Safe, Vibrant, and Walkable Streets Committee Meeting
Thursday, November 19th 2015
7 to 9pm
1401 Hollins St, Baltimore, MD
Minutes
In Attendance
Bernd Kiekebusch
Bill Pickens
Chris Redwood
Dan Rodenburg
Elizabeth Weber
Matt Benning
Updates
The Committee will not meet in December.
In January there will be elections for the chair position. In order to vote someone needs to have attended three meetings in a calendar year (2015). There aren’t any attendance requirements for running for the chair position. Chris will be running for Chair.
The SWP office will be moving and this will be the last Safe, Vibrant, and Walkable Streets Committee meeting at the 1401 Hollins Street location. New location TBD.
Announcements
Lucy sends regards from Uganda through Bernd.
The Union Square Cookie Tour will be December 13th starting at 1401 Hollins St. and there will be decorations from the SWP up by then.
ZipCar is coming to Hollins Market and will be in the Hollins Market parking lot. There will be two cars coming at the end of the month. Came in part because they saw that good things were going on. This will be the first location further west of MLK. ZipCar is a car sharing program, and anyone can sign up for a yearly membership which will be discounted for residents of the SWP area (new members only).
UMB Community Engagement Center is helping to sponsor a free Fresh Food Giveaway, sponsored by the Tessamae company at New Hope Academy 10am to 3pm at the corner of MLK and Druid Hill Ave on November 21st.
DOT and DPW Updates
Chris had a very productive meeting with the Department of Transportation (Valerie LaCour) and Department of Public Works (John Chalmers) about ways DOT and DPW can support the work of the SWP.
DPW has been doing regular trash pick up along major gateway streets
Matt expressed concern about dumping at the corners of James and S. Carey Streets. A camera at the corner store could help. Matt is also concerned about drug activity around the corners and around the Barrister Court Apartments—if there are cameras and some police activity it will help minimize the activity. He suggested No Dumping signs—kids could design a no dumping signs and they could go up.
DPW: has a work release program to clean Carroll Park. They also have a group of youth—Green Cadets: students who may have had troubles with the law who clean city streets and sidewalks (Chris is not clear whether or not they are at-risk youth). Green Cadets may be deployed somewhere in the SWP area (Chris suggested the 1100 to 1500 blocks of Washington Blvd), or DPW may extend the work release folks who currently clean Carroll Park to the 1100 through1500 blocks of Washington Blvd.
DOT: This was Chris’ first meeting with Valerie LaCour, and it was very productive. She had met with the Steering Committee in October 2014 to discuss ways to have traffic studies in the area. The MLK Blvd pedestrian safety came up; they also discussed traffic studies in the communities, and the bike path and side path along MLK. DOT has a community sign program as well, and Chris is waiting for examples from Valorie. DOT has performed studies of MLK, and are aware of pedestrian issues on the boulevard. Past ideas from the steering committee’s days of how to increase pedestrian crossing at MLK were discussed during the meeting including a bridge over MLK or tunnel under the street. DOT mentioned that a bridge would not be a good idea because most people would still cross at the street level. Tunnel under the boulevard would not be possible. Betty Smoot will be designated as the DOT person assigned to the SWP.
Matt: could they (DOT) have a traffic guard or crossing guard, a longer period of lights, or have a more significant yield to pedestrians sign? (Something with a light).
Dan: they could build out the major corridor cross points and make them more vibrant. Bill suggested changing the structure of the pavement.
Chris: DOT has a grant in mind to fix the sidepath (pedestrian/bike trail on the west side of MILK) but they need a match of $75,000 from another source. They are looking at the LDC. Chris suggested the Southwest Partnership could be a source of the match (help DOT raise the money).
B&O Bridge Underpass Project at Carey Street
The key stakeholders had a concept review with the volunteer design team from the Neighborhood Design Center where they were shown the concept and expressed support for it. Some elements of the design will need to be revamped. B&O won’t give approval for folks walking on the top of the bridge for liability and safety concerns.
Bill: B&O corridor will need to be its own planning study—safety is an issue, as well as crime behind the school. Parks and People is working on a project to work on the hillside behind the school. A study needs to be done for the hillside to judge the environmental impact of work in the area. Work is being done because of a grant.
Chris: Question about property lines in the area—who owns the grassy area at the bend in the road along S. Carey Street? Bill thinks the B&O does.
Chris asked if the the Committee would be interested in asking the Board if they would be willing the acquire the property of the parking lot/automotive on the south side of the bridge in order to expand the green space of the Carey St Underpass project.
Dan: would depend on whether it has sold/is for sale. It looks like the auto shop that was there has left. Matt suggested the SWP look into a land trust to hold the land. Chris will check with Michael Seipp and plans to ask the Board in December.
Bill: there will be environmental issues at the site because of the industrial nature of the area and also because of issues with the water table. There may be a spring underground. Also, someone should talk to the city agencies about doing the greening along the Amtrak corridor on the east side of the bridge.
Chris reviewed the draft of the B&O Bridge Underpass concept with the Committee. Many of the design elements would not be covered under the Chesapeake Bay Trust Grant that the Committee had been planning on applying for, and the grant would need more extensive, engineered plans than the Committee currently has. There was an objection to moving forward with the concept because it would be modified considerably to fit the grant, and the objection pointed out that the concept should not be tailored to the grant since it was a very good idea. Bill considered the concept premature and in need of more work before it could be implemented. Parks and People has an unfunded rain garden plan ready to be used to build rain gardens in and around the Southwest Baltimore Charter School parking lot and frontage area on S. Carey St. After discussion about this, the Committee decided to look into applying for the CBT grant for the school project instead of the underpass concept, and seek more extensive funding for the entire underpass project in 2016.
Committee Goals for 2016
The Committee brainstormed various goals for 2016. Each Committee has been asked by the SWP Board of Directors to establish up to three measurable and achievable goals for the year.
Suggested committee’s goals from committee members present are:
- Implementing the Carey Street Underpass project and identify other projects along the corridor which will improve the appearance and safety of Carey St.
- Identifying public safety strategies that will work for the community and begin to implement them according to need and funding.
- Identifying existing adopted lots, restoring them to their best condition, and implementing a system of regular maintenance for the lot.
- Trash (perhaps identifying, advocating for, and implementing a trash clean up system/method for every block in the area).
- Improving lighting in Carroll Park.
- Begin exploring gateway improvement projects for each gateway identified in the B&O heritage portion of the SWP vision plan.
