Mar 11 2008
Fells Point Community Begins to Mobilize Against Red Line
Fells Point community organizations are beginning to take a stand against the proposed Red Line Project, a 12 mile, east-west transit corridor connecting the areas of Woodlawn, Edmondson Village, West Baltimore, downtown Baltimore, Inner Harbor East, Fells Point, Canton and the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Campus.? ? The main issues revolve around the proposal to change the quaint Fleet and Aliceanna Streets into one way thoroughfares, eliminating parking, and adding the? surface transit line.? Fells Point residents also complain that there doesn’t even appear to be a stop planned for their neighborhood, with the closest stops being proposed at Central and Fleet (in the Harbor East neighborhood) and the Can Company Complex in Canton.? “The state and city are just planning to railroad? this thing through the middle of Fells Point”? asserted one Fells Point resident.? ? The proposed stops appear to focus on more? high-density areas such as Harbor East and Canton Crossing.? “We don’t want another Howard Street disaster” mentioned another, referring to the existing light rail line that runs north-south through the city down the Howard Street Corridor.? ? Proposals to run the Red Line underground through Fells Point and daylighting when it gets to Boston Street also concern residents who feel that it’s not realistic to dig a tunnel adjacent to buildings that are over 100 years old.?
In lieu of the proposed Red Line project, the Fells Point community appears to favor the alternate “Green Line Expansion” which would essentially extend the existing Metro Subway.? The Metro would continue past the current end-of-line at Hopkins Hospital, daylighting just east of the hospital.? ? The Green Line would then extend to the Hopkins Bayview Campus and the Canton Crossing project using many existing railroad rights-of-way.? An extension of the Metro on the West Side of the city would reach Woodlawn and West? Baltimore.? Fells Point residents also favored a more traditional “trolley” type system to cover the Harbor East and Fells Point areas to ease congestion there.? The trolleys would run with the normal pace of traffic.? The community believes that this would achieve the same goal as the Red Line but alleviate some of the problems associated with building mass transit through a historic neighborhood.? The community argues that the Green Line could foster growth in East Baltimore, a community in much more need of development than Fells Point.?
This is not the first time that the Fells Point community has opposed a major transportation project.? In the late 1960’s a proposal to build I-95 through the neighborhood was successfully thwarted.? One of the leaders of the I-95? revolt was Barbara Mikulski, who would go on to become a Senator from Maryland.
For those who wish to share their opinion with the government, there will be a community meeting on May 10th, 2008? from 9am to 1pm at the Baltimore Convention Center.?
To learn more about the Red Line, visit http://www.baltimoreredline.com/
jeffcantonite@yahoo.com
5 Comments to “Fells Point Community Begins to Mobilize Against Red Line”
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The Transit Riders Action Council of Metropolitan Baltimore (TRAC), a transit riders advocacy group, has very similar views and positions on this and its impact on SE Baltimore. For those who are not aware, check out http://www.getontrac.org for other unstudied alternatives employing Metro (heavy rail). There are also serious issues of process that the state has not followed for this project, namely not studying all reasonable alternatives. Pleae feel free to contact us.
Nate
I’m quite passionate about the red line as I feel like it would change my way of life for the better. The red line will have 2 stops in the fells point, one around broadway and one around chester or patterson park depending on which alignment is chosen (boston or eastern).
This town has always has a strong adversion to transit and NIMBYism’s have hurt the MTA more then anything over history.
BTW, I live in Fells Point and I think this will change the area for the better by alieviating parking over the long run and by bringing more of the city into our area to boost businesses.
Here’s another alternative for the Red Line:
http://baltimoreinnerspace.blogspot.com/2008/03/red-line-solution-at-last-ive-finally.html
As a city, we need to find ways to expand mass transit not fight it. I have travelled to major cities all around the world. In the long run, the Red Line and the rest of the mass transit plan is great for the city! The sooner the city moves forward on these project the better. They will improve our quality of life in the city.
A surface line through established, dense urban areas on streets with narrow rights of ways, i.e. fells point would be an absolute disaster. I agree 100% with the resident in canton where he says “We don’t want another Howard Street disaster”. Howard street is dead, killed by the light rail. When will Baltimore decide to not do things half assed? Look at our arena request, 16,000 seat RFP? Why spend all of that money for an inferior product just to have it. I see the same for the red line. Its already going to cost a ton, surface or not, so lets just bit the bullet and do it right, heavy rail underground. Build the most critical parts first and then go from there. I see the most important spur being from Canton to DT. Do it first. That is where all the development is happening and where the dearth of transit is, including buses. MTA frustrates the hell out of me, haven’t they learned form the light rail mistake of putting it in the location with the path of least resistance? Wasn’t there more of a need to connect Towson to DT rather than the metropolis of may’s chapel? Just look at google earth and you can see all the green on either side of the LR run. Path of least resistance gave us a train to get us to baseball games and that is about it.