Departing on Sunday from what neighbors say has been a troublesome, years-long tradition, tailgating Baltimore Ravens fans did not trespass and trample on the sidewalks and grass of Solo Gibbs Park before the home game against the Cardinals at M&T Bank Stadium.

Contained inside a fence composed of bike racks, they launched their customary eating and drinking blitz but left behind less discarded food and beer cans than anytime in the memory of the Sharp-Leadenhall community, which is located just east of the stadium.

While a big step forward from the last Ravens home game on Oct. 16 – documented here and here – things weren’t perfect.

Beer bottles and uneaten food were found on a brick wall used by tailgaters, which then spilled and blew into Solo Gibbs Park. A pile of spent charcoal was unceremoniously dumped next to the community’s baseball field.

“Better, but improvements are still needed,” was the assessment of Betty Bland-Thomas, president of the Sharp-Leadenhall Planning Council.

Bland-Thomas accompanied The Brew on a tour of the tailgating area yesterday. She pointed out that residents have made cleanliness a top priority and raised $12,000 among themselves to fund a “Clean Team” sanitary crew.

The two-person crew works three hours a day picking up trash in the neighborhood and Solo Gibbs Park. “Containing stadium litter becomes an important quality-of-life issue for us,” she said.

Keeping Fans In Bounds

Pre-game tailgater parties are sanctioned and supervised by the Maryland Stadium Authority. Vernon J. Conaway Jr., the authority’s new director of security and public safety, said today he was pleased overall with the results of the clean-up of Sunday’s game.

“We are committed to keeping our people on our side [of the fence] and committed to being a good neighbor,” he said.

The authority’s biggest success on Sunday was using a row of bike racks to keep tailgaters from usurping park property and the Gwynns Falls Bike Trail.

Previously, a plastic snow fence separated the crowd from the park. Invariably, the fence would be trampled underfoot by tailgaters who, disregarding posted signs to the contrary, set up their tables and grills beside the park.

Conaway said he’d like to see some improvements in the future. He said some private vendors, who operate pre-game along Sharp Street, dump their trash into stadium containers, which leads to overflowing trash that can get blown or kicked into the park.

“We want them to collect their trash and  carry it out when they vacant.” He said that problem will be addressed during the next home game.

The stadium authority also wants to better coordinate trash collection with tailgaters who use the grounds of the Sharp-Leadenhall Elementary School to eat and party.

More trash cans are needed on the school lot, said Justin S. Rogers, parking manager for the Camden Yards Sports Complex. “We’d like to reach out to the school and share with them best practices,” he said.