Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to address you today at such an important time for the Baltimore region. The Baltimore Regional Partnership is a collaboration among prominent civic groups, the Baltimore Urban League and the Citizens Planning and Housing Association; environmental groups, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Environmental Defense; and the new anti-sprawl group 1000 Friends of Maryland. Through the Partnership, these groups work together to bring about improved transportation and land use policies throughout the Baltimore region. As you are probably well aware, we pushed this committee last fall to use up-to-date vehicle data when calculating conformity with the region’s plans under the Clean Air Act. We do appreciate the committee’s ultimate responsiveness on that point.

Today, however, I would like to address our comments at a broader level. We believe that this region is currently faced with harmful transportation and land use trends that need to be changed, but we also believe that many of the public decision-makers who have the power to influence those trends are in this room right now. We are convinced that this region could adopt a plan, or "vision," that would be better not only for the region as a whole, but for each individual jurisdiction in the region as well. In fact, in our view, such a plan could more easily be fashioned regionally, as opposed to the current, largely jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction planning process that we believe has resulted in the problems we face today.

Fundamentally, we believe that sprawl and ineffective transportation policies are eroding our quality of life in the Baltimore region. First, sprawl is consuming tremendous amounts of open space. Since 1985, for example, new development in the region claimed forest and farmland that would cover an area significantly larger than the City of Baltimore.

Second, sprawl and ineffective transportation policies are creating serious transportation problems. This region’s current 20-year plan, for example, anticipates spending $16 billion on transportation by the year 2020, with $4 billion in capital funds weighted toward highway construction, and yet even the official projections show dramatically worsened traffic congestion in the region in 2020. That, we believe, is planning for failure.

Third, sprawl and ineffective transportation policies hamper the region’s economy. Outer suburban jurisdictions, where business is booming, are struggling under the weight of unemployment rates near or below two percent, while Baltimore City and some inner suburbs have a disproportionately high unemployment rate. Unfortunately, historic land use and transportation decisions mean that many urban workers without access to a car cannot get to the plentiful jobs in the suburbs. A November 1999 report by the Citizens Planning and Housing Association found that fully one-third of the region’s jobs are completely inaccessible by public transportation. We estimate that another third are functionally inaccessible, with bus routes not running frequently enough or at the right times. That leaves struggling suburban employers without workers and struggling urban able-bodied citizens without jobs.

Finally, sprawl and ineffective transportation policies damage public health in our region, harm that may disproportionately affect the region’s minority population. We in the Baltimore region suffer from severe ozone smog air pollution. A report last fall calculated that ozone pollution was responsible for nearly 2,000 emergency room visits and 86,000 asthma attacks in Baltimore City in one summer alone. As the Maryland Department of the Environment cracks down on power plant pollution that contributes to this problem, the transportation sector is becoming the biggest problem. New automobiles are becoming cleaner, but popular sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and older cars buck this trend. In addition, land use and transportation decisions are forcing more people to drive their automobile more and more. With asthma rates particularly high in the African American community, unhealthy air can bring disproportionate harm to that population. We are concerned that the clear guidance of the Clean Air Act has so far not been followed with respect to transportation in the Baltimore region.

These historic trends will be very difficult to change, but we believe that change needs to start with public officials who have the courage to begin, champion, and steer significant change through an honest public participation process. We are hoping that you are those public officials. In fact, we believe that right now each of you is struggling in your own jurisdiction with issues that could be addressed much more effectively through a regional framework.

For example, we believe that Baltimore City is struggling with a downtown parking problem right now in large part because of the colossal ineffectiveness of the region’s public transportation system. To get to a downtown meeting from my house in Radnor-Winston using public transportation, for example, I need to budget $1.35 and an hour for the five-mile ride on an over-crowded bus that stops seemingly on every block. I still do take the bus occasionally, both on principle and because I still prefer it to the hassle & cost of downtown traffic and parking. With appropriate financial incentives enabled by recent federal and state legislation, other commuters would probably make that choice also. But what downtown employer faced with that public transportation system wouldn’t feel that the best benefit they can offer their employee is a parking space?

Mayor O’Malley and Baltimore City are faced with a true dilemma, however. If they try to accommodate downtown employers with several new garages in the five-by-six-block central business district, they risk two unintended consequences. First, they may clog the downtown streets so badly with traffic that people can’t get to the garages no matter how many spaces there are. Second, they may crowd the area with big, dark, desolate parking garages, weakening the lively retail and pedestrian atmosphere that makes any downtown area special and attractive in the first place. If you look at the great cities of the country and the world, parking is a huge headache in every single one of them. It doesn’t matter, though, because people will find a way to get there. Most of them, of course, also have first-class public transportation systems. Detroit, as a colleague of mine is fond of saying, has plenty of parking.

In any case, Mayor O’Malley, we recognize the importance of this issue for you and your administration, and we would like to work with you and others to address it as effectively as possible with an eye to the long-term. We are meeting with Deputy Mayors David Scott and Laurie Schwartz on May 9 to talk about opportunities we see available to the city. More broadly, however, we believe this is a key issue on which Baltimore City can work with the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), the Mass Transit Administration (MTA), and the region to improve the situation for everyone.

There are other such opportunities for collaboration, too. I think the currently desolate Cold Spring Lane light rail stop is crying out for some innovative, environmentally sensitive transit-oriented development nearby. It could boost light rail ridership, keep cars off the streets, bring some economic revitalization to the city, and enable preservation of and appreciation for some of the nearby open space. Right now, unfortunately, MTA is just planning to pave a big parking lot. Between City- and MTA-owned land, however, I think some innovative thinking could show the region how to promote a new type of "smart" development. I personally would be interested in working with you, Mayor O’Malley, and you, Secretary Porcari, to explore those possibilities.

We don’t want to single out Baltimore City, though. Baltimore County, for example, is looking at a few major land use and transportation projects that have tremendous implications for our transportation system. One is the proposed mixed-use development near the Owings Mills Metro stop. If done right, this could help increase Metro ridership, reduce auto use and traffic in the area, reduce pollution, and provide both a commercial and residential heart to Owings Mills. It may even reduce growth pressure elsewhere in the county where growth would be less desirable.

Another project, however, is the proposed redevelopment of Essex and Middle River, which in turn relates to the extension of Rt. 43 into the area. Will that redevelopment be done in a way that can be served cost-effectively by public transportation? If not, what implications does that, the new nearby highway, and nearby zoning have for future development and traffic problems in eastern Baltimore County? This issue may actually have implications for Baltimore City’s downtown parking problem. More upscale commuters with cars in Essex probably means more upscale commuters with cars in downtown Baltimore. Similarly, any perception in Baltimore County government that the citizens of the county don’t support expanded public transportation has implications regionwide. Since Baltimore County virtually surrounds Baltimore City, lack of support for public transportation in Baltimore County dooms it throughout the region. County Executive Ruppersberger, we would like to work with you, other public officials in the county, citizens, and businesses to resolve some of these difficult issues.

We in the Partnership believe that effective transportation and land use planning should be appealing to the citizens of any jurisdiction. In February, for example, I attended a weekend planning or "visioning" forum in Harford County that you, County Executive Harkins, introduced on Friday evening. I learned that weekend, both during the forum itself and driving to and from, that even a booming outer suburban jurisdiction like Harford County has an older, declining area – the Rt. 40 corridor – in serious need of revitalization. At that forum over 100 Harford County citizens gave what I thought was remarkably high praise to ideas for dense, mixed-use development along Rt. 40, served by public transportation. Those ideas included pedestrian boulevards in front of five and six-story commercial buildings, rail transit down Rt. 40 and attractive bus shelters. We would like to work with you as this project moves forward in your county.

We have also been exploring the possibility of a new transportation management association (TMA) for the Rt. 40 corridor with a number of area employers and county officials. Such a project could help bring workers to Harford County employers and provide a constituency for more effective transit and transit-oriented land use policies in the future. We are holding a breakfast later this month where Neil Shpritz of the BWI Business Partnership will provide a voice of experience on the subject, letting some interested local business people and others know about the possibilities a new TMA may offer. We also hope to work with you in this endeavor.

Like Harford County, Howard County seems to be struggling both with rapid growth and with a need for revitalization issues in certain corridors. We have been interested, for example, in the land use implications of both your upcoming general plan and of plans for Rt. 32. As you know, we strongly oppose widening Rt. 32 because of its land use implications. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is now spearheading our suggestions for the new land use panel currently being convened by the State Highway Administration to explore those issues. Kristen Forsyth of 1000 Friends of Maryland recently attended one of the public forums on the new general plan. We are also particularly interested in the potential revitalization issues along the Rt. 1 corridor that the County appears to want to prioritize after the new general plan is complete. County Executive Robey, we hope to work with you and other officials in Howard County on those important issues.

Another new highway in the 1998 long-range plan that we strongly opposed, as this committee knows, was the Westminster bypass in Carroll County – a proposed bypass around an existing bypass. We were pleased to see Governor Glendening remove this project from state plans, but now we are equally interested in working with local officials and citizens’ organizations in Carroll County to work to address the problems that spurred the calls for the outer bypass in the first place. Amy Menzer from 1000 Friends of Maryland attended the April 10 meeting in Westminster to begin to explore those issues. There are other issues of regional significance in Carroll County, as well. We are interested in following the debates over the potential new county plan as well as the dispute that has arisen between Carroll County and Baltimore City over water from the Liberty Reservoir. As we discovered last summer, water availability for a growing population is truly a regional issue, and we hope to work with you, Commissioner Gouge, on these and other issues.

Finally, there are issues facing the City of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County that relate to the entire region. As you know, Mayor Johnson, Annapolis now faces a downtown parking crunch and dirth of effective public transportation. In our view, this situation may hold lessons for, or may be able to learn from, downtown Baltimore. Civic organizations are involved in Annapolis because they realize that any overall parking strategy or lack thereof is integrally related to issues of land use, development, quality of life, and economic health in the more central portions of that city. Elsewhere in Anne Arundel County, as you are aware, County Executive Owens, the county government seems to be actively exploring the opportunity for appropriate transit-oriented development near the Odenton MARC stop. Perhaps that project and Baltimore County’s Owings Mills project can help inform each other and exchange ideas. And of course, there is the challenge of dealing with the traffic, employment, and other economic consequences of the giant new Arundel Mills Mall. The Baltimore Urban League and Environmental Defense have been leading the Partnership’s efforts to address the access to jobs and other issues surrounding that project.

As I mentioned earlier, we believe that the Baltimore region is facing huge challenges that it has so far been unwilling to face head on, a fact exemplified by its current 20-year transportation plan. As I also mentioned, however, there are crucial local issues all around this region relating to curbing development in some areas, steering it in an effective way to others, and revitalizing still other areas. All these land use issues fundamentally relate to regional transportation policies. There are also truly regional solutions, like making the most of the new state and federal Commuter Choice tax incentives, which encourage employers to offer their employees financial incentives to find an alternative to driving. That tool could help any jurisdiction with its parking woes.

We firmly believe there is a better way to do land use and transportation planning in the Baltimore region that will truly make the region greater than the sum of its parts. We are committed to working to find and employ them, and we hope we can work collaboratively with all of you to explore these tough issues and bring about a brighter future for the Baltimore region as a whole as well as for each jurisdiction it includes. The quality of our lives and the quality of our children’s lives depend on it.