Baltimore Grows

I don’t know whether to laugh or be scared about this story. Today’s Sun has an article on a proposal to build a gondola that runs 1.3 miles from The Convention Center to Fells Point. The more mass-transit the better, but it seems a bit disjointed and disconnected from the existing mass transit that currently exists or is planned. If it did ever get built it would likely end up as a tourist novalty more than a solution for commuters or residents. Similar to the water taxi.? With Baltimore’s recent history of tragic and near tragic events surrounding non-traditional tourist attractions (hot air balloon and water taxi), some govt. officials likely have safety concerns in mind.? Some might not want to be dangling 95 feet above the city when a summer thunderstorm rolls through the harbor.

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The Winsteads have spent the past several years promoting their vision of a $40 million privately operated system called Baltimore’s SkyLine as efficient and environmentally friendly and an ideal connector to light rail, shuttles and the proposed public transit Red Line. Since completing a $38,000 state-funded ridership study more than a year ago, they’ve lined up investors and put together a construction and design team.

Full article on Balt Sun

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

Finally a politician is putting an emphasis on public transportation in Baltimore.? If only such an urgency was in place 20-30 years ago, we wouldn’t have this mish-mash mess of transportation systems that connect poorly to each other (if at all).? ? Even though it’s the “in” thing to do (considering gas prices, global warming, pollution, etc…) at least someone is doing SOMEthing.? ?

Shiela Dixon? took the next step in the Red Line project? today? by appointing a liaison to resolve community concerns and presumably help push the project forward.? Mayor Dixion said the Red Line was one of her top priorities.?

? The Red Line has gained some opposition, particularly from residents of Fells Point who can bear to see Alice Anna and Fleet turned into one way streets while trying to jam a light rail down the middle.?

A Canton resident myself, I would love to be able to hop on a train and make it downtown in 5 minutes without having to pay $25 for parking, but I do share some of the same concerns of my neighbors in Fells Point.?

I happened upon an interesting post from a fellow blogger at baltimoreinnerspace that proposed extending the current Metro, which currently ends at Hopkins Hospital, to Canton Crossing (Ed Hale’s new mixed use development on Boston St.)? instead of building the new Red Line.? Although it bypasses Fells Point and the Main Part of Canton, it would pass through areas that have a great amount of potential for future development.? It doesn’t seem like a bad idea.? Check out his post here:

http://baltimoreinnerspace.blogspot.com/2006/10/red-line-should-turn-green-running-red.html

? I’m interested to hear what people think.? Post a comment if you have an opinion.? If you want to share your opinion with the city, 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/

Proposed Red Line Route:

The long anticipated Key Highway extension (loop road) opened today.? And it looks like every employee at Tide Point is well aware of it.? As I came home tonight there was a steady flow of traffic coming out.? Cheers to a shorter commute for some and less neighborhood traffic for others. Sun article.

The long awaited extension of Key Highway (Loop road) to? Locust Point at Tide Point will be officially completed and opened? Wednesday August 15th.? There will be an official ceremony at 11 a.m.

Friday’s Baltimore Business Journal had this story Friday.? The owners of the 100 Light Street building (current Legg Mason building) are moving ahead with plans to build a 500 car parking garage.? One of the likely reasons for Legg’s announcement to move from it’s current headquarter location is the lack of parking.? So perhaps the building owners see this as a necessary step to lure future tenants.

A common opinion among Baltimoreans is that our public transportation is horribly lacking.? Which is why I’m as surprised as you probably are to read? in a? CNN Money article that Baltimore ranks 7th among all US cities in? percentage of residents commute to work on buses, trains and light rail – 48,252, or 18.9%.? That’s pretty impressive.?

Baltimore trails other much larger cities known for their public transportation – New York, Washington, San Fransisco, Boston, Philly, and Chicago.? But surprisingly leads cities such as Seattle, Oakland, and Portland.? I wonder if the study is including all the people who take trains from Baltimore city or BWI into DC.? Perhaps that is skewing the number.? But hey – once we the proposed Red Line metro addition and downtown trolley are in place, we may just jump up a couple spots.

The article in Monday’s Baltimore Sun? talked about Baltimore’s plans to hopefully turn Pratt Street – the main artery through downtown – into a more vibrant and pedestrian friendly area.? Progress has already started with the recent additions of retailers Best Buy, P.F. Changs,? Panera, etc.?

Will Baltimore’s Pratt Street ever be the equivalent of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue or New York’s Fifth Avenue, or perhaps even the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris?

These sorts of questions were raised at a recent presentation by architects hired to make suggestions about their vision for Pratt Street.? Ahh the short answer, no.? At this point there is just too much ground level office space along Pratt.? But why not strive for something better. Baltimore may not make it all the way there, but the more progress the better.?

One of the interesting proposals would be to? change the traffic pattern from 1 way to 2 way.? The logistics of making this happen sound like a nightmare.? I assume the would need to do the same with Lombard Street in order to balance the loss of lanes heading west to east.? Pratt Street is maxed out during rush hour, I can’t imagine what the construction would do to Baltimore’s downtown rush hour.

One worthwhile proposal would be to do away with the fountain area sitting between Pratt, Light Street South, and Light Street North.? The area really is a waste of space.? It basically serves as a place for people to stand while waiting to cross the street, a place for the homeless to congregate, and a place for city workers to try and keep kids out of the fountains.? So I guess it’s serving a purpose, but certainly could be put to better use.

This photo from the Baltimore Sun shows one of the presented Pratt Street visions.? What happened to the Verizon building? It’s missing – I guess part of their vision included knocking down that building and putting up a billboard type structure.? Or maybe that’s what is replaing the fountain area, it’s hard to tell.

Today’s Baltimore Sun reports that Baltimore’s Board of Estimates approved $200,000 to help study whether it’s possible? to build a? trolley to link the Inner Harbor with the Johns Hopkins University.? The Trolley would run from Baltimore’s Inner harbor? North through downtown and Mount Vernon, ending in Charles Village.

…an engineering study to examine how the trolley might interfere with utility lines and if the train could make it up the hills of Mount Vernon.

We? can put men on the moon, build 1,400 foot tall skyscrapers , and squeeze the Library of Congress onto a drive smaller than a credit card, but Baltimore isn’t sure if they can get a trolley to go up hills.? Of course this is also the city that built a hot air balloon tied to the ground and were surprised when the wind? took over? and the riders had to be rescued.

More public transportation in Baltimore City – Absolutely.? It’s something the city is desperately lacking.? But why not incorporate this with the existing underused Baltimore metro system.? We recently looked at the current study of the metro red line project.? Why not expand on this?? A separate trolley system would result in yet another disjointed public transportation system that serves only a small portion of the city.? I assume they would built it so that stations connected near one of the existing metro stations downtown.?

Obviously the? cost of building an above ground trolley system is on much smaller scale than building additional underground metro lines.? So maybe the city is thinking about this as an interim step.? Do the Hopkins students really need to get to the Harbor that badly? Perhaps a trolley taking them right to Fells Point would make more sense.? Or how about a trolley that runs from Canton through Fells Point, Harbor East, downtown, Federal Hill, ending in Locust Point.? That would save a lot of us some weekend cab fair $.