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The story of Bolton Hill OnLine begins in 1998 with two neighbors of
"vision", involves a complete "crash" of the first effort, expands to a revival by a small but committed group, and hasn't quite ended yet!
The simple concept for a neighborhood website began with Doreen Rosenthal (past president, MRIA) and Kevin McAnally, current Bulletin editor. Doreen, as usual, was a neverending source of ideas...but it was Kevin who made the first site work.
Others were involved: Nancie Verkerke, to coordinate with the
Bulletin and Robert Ford and Allison Barkley, as co-chairs of communications committee. This first site was a very important step. Although the site was a bit sparse on content, its Bulletin Board demonstrated the value of a neighborhood
"cyber-center" and it provided the last link in what we hoped would be an integrated communications system. As important, it
became part of the answer to the challenge, how do we reach non-members of
MRIA.
Then came the crash when the web server that hosted the first site disappeared. The site was gone, disappeared, absent & no more. Folks who were using the site (for its bulletin board, trash schedules, city service phone numbers) found a useful resource gone. As past president (and neighborhood safety-maven) Doreen was the recipient of the recurring question, "where did our web site go?" The answer was "it's history." And the next question was, how could we dump the responsibility of redeveloping the site on Kevin's shoulders again? Our thoughts led us to one conclusion - Kevin is too smart to be hoodwinked. Enter Dolph Druckman, M.D.
Ms. Rosenthal had successfully roped Dolph into providing a website (pro bono) in 1999 for her favorite (but loosing) candidate for Mayor of Baltimore, Carl Stokes. (Note: Carl, during his tenure in city council - had been an excellent and most responsive representative for Bolton Hill). So, Dolph Druckman, roped in yet again, became the current BoltonHill OnLine Webmaster.
Dolph agreed to do a simple task - a short re-organization of the prior web's content, and soon discovered that a successful effort had to include lots of talent. Kevin had already advertised for volunteers, so we were ready to roll. Doreen was thus our new web-taskmaster and Dolph, our web-doctor.
During the winter of 1999, the new web site appeared. In spite of organizing the old content into four logical sections, there was a problem - the pages were flat without
a single graphic or picture. Dolph just happened to have a first generation digital camera (low resolution, point and click, etc.), but it was winter, no greenery, flowers shrubs - just buildings and gray skies. How to find an interesting and distinctive photo subject in mid-winter? Dolph solved the problem in 30 minutes of clicking away at people's front doors, with another 20 min to "post", and then only another 2 seconds for Doreen to say "why can't we have doorbells?!!". Once she had doorbells, was she happy? No, "why don't the doors open when the bells ring?" And so, the second look and feel of Bolton Hill Online was born - doors that open with ringing bells.
Once up and functioning, any number of residents took delight in tormenting their dogs or housemates with the chimes. We've kept this page in our "archives" just for their
sport (visit them here).
January, 2000 saw the formation of a "web team" of about 10-15 members on any given day - people who were committed to improving the site. There was lots to do and ideas flowed - largely collecting and checking neighborhood information, and also creating a message board, a volunteers board, an apartment rentals board, a kids page, etc, etc.. Most of the ideas are either on the site now or being tested.
Enter Rachel Schreiber, Katie Parker, and Mike Northrup (all MICA folks, past or present) for a total makeover - a new look and feel. Rachel proposed the mix of color and architectural elements that you now see and
Mike shot the key icons. We hope you enjoy this new look as
much as we enjoyed creating it.
Overall our guiding principles have been:
Keep it functional. If it doesn't provide a useful function, forget it. Keep it easy, direct, and low-maintenance.
Keep it informative.
Our limitations have been: no money, no money, and no money - the usual issues.
Keeping BoltonHill Online current and interesting is our ongoing challenge. With your comments and input, we can do
it.
Sincerely,
Your Web Team
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Dani
Dennis:
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Co-editor,
content
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Dolph Druckman:
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Webmaster,
site
architecture, phase I design content, photos.
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Kathe Fox:
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Content:
neighborhood amenities
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Mike Gray:
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Links,
writing
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Bill Hylton:
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Content:
neighborhood businesses
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Dianne Mekelburg:
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Content:
schools, eateries & elected officials
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Mike Northrup:
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Homepage
images of Bolton Hill architectural details
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Katie Parker:
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Phase
II graphic design
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Doreen Rosenthal:
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Project
Task-master, Editor:
writing: safety, MRIA, Communications, Overviews;
editing content.
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Rachel Schreiber:
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Phase
II graphic design
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Donna Beth Joy Shapiro:
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PR
& launch activities , historic images
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Fred
Shoken:
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Research and writing: history , historic
images
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Nancie
Verkerke:
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Home Improvement Resources
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