Fiscal Year Annual Report Welcome
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2012 FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT WELCOME Waterfront Partnership invites you to dive into our 2012 Annual Report. We’ve made a big “splash” this year and we are proud to share all of the many ways we’ve improved the Waterfront. Please take some time to review our 2012 accomplishments. WATERFRONT 1 ABOUT THE WATERFRONT PARTNERSHIP OF BALTIMORE Waterfront Partnership is Baltimore Waterfront’s chief advocate, promoter and steward. We are dedicated to creating visitor experiences that are always enjoyable, often entertaining, frequently educational, and forever exceeding expectations. ABOUT 2 KEEPING WATERFRONT GUESTS SAFE & INFORMED Waterfront Partnership’s Hospitality and Safety your photo to the Waterfront Partnership photo Team creates a safe and friendly atmosphere gallery – a new website feature this year. for visitors along the Waterfront. The Waterfront Guides keep visitors, residents, employees, and Safety comes first. This year, the Safety Guides businesses safe and well informed. The Guides provided 2,088 safety escorts for visitors, area also enforce the Baltimore City Park Rules to employees, and residents to ensure they reached keep the area safe and orderly for all to enjoy. their destinations safely. They also served as a watchful eye by spending 3,635 hours patrolling This year, the Hospitality Guides provided the district with Guides on Segways. assistance for 65,687 guests seeking information on everything from walking directions to the best The Safety and Hospitality Team played a place to get steamed crabs. major role in this year’s Star-Spangled Sailabration. The Waterfront welcomed close “One, two, three, smile!” This year, our Guides to one million visitors from June 13-19, 2012. snapped 7,241 Waterfront photos for visitors from The Hospitality Guides assisted 9,450 people around the world. Looking to share your great from around the world and took 1,531 photos photo? Visit waterfrontpartnership.org to upload for visitors during Sailabration alone. “The attitudes of the guides, clean team, and the police officers all contributed to a safe, secure environment. The appearance of Harbor East and the Inner Harbor is well kept and up to date. It is one of my favorite places to visit in the city.” – Secret Shopper Testimonial 3 MAKING SURE THE WATERFRONT IS SPARKLING CLEAN The Clean Team sweats the details daily to keep “The Harbor East promenade was very clean the Waterfront beautiful and trash-free. This year, and spacious. The Katyn Memorial fountain our Clean Team members collected 504,503 was beautiful.” – Secret Shopper Testimonial pounds of trash, dedicated 1,110 hours to power washing, and 1,197 hours to litter vacuuming. “The promenade was beautifully landscaped. The sidewalks and roadways were Our team did an amazing job keeping the immaculately clean. I saw no panhandlers Waterfront clean during Sailabration collecting or homeless people during my visit and the over 46,925 pounds of trash and dedicated 38.5 benches were all in good repair.” hours of power washing – Secret Shopper Testimonial CLEAN 4 ENSURING THE WATERFRONT IS LUSH & COLORFUL The Green Team strives to keep over 30 individual gardens, parks, and green spaces lining the Waterfront weed-free, green and colorful. This year, the Green Team installed over 350 yards of mulch, planted 15 new trees from Harbor East to the Inner Harbor, transformed an unattractive area in Harbor East into a beautiful garden full of perennials, and planted 12,100 flowers over the course of the year. “The landscaped area at Harbor East was in pristine condition. Even the northern In addition to the beautiful landscaping, the Green side of the Harbor East territory was Team relocated 30 granite slabs from Fells Point to trash free. The Inner Harbor area was West Shore Park to provide unique seating areas free and clear of trash from the Aquarium and installed 13 new table, chair and umbrella sets to the Science Center. Plants and to add some much need shade at West Shore Park. grass were healthy, green and colorful.” To prepare the Harbor for the Star-Spangled – Secret Shopper Testimonial Sailabration, the Green Team lined the Waterfront promenade with over 150, 15 star historic American flags. GREEN 5 CREATING A HEALTHY HARBOR After two years of work by University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Center for Watershed Protection and Biohabitats, in December 2011, we released the Healthy Harbor Plan to clean our Harbor water. The Plan details the actions that need to be taken by City and County governments, nonprofit organizations, businesses, private companies, and individuals in order to reach our goal of a swimmable and fishable Baltimore Harbor by 2020. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was on hand, along with students from the Living Classrooms Waterfront Partnership immediately got to work Foundation who spoke about the importance of building momentum for creation of a Healthy cleaning our water and displayed school projects Harbor. Partnering with Blue Water Baltimore and that would help clean Baltimore’s water. The local elected officials we supported the successful plan release was accompanied by the launch of passage of House Bill 987, requiring Maryland’s nine a robust new website (HealthyHarborBaltimore. largest counties and Baltimore City to levy fees to org) and a ‘State of the Harbor’ baseline report fund projects that will clean up urban streams and establishing the current health of the Harbor. repair storm drain pipes. In April, with funding from the Abell Foundation and the help of volunteers from Living Classrooms and T. Rowe Price, we significantly expanded our Inner Harbor floating wetlands. The resulting 2,000 square feet of floating islands are the largest such installation in the State. 2020 6 CREATING A HEALTHY HARBOR Waterfront Partnership received great feedback from the families who attended Healthy Harbor Lab Days. During summer 2012 we provided a host of well attended free, family-friendly outdoor and “I loved looking at critters in-lab Healthy Harbor educational sessions in under a microscope and seeing partnership with Towson University’s SciTech Lab the really cool park!” and the University of Maryland. Also, our team of Healthy Harbor Educators worked in our Healthy “Loved the combination of classroom Harbor tent at the water’s edge to show people all the marine life in the Baltimore Harbor. We and experiential learning” also hosted our first Healthy Harbor Lab Days, during which families became scientists for a day “Wonderful job by all! The positive attitude and learned about the Healthy Harbor initiative about fixing the Harbor is inspiring.” while conducting fun and unique water quality experiments at the Columbus Center. “It was very fun to learn about a place I see every day and learn about the life that lives in the Harbor.” 7 A SMARTER WAY TO GET THERE With gas prices on the rise, more and more Our monthly Walk Your Way to Health grew by people are looking to use alternative transportation leaps and bounds this past year – with upwards of to and from the Harbor. “A smarter way to get 400 employees participating over the year. New this there” promotes alternative transportation and year, employees received a digital pedometer so helps educate Waterfront visitors, residents, and that they could track their steps on a daily basis. employees. Waterfront Partnership continued to support This past year, Waterfront Partnership hosted employers by meeting individually with each of two transportation fairs attended by over 500 the large Waterfront employers, hosting a Vanpool area employees. informational session, and creating and distributing “a smarter way to get there” folders for new hires We also partnered with Bike Baltimore for the in the Waterfront area. Annual Bike to Work Day by hosting a pit stop in Harbor East with an informational table full of bike maps, bike safety tips, and bicycle tune-ups by Joe’s Bike Shop. 8 ACTIVATING WATERFRONT PARKS Waterfront Partnership is proud to have created a West Shore Park, the ‘great lawn’ at the Inner Harbor, new, 1 acre family oriented Park on Pier 5 where a has been bustling with new activity this past year. weed filled lot once stood. Working closely with the Flanigan Family and Downtown Baltimore Family Waterfront Partnership added more family-friendly Alliance we have added a free, family friendly amenities at West Shore Park. Thirteen new sets attraction for local families and visitors to the Harbor. of tables and chairs with umbrellas were installed tripling the amount of seating and providing much On May 6th, hundreds of families joined the Mayor needed shade. Waterfront Partnership also relocated Rawlings-Blake, the Flanigan Family, Downtown 30 granite slabs, once part of the foundation for the Baltimore Family Alliance, and Waterfront Terminal Warehouse in Fells Point, to West Shore Partnership for the much anticipated ribbon cutting Park, which provide unique opportunities for climbing ceremony to officially open Pierce’s Park. or sitting. Featuring original sculptures designed for the Park, The Walter Sondheim Fountain continues to attract a musical fence, living Willow Tunnel and native hundreds of families each week during the spring plants, since its opening, thousands of children and summer months. Children love running and have played inside the large horn sculpture, run splashing through the Fountain and it is a great way through the living willow tunnel, and composed their to beat the summer heat. We are proud to service own musical pieces on the musical fence. and clean the Fountain on weekends when the City is stretched with pool maintenance needs. Pierce’s Park has become a new favorite meeting place for local families, and has already proven to be a great new and very unique attraction on the Waterfront. PARKS 9 ATTRACTING MORE LOCAL FAMILIES THROUGH INCREASED WATERFRONT PROGRAMMING Providing free family fun at the Waterfront.