Joseph Koehler
Candidate for: City Council, 1st District
www.joekoehler.com
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Describe your vision of a healthy, safe, and equitable transportation system for Baltimore city and what roles walking, biking, and public transportation play in that vision.
My vision for a healthy, safe and equitable transportation system is one that is first and foremost practical to implement.
Although bus funding comes from the state, we need to advocate for more. We need to increase bus frequency starting with the highest demand routes, buses on these routes should not ever have more than a 15-minute wait at maximum, and we know that is often not the case. Invest in bus signal priority technology and implement it where buses are moving the most people daily. Keep investing in more bus shelters and benches. We also need to step up enforcement of bus lane violations because bus lanes don’t work if people in cars are occupying them. In addition to better direct routes in line with our grid system, we should also have better perimeter routes, similar to London’s tube, having the City/Hammersmith line around Central London.
We need to speed up implementation and connect our existing bike lane infrastructure to all 265 City parks and existing protected bike lanes. Do this by working towards completing the Baltimore Greenway Project. Fewer people ride bikes for transportation when you have to fight traffic and crazy Baltimore drivers due to our currently disconnected bike lane network. I feel the Greenway Project is a great way to start this, since it will connect all our awesome parks to their surrounding neighborhoods.
Expand our current micro-mobility network, and study the cost/ benefit of subsidizing them in reaction to the current trend of many of our recent contractors' financial problems. Adapt the same rule DC has, requiring the micro-mobility scooters/e-bikes to be “Locked” and not just anywhere on the sidewalk when finishing a ride.
Determine the best way to expand the metro/ light rail options by expanding on existing infrastructure. We should research the feasibility of extending the Metro at Hopkins hospital to Morgan State University. This also includes looking at the feasibility and potential ridership of a Towson Spur to help increase current light rail ridership. Make the best use of the Redline by ensuring connections to the proposed MARC station at Bayview as well as extending service to Tradepoint Atlantic, and going across to the Metro at Hopkins, the light rail at Howard St, connecting to Charles Center and Lexington Market, and then continue out to the Highway to Nowhere and Edmondson Village, and then Cooks Lane and Social Security. I would also advocate for connecting Social Security to Owings Mills.
To meet Baltimore City’s adopted climate goals, we must shift at least 10% of current automobile vehicle miles traveled to active transportation and public transit. What is your plan to achieve this goal?
Supporting more Transit-oriented development is the best way to make a major impact in the shortest amount of time. A major goal of my platform is to reverse the city’s population decline. We can help decrease dependence on cars and start to increase our population by investing in and supporting more transit-oriented development. This should be done near existing transit infrastructure to start.
What is your plan to continue to reduce the number of injuries and deaths on Baltimore City roadways each year?
I will advocate for increased focus on traffic enforcement, including changing state law to allow booting of vehicles regardless of state registration, esp. those with a high number of unpaid tickets and violations. We should expand speed and red light cameras' operational hours and locations. Investing in complete streets and enhanced pedestrian infrastructure: adding pedestrian refuges to dangerous crosswalks as well as increasing the time for pedestrian crossings. Increase the number of bump outs at intersections with high pedestrian foot traffic to slow down turning vehicles. I understand just how important this is as I was once hit by a car while crossing Boston Street walking to the Merritt. Make CONNECTING our existing protected bike lanes a priority for DOT. Support road narrowing and traffic-calming measures where appropriate.
I also like the instructional and informative videos Bikemore produces (like the one on how to approach intersections safely), and as Public Safety Chair for Canton, I have often thought about doing the same for showing people how to drive here. I can’t tell you how many people I have seen run stop signs or accelerate into them when the speed limit is only 25 mph. In order to come to a complete stop, people should only accelerate through one-third of the block, depending on the percent grade of uphill or downhill, and then decelerate for the next third, and start to break for the final third of a block. Instead, people are somehow accelerating for more than half the block and barely breaking at the end. This is why we have so many accidents! If people cannot obey the law and practice safe driving, then we need more speed humps as well as look into reducing the speed limits with greater enforcement. Maybe some residential streets need to be 15 mph and some of the City streets that are treated as highways need to be 25 mph with tougher enforcement.
How often do you walk, bike or use public transit to reach daily destinations? If not often (or at all), what would make you more likely to use non-personal vehicle modes of transportation?
I walk everywhere in and around my neighborhoods in Canton, Brewers Hill and Highlandtown (I’m essentially on the border of all three). I am fortunate to live in such a walkable area of Baltimore. I ride my bike most often for leisure at Patterson Park and down to the Waterfront Park. Not only that, but I drive a 2004 Toyota Camry, so I prefer to walk when I can! Living close to a few bus stops, I would ride more if the buses were more frequent and in line with where I am going, especially on nights and weekends when I would personally utilize them the most. I mainly use the Navy line to go to Orioles games and have a 13-game plan.
This is outside the scope of the question, but I thought it's relevant for biking. I don’t feel safe riding my bike here for long distances. I grew up in Catonsville and had Patapsco State Park in my backyard and could actually bike from my house, through the park, up to BWI, and then take the loop trail to the trail all the way to Annapolis and back. I am still the President and Treasurer of a Rec Council and I would love to see the project completed to have access to the park and those trails from the City and more access points (State project) in addition to what we accomplished with the Trolley Trails there. I think if more people knew about the possibilities of what we could accomplish like the Greenway Project, Rails to Trails, and other large projects, there would be less opposition to them because we would be getting them done faster and everyone could see how awesome they are. It would also improve daily biking. As an Eagle Scout, I also foresee we could get a lot of help with these trails through Eagle Scout projects and volunteer organizations like Rec Councils and Stewards of Parks.
In 2017, Baltimore City adopted the Separated Bike Lane Network Plan Addendum to the Bike Master Plan. This called for connecting 85% of Baltimore’s neighborhoods to safe, all-ages bike infrastructure by 2022. Less than 20% of this network has been built. What would you do to accelerate implementation?
I feel the fastest and most cost-effective way to do this is through implementation of the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network. As a Rec Council president, I know that parks are often the center of our communities. I spoke with Brian Seel about this who left this City in frustration after working for DOT but as a contractor for three years (that’s a whole other issue). Stop getting side-tracked and get this done faster! I want to be on the Ways and Means Committee because as a CPA, I can really add a lot of value to City Government here. I will advocate for this to be in the budget and to get it done as quickly as possible. I also want to work on expanding the budget for Rec & Parks and have our new Park Rangers riding bikes from park to park (maybe the Mounted Unit too) and keeping these areas clean with better enforcement of littering and dumping. Leave no trace.
In 2018, Baltimore City received national recognition for passing the first equity driven Complete Streets ordinance in the country. This legislation contains a modal hierarchy prioritizing vulnerable road users and mandates best practices in roadway configuration and design. Are you committed to retaining this ordinance and the current practices and modal hierarchy it mandates?
YES!!!
What is your position on The Red Line alternatives? If a surface route is selected, are you committed to ensuring the route has 100% dedicated right-of-way, even if it may require significant parking removal? Are you committed to the in-development multi-use trail segment along Boston Street and a parallel separated bike facility in a northern alignment, even if they may require significant parking removal as well?
Of the proposed routes, I favor the Alt 2A light rail option on Eastern Ave. Development along Boston street has increased dramatically over the years since the original Red Line study. Many of our neighbors feel that the Red Line on the already-dangerous and frequently congested Boston street would be a bane on the neighborhood and business, especially when you consider the rail crossing on Boston past Haven street, which causes daily lengthy delays. If the Red Line comes to Boston Street I would like to see a plan to build a bridge for cars and pedestrians to go over the very wide and very busy heavy rail crossings in that immediate area.
I have knocked on over 15,000 doors, and of the people I have spoken to along the proposed routes, only a few would be ok with it. Is that NIMBY? Sure. However, I think more people would be ok with the bike infrastructure. In addition, and I mentioned this idea to Senator Bill Ferguson and the various state employees at Red Line project meetings, there is a much better possibility out there. Let’s not rush into the Federal Study now that was really launched in 2002, not 2012. So much has changed since then.
Agree or disagree?Do you support maintaining the city’s micro-mobility program that provides dockless bikes and scooters?
Yes
Would you support creation of a government subsidized bike share system?
I would consider it after we implement more of the Complete Streets plan. I would also want to require inclusionary housing development to have bike shares once this happens. Alexandria is doing this.
Would you support local legislation to subsidize the purchase of e-bikes and membership for micro-mobility or bike share systems?
No
Are you committed to retaining every piece of separated bike infrastructure in the city that’s been built?
Yes
Cars are often longer than a single rowhome is wide. Households with multiple vehicles compete for parking in front of other neighbors’ homes. Do you support scaling residential permit parking fees to either the size of or number of vehicles in a household so those with more vehicles parked on city streets pay their fair share?
No
Do you support a citywide speed limit of 25mph on arterials and 20mph on neighborhood streets?
I would consider this, but would need more details on how it’s implemented.
Do you support banning turns on red at all intersections that permit pedestrian crossing?
Currently no, but I am opening to change my mind on this if we implement better sensors on our traffic flights and synchronize more lights.
Do you support expanding automated enforcement to all roads that have high rates of crashes and speeding, not just near school zones?
Yes
Do you support legislation to create income-based traffic enforcement fine reductions or waivers locally?
No
Do you support allowing increased density adjacent to high-quality transit, grocery stores, Main Street districts, and in other high-amenity neighborhoods?
Yes
Do you support increasing Transit Oriented Development zoning to include all areas within a quarter mile of high-frequency bus routes and a half-mile of light rail and metro stations?
Yes
Minimum parking requirements are shown to increase housing costs while limiting potential density and making neighborhoods less walkable. Do you support removing parking minimums from new development?
Yes
Do you support removing single family residential zoning categories, so that people can choose to build and live in a variety of housing options citywide?
Yes