Big Jump Extension: Support Alternative #1 with Parklets

The Greater Remington Improvement Association, with a letter of support from Baltimore City Department of Transportation, was awarded a $50,000 Baltimore Regional Neighborhood Initiative grant from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development in 2022 to create a road diet on 28th Street, expanding The Big Jump to directly connect to the Maryland Avenue cycletrack.

The grant was specifically written for a design like the one shown in the streetmix above, and included provisions to maintain existing community parklets like the one at 28th and Huntingdon, serving Mount Royal Soaps and Café Los Sueños. The grant timeline included an install schedule of March 2022.

Last night, the 1st of March 2023, Baltimore City Department of Transportation held their first public meeting on the project. While they included the above design as one alternative, they also provided a second alternative that would not comply with the awarded community grant. And, in the first alternative, they claimed it was necessary to remove the community parklet to increase level of service for cars. This would also not comply with the awarded community grant, and is completely inconsistent with Complete Streets.

You can see more information on the BCDOT project page here. Public comment is open until March 20, 2023.

Bikemore endorses Alternative #1, with retention of the existing community parklet and no turn lanes. Send an email to BCDOT:

Our Comments on the FY2024-2029 Capital Budget

Today Bikemore provided testimony to the Baltimore City Planning Commission on the FY2024-2029 Baltimore City Department of Transportation Capital Budget. You can check out the budget yourself by clicking here. Our formal remarks are pasted in their entirety below, and we will update this post with answers to additional questions we sent in as they are answered.

Chairman Davis and members of the Planning Commission:

Over the years Bikemore has testified in CIP hearings critiquing Baltimore City Department of Transportation’s spending priorities and ability to execute, while also advocating that despite this, they need more money. 

Last year Bikemore worked with fellow transportation advocates, MACo, Baltimore City, and peer jurisdictions to advocate for increased Highway User Revenue shares for the city. One critique we heard in Annapolis was a fear that Baltimore City would ultimately redirect increased funds away from transportation. Despite this critique, we were successful, and DOT is supposed to be armed with significantly increased funds to spend on the massive backlog of deferred needs presented by Interim Director Johnson today.

Yet Finance is not issuing bonds this year for Baltimore City Department of Transportation, and are allocating Highway User Revenues for non-transportation purposes, ultimately resulting in a budget decrease over prior year. We urge the Planning Commission to condemn this approach. We can't stress this enough: this is money for transportation and the city is poised to completely embarrass itself in Annapolis by doing exactly what critics claimed it would do with these increased funds in diverting them elsewhere.

Looking at this year’s CIP, as in years past, we are concerned that legacy streetscaping and bridge division projects may be overbuilt and require subsequent extensive safety retrofit once constructed. The opportunity is now to fix those things before these projects go in, or even consider canceling projects that we can't fix and directing those funds to better projects. Retrofits of Harford Road and Central Avenue were expensive, and had our stated concerns been incorporated during 15, 30, 60, or 90% design, these concerns could have been addressed more affordably.

We are also concerned that the Baltimore City Department of Transportation continues to bear the burden of all ADA retrofits in the city, which is in part a product of their own unfortunate street cuts policies and franchise agreements. 

But largely, we are impressed with this CIP. It continues a trend of shifting investments toward ADA, Transit, and other critical complete streets safety retrofits. It preps us for large scale, transformative infrastructure changes on some of our most dangerous corridors that are barriers between disinvested neighborhoods and parks, jobs, and opportunity, with the existing Reconnecting Communities Grant Application and planning projects in the CIP for a subsequent application for Druid Park Lake Drive. We encourage the commission to prioritize these complete streets projects in ranking, specifically those advancing transit.

This brings us to the matter of execution. This year's departures of the BCDOT Director Steve Sharkey, Chief of Staff Adrea Turner, Data Analyst Brian Seel, Capital Planning Chief Lysh Lorber, Complete Streets Manager Graham Young, Lead Bike Planner Matt Hendrickson, and Interim Transit Bureau Chief and Shared Mobility Coordinator Meg Young are deeply concerning, and many of these departures are related to the lack of political will to execute projects. The short summary is, we're at a tipping point. There's a lot of good here. But will it be executed? 

We’ll give an example. The Eutaw Place separated bike lane is in this year's CIP. Funds have been banked for this project in the CIP for years. It was in the 2017 Separated Bike Lane Network Plan adopted by this commission, at the time slated for priority install within two years. Today, four years after it was supposed to be installed, we're finally at the finish line with a funded project for installation as soon as the weather warms.

Yet this week we've learned it's on indefinite hold–despite broad community support–over concerns from a vocal minority about mild parking loss, something that can't even legally be prioritized under our Complete Streets Ordinance. This decision may force us to return Maryland Bikeways grant funding, and affect millions of dollars in potential future awards. 

We fear transit projects that will require significant parking sacrifices to be truly transformative, like our North-South and East-West RTP corridors, could suffer a similar fate, negatively impacting hundreds of thousands of transit riders. 

This example shows we have a choice to tip forward, but it looks like we may tip backward. Even if we fix the money problem, we need real leadership and adherence to our laws to see these projects cross the finish line. 

Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

Sincerely,

Jed Weeks
Interim Executive Director

ACTION ALERT: Greenway Trails Network Meetings

Greenway Trails Network Northern Segment community engagement in Druid Hill Park in 2016

Virtual meetings to discuss the Northern Segments of the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network are being held March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd from 6:00pm to 7:30pm.

Please register to attend by clicking here.

The Northern Segments of the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network would create a new trail connection between the Gwynns Falls Trail, Jones Falls Trail, and Herring Run Trail, allowing people to safely and accessibly walk, bike, and roll between Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park, Druid Hill Park, Wyman Park, Lake Montebello, and Herring Run Park.

The Northern Segments are the largest unconstructed gap of the full 35 mile Baltimore Greenway Trails Network, which when completed will connect a majority of neighborhoods and nearly every large city park, transit hub, cultural institution, hospital, and university to one another through a walking, biking, and rolling trail.

Bikemore began conducting community outreach around the Northern Segments of the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network in 2016, meeting residents through our Mobile Bike Shop and other programming in partnership with community associations and residents. We have consistently heard a desire for safe and accessible trail connections along the corridor.

You can learn more about the full project by clicking here.

Like any project that has the potential to reclaim or repurpose space from motor vehicles, the idea of a safe trail connection along Gwynns Falls Parkway and 33rd Street faces opposition.

It's important that you show up and make your voice heard.

Take Action: Street Cuts Policy Update

A closure of the protected bike lane on Cathedral Street that is no longer legal under the Complete Streets Ordinance.

Baltimore City Department of Transportation is currently updating their Street Cuts Policy. You may not know what exactly that means, but there is a 100% chance you’ve been affected if you walk, bike, take transit, or drive in Baltimore City.

The Street Cuts Policy governs utility work on our roadways, bike lanes, and sidewalks. Prior to the Baltimore Complete Streets ordinance, it was common to see closures like the one in the image above— closures that prioritized keeping the road open for car travel and parking, even if it meant closing a bike lane or sidewalk.

The Complete Streets ordinance changed that, requiring detours to follow the modal hierarchy that puts pedestrians and bicyclists first. We’ve seen successful implementations of the ordinance on Aliceanna Street just before Boston Street or on Charles Street by 33rd Street, where construction is ongoing but safe pedestrian and bicycle access has been maintained.

While these projects are a start, Baltimore City Department of Transportation still needs to update their official guidance to reflect the Complete Streets Ordinance. This will ensure that future projects led by both the city and contractors will also comply with the Complete Streets law — that’s why we need to update the Streets Cut Policy. 

We have reviewed the draft of the new policy, and we would like it to include more specific guidance for maintaining access to sidewalks and bike lanes during construction, more aggressive timelines for restoring and repaving streets after work is finished, and to make sure crossings and traffic calming we stripe on that restored street is even better than what was there before and restores any community funded art that may have been damaged or removed.

Our sample language for recommendations is below, and we encourage you edit as you see fit and submit comment before February 22nd.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment on the Draft Street Cuts Policy.

1. This is an opportunity to not only see street restorations, but street improvements. Whenever a complete streets treatment/vision zero treatment like a crosswalk or curb extension is affected, the entire treatment should be fully restored and if possible, enhanced. For example, a standard crosswalk should be restriped fully as a continental crosswalk, even if only a partial section of crosswalk was cut.

2. Art in the ROW and all other decorative treatments that enhance an intersection or street need to be replaced/restored in-kind.

3. Same side detours must be required for sidewalk or bicycle lane closures. This should only be allowed to be overruled by a written exemption and explanation from the Director.

4. When same side detours are in place, they should meet or exceed the level of separation provided previously. For example, separated bike lane detour shall continue to be separated by a vertical element like flex posts, or water or jersey barrier. There should be minimum widths of 5 feet or greater for a one-way bike detour and 8 feet or greater for a two-way bike detour, just as there are minimum widths for sidewalk detours.

5. When a written exemption for a same side detour is made by the Director, the approved detour shall meet or exceed the level of comfort for the detoured facility. For example, a separated bike lane detour must include separation on the entire detour, it can't just be signage to use an adjacent street non-separated bike lane.

6. The 120 day period for full restoration is too long. This needs to be substantially reduced, to 60 days or less.

7. Fines should be dramatically increased, and escalate significantly for continued violation by contractors. This revenue will be needed to hire more inspectors.

Creating more affordable housing through R7/R8 Conversions

This Spring, Bikemore interns Sumi and Patrick embarked on educating folks about R7/R8 conversions and how increasing housing density is good policy for advancing equity and strengthening our transportation. While the original bill, 21-0009 will likely not make it out of committee, we still wanted to share this information knowing that larger housing reforms are necessary. This blog post was written by Patrick Reid, and video interviews were conducted and edited by Sumi Kim.

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How could zoning make housing affordable?

In this video, Tyrell Dixon from Project Own, discusses how multi-family zoning would allow developers to create affordable and accessible housing and work to reverse Baltimore's historically racist housing policies.

How does zoning increase access?

In this video, Ryan Flanagan, advocate for affordable housing, describes how building more multi-family housing will create access to the resources and amenities that everyone needs.

Why is multi-family housing beneficial?

In this video, Councilman Ryan Dorsey, explains how the racist and inequitable history of Baltimore housing means we have to make dramatic changes to reverse the damaging effects of past policy.

The issues of redistricting of R-7 and R-8 zoning isn't a necessarily flashy and exciting policy agenda but is very important in the ways it lends itself to equity and an inclusive and complete neighborhood.

 The legislation before the Baltimore City Council, which was introduced by Councilman Bullock and endorsed by Councilman Dorsey and Burnett, is an effort to expand the types of housing available in the R-7 and R-8 designated zoning categories. These zones allow for higher densities and the ability to convert single family homes into multi-family units. Currently the process for this conversion is arduous. In order for a conversion to be carried out the City Council must pass a specific law in the form of an ordinance to allow the property to be converted. This existing process is cumbersome and very inefficient and the new legislation would do a lot to streamline the conversions!

If the legislation were to pass, then as long as the building met the required codes, the conversion could be allowed without the passage of an ordinance. Specifically this would mean that the large homes in Baltimore's neighborhoods like Bolton Hill could be converted from their current single family residency to multiple apartments within the building, increasing affordability. Converting a single family city mansion into apartments for 4 families could have a really profound impact on the equity of the city.  It would allow more people to access more communities that have better amenities and better access to jobs and transit systems. 

This type of housing can also be referred to as the “missing middle” in reference to a middle ground between low density single family units and then high density apartment buildings. Communities like this have huge upsides when it comes to transportation access. One source from the New York City region has found that “Higher density helps expand transportation choices by providing riders options like bike, bus, and rail. Investments in transportation systems need density to justify resource allocation and achieve returns.” By creating denser and more affordable housing options, cities can advance stronger transportation and biking initiatives that serve more people. 

Image from: https://capla.arizona.edu/studio/new-kid-town-missing-middle-housing

Single family housing, especially in cities, is a really unsustainable way of organizing land. It forces land and property to be sold at large and unaffordable quantities, leaving many residents to struggle without stable housing. This kind of housing is also grounded in elements of classism and racism because of the way it was first developed. Initially, many areas that primarily used single family zoning were designated as “white” neighborhoods during the practice known as redlining. Redlining is the nefarious practice of refusing loans in areas deemed as high financial risk areas based on race and income that has historically excluded groups of people from buying homes and land. It is one of several systemic factors that has stunted the ability of many Black Americans to accumulate wealth. Locally here in Baltimore, the process also created a hugely unequal distribution of land wealth and placed it in the hands of wealthy, white Baltimoreans and displaced communities of color. Black and POC communities were left victimized by incredibly unfair zoning regulations. A specific example of this is Roland Park, where racial housing covenants made it impossible for Black Baltimoreans to own land or housing in the neighborhood.

By making it easier to rezone from single to multi-use, the city of Baltimore would be correcting these historical wrongs and helping to level the uneven playing field of housing inequality.  Mixed use housing and multi family units are a great way to connect people with affordable housing options in an urban community, improve access and quality of public transit and make walking and biking much easier and safer.