was also able to purchase a security system for the Gatehouse from ARM Security of Reisterstown, Maryland. The burglar and smoke alarm components of the system have already been installed. When Phase 1 is complete the remainder of the system will be installed. These will include window sensors, door access control via video doorbell, and exterior alarm and surveillance of the Gatehouse.
Phase 2 – the final push to completion!
At this time, mid-June, we do not have funding for Phase 2. Until we get that funding, or at least a significant amount of it, the project will be suspended. We have a Phase 2 locked-in price with our contractor of $171,196 until July 15. Additional costs of approximately $10,500 for Construction Administration and furnishings adds up to a Phase 2 cost of $182,000.
However, if we are not able to sign a contract with our contractor by July 15, the cost of the project will increase. When we include re-mobilization costs, we anticipate the final cost could rise to $191,000 within a few months.
We are in an intense period of seeking funding to enable us to sign a contract by July 15.

06/05/2024

The Gatehouse Story #3 – The Forest Park Action Council is formed.

Following the closure of the Gatehouse the open-air drug trade moved back in at the corner. In 2012 there was a homicide at the corner and in 2015 there were 2 homicides at the corner.
In 2015 a group of neighbors stepped forward to take back the corner. Led by Peter Auchincloss of Dickeyville, and composed of local community associations, our local public school, churches, apartment complex owners, and small businesses, we organized the Forest Park Action Council (FPAC) and incorporated in 2016. With new eyes on the corner it soon became clear that the drug trade was operating out of the corner gas station. FPAC’s first success was having the station closed by Baltimore City using its nuisance business law.

A new, fully vetted franchisee re-opened the gas station with increased police surveillance and support of the new gas station manager, the open-air drug trade was gone for a while. Unfortunately, it did not last. Slowly the drug trade has crept back into the corner and once again seems to be part of the landscape. Thankfully, there has been no overt violence associated with the new drug dealers. That does not mean, however, that all things are good at the corner. Having young people approach your vehicle and try to sell you drugs as you are pumping gas is a major problem for lawful customers who are just trying to do their business and be on their way. It means the corner has once again become the turf of drug dealers and ne’er do wells. The open-air drug market drags down the community’s reputation and impacts the value of our homes and properties. It poses a threat to families and their children, who must pass the corner every day on their way to school.
We are grateful for City police who regularly patrol the corner and average 3-5 narcotic arrests a week there. The problem is the drug trade is always able to recruit new dealers, vulnerable young men who are looking for a way to make money.

The locked down gas station thanks to the Forest Park Action Council's work to get Baltimore City to close a "nuisance business," one that was colluding in the ilegal drug trade.

06/05/2024

The Gatehouse Story #2 - Transition to Community Safety Center
In 2001, in a tragic act of drug-related gang violence, a local church member was shot and killed by a stray bullet after leaving his church service. The crime remains unsolved.
The Franklintown community quickly joined forces with Kernan Hospital and the Baltimore City Police to respond to the tragedy. Jim Ross, Kernan CEO, stepped up and said, “You want to use the Gatehouse? Here’s the keys!” By 2002 the Gatehouse had been re-named the Kernan Police Substation, staffed by Franklintown’s Citizens on Patrol. The Gatehouse is right across the street from where open-air drug market operates. The building was fitted out with a computer connected to remote cameras that monitored the goings-on at the corner. The city police had unlimited access to the building and would use it to surveil the corner, review video, and write reports. It was a comfortable, prime location to keep an eye on things.

One morning in 2011, I got a call from the hospital’s Facilities Director that the community needed to vacate the property immediately due to the presence of mold, lead paint, and asbestos. That afternoon, the Kernan Police Substation was closed. There is one takeaway from that joint community, hospital, police effort – during the 9 years the Gatehouse was in operation as the Kernan Police Substation there were no homicides at the corner and the level of illegal activity was significantly reduced.

Kernan Police Substation Grand Opening 2002

06/05/2024

The damaged asbestos shingles had to be removed so that new windows could be installed. Look what was discovered beneath them. Dutch lap siding! While the addition to the Gatehouse is not original, the Dutch lap siding was the original material used on the 2nd story of the addition. We are rehabbing that and painting it according to the the historic paint palette developed by Historic Paint Analyst Matthew Mosca.

05/03/2024

The Gatehouse Story #1 - The Beginning
The Gatehouse was built from 1860-67 on the grounds of the Radnor Park Estate on the western edge of Baltimore City. It was purchased in 1910 by James Lawrence Kernan, a theater impresario, who had been asked to provide a piano for the Hospital for Crippled and Deformed Children, then located at 2000 North Charles Street in Baltimore. When Kernan visited the location to donate the piano he is reported to have said “You don’t need a piano…you need a hospital!” Kernan deeded the Radnor Park property to the hospital and in 1911 the mansion had been converted into a working hospital and renamed The James Lawernce Kernan Hospital and Industrial School of Maryland for Crippled Children.
The Gatehouse is a small stone building with brick accents, typical of Victorian gatehouses of the time. Like the entire 88-acre Kernan Hospital property, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. It sits adjacent to Windsor Mill Road, on the southeast corner of the campus. It housed hospital employees until the 1990’s.