BALTIMORE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP Newsletter
Land Use and Transportation Issues Around the Region
December 10, 2002
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Contents:

*Regional Rail Effort Gets Dec. 19 Breakfast Launch
*New Carroll Commissioners Move Quickly
*Report Released on Neighborhood "Vital Signs"
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REGIONAL RAIL EFFORT GETS DEC. 19 BREAKFAST LAUNCH

With the release last month of an ambitious blueprint for rail transit
in the Baltimore region, a new coalition of business, community, and
environmental leaders is forming to promote the plan.  The Greater
Baltimore Committee, Baltimore Regional Partnership, Transit Riders
League, and Downtown Partnership have come together to cosponsor a
breakfast at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in downtown Baltimore on
Thursday, December 19.  Breakfast participants and a panel of civic and
business leaders will have the opportunity to discuss the plan, the
upcoming federal authorization of transportation funding critical to the
plan's success, and the need for a broad coalition to come together to
forward the new rail system's priority segments.  Those priorities
include a new east-west line from I-70 in the Security Square Mall area
to Fells Point and the extension of Baltimore's subway line from Johns
Hopkins to Morgan State University.

The breakfast will begin at 7:30 AM.  Registration is $25 per person and
available online at:
http://www.gbc.org/Events/121902-baltimorerailplanevent.html
For more information contact Mel Freeman, Greater Baltimore Committee at
melf@gbc.org, or Dan Pontious, Baltimore Regional Partnership, at
danp@balto-region-partners.org.

More information on the Rail Plan available at:
http://www.baltimorerailplan.com/

Dec. 5 Sun editorial on sprawl and transit available at:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/bal-ed.sprawl05dec05,0,7183755.story?coll=bal%2Dopinion%2Dheadlines


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NEW CARROLL COMMISSIONERS MOVE QUICKLY

The new Carroll County Board of Commissioners, sworn in on December 2,
have wasted no time ushering in the kind of change they all believe the
electorate called for in the county's fall elections.  County Republican
voters in the September primary decisively ousted he previous board's
usual 2-person majority of Donald Dell and Robin Frazier, and many
observers credited a public backlash over the county's rapid growth. 
Dell and Frazier had resisted efforts to rein in growth in areas with
inadequate facilities and had spurned a regional agreement designed to
protect the area's drinking water supply from pollution from new
development.  The new board, comprised of lone incumbent Julia Gouge and
successful challengers Dean Minnich and Perry Jones, killed a
controversial plan to use Piney Run Lake for a new drinking water
supply, tightened the county's ordinance on adequate public facilities,
and signaled their intention to revisit rezonings of the previous board
and to sign the regional watershed protection agreement.

December 8 Sun story available at:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/carroll/bal-te.ca.commissioners08dec08,0,7338059.story?coll=bal%2Dlocal%2Dcarroll


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REPORT RELEASED ON NEIGHBORHOOD "VITAL SIGNS"

In the culmination of a massive data-gathering and sorting effort, the
Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance has issued a report on the
"vital signs" of the city's neighborhoods.  The report lays out a
baseline of data on many indicators of the health of those
neighborhoods, setting a course to "measure progress towards a shared
vision for strong Baltimore neighborhoods and a thriving city over
time."  In embarking on this project, Baltimore joins over 200 cities
like Boston, Jacksonville, and Portland who have similar efforts already
underway.

Report is available at:
http://www.bnia.org/indicators_city-wide.html
Individuals and groups can also endorse the project online.  Community
leaders, nonprofit organizations, and endorsers of the project can also
receive a printed copy of the report for free.

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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.

Send us information, too. Let us know about your work on land use and
transportation decisions that are affecting the Baltimore region. Email
information to Adam Gordon at adam@balto-region-partners.org.  Visit the
Baltimore Regional Partnership website at
http://www.balto-region-partners.org.