Attendees:
Darcy Accardi, Demetria Barrett, Robin Budish, Scott Burkholder, Art Cohen, Amber Collins, Grant Corley, Kelly Cross, Rufus Davis, Charlie Duff, Peter Duvall, Kathy Epstein, Mel Freeman, Liz Gordon, Paulo/Gregory Harris, Mark Heishman, Bob Hellauer, Michael Kaurich, Valorie LaCour, Jeff LaNoue, Maura Mahoney, Dick Manekin, Mac McComas, Michael McDaniel, Molly McKee, Chris Merriam, Robert Milner, Mike Molla, Luke Mowbray, Caroline Peri, Klaus Philipsen, Wally Pinkard, Barry Robinson, Jimmy Rouse, Greg Smith, Jill Sorensen, Sandy Sparks, Kristin Speaker, Bill Struever, Yolanda Takesian, Michael Walk, Ashley Wallace, Michele Whelley, Trey Winstead, Khalil Zaied
Moderator: Mel Freeman, Executive Director of Citizens Planning & Housing Association
Mel welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked the attendees for coming. He then turned the meeting over to Robin Budish who spoke about Transit Choices hosting a Baltimore Transportation event (with a connectivity theme) in the spring of 2014:
- Jimmy Rouse and Robin Budish attended a meeting facilitated by Billy Hwang (CityDOT) to discuss holding a transportation event in Baltimore similar to the “Forefront of Innovative Transportation” event held in Washington DC on September 25, 2013. Present at the meeting were other CityDOT representatives as well as Henry Kay with the MTA. Michele Whelley, (CMTA) participated by phone. Both the city and state offered funds to help with the cost of the event and also suggested possible sponsors.
Work Group Presentations: “Quick Hits” List
- Kelly Cross – “Rail Transit”
- Amber Collins – “Biking”
- Greg Smith – “Buses”
- Demetria Barrett – “Water Taxi”
- Mac McComas – “Pedestrian Facilities”
Work Group Presentation Discussion Points:
- Rail Transit
- Charlie Duff recommended the work group look at heavy rail stations which have high visibility for potential land use around buildings.
- Biking
- Barry Robinson reported on behalf of Bike share that the city is working with a company by the name of Alta and that a program should be implemented by May 2014. The city is currently looking for sponsors.
- Klaus Philipsen suggested that Government agencies and Colleges/Universities could have bike share for their employees because it’s a good tester to have private enterprise.
- Buses
- Dick Manekin raised the question about how much the local colleges and universities spend on private bus shuttles.
- Pedestrian Facilities
- Valorie LaCour suggested that the work group get a copy of the “complete streets” policy from the city.
- Chris Merriam recommended we ask the city for an audit of complete streets.
- Art Cohen raised the point of exploring making some one way streets – two way.
- Paulo Harris Paula mentioned that a complete streets policy should apply to all neighborhoods in the city.
Presentation: Collaborative Design Process for Strategic Planning – Mac McComas
- Link to presentation.
- Klaus Philipsen: Transit Choices can do cross fertilization that local agencies can’t do – take inefficiencies out and look for the moments that we can improve upon.
Other Discussion Points:
- Jimmy Rouse: MDOT and CityDOT have money for other transportation projects. We have ideas and want them implemented. We will develop a presentation for them (Quick Hits in 2014) of what we intend to advocate and lobby for.
- Jill Sorensen: the work groups should have guiding principles which will be discussed at the December 2013 meeting. Goal is to tie the “quick hits” to guiding principles and the connection to all of their priorities.
- Liz Gordon raised the issue of Transit Choices taking a position on the Red Line and that the group should dedicate time for discussion. Kathy Epstein responded that we should focus on the commonalities of the group. Mel Freeman added that we should focus on what current issues we have NOW that can be fixed and where we can agree on things as a group.
- Klaus Philipsen suggested that we do not water down or perfect the quick hits by ranking them rather, let DOT get back to us with what they can or have done.
- Khalil Zaied: will have his staff take a look at the “quick hits” list and incorporate them into city stat for monitoring. They will evaluate what we want, and how much the city has to spend based on money available in the budget.