[ Home ] [ Up ] [ About the Partnership ] [ Reports ] [ Regional Advocacy ] [ Local Advocacy ] [ Resources ] [ Archives ] [ Job Openings ]

BALTIMORE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP Newsletter
Land Use and Transportation Issues Around the Region
December 5, 2003
___________________________

Contents:

*Transportation Task Force Gives Limited Advice
*Planners and Public Health Officials Fight Obesity
*Upgrades in Works for DC-area Bus Services....
*...Except for Six Lines to Be Cut
*Local Funding Unravels for Metrorail to Dulles
*Governator Sends Mixed Messages on Smart Growth

___________________________

TRANSPORTATION TASK FORCE GIVES LIMITED ADVICE

Maryland's Transportation Task Force likely held its last meeting Nov.
25, declining to recommend any new revenue-raising measures beyond the
state tacking an average $20 surcharge on tickets for moving violations.
The panel suggested that change, which would raise about $20 million
annually, as a way to repay $300 million that the Ehrlich administration
diverted from the Transportation Trust Fund to help balance its 2003 and
2004 General Fund budgets.  While the task force did endorse an
expansion of Maryland's transportation construction program, it will
only submit a "matrix" of possible revenue sources -- totaling $900
million annually -- to the General Assembly in 2004.  In a move cheered
by transit advocates, the panel declined to endorse a proposal that any
new motor vehicle-related revenue be restricted to building new roads.

For more information:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/traffic/bal-md.transportation26nov26,0,4946667.story?coll=bal-traffic-headlines


In a related development, Republican leaders in both the Maryland Senate
and House of Delegates have said that most of their members will back
Governor Robert Ehrlich on any transportation revenue measure he might
propose.  Still, many would want a new "firewall" established that would
prevent new motor vehicle-related revenue from being used to fund
transit.

For more information:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.gop03dec03,0,747292.story?coll=bal-local-headlines


___________________________

PLANNERS AND PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS FIGHT OBESITY

Concerns over obesity and its linkages to sprawl have caused public
health officials and community planners to begin collaborating on
solutions. Two colleges in Atlanta, Emory and Georgia Tech, are
considering the creation of a joint degree program in planning and
public health. The American Journal of Public Health and the American
Journal of Health Promotion each devoted their September issues to the
impact of the built environment and health. The National Association of
County and City Health Officials also made it the focus of its spring
magazine. The American Planning Association and the National Association
of County and City Health Officials are meeting to encourage both sets
of public employees to work together. In some areas of the country,
officials from the public health department discuss projects with
developers and planners when they're being proposed. Richard Jackson, a
pediatrician and a senior adviser at the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said, "For too long, the health community started
at the end of the disease. We were derelict in looking at what are the
typical causes of these problems."

For more information, see:
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/horizon/1103/17sprawlhealth.html#


____________________________

UPGRADES IN WORKS FOR DC-AREA BUS SERVICES....

The DC region's major bus system, Metrobus, carries almost as many daily
passengers as the subway system does. Average weekday Metrobus ridership
was 562,400 trips in September, compared with 658,900 on the rails. Add
the legions of riders carried by the seven largest local bus systems and
the gap shrinks further. But until recently, buses have largely been
viewed as a last resort of public transportation and an afterthought
when it comes to improvements in operations, equipment and route design.
Groups as diverse as the Sierra Club and the Downtown DC Business
Improvement District have been pushing Metro to make the bus system a
true partner to rail. Several improvements are in the works, from
providing schedules/maps at bus stops to a universal transit card that
gets rid of the need to always have exact change.

For more details on Metro’s plans for bus service:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11555-2003Nov24.html?referrer=emailarticle


__________________________

....EXCEPT FOR SIX LINES TO BE CUT

Some Maryland residents are reluctantly planning to change their
commuting habits after learning that Metro cut six Metrobus routes,
including some connecting suburban communities to Washington, D.C. 
Metro's Board of Directors unanimously voted Thursday to cut five
Metrobus routes on Dec. 28 and one additional route in June -- all
recommendations from the Maryland Department of Transportation, which
wanted to save the annual $1 million in operating expenses.

For more information on the bus cuts, see:
http://www.gazette.net/200348/bethesda/news/189459-1.html

__________________________

LOCAL FUNDING UNRAVELS FOR METRORAIL TO DULLES

The financing plan for a $3.4 billion Dulles rail project collapsed on
Monday when the Herndon Town Council vetoed a special transit tax
district, unraveling the campaign to build the 23-mile Metrorail
extension.  The decision opens a $540 million funding hole for the
project, which would link Tysons Corner and Dulles International Airport
to Metro's rail system. The transit tax district, which would have
imposed a 20 percent real estate tax increase on commercial properties
along the train route, was to have generated Fairfax County's share of
the project's cost.

For more info on the vote, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29790-2003Dec2.html

___________________________

GOVERNATOR SENDS MIXED MESSAGES ON SMART GROWTH

In his first weeks in office, new California governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger has sometimes appeared to embrace smart growth concepts,
while other times appearing to reject them.  His Web site has pledged
wholesale restoration of declining urban areas, criticized “fiscally
unsustainable sprawl” and promoted redevelopment of old industrial
sites. He has also named an environmental leader to run California’s
Environmental Protection Agency and a prominent Democratic critic of
“dumb growth" as his secretary of business, housing and transportation. 
Still, the new governor has pleased developers by rejecting “urban
growth boundaries” such as those established in Oregon and 32 California
cities, and he has said he wants to divert transportation funding from
transit to highway expansion.

For more information, see MSNBC on smart growth:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/996621.asp

and San Francisco Chronicle on public transportation:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/16/EDGJ72U6V81.DTL


___________________________

ABOUT THE BALTIMORE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP AND NEWSLETTER

The Baltimore Regional Partnership is an alliance of five civic,
environmental, and anti-sprawl groups:1000 Friends of Maryland
(www.friendsofmd.org), Baltimore Urban League (www.bul.org), Chesapeake
Bay Foundation ( www.savethebay.cbf.org), Citizens Planning and Housing
Association (www.CPHARallyForTheRegion.org), and Environmental Defense
(www.environmentaldefense.org).

This newsletter explores current issues, recent and upcoming events, and
ongoing deliberations that affect the region's quality of life through
transportation, economic development, and land use policy and planning. 

We hope to link citizens in the region who are working to fight sprawl,
promote clean and efficient transportation, protect valuable farm and
forest lands, and revitalize urban areas, older suburbs, and historic
towns. You can view past issues at
http://www.balto-region-partners.org/news.htm.

Has this newsletter been forwarded to you, and you would like to receive
it yourself? Go to
http://www.balto-region-partners.org/news.htm to sign up.

Baltimore Regional Partnership · 512 Orchard Street  · Baltimore, MD 21201-1947
 phone: (410) 523-8150  x249 · fax: (410) 523-4022