know-your-neighbors-mac-nachlas

Mac Nachlas wants to give you an award. In fact, he wants to give an award to everyone who volunteers or helps the community. As (volunteer) Vice Chair of the State’s Commission for Service and Volunteerism, Mac works with AmeriCorps programs and helps spread the message of volunteerism through our state. He believes everyone who helps our community—teachers, Boy Scout leaders, public gardeners, volunteers of every stripe—deserves recognition, and is empowered by the Governor to issue citations and awards to provide it.*

Mac himself is a volunteer extraordinaire. He is an ex-officio director of the Mt. Washington Improvement Association, the current president of the Mt. Washington Swim Club, a former coach for Mount Washington soccer, and the voice of reason and civility on the listserve. The 1960s came to a close more than four decades ago, but the very best of that era—the optimism, sense of community, and belief in selfless activism—live on in Mac.

Mac (some people call him Maurice) is a Baltimore boy. His roots in Mt. Washington run deep—he attended nursery school on South Road. Raised in Forest Park and a graduate of Baltimore City College, Mac confesses to dating more then one Mt. Washington girl in his youth. In 1969, Mac and a friend from Mt. Washington (the late journalist Ralph Brave) headed to Yasgur’s farm for the Woodstock Music and Art Fair with the vague notion that they would “meet up” with his sister from Boston. To Mac’s great astonishment, and despite the crowd of half a million, they did.

One day after college Mac was walking near Liberty Reservoir when a hot air balloon drifted slowly overhead. ”I want to do that” he thought, and within a year he was working for the Balloon Works in Love Valley, North Carolina, then the largest hot air balloon factory in the country. Eventually, Mac became the factory manager, overseeing the work of about 100 hot air balloon enthusiasts.

While living in North Carolina, Mac lived in an old log cabin once owned by Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band, and was neighbors with Ellen O’Brien, who was building a house of her own. When Mac’s mother grew ill, he moved back to Baltimore and eventually convinced Ellen to join him here. Mac and Ellen were drawn to Mt. Washington, where a house could be purchased for a relatively low price, and an investment in sweat equity. They eventually settled on a home near Pill Hill and were married in their living room late that year.

While his term as MWIA president ended more than a year ago, Mac is still brimming with ideas on how to ignite a Mt. Washington renaissance and turn our neighborhood into the most desirable location in the city. He believes that the biggest issue facing the community is the future of the Pimlico Racetrack and wants to ensure that the community is actively involved—through MWIA—in the planning.

Mac also wants to see Northwest Park brought to life. The park was almost lost to the community six or seven years ago when the president of the University of Baltimore was considering ways to “monetize the land,” which could have included a 48-acre condominium development. Now, thanks to the efforts of the MWIA, the park is leased to the city. Mac envisions a “Friends of Northwest Park” organization to lobby for improvements and enlist volunteers to make improvements like baseball diamonds and a renovated Field House with basketball and volleyball courts.

Mac’s concerns even extend to future generations. Many of the neighborhood’s old oak, elm and walnut trees are reaching the end of their lives, only to be replaced by smaller, fast growing ornamentals. While these trees are lovely, they do not offer the kind of permanence and grandeur that the old trees provide. A planting initiative envisioned by Mac would ensure that the next generation, and the one after that, will benefit from the leafy and shade-drenched neighborhood that we now enjoy.

*If you know someone deserving of recognition for volunteer service, Mac can bereached at macnac@comcast.net. Anyone interested in joining the Mount Washington Improvement Association can visit www.mwia.org.