Anyone driving east on Eastern Ave. around rush hour can tell you that traffic is bad in Fells Point. A new video with sleek production value warns that in the coming years, it’s only going to get worse.
The video warns of “Carmageddon” with the growth of Harbor East and coming construction of the Harbor Point complex that together will feature a new headquarters for Exelon (which is already visible on the skyline), apartments and retail in the form of a new location for Whole Foods and other shops. Fells Point community activist Joanne Masopust blames the developers and the city for failing to plan for the traffic.
“We are like prisoners in our own neighborhood,” neighborhood association president David Martz says. “We have to plan our day around traffic.”
The video features the music of Eliza Doering and The Penny Black, who also appear to describe a time when they were late for a gig at the Hard Rock Cafe due to traffic heading downtown.
We’ll also point out that the Red Line was supposed to run through Fells Point prior to its shelving by Gov. Larry Hogan.
“We have not done as good a job as needs to be done in pushing Baltimore toward multi-modal transit,” Del. Brooke Lierman says in the video. “We need to be moving people and not cars.”
The city gets blamed for not having a plan. No fair at all. The Red Line that had city support was supposed to whisk thousands under the street and under the intersections. Governor Hogan squarely deserves the blame for killing the Red Line and killing something that would have been a big help in regard to vehicular congestion. Hogan says he is business friendly, but clearly by killing the Red Line he is not being business friendly for Fells Point.
This video should be amended to having a discussion about the impact of losing the Red Line
If you don’t want to plan your day around traffic, get out of your car. The red line would have helped but even if it existed today you could most likely get wherever you’re going faster and on your own schedule if you bike there. The more people that ride bikes, the easier cycling will get.
Thanks, Governor Hogan, for more gridlock in Baltimore.