No, this is not an overly expensive trip to the Block, this is how we could create and or sustain 1,187,500 jobs, improve the quality of life, reduce congestion, manage growth, limit sprawl, protect and improve the environment, and increase opportunity for the 2.6 million people in Central Maryland. It’s a way to get one third of the way toward the President’s goal of creating or sustaining 3,000,000 jobs. It’s the creation of a world class transit system for Central Maryland.
In 2002, a commission appointed by Secretary Porcari released a vision and a plan for Central Maryland that had an estimated cost of $12 billion dollars. That plan, today would cost approximately $25 billion dollars. The plan was not drafted in a dark smoke filled room. It was the work of a 23 member diverse advisory committee made up of elected, business, faith based, and civic leaders. It was the result of 13 public meetings, 2600 surveys, and over 600 written comments. It was far from perfect, but it was good. It was good because it offered us the opportunity to embrace the culture of transit that once dominated this region when trolleys ran up and down our streets, counties, towns, and Baltimore City connecting people to places and opportunity.
If the US Department of Transportation is correct that every $1 billion invested in transit and highway capital improvements creates or sustains 47,500 jobs, this plan alone could mean 1,187,500 jobs created or sustained in Central Maryland; that is economic development. Central Maryland residents, workers, students, and worshipers being able to have the option to utilize public transportation rather than drive would dramatically reduce the vehicle miles traveled in our region and therefore dramatically reduce carbon emissions and reduce the utilization of fossil fuels; that’s environmental protection. Ease of travel on well-connected rapid, reliable, and regional transit would mean that our most economically vulnerable citizens would no longer be solely dependent on cars and the cost associated with them. This would open up economic, educational, and recreational opportunities beyond their immediate geographic area; that is equitable access.
Therefore, my big vision is a day when the mayor of Baltimore City and the county executives of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Howard Counties collectively get behind a plan that is mutually beneficial in the short, mid, and long term. When they say to the President and our Congressional Delegation, provide us with $25 billion of the over $800 billion stimulus package for an excellent transit system and we promise you, it will stimulate us now and for generations to come!
Thank You! This is the first step towards a green economy. It’s unacceptable that we have fewer public transit options now than we did decades ago.
Baltimore needs to think big, and stop living in the shadow of DC. We need more than a Red Line; we need a comprehensive transit system now.
I absolutely agree, Otis. And another benefit would be freeing up for development, open space, or higher density a lot of land currently used for parking. This could help make our cities more livable, provide additional stimulus and generate tax revenue. Other countries already do it so much better than we do.
Yes — transit should be the centerpiece of greening Baltimore and surrounding areas as well as economic development. There would be so many multiplier effects from a transit system that worked that it would be a short and long-term economic stimulus. It is time for big ideas and this is one of them. Baltimore and surrounding counties need to be ready to push for transit funds out of the federal stimulus and to push O’Malley to stop spending on new sprawl roads like the ICC in Montgomery County which do more harm than good.
Thank you for bringing a sane perspective to this. Personal transportation generates 20% of U.S. greenhouse gases annually. Switching to public transportation for one day can reduce one driver’s CO2 emissions by 20 pounds, or more than 4,800 pounds in a year. Since each of us needs to reduce our carbon emissions by about 90%, we need a wide variety of options and transit is key.
Thank you Otis…how can people get involved in this vision?
As a middle aged, lifelong Baltimorean I have watched Baltimore squander numerous opportunities for real mass transit. It’s time to move forward.
It’s time to stop viewing transit as a welfare program and see the benefits for the entire community.
I do think that mass transit is a great idea. However, I really question the amount of jobs – “If the US Department of Transportation is correct that every $1 billion invested in transit and highway capital improvements creates or sustains 47,500 jobs, this plan alone could mean 1,187,500 jobs created or sustained in Central Maryland.”
That number seems way too high.
Way to go, Otis!! You are completely right.
And an often unrecognized, but crucial benefit of high quality public transportation is the opening up of real education for poor students and families.
All intellectual awakenings–in Ancient Greece, Islamic North Africa, Renaissance Italy, and the Harlem Renaissance, just to name a few–coincide with huge bursts of travel and the mixing of people who previously were kept separate.
Go for it!! Wonderful idea!
Elie Sollins has asked how people can get involved with this vision? First I would ask that you go to http://www.cmtalliance.org and sign up. I would also ask that you go to http://www.t4america.org. Transportation for America is a national coalition trying to make sure that federal funds, whether from the stimulus or the new transporation reauthorization legislation to come later this year, are spent responsibily and strategically. CMTA will keep you tied in with what you can do in this region and T4America will help to direct your actions regarding the federal funds we need to move the vision from rhetoric to reality.
Hey, Otis. Can you get the Mayor and County Executives together and agree that we should create a regional taxing district/authority to support a world class regional transit system just like the Maryland suburbs of DC have had these many years? If we bring regional clout that will help get the Feds attention as well. Sometimes you have to show you really mean business by doing things for yourself.
yes Otis, and along with building a first class transit network here and connecting the Baltimore and the DC metro regions we need to grow Baltimore back to 850,000 people and stop non sustainable land use patterns in the outskirts which destroy our countryside and farms and make transit impossible.