Attendees:
Robin Budish, Art Cohen, Kelly Cross, Peter Duvall, Dan Engelberg, Mac McComas, Ed Myers, Steven Rivelis, Jimmy Rouse, Sandy Sparks
Moderator:
Robin Budish welcomed the 8 attendees and thanked them for their interest in creating an overall streetcar vision. Robin also acknowledged Steven Rivelis for hosting the meeting and thanked him for his generous hospitality.
Discussion of an overall vision:
- The group agreed to change the name of the work group to “Rail Transit” and to include streetcar, light rail and metro in the discussion.
- The following criteria should be used to vet specific transit routes and an overall system:
- Pop Centers / Census Dots
- Development Opportunities
- Connection to _______
- Hub Potential
- RE: Population Opportunities
- Origin Destination
- Work Group Goals:
- Short Term – create a system map
- Long Term – present an integrated, connected system map to the Governor, Mayor and other city and state officials
- It is important to plant the seed of the vision to the citizenry.
- Economic development is key to increasing population.
- All visuals of an integrated system should take into consideration:
The population of current businesses vs. potential development
Streetcar routes that can serve heavily populated areas
Presentation of a potential streetcar system that would help achieve the vision:
- Dan Engelberg made a presentation on a “Future Baltimore Streetcar” network which included approximate costs per route. A copy of the map is attached.
- Jimmy Rouse showed a map produced by Gerry Neily that appeared in a recent Baltimore Brew article titled ” How the Red Line and streetcars can live well and affordable together” – here is the link to the complete article.
Next Steps/Action Items:
- Ed Myers agreed to bring some streetcar visuals to the next meeting
- The group agreed to meet every two weeks though Thanksgiving 2013 – Robin Budish will send a meeting calendar