A city inspector said Cafe Hon must get a "minor privilege permit" for this pink flamingo, a fixture in Hampden since it was put up about seven years ago, or take it down; the cafe's owner, Denise Whiting, calls it public art. (Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum / October 12, 2009) |
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A Hampden restaurant owner's decision to disassemble an oversized flamingo rather than pay a newly imposed annual tax is being lamented by many in the business district where the big bird hung overhead for seven years.
But others call the controversy a silly distraction.
Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting, working with the artist who constructed the bird from bedsheets and wire, removed the flamingo from her fire escape before dawn Tuesday, several weeks after the city Department of General Services assessed her $800 in annual charges.
Officials ordered Whiting to pay for a "minor privilege" permit, most commonly used by businesses whose tables and benches encroach on sidewalks. Whiting challenged the tax at first, saying the bird was artwork. But then she abruptly gave up the fight.
"The bird has gone into hibernation," she said Tuesday, as several bird-leg sections awaited disposal on the 36th Street sidewalk. She declined to say where the rest of the sculpture was. She also distributed handbills saying "City of Baltimore says pay tax or get axe."
The flamingo's picture has appeared in local advertising materials about the neighborhood, which has attracted many new boutiques, artist galleries, small cafes and retail business owners in the past 15 years.
It also became a background piece for the annual HonFest, an outdoor event that closes streets while thousands of visitors fill the neighborhood.
Carmen Brock, owner of the Red Tree home accessories shop, said she regretted the bird's disappearance.
"It was a great promotional symbol," she said. "It was fun, easygoing, witty and clever."
Cynthia Shea, who runs the Soup's On cafe, also on 36th Street, said she and her adjoining business owners were in a "flamingo frenzy" because of the loss.
"The city of Baltimore makes it hard to be a small business owner in so many ways," she said. "Baltimore struggles as a metropolitan city for a lot of small reasons, and this is one of them. Does the city just want big stores and big businesses?"
But David Wells, owner of the Wine Source, an Elm Avenue retail liquor business, called the flap "much ado about nothing."
"Were it me, I'd pay the fine and move on. You pay your taxes and run your business," he said. "We have bigger fish to fry in Baltimore City."
Charles "Chick" Nott stood outside a local pub, Frazier's on the Avenue, and offered little sympathy for the bird's flight and the restaurant's owner.
"She's no different than anybody else," Nott, who lives on 33rd Street, said. "She got away with it for all those years. She tries to control everything."
Nott denied that the bird is a symbol of Hampden.
Whiting's cafe "caters to Roland Park, Towson, Charles Village and Ruxton," he said. "To me, Cafe Hon is more not for Hampden."
Whiting said she was aware that not everyone feels the same way she does about the need to promote the working-class but fast-gentrifying enclave.
"It's individuals like myself who create these images that make Baltimore not like anywhere else in the USA," she said. "I am political in a way. I am trying to celebrate Baltimore's uniqueness, and there are always going to be people who won't like this."
Dan Harvey, an attorney who practices in the neighborhood, said he thought the $800 annual charge "seemed high."
"The flamingo was quirky like the neighborhood is quirky," he said. "People do things to draw attention to themselves here in a nice way."
But others call the controversy a silly distraction.
Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting, working with the artist who constructed the bird from bedsheets and wire, removed the flamingo from her fire escape before dawn Tuesday, several weeks after the city Department of General Services assessed her $800 in annual charges.
Officials ordered Whiting to pay for a "minor privilege" permit, most commonly used by businesses whose tables and benches encroach on sidewalks. Whiting challenged the tax at first, saying the bird was artwork. But then she abruptly gave up the fight.
"The bird has gone into hibernation," she said Tuesday, as several bird-leg sections awaited disposal on the 36th Street sidewalk. She declined to say where the rest of the sculpture was. She also distributed handbills saying "City of Baltimore says pay tax or get axe."
The flamingo's picture has appeared in local advertising materials about the neighborhood, which has attracted many new boutiques, artist galleries, small cafes and retail business owners in the past 15 years.
It also became a background piece for the annual HonFest, an outdoor event that closes streets while thousands of visitors fill the neighborhood.
Carmen Brock, owner of the Red Tree home accessories shop, said she regretted the bird's disappearance.
"It was a great promotional symbol," she said. "It was fun, easygoing, witty and clever."
Cynthia Shea, who runs the Soup's On cafe, also on 36th Street, said she and her adjoining business owners were in a "flamingo frenzy" because of the loss.
"The city of Baltimore makes it hard to be a small business owner in so many ways," she said. "Baltimore struggles as a metropolitan city for a lot of small reasons, and this is one of them. Does the city just want big stores and big businesses?"
But David Wells, owner of the Wine Source, an Elm Avenue retail liquor business, called the flap "much ado about nothing."
"Were it me, I'd pay the fine and move on. You pay your taxes and run your business," he said. "We have bigger fish to fry in Baltimore City."
Charles "Chick" Nott stood outside a local pub, Frazier's on the Avenue, and offered little sympathy for the bird's flight and the restaurant's owner.
"She's no different than anybody else," Nott, who lives on 33rd Street, said. "She got away with it for all those years. She tries to control everything."
Nott denied that the bird is a symbol of Hampden.
Whiting's cafe "caters to Roland Park, Towson, Charles Village and Ruxton," he said. "To me, Cafe Hon is more not for Hampden."
Whiting said she was aware that not everyone feels the same way she does about the need to promote the working-class but fast-gentrifying enclave.
"It's individuals like myself who create these images that make Baltimore not like anywhere else in the USA," she said. "I am political in a way. I am trying to celebrate Baltimore's uniqueness, and there are always going to be people who won't like this."
Dan Harvey, an attorney who practices in the neighborhood, said he thought the $800 annual charge "seemed high."
"The flamingo was quirky like the neighborhood is quirky," he said. "People do things to draw attention to themselves here in a nice way."
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I really have to stop reading this. It blows my mind that anyone who has migrated to Hampden has the nerve to trash talk it. Why are you here then? Get out!! Leave!! If I was house shopping and I drove through a neighborhood that I thought was so bad I would keep driving. I would not decide to move in and talk bad about the place. Put your house on the market and move the heck out!!! Oh that is right you will never get back the money you put out to buy your house. I guess that inbreed Hampden person who sold it to you was a lot smarter than you think.
IluvHampden77 (10/30/2009, 12:00 PM )