ACTION ALERT: Greenway Meeting - Email the Mayor and Attend!

Next Thursday, August 22nd at 6:00pm Baltimore City Department of Transportation is hosting a meeting to share updated planning efforts for the Druid Hill Park to Gwynns Falls Leakin Park section of the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network.

Roughly a year ago, the now-departed Deputy Director and Chief of Policy of Baltimore City Department of Transportation shared that the department's plan was to simply sign the North Avenue dedicated bus lane as the biking "trail" component for this section of the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network.

Since that time, we are unaware of any efforts to revise that plan.

The city-adopted Baltimore Green Network Plan and Separated Bike Lane Network Plan define the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network as a fully separated shared use pathway. A proposal utilizing a dedicated bus lane would be contrary to adopted city plans and policy.

We hope the Mayor's office and Baltimore City Department of Transportation are not seriously considering this proposal. We're asking you to do two things:

Attend the Meeting Thursday, August 22nd at 6:00pm
The Center for Urban Families
2201 N Monroe Street Baltimore, MD 21217
an online option will be available that night at this link.

Send an email to the Mayor and Department of Transportation
Remind them that city adopted plans and policies require the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network be constructed as a fully separated shared use pathway.

Recent polling conducted by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance--polling that oversampled geographies along the proposed trail--shows broad support for the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network vision. Only 4% of city residents are opposed. The Mayor and other pro-trails and complete streets candidates won their elections.

There's no excuse for a weak trail plan. 

Next Thursday, we hope to see a plan that reflects this mandate: a plan that connects destinations like Gwynns Falls Leakin Park, Druid Hill Park, Cahill Recreation Center, Coppin State, and Mondawmin together with a fully separated, shared use pathway along which residents can safely walk, bike, and roll.

Polling Shows Baltimoreans Want Safer Streets Infrastructure, Trails, and Transportation Options

Polling conducted by our fellow advocates at The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance and Rails to Trails Conservancy in the weeks before the May primary election shows Baltimoreans want safer streets infrastructure and more transportation options.

• 79% say it's important to have trails in your neighborhood

• 71% say it's important to run MTA buses every 30 minutes or better

• 64% say bike lanes benefit people

• 58% say they'd be more likely to vote for a candidate who prioritizes trails

• 55% say it's important to build the Baltimore Red Line

• A majority want to "Increase the number of dedicated bike lanes in Baltimore City" and "Build the projects in the Baltimore City Bicycle Master Plan."

Digging deeper into the data tells an even more compelling story.

Support for bike lanes is stronger from Black respondents (64%) and Latino respondents (74%) than white respondents (62%).

In addition to ensuring respondents reflected Baltimore's overall demographics, the poll ensured half of city residents were in zip codes adjacent to proposed trail facilities (such as the neighborhoods surrounding Gwynns Falls Parkway, 33rd Street, Chinquapin Run, and the Middle Branch).

Despite this focus on sampling these neighborhoods--places a few oppositional voices often point to as examples of where infrastructure is not wanted--only 4% of respondents oppose the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network.

The message from this poll and the subsequent primary election is clear: Baltimoreans are ready for safer streets infrastructure and transit investments.

They want to see the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network and the Separated Lane Network Plans implemented.

We encourage you to read the full Medium post from Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, which contains the survey methodology and more data on resident desires to re-prioritize our regional funding away from highways and toward biking, walking, and public transit.

Give to Bikemore and you can reduce what you will pay in taxes next year!

GIVE Maryland - Maryland Community Investment Tax Credit

A donation of $500 or more to Bikemore’s 501(c)(3) from an individual or business can receive a Maryland Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) worth 50% of the donation, in addition to your regular charitable contribution deduction you may be eligible for on your state and federal taxes.

Donations utilizing the Community Investment Tax Credit program will be used to support Bikemore’s Mobile Bike Shop. This flagship program  provides approachable, free access to bike repair services for residents in Baltimore’s most under-resourced communities. 

Working bikes can provide economic empowerment and improve the quality-of-life and health outcomes for disenfranchised communities because they can provide access to everyday essentials like better-paying jobs, access to health care, housing, affordable and healthy food, and closing educational achievement gaps.  

Of course, any donation of any size to Bikemore’s 501(c)(3) may be tax-deductible.  We really appreciate your support no matter what size donation you make. 

Bikemore was awarded a $10,000 CITC grant this year. You can check the status of remaining eligible funds and learn more about the program at the GIVE Maryland website.

Bikemore Endorsement Sweep

We walk, we bike, we roll. We take transit. We want to live in safe, walkable communities accessible to all.

Most importantly, we vote.

Thank you for supporting Bikemore's endorsed candidates. Every endorsed candidate won.

This election was a clear referendum on safer, calmer, more livable streets.

Candidates who threatened to rip out infrastructure and candidates who were impediments to infrastructure lost their races. Candidates promising to make our streets safer and expand access to opportunity for all road users won.

We have a lot of work to do after this election. Bikemore priority legislation that has been held up by current council leadership can be brought back and advanced. Projects that have been long stalled, like the separated lanes on Washington Street, Central Avenue, Eutaw Place, and Sharp Street, now have champions coming into office who vocally support installation.

We can't wait to share our vision for the next term in the coming months, and will be giving previews at upcoming Bike Breakfasts and Happy Hours.

To hit the ground running with the new council in January, Bikemore needs to be well resourced, and we need the financial and staff bandwidth to spend the summer and fall advocating to incoming and re-elected councilmembers.

We can't do this without your financial support. Please consider a one-time, recurring, or increased recurring donation today.

Bikemore Endorses Mayor Brandon Scott for Re-Election

Bikemore is endorsing Mayor Brandon Scott for re-election.

Baltimore needs a mayor that our children can look up to, that they can see themselves in. Our recent history of former mayors is plagued with scandal and single terms. Mayor Brandon Scott has brought stability, credibility, and ethical, honest leadership to the mayor’s office. He can relate directly with our city’s young people who struggle to navigate our public transit system to get to school and after school activities. He was once them, riding those same buses hours each way.

Mayor Brandon Scott adopted the city’s first Complete Streets Manual, prioritizing equity in project delivery. His Department of Transportation has applied for and won tens of millions of dollars in federal grants to improve our most dangerous intersections, improve transit reliability, and remove racist transportation barriers that destroyed communities: including The Highway to Nowhere and Druid Park Lake Drive.

Over the past four years, legislation critical to Baltimore’s ability to compete with peer cities and deliver access to opportunity for its residents has languished in City Council, failing to be heard while time has instead been spent on political grandstanding. We endorsed Zeke Cohen for Council President because he knows we must focus on the root causes of issues in our city, and that we can use our legislative body to address those issues at their core.

With Brandon Scott as Mayor and Zeke Cohen as City Council President, we will for the first time in memory have partners in leadership with the same equity-driven transportation philosophy.

Bikemore has also endorsed the following candidates:

Bill Henry, Comptroller
Ryan Dorsey, 3rd District
Paris Gray, 8th District
John Bullock, 9th District
Zac Blanchard, 11th District

With these leaders in office, Baltimore City will continue its trajectory toward a city designed for people—all people.

Read the full questionnaires from candidates for Mayor, Council President and City Council by clicking below.