Edmondson Village:Driven by the Outside Market

Edmondson Village's demographics have always been driven by outside forces. First it was the advent of James Keelty's "Daylight Row Houses" which features a window in every room. This brought Baltimore's White Middle Class Christians and Catholics to Edmondson Village. Then came blockbusting, Real Estate agents scared off Whites by the thousands by planting Black Families on stable blocks and in no time at all, Edmodson Village went from completely White to completely Black. Then came the Drug Trade and Public Housing High Rises.

The Public Housing High Rises were supposed to solve and consolidate the urban ills and decay, instead, it expanded them and made them worse. Although Edmodson Village didn't ever have Public Housing High Rises but some of the woes caused by them and the drug trade crossed into Edmondson Village. More recently, long time Homeowners have aged and as a result are putting their houses up for sale and looming threat of slum lords buying them and renting them out to families who don't care for their houses the way Homeowners do.

Today, outside forces over the next 10-20 years will reshape the demographics of Edmondson Village. On either side of the Neighborhood, major redevelopment initiatives or beginning to take place or are on the books to take place. In Uplands, a large shuttered Public Housing Development has been torn down. In its place will be roughly 1646 units of mixed style and mixed income housing. This will be a transformation area between the lower density Neighborhoods of Ten Hills and Hunting Ridge and the higher density Neighborhoods of Edmondson Village and Allendale.

East of Edmondson Village, redevelopment is also in the air. It's not quite as apparent as Uplands seeing as nothing has been torn down recently. But make no mistakes, the West Baltimore MARC Station Redevelopment is raring to go full speed ahead. In addition to Edmondson Village the redevelopment of the West Baltimore MARC may finally lead to addressing the Road to Nowhere. The West Baltimore MARC Station, now nothing more than surface lots will be developed into high density TOD with Offices, Retail, and Residential. Since the existing surrounding Neighborhoods (Not Edmondson Village) are in such bad shape, redevelopment will extend beyond the boundaries of the West Baltimore MARC Parking Lots.

Finally, running right through Edmondson Village will be the Red Line. It will span from Medicare/Medicaid Office Complex to Bayview crossing the existing West Baltimore MARC Station and a new East Baltimore MARC Station to be created in Orangeville. Although it is poised to relieve traffic congestion along Edmondson Avenue with fewer cars driving on it, it is also poised, to be rammed down Edmondson Avenue just like the Light Rail is along Howard St. Not only will this destroy Edmondson Avenue's beautiful new landscaped median but it will make traffic worse! This is an SOS call to the MTA; Tunnel the Red Line down Edmondson Avenue!

So where does this leave Edmondson Village? After it's in the middle of all this redevelopment. How will it change? Will it change at all? Should there be intervention to initiate change? I'm going with the third option, after all, if I wasn't interested in change for Edmondson Village, Would I be writing this post? The vast majority of Edmondson Village's housing stock is in great shape and needs no intervention. What does need to happen is when a house goes up on the Market there should be a monitoring agency presumably an HOA to make sure the Homeownership Rate stays high and flippers and slumlords are kept out.

Now there is a little room for redevelopment in Edmondson Village. First, at the northern end of the Neighborhood lies the Wildwood Gardens Apartment Complex. Wildwood Gardens is a suburban style garden Apartment Complex that is suffering from poor maintenance and is showing its age. New Town Homes would make a perfect replacement as that's what leads up to them on Woodington Road and Wildwood Parkway. The new homes will take advantage of its views of Leakin Park and will be named "Leakin Overlook at Edmondson Village." In what I'm calling a "density exchange" the row homes along Edmondson Avenue will be demolished and Mixed Income Apartment/Condo Buildings will go in their place. These buildings will connect Uplands to the West Baltimore MARC Station as they will cover that whole distance. Behind the shopping Center is a vacant spot that can make for additional Town Homes as well.

Speaking of Edmondson Avenue, it's time that it underwent a makeover. From the County Line to the West Baltimore MARC Station it should undergo sidewalk construction, new traffic signals and pedestrian "countdown signals", repavement, and crosswalk restriping. New benches and plantings will also flank Edmondson Avenue. It may work in Edmondson Avenue's favor to narrow it to four lanes instead of six. The fifth and sixth lanes could work as metered diagonal parking spaces like those found on the Avenue in Hampden.

Well it's plain to see that outside forces have driven Edmondson Village in the past and have continued to do so in the present and are poised to do so in the future.

Greektown: Bring On the Condos, Well Not Yet

First it was East Highlandtown, then Little Athens, and now Greektown. The cluster of Neighborhoods located in the far Southeast were built specifically for Industry including Greektown and now that Industry is dwindling away all around the Harbor it's time that Greektown experienced growth just like its counterparts to the West. So I say to Greektown; Bring on the Condos! Well, not yet.

Greektown, just like every East Baltimore Neighborhood was built to house workers from Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point which at the time was the City's largest Employer with close to 30,000 on the pay roll in its heyday. The Port of Baltimore, Fort Holabird, and Dundalk Marine Terminal were also major players in providing employment for Greektown. It's no mystery how Greektown got its name, Baltimore's Greek Residents congregated here to Live, Work, Play, and Worship.

The plight of Greektown was almost non-existant when compared to Industry Based Neighborhoods throughout Baltimore and throughout Urban America. Why? It's all in the name! Just like Little Italy, Greektown retained a core group of residents despite employment leaving the area with it popular Restaurants, Eateries, and Markets being an outside. With Little Italy, it was Italian Restaurants and in Greektown, obviously it was and is Greek Restaurants. Every Spring, the event known as "Greekfest" brings a lot of Residents and Tourists alike to Greektown even those not of Greek Dissent.

In the early 2000s, as Mayor, Marton O'Malley launched a Master Plan for the Southeastern Neighborhood Cluster including Greektown. The plan called for infrastructure improvements, streetscape enhancements on Eastern Avenue, New Playgrounds, Alley Cleanings, and the redevelopment of O'Donnell Heights. Today in 2010, O'Malley seems to have made good on the Master Plan as most of these projects have been completed or are underway. Greektown, being the healthiest Neighborhood of thee cluster wasn't mentioned much. The only thing recommended for Greektown was refilling vacant row homes. The vacancy rate as of 2000 was 11% but I project it today to be between 7% and 8% as vacants have been rehabbed and refilled. A large Hispanic Population has joined Greektown as it has with Southeast Baltimore as a whole. Perhaps the biggest dilemma that the plan brought up for Greektown was that its housing stock, although very healthy is dated and might not attract new residents. The recent Hispanic influx has proved this untrue but that statement appeared to have gotten the attention of couple developers.

Ryan Homes answered back with the 97 unit Athena Square on the southwestern edge of Greektown off of Oldham St. on an old Industrial piece of land. Athena Square began construction just as the Real Estate bubble was about to burst. Sales began strong and prices were high. Sadly, with the big 2008 "bubble bust" Athena Square's prices, sales, and construction slowed down considerably. Athena Square is now nearing completion which brought the new construction to Greektown that the Southeast Master Plan said was needed.

The Story of new housing in Greektown doesn't end with Athena Square, it just got started.
At the same time Athena Square was approved, Kettler Development was getting its plans approved for close to 1,100 high rise Condos in Greektown. Those plans were submitted by Kettler and approved by the City of Baltimore in 2006. I said as far Greektown at that time; Bring on the Condos! A lot has changed between 2006 and 2010. Kettler wasn't scared off by the shrinking Real Estate Market but they did have to change up their game plan. I still say bring on the Condos just not yet. The site for the Condos is 15 acres and Kettler has come for with a plan for five of those acres. Unfortunately it's for Town Homes instead of Condos 125 to be exact. I guess they didn't hear me when I said Bring on the Condos! Since the economy went bust I have always been an advocate of not changing development and leaving them on the table because I believe when the market turns around the demand will return. The situation in Greektown is no different. The good news is there are still 10 of the 15 acres unaccounted for on the Greektown site. Kettler has no plans as of yet to develop them. That, in my opinion is good, that means they appear willing to wait out the market. Hopefully thethey're willing to bring on the Condos! Just not yet. Kettler envisioned Greektown to be another Inner Harbor East and hopefully that plan will come to fruition. My message to Kettler regrarding Greektown to be Bring on the Condos just not yet.

Clipper Mill:Preservation At Its Best

The remains of the old Clipper Mill has quickly become Baltimore's most sought after and most hidden address at the same time. The reason being is that Clipper Mill has gotten back to its roots as a Mill Village with a mix of uses including residential, retail, and office space. Given the success of Clipper Mill, one can't help but wonder if other old Mills in the Hampden Woodberry Area should have been better preserved or if there are other undiscovered Mill remains in the Woodberry Outback.

Clipper Mill came into existence around the Civil War as people from the South and Appalachia flooded Baltimore looking for work. Clipper Mill, which specialized in melting iron and producing machines and the Mount Vernon Cotton Mill. The site of the Mount Vernon Cotton Mill is now the Pepsi Bottling Plant opposite Clipper Mill. These Mills (twelve total) could not house the thounsands of workers who migrated to Baltimore. Thus began the early building boom of Hampden-Woodberry. Most of the detached housing built at the time was spread out and can be found mostly in Woodberry with a few amongst the Hampden Row Homes.

After the Civil War, Clipper Mill and its industrious Neighbors did not see a reduction in numbers of workers migrating from the South and Appalachia nor did those who came Pre-Civil War, leave. This explains the Southern Appalachian twang of the Baltimore Accent and why it's still so prevalent in Hampden today. Although work in the Mills slowed a little bit after the Civil War there was plenty to go around, in fact a second Migration Boom occurred during the United State's entry into World War I. Like clockwork, when the second Migration Boom Occurred, so did another Building Boom. This time, the new housing was denser Row Homes in what is present day Hampden and Medfield Heights. The current lay out of these Neighborhoods hasn't changed much since their inception during World War I.

Unlike the Civil War, Clipper Mill did not keep the jobs that were added for World War I. However, the Roaring 20s kept the Machines of Clipper Mill running. The Great Depression, for a short time brought Clipper Mill to a screeching halt. During the 1930s unemployment sky rocketed but by the mid to late 1930s Clipper Mill geared up and staffed up for World War II. World War II provided a brief healthy period for Clipper Mill and its cohort. Once World War II ended the 1950s and 60s spelled the end of Clipper Mill and Hampden Woodberry as we know it.

The Mount Vernon Cotton Mill was redeveloped as a Pepsi Bottling Center and the JFX (I-83) separated Clipper Mill and Woodberry from Hampden. Since Hampden Woodberry's employment base came from the Mills that had closed they went into rapid decline. Clipper Mill was left to rot, but was that a bad thing?

I should say not! For several reasons, one Batimore has a tendency to demolish way too many of its buildings, two preservationists have a hard time finding buildings to restore in Baltimore, and three Clipper Mill, except for a small fire in the 1960s has remained unchanged since its heyday. In the early 2000s, when Hampden's resurgence had been in full force for several years, developer Struever Brothers, Eccles and Rouse (SBER) saw Clipper Mill and saw a vision and they took that vision across the JFX and the Woodberry Light Rail Station.

Now SBER isn't some fly by night developer or some national conglomerate who only knows "Baltimore's Harbor", SBER has a huge stake planted in Baltimore's Future and they know a good investment when they see one and they saw one; in Clipper Mill. Clipper Mill has seen a rebirth a mixed use development as Condos, Town Homes, Single Family Homes, Offices, and a small Retail Component. The old Mill has been restored to her former glory and a new Village has grown up around it. If I were a developer I'd be wishing that more of the Mills of the Old Hampden Woodberry had been preserved given the success of Clipper Mill and the general ugliness of the Industry along the JFX. Meadow Mill, a small textiles plant east of the JFX was converted into a large Gym. If I could turn back time, I'd turn the Mount Vernon Cotton Mill into a development similar to Clipper Mill, perhaps with a larger Retail Component. If Pepsi were to relocate its bottling plant it could be redeveloped as such. As for Clipper Mill, I can say with certainty that's Preservation at its Best.

East Baltimore Midway:Rebuilding an Entire Neighorhood

Surprisingly, in a City like Baltimore where there are close to 15,000 vacant homes and thousands more vacant lots, there aren't but a handful of neighborhoods that I would take a demo crew to demolish the neighborhood. Even in some of Baltimore's most devastated neighborhoods, there are parts that are in great shape and are very much worth saving. In Upton there's Marble Hill, in Middle East there's the "Preservation Zone" below Hopkins near Patterson Park, Barclay there's everything west of Calvert St., there's Historic Homestead in Coldstream Homestead Montebello, and even in Park Heights there's Historic Park Circle.

East Baltimore Midway, is a different story. There's no Historic Housing Stock nor is the location optimal for Homesteading. The Urban Ills that have ravaged Rust Belt Citys across America are present and ramped in East Baltimore Midway. A lot of neighborhoods in Baltimore that are currently in rough shape still have some Community Amenities that, if used to their full potential, can bring back population (Union Square and Hollins Market are examples of this) but East Baltimore Midway does not have such amenities.

East Baltimore Midway was built out just after its annexation in the 1910s. Surrounding Industry had pushed the demand for housing for workers up North and thus began the "birth" of East Baltimore Midway. I'm not sure exactly how the name "East Baltimore Midway" came to fruition but I've seen it on the books for at least 40 years. It was among the first neighborhoods in East Baltimore to go through racial change in the 1940s and 1950s before "blockbusting" became popular.

In the early to mid 1960s, East Baltimore Midway had become one of East Baltimore's first Black Neighborhoods and perhaps the only one in North Baltimore. One thing to note about the geographics of East Baltimore is that it's considered East Baltimore on some maps, North Baltimore on others but I've never known it to be Northeast Baltimore. In the 1910s, just after annexation East Baltimore Midway was considered an outskirt of the City but is now considered "Inner City." Back to the 1960s, where much of that decade, East Baltimore Midway enjoyed a period of being a working class and healthy Black Neighborhood.

April 4th, 1968 changed everything in East Baltimore Midway and made for a new page in American History, an ugly page. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a preacher who advocated for equality between the races in a non-violent manner was shot dead from a Motel Balcony in Memphis. Within minutes of his death, his dream and words of peace were forgotten and riots broke out in Citys all across America. Baltimore was hit especially hard by riots and East Baltimore Midway was in the middle of it. White Flight accelerated and the impoverished Black Neighborhoods spread like wild fires.

Between the devistation of the MLK Riots of the late 1960s, the population loss of the 1970s, cocaine and HIV of the 1980s and the continued crime waves and population losses of the 1990s and 2000s East Baltimore Midway has become one of the City's most "scarred" Neighborhoods. Like I said in the beginning of this post, other troubled City Neighborhoods have "saving graces" that can bring about growth. East Baltimore Midway does not have that in its favor.

Today, in 2010, I would guesstimate the vacancy rate at 35% for East Baltimore Midway. That doesn't count the vacant lots which there aren't as many as in some cases. However, the housing stock both vacant and occupied is in shambles, the streets are dirty and unpaved, and the infrastructuree is crumbling. The chances of this neighborhood making a comeback are slim to none. Both from a financial and a practical standpoint, saving this neighborhood is not an option.

That means a complete tear down and redevelopment of the entire East Baltimore Midway Neighborhood. The "if you build it they will come" mentality will be applied to the redevelopment. And build it they will, the old East Baltimore Midway may lack certain community amenities but the new East Baltimore Midway will have an abundance of them. There will be a Public Square, Swimming Pool, Community Center with Internet Access, and a Playground for Children of all ages. If it's deemed necessary, East Baltimore Midway will get its own branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Librbary. Obviously, the income mix will be much broader with a 55% Market Rate Homeownership, 15% Market Rate Rental, 25% Affordable for Purchase, and 5% Affordable Rentals for Seniors. Denser Condos will be on the outer edges of the Neighborhood while larger town homes will be in the Center.

One hidden jewel the current East Baltimore Midway has is the Kirk Avenue Bus Storage. The Yellow Line will go up Greenmount Avenue with a stop at 25th St. serving East Baltimore Midway and surrounding communities. The Kirk Avenue Bus Depot, already owned by the MTA will be redeveloped as a Multi-Modal Transit Hub where Bus Routes start and stop instantly making East Baltimore Midway a draw all across the City and points beyond.

Well that just about does it for East Baltimore Midway, I apologize for not posting in a while but I'm back and better than ever! Stay Tuned!

New Posts Coming Soon

After camping for two weeks and being extremely bust at work, I can focus on blogging once again. I'm glad to have gotten emails and comments asking for new posts, it shows that people are interested and you won't have to wait much longer. Stay tuned!

The Rotunda:Waiting for Redevelopment

The Rotunda, located in the northern outskirts of Hampden either needs some major redevelopment. Otherwise, I fear its fate will won't be pretty. I know this because my Home Town and Current City is Columbia. I see some parallels with Columbia's Wilde Lake Village Center with the Rotunda. Wilde Lake had a Giant a little smaller than the Rotunda's. Wilde Lake's Giant closed in 2006 after 39 and a half years in business because it refused to expand and compete with newer Grocery Stores (mostly other Giants), it has yet to be replaced nor has there been a viable redevelopment plan. Despite Wilde Lake Giant's poor business before it closed Wilde Lake was almost completely leased out. After its closing, merchants have been leaving at an alarming rate draining what little vitality is left in the ailing Center. Like Wilde Lake, pre 2006 the Rotunda is anchored by a Giant Supermarket which is small dingy and outdated. Worse than that, new or renovated Supermarkets have popped up in neighboring communities. A Shoppers has opened in the newly expanded Mondawmin Mall, a Giant (much bigger and better) has opened in Waverly, the Superfresh a few blocks away has completed a renovation as has the Safeway in Charles North, and a Supermarket is planned with the Lowes on the soon to be former grounds of the Anderson Automotive Site in Remington. Can you see the writing on the wall? I know I can.The Building the Rotunda currently occupies was built in 1921 to house the headquarters of the Maryland Casulty Company. 50 years later it became the Neighborhood Shopping Mall that we see in the picture above us. Almost 40 years later not much has changed, except the vacancy rate which has sky rocketed and the vitality of the Center which has plummeted. The four story structure, in addition to the Giant is home to a Rite Aid, the newly reopened Rotunda Cimenatheque, a Hair Cuttery, a Radio Shack, a Dry Cleaners, an Optician, a Book Store a Craft Store, Casa Mia Pizzeria, and a few other Shops a (I haven't been able to find a current tenant roster so I'm going from memory from when I took these pictures)
These have popped up recently as the Charm City Diner and TCBY have closed. Plans for the owner of Cafe Hon to open the "Coffee Cart" in the Rotunda were scrapped. Perhaps the best thing to happen to the Rotunda was it bring purchased by the Hekemain Corp. Hekemain wasted no time in coming with an ambitious redevelopment plan. Original plans included a new Giant, the Rotunda Cinematheque, and several new taller buildings with upscale ground floor retail, apartments, condos, and a hotel.
Now perhaps the worst thing to happen to the Rotunda, at least in recent memory; the economy.
When the economy went bust so did any redevelopment plans for the Rotunda in the near future. Hekemain has remained firm in their commitment to eventually redeveloping the Rotunda though it might be scaled back, more recent plans show that the Hotel and Condos were scrapped.
In the mean time, what is Hekemain doing to keep existing tenants? The only two existing tenants shown in redevelopment plans are the Giant and the Cimenatheque. When Hekemain purchased the Center did have the intention of not renewing leases when redevelopment was full speed ahead? If that was the case, Hekemain had better re-shift its thinking because all the new stores they were in talks with will have to wait for actual redevelopment. So Hekemain since you're stuck with the Rotunda in its current form for a while what are you doing to keep your existing tenants?The Giant, in addition to the Mall Entrance has another set of doors directly leading directly to the parking lot. That puts the remaining tenants in a bind. My visits to the Rotunda outside the Giant is a virtual Ghost Town. Hekemain is right that redevelopment is the only option for the Rotunda but how can the Rotunda retain its smaller tenants when the anchor tenant doesn't draw traffic into the Mall? I think a short term fix would be to seal off the outside doors to the Giant. This would force Giant Shoppers into the Mall and may lead to boost in patronage of other businesses. I could also see this back firing and Giant would see a decline leading to further drainage of the Center's vitality. So what's the short term solution? I really don't know. Hekemain could show some good faith to struggling tenants who owe back rent (assume there are any) by forgiving their debts. Other than that, I don't see much else that can be done right now besides waiting out the recession. Speaking of waiting out the recession, Giant has promised to relocate to its new building when redevelopment takes place making my projection of Giant leaving the Rotunda completely false. In this instance I'm glad I was wrong. And as far as Hekemain is concerned they WILL redevelop the Rotunda in due time and it will look great. The sign wasn't meant to be interpreted this way but more shops are on the way. Hekemain still wants to bring in new upscale tenants to the redeveloped Rotunda. Even without the Condos and Hotel there will still be several hundred Apartments and Offices and Hekemain is in talks with a large Book Store. Seeing as there's already a Barnes & Noble in Charles Village I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's a Borders. The Rotunda will rise again!

New Rail Lines: Start Downtown and then the Suburbs Phases III and I V

This post is a continuation of the previous post. It started with Phases I and II of my plan to build a world class Rail Transit System for Baltimore and its surrounding. I'm taking the "Phase In" approach of building several lines at once rather than doing the Red Line all at once and pretending to entertain the idea of the Green Line Expansion to Morgan State. So without further ado, I give you Phases III and IV (the final two.)Phase III: Encroaching Suburbia
Pictured above is an extension of the existing Central Light Rail Line branch now dubbed the Yellow Line. This will be its southern terminus at the Eastern Edge of Howard County with stops at the BWI MARC Station, Baltimore Commons Business Park, and Arundel Mills before ending at the Dorsey MARC Station. The 2002 plan shows the Yellow Line ending in Columbia which I'm favor much in favor of. Look for a post dedicated to Rail Transit in Columbia on my Columbia Blog. I'm currently writing that post along with this one.Phase IIIB of the Yellow Line involves a northbound expansion. It will continue along Greenmount Avenue/York Road from Waverly with stops in Govans and Belvedere Square. This will also effect up and comers like Pen Lucy and Wilson Park. I've gotten idea from comments on this blog that neighborhoods east of Greenmount Avenue are bad. Greenmount Avenue itself isn't that great but the neighborhoods though not as prestigious as their western counter parts are very nice. Waverly, Govans, Pen Lucy, Chinquapin Park have all made great strides towards improvement and are well positioned to provide affordable safe housing in this economic downturn. Being on a Rail Transit line is just the icing on the cake.Phase III A of the ReD Line involves a branch out into East Baltimore. As you can see, Phase II A goes along Eastern Avenue from the Harbor East Branch Stop to Fells Point, Canton, Hghlandtown, Greektown, and Bayview. This branch travels northeast from the Harbor East Stop to Washington Hill, Butchers Hill, Library Square, Orangeville (East Baltimore MARC) before rejoining its southern counterpart in Bayview. It will continue along Dundalk Avenue for an O'Donnell Heights Stop. A few things I would like to see happen in the course of the building of this line; a complete makeover of Central Avenue in Washington Hill, Massive Redevelopment effort in Orangeville into a TOD District, and a redevelopment plan for O'Donnell Heights. It's been torn down but it's being "land banked" which is a fancy term for meaning City Hall doesn't have a plan or doesn't have any funds. Phase III B of the Red Line involves the westward expansion along Edmondson Avenue and up Cooks Lane to the eastern terminus of I-70. The Red Line 4C option currently set in place calls for surface level tracking along Edmondson Avenue. I don't want surface tracking along Edmondson Avenue I want tunnels, and I on this blog (and only this blog) I get what I want! I'd also like to take this opportunity to say that everything I'm writing about concerning Rail Transit I would like to have EVERYTHING tunneled (when I say along I mean under), that includes existing lines that are overhead or at surface level. The only thing I would put at surface level would be the Red Line along Pratt St. which is the City's showcase. I think if Baltimore had a world class Rail Transit system it should showcased along its prized Harbor. Back to Edmondson Avenue, with the West Baltimore MARC Redevelopment and the Uplands Redevelopment, Edmondson Avenue will soon be an up and coming part of Baltimore poised for growth. The array of beautiful affordable row homes in Edmondson Village will be bought and occupied by their owners who will restore them to their elegant beauty making James Keelty proud.Now let me turn your attention to the Green Line. We finally had it expanded to Morgan State University in Phase II but that's not its terminus. The Green Line will turn east along Argonne Drive and then up Harford Road where at Coldspring Land/Moravia Road will have a Lauraville Stop. Continuing up Harford Road there will be a Hamilton Stop at Hamilton Avenue. It will turn down Hamilton (it becomes Frankford Avenue on the other side of Walther Avenue) where at its intersection with Belair Road will have a Waltherson Stop. In addition to Waltherson, this stop will benefit Frankford, Cedonia, and Cemont before ending at an Overlea Stop along Belair Road just inside the City line. That concludes Phase III

Phase IV: Into the Burbs

Phases I to III have taken us through the City in all directions so Phase IV will take us into the Suburbs. Next to Downtown the Suburbs have the most traffic congestion in the area. Since most of these stops are meant to carry a larger area of riders than those of the City (Stops in the City are more frequent) this will be an opportunity to make the suburbs more walkable and rework Bus Lines to integrate them into the Rail Stops. Now we'll give the Green Line a proper eastern terminus. Upon existing the City it will continue along Belair Road until it meets White Marsh Boulevard for a Putty Hill Stop. Going along White Marsh Boulevard it will have a White Marsh Stop at Perry Hall Boulevard. This is at the Western Edge of White Marsh Mall. The southwest quadrant of this intersection is still surprisingly undeveloped perhaps some TOD might be in the cards? Speaking of TOD the Mall is aching for it. The Avenue at White Marsh is heading in that direction. The Mall itself has tons of surface parking that can easily be developed with underground parking. The vacated Boscov's Department Store could even be demolished to make more room. The Green Line will continue along White Marsh Boulevard until it ends in Middle River at the Front Door of Martin State Airport where it will have a MARC Stop marking its eastern terminus.The eastern end of the Red Line will be interesting to say the least. It will leave the City along Dundalk Avenue where it will have a Dundalk Stop. Hopefully this will spur some redevelopment that will reverse Dundalk's trend of Population Loss that has occurred for the past 30 years. The final stop will be Sparrows Point. Here, it's easy to see why Dundalk has lost Population. This was the location of Bethlehem Steel, at its peak it employed close tens of thousands of City and County Residents. Most of Dundalk's housing and infrastructure was built for workers of Bethlehem Steel and their families. So why put a Rail Transit Sop at this vacant site? Well, it's prime Waterfront land! This could be the next Canton Crossing, Harbor East, Fells Point, and Locust Point all put together! I would Cristen this new development "Bethlem Village", a TOD Residential, Retail, and Office Mixed Use Development. Its piece de resistance will be what's left of the Bethlehem Steel Plant. It will be a Clipper Mill Style revival with loft Apartments appropriately named "The Lofts at Bethlehem Village" I wasn't lying when I said this would be an interesting eastern terminus of the Red Line. Now I take you to the western end of the Red Line. It will exist the City to serve the highly populated and congested Woodlawn Community. It's congested and populated very three very good reasons; the first is Social Security, the second is Medicare, and last but not least Medicaid. They're all headquartered here in Woodlawn. With the Red Line servicing these areas (and Security Square Mall) some of these vast surface lots may not be so full anymore allowing for TOD. This may also allow for revitalization of the East Woodlawn. This part is older than its western counterpart and could use some TLC. The northern terminus for the Yellow Line will be in Towson. Also very populated and congested as this is the County Seat. The Yellow Line will continue along York Road and just after exiting the City will have a Rodgers Forge/Stoneleigh Stop. Continuing on it will have a stop that serves Towson University, Sheppard Pratt, and GBMC, there will be shuttles that will take employees and Students to and from the Rail Stop. Finally Towson Town Centre will mark the northern terminus of the Yellow Line.

Well, there you have it, phasing in transit seems much less scary than ramming an entire Line down the City's throat. In four phases, I've managed to build two new lines from scratch, build the Charles Street Trolley, expand the Green Line from Hopkins, and localize the MARC Stops allowing for more neighborhoods to instantly have Rail Service at their door steps. Yes in just four phases Baltimore can go from what it is today to having a World Class Transit System, in just four phases!