Two disparate organizations agree on one issue affecting commuters in the Greater Baltimore region.
The Maryland Public Interest Group, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, and the Greater Baltimore Committee, an organization representing businesses and civic leaders, both embrace the Baltimore Regional Rail Plan.
The plan would integrate regional light and heavy rail over the next decade, so commuters could reach their workplaces and recreational destinations without burning gas or sitting for hours in traffic.
In a recent interview with The Examiner, GBC President Donald C. Fry said the implementation of such a plan is critical to the long-term economic development of the region.
Here are two reasons GBC gives for supporting huge public investment into this mass transit plan:
» Washington?s Metrorail system has generated nearly $15 billion in surrounding private development. Between 1980 and 1990 alone, 40 percent of the region?s retail and office space was built within walking distance of a Metro station.
» Baltimore?s West Side Initiative, the largest redevelopment effort by the city since the Inner Harbor, is aided by the significant concentration of transit services. Many residents of the new apartments don?t own cars, and either walk or take transit for work and recreation.
