In Decline? Colgate Lives!

I came across a report a county official had written about Colgate and it made me angry. It stated that "Colgate is a community in decline" and gave it little chance of improvement.

Well, I needed a little more than that to convince me of this report's validity.

My wife and I started attending our Community Association meetings and found lots of folks who share my optimism. Let me tell you, Colgate is very much alive and making progress every day. The Community Association website – www.mycolgate.org –  just hit 12,980 tracked visits from the Baltimore County area. The CIA (Colgate Improvement Association) is in the final stages of submitting its non-profit package and has joined the Community Law Center for legal protection if required.

In early 2011, CIA launched its own automatic dialing system to inform registered residents about upcoming events or community emergencies. You can find CIA on Facebook and Twitter, and we have the ability to send mass e-mail’s to the world at the press of a button.

CIA encourages Baltimore County businesses to get involved in the “Membership Has its Privileges” program. Businesses offer goods or discounts to members who show a valid CIA membership card. CIA will list the business on our website and place them in our newsletter. Best of all, it's FREE.

CIA adopted a family during the Christmas holidays. A 24-year-old mom, a local renter, was suffering from a very serious form of cancer, just had surgery, and needed a little help to pay the bills and still have Christmas for the children. Well, CIA reached out to help the family by using resources from local businesses and enlisting the help of  Sen. Norman Stone's office.

We were able to help pay the BG&E bill, provide funds to help out while mom recovered from surgery, and the community donated lots of clothing and toys. As a result these children had a real family Christmas instead of childhood memories filled with suffering.

CIA also helped out with “Bridges of Hope” homeless shelter by donating a computer, Internet and telephone service. While CIA has limited funding, it helped anyway. 

CIA will not discourage renters. Renters are just as productive as home owners so we encourage involvement. Recently, CIA requested the power of the County Executive's office to attack a slum lord with multiple houses in our community. The resident complained to CIA about no heat and exposed wiring while children tend to explore. 

A complaint was made to us and CIA took the matter to the County Executive...County Inspectors were at the door the next day!

Colgate is one of several communities selected for the Rat Eradication program last year. We had excellent results from the program and we are “only now” starting to see them in strength again. Thanks to Councilman John Olszewski Sr. we’re getting another eradication program in this year to possibly begin in late August, according to a Baltimore County source. This is subject to change at any time.

Colgate has had its share of routine issues. We are fighting against illegal landlords, drug dealers, flop houses and gangs, but we've stepped up our Code Enforcement reporting.  When a resident won’t follow the rules, we report them.

CIA offers cash rewards for information on drug dealing, property damage, dumping, vandals or graffiti. If your information leads to an arrest and prosecution, CIA will pay an incentive. Drug dealers are falling like dominoes in Colgate due to all the eyes and ears in  this community. 

Thanks to the intense efforts of the BCPD 12th Precinct, we always have excitement around here. Our police involvement is outstanding and we know if we give them information, "it's getting checked out." Our local Community on Patrol is flawless, makes regular rounds and serves its community well.

CIA will be working to ensure its residents are registered to vote, and provide transportation to the polls. While we will not support any political candidate as an Association, we recognize the need to encourage voter participation from Colgate based on poll turnout. We will assist  in the registration process regardless of political affiliation.

Finally this: We work hard to get rid of rotten fruit. We help catch drug dealers and report residents who refuse to store trash properly or cut the grass. It's true, we are snitches, if that's what it takes..  We care for our Community, we work hard for what we have, and we are by no means, "in decline."