Narrative Questions
Describe your vision of a healthy, safe, equitable transportation system for the Baltimore Region and the roles walking, biking, and public transportation play in that vision.
Walking, biking, and non-gas oriented transportation are the foundation of a healthy and vibrant transportation system here in Baltimore. I support fully funding and advancing a "Complete Streets" transit model, whereby we increase room for modes of transportation not grounded in a single person driving a car. We also need to ensure that low income and minority communities receive equitable access and investment in these alternative modes of transportation. Too often in Baltimore and throughout Maryland we find the free and newest bus systems centered around the richest neighborhoods (think the Circulator, which I support but we need to work on the equity piece). We can address these issues by creating a Baltimore Metropolitan Transportation Authority that has bond authority and is governed by an independent board of experts whose sole mission is to conduct the planning and management needed to bring these massive, multi-decade infrastructure projects to reality. No transportation project with 30+ years of planning and billions of dollars in investment should be subject to political influences.
The fastest and most economical way to address climate change, improve public health, and create equal access to opportunity is to reduce dependence on private automobiles. What are the biggest barriers to getting people to choose walking, biking, and public transit instead of personal vehicles for daily trips, and what would you do to address these impediments?
People generally don't ride public transit because it's seen as slow, unreliable, often dirty and sometimes unsafe. The primary way to get people to ditch their cars is to make other forms of transportation faster and more efficient. More people will use the park-and-rides when trains and buses run on-time and are faster than gridlock traffic. We can address these impediments by:
continuing to build dedicated bus and bike lanes
improving the performance of buses and trains so that they run on time
increasing the quality of our public transit (safety, cleanliness, comfort).
We can build these transit systems by implementing a Metropolitan Transportation Authority as described in my answer to Question 1.
Maryland and its jurisdictions continue to spend money on road and highway widening despite overwhelming evidence that it actually increases traffic and congestion through induced demand. Justification for widening is often that it will improve road safety, which is also discredited. What is your position on Maryland and its jurisdictions spending money this way, and would you support a moratorium on road and highway widening?
I am against road and highway widening, these transit dollars must be invested in other forms of public transit. While I am in favor of a moratorium on road and highway widening, I need to better understand if such a moratorium would actually lead to additional resources for non-car related modes of transportation. Our goal should be to increase access to train, bus, bike, etc. transportation and (assuming a moratorium isn't possible), I will also advocate for requiring all highway bills to have a minimum level of investment in non-car related transportation (as a percentage of the total allocation).
Describe your understanding for the need of a Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority. Do you support creation of a regional authority, and if so, how would you legislate or guide the state’s role in creating and sustaining it?
As stated in my answer to Question 1, I fully support this initiative. A Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority would consist of an independent board of experts who represent Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County and other surrounding jurisdictions whose sole mission is to conduct the planning and management needed to bring these massive, multi-decade infrastructure projects to reality. Each board member would be appointed to a defined term (perhaps 5 years), the entity would have bond authority, and it would have dedicated funding streams. This structure is needed to ensure it can implement long-term goals and prevent its priorities from being co-opted by short-sighted political whims (as we saw with the cancellation of the Baltimore Redline). Virginia has a model which can be followed and expanded upon.
Since the 1990’s federal surface transportation authorization laws have set the rules and formulas for federal transportation funding flowing to states. Two of the largest categories, the Surface Transportation Block Grant program and the National Highway Performance Program, can be used for many forms of surface transportation including highways, transit, bike, pedestrian, and ADA infrastructure. However, state departments of transportation, MDOT included, have used them almost exclusively for highway projects and much of its new capacity. That has resulted in growth in traffic volumes, travel times, and carbon pollution. In your view, why have those trends continued?
These trends continue because, in the USA, we haven't built a culture that train, bus, and biking are an acceptable middle-class mode of transportation. The electorate views these means of transportation for everybody "else" who can't afford a car. Unfortunately, this creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where we under invest in this public infrastructure to such a degree that only those who can't afford a car would chose to ride public transit. In contrast, Europe invests in its public transit to such a degree that it's more convenient and comfortable to ride these modes of transportation than be stuck in gridlock. To change this culture, we must highlight how Maryland is rapidly falling behind Virginia, Washington D.C. and other peer areas because of our lack of investment in public transit.
How do you typically commute to work or run errands? Describe the last trips you made by walking, biking, and public transit.
I have always prioritized a walking lifestyle. I bought my house in Federal Hill (not Canton or farther East) so that I can walk to my job located in downtown (12 minutes door to door). In law school, I lived in Mt. Vernon so that I could walk to school (18 minutes door to door). On weekends (before the campaign consumed my life), I would typically ride a scooter from my house to Fells or Canton when meeting friends. I absolutely detest being stuck in a car, in traffic and I actively seek walking, scootering, bus or biking as alternatives to riding a car.
Agree/Disagree Questions
Maryland and its jurisdictions should be required to “fix-it-first,” funding deferred maintenance of bridges and roads and safety retrofits like road diets, sidewalks, ADA compliance, and other infrastructure prioritizing vulnerable road users before spending on new roads and infrastructure.
Agree
Maryland should adopt a funding rubric for all transportation investment that follows a modal hierarchy prioritizing pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders over personal automobile use, and mandates that these investments prioritize racial and economic equity.
Agree
Highway User Revenues continue to decrease as cars become more efficient, and semi-autonomous driving technology is allowing more comfortable long distance commutes. To address this, Maryland should introduce an income-based Vehicle Miles Traveled tax.
Agree
I do need to better understand the specifics of the VMT as these transportation taxes can often be regressive, disproportionately impact low-income earners.
Maryland should require and fund all-ages-and abilities bicycle infrastructure in retrofits of existing roads and construction of new roads, including fully separated infrastructure or side paths/trails on collector roads, arterial roads, state highways, and interstates.
Agree
Fully agree. Unfortunately, I have limited my biking in the city to only those routes that have protected lanes because I have had too many friends get hit by vehicles.
There has been a dramatic increase in car crashes that injure and kill people walking and biking, who are then frequently sued by a driver’s insurance. Maryland should move from contributory negligence to a strict liability model for crashes involving vulnerable road users.
Agree
Paired with a requirement for income-based fines, Maryland should authorize jurisdictions to utilize additional types of automated enforcement like bus lane cameras and stop sign cameras, remove geographic restrictions, and allow a reduced threshold for triggering speed cameras.
Agree
This has specific relevance to Baltimore and, from my conversations with people at the doors, has a good base of support
Maryland should allow local jurisdictions to lower their own speed limits based on roadway typology instead of based on expensive engineering studies for each road segment, and should set a statewide upper urban speed limit of 25 miles per hour.
Agree
Maryland should require employers provide “Parking Cash Out,” valuing the cost of parking subsidized or paid for by employers and allowing employees the option of taking that benefit as a cash payout in the amount of the parking subsidy instead.
Agree
These market-based approaches are very important to the long-term transition away from a car-based transportation model.
Maryland should require jurisdictions to eliminate parking minimums and institute parking maximums in new development, as well as require the cost of parking be unbundled from rent, giving individuals the choice to rent without paying for parking.
I need to learn more about the state eliminating parking minimums and instituting parking maximums for local jurisdictions. I do believe the state should pass laws which assist in the unbundling of the cost of parking from rent and which give individuals the choice to rent without paying for parking.
It’s widely accepted that single family zoning advances racial and economic segregation. Maryland should ban single family zoning at the state level, allowing both single family and multifamily residences to be built in all zoning areas.
Disagree
I fully believe we need to end racial and economic segregation. Banning all single family zoning at the state level is not a sufficiently nuanced policy to address the myriad reasons why a certain jurisdiction may be zoned as single family.