The concerns of a small group of residents rallying against a proposed trail linking a mental hospital, homeless shelter and the city to their backyards are unfounded, trail supporters said.
Catonsville residents like Bettina Tebo are urging the local Rails to Trails chapter ? part of a nationwide organization that constructs recreational paths in unused railway corridors ? to halt plans for a path between the state?s Spring Grove Hospital Center, over the Beltway and into Baltimore. They said the proposed trail is dangerously secluded in some parts and perilously close to busy roads in others.
“This is at the expense of our safety,” said Tebo, who lives next door to the hospital campus and blocks from the Baltimore County homeless shelter. “They have a lot of support for this, but how much from the people directly impacted?”
Tebo said the death of a 15-day-old baby Tuesday, which police blame on the child?s father, whose last known address was the shelter, underscores the problem. Carol High, a Paradise resident, said her neighbor was robbed by a hospital escapee earlier this month.
But Rails and Trails advocates dismissed the concerns as “preconceived.” Jerry Pilcher, the chapter vice president, said he opposed a similar trail proposal in his native Michigan, but ended up pleased after its construction.
Pilcher said the trail will be privately funded with help from at least two county grants.
“It will give kids an opportunity to ride their bikes and stay out of the street and there are very few of those places left,” Pilcher said. “These are understandable reactions, but they?ve got to have a little bit of faith.”
The organization has requested county assistance for maintenance ? but the county has no money available for the project, said Councilman Sam Moxley. In the interim, Moxley said Rails and Trails should spend time addressing the community?s concerns.
“I understand their concerns, but look at the trail in Oella and the No. 8 Streetcar Trail,” Moxley said. “They are so well-received and well used, and they are in residential areas.”
