MICA president not convinced bike lane on Mt. Royal makes sense

“These bike lane arguments are ridiculous. People need to learn to ride their bike with auto traffic and shut up about having bike lanes everywhere. When I ride my bike, I ride with traffic. When it’s safe, I move to the right hand side to let cars through. When it’s not safe, I take the lane and let the cars deal with it. . .”
– Richard

“Some of the commenters here . . . are expressing a weird bias/entitlement: Apparently pedestrians need to be prepared to modify their traveling behavior and/or walking patterns so as not to inconvenience motorists. Apparently bicyclists need to be prepared to modify their traveling behavior, cycling routes, and/or cycling patterns so as not to inconvenience motorists. But GOD FORBID the precious motorists ever be asked to change their driving behavior or traffic/commuting patterns!”
– Marc

“‘Crashed.’ Exactly what’ll happen when you mixed undergrads and cyclists on a busy, narrow thoroughfare like Mt. Royal Avenue. What’s wrong with Park Avenue? Why couldn’t it be a bike boulevard like Guilford Avenue is (or will be soon)?
– James Hunt

“Nothing’s wrong with Park Avenue, but we’re talking about Mt Royal. Many cyclists ride here everyday, students and others, without the added protection of a bike lane. Cars continually speed here and nobody stops for pedestrians in crosswalks. Reducing Mt Royal to a bike lane and a car lane would solve all these problems.”
– Liam Quigley

“No, it would just p*ss off motorists trying to get to and from the JFX on an even more jammed up Mt. Royal. . . Fred Lazarus, who knows the area as well as anyone, is right to put the brakes on this proposal.”
– James Hunt

“Park Avenue is great, and undoubtedly the best way to get to Reservoir Hill and Mondawmin Mall from MICA. The problem is Mt. Royal Avenue and Park Ave don’t go to the same places. The MICA student body needs a safe connector to Mt. Vernon, and by extension to the city’s bicycle infrastructure network.”
– Dukiebiddle

“We ought to be doing what we can to make college campuses both bike and pedestrian friendly. I say that as the husband of a MICA alumni and a former resident of Bolton Hill, currently living on Park avenue in Reservoir Hill.”
– guest

“Is it possible to do something actually nice – like sidewalk, 8-10 foot two-way bike lane, median, 4 moving vehicle lanes, sidewalk?”
– Bmorepanic

“Lazarus may be a wonderful college president, but he doesn’t know anything about traffic.”
– Dukiebiddle
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Inside City Hall: $1.7 million for manhole consultants

“Wow, I think I just found my dream job.”
– Marcia Milne, via Faccebook

“Behind every manhole cover–
there is a dreamer
with paper and with pen–
determined to change to heady art–
all things utilitarian–
and on every manhole cover
precariously poised–
there is an impetuous child–
oscillating like a wound up toy.”
– Excerpt from Usha Nellore’s ode to a manhole cover
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Mayor proposes extending Circulator Purple line to 33rd St.

“No, it is no surprise that in the 40 years of substandard public transportation Baltimore City has seen a massive exodus of residents and what was once the Great and Mighty “Greatest City in America” has fallen on hard times. . . A reliable and comprehensive yet low traffic impacting solution is needed.”
– Jenna Fischetti

“I see a great mix of people using it [the new route], including tourists, families, college students and people like me who want to visit the other parts of the city without the burden of driving my car or having to rely on cabs.”
– bmoreguy

“Real transit is dedicated rail. The light rail should be either elevated or below ground from North Avenue to Camden Yards, and there should be at least four other subway or elevated train lines in the city. Buses should run short distances to connect rail stations. We get crappy transit because it is perceived as something only poor black people use.”
– Barnadine the Pirate

“As someone who uses both the Circulator and #3 bus I am against it being extended to 33rd Street. They need to invest money into making the MTA work.”
– Kirby Elaine

“The success of the Circulator along the Charles Street corridor shows how much we could use a more permanent solution – the streetcar! It’s still a shame that all the old lines were torn up, but it would be a good investment in our city and get people out of their cars.”
– cb

“This is such an unbelievably stupid move.  As the article states, this will only duplicate the 3 route. It also involves the city spending money it doesn’t have. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the city to demand the  MTA to clean up its act?”
– greg

“Great! We need a reliable, express route in the backbone of the city.  I can’t wait for it to be up and running.”
– Kelly C

“But here’s the catch, readers: It’s not happening until at least fall 2014, or almost three years from now, city official now acknowledge.”
– Baltimore Brew
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Baltimore excuses Grand Prix promoter from $4.25 million in fees

“Quidquid id est, timeo BRD et dona ferentes.” (We should fear the BRD, even bearing gifts.)
– JS

“Panem et circenses.” (Bread and circuses.)
– westside resident

“I won’t lie. Initially when I read the title and first few paragraphs I was incredibly disappointed. However, after reading the entire article I have faith the city is really onto something. Even though the $4.25 million dollars are lost, at least these plans prevent anything like this to happen again. Yes, I would like to see that $4.25 million paid but unfortunately I don’t think it’s a possibility”
– Ryan Selvy

“‘Adequate public security . . . to maintain public safety at all times.’ ‘Street sweeping.’ Wish we had that in my neighborhood.”
– mc2012

“You can’t get the right answer if you don’t ask the right question.  I am very interested in what the long-term vision for this city is, its mission statement. Is it to be a playground for tourists and conventioneers and/or a viable 21st Century to live, work, play city?. . . I want to understand how the Grand Prix, the new arena, and casino fit in. Other cities are having much greater success by creating world-class parks, sustainable and thoughtful design and quality of life enhancements.  The Mayor says she want more people to move to the city. . . so they can pay to go to the Grand Prix, take bus to the casino, go to conventions?”
– Baltimoreplaces

“Baltimoreplaces, You are too sensible for this city. Logic is not what moves the place.”
– Unellu
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Police threaten to arrest a man filming a Federal Hill arrest

“As they say, If you have nothing to hide what’s the problem?”
– Debonair

“Being a retired officer of Baltimore City Police, what is the person who is recording the police trying to gain or what is their motive. The job is hard enough let alone people trying to interfere with the Police. Let that person walk in a police officer’s shoes and deal with society’s ills.”
– rdsks8183

“Even appreciating that the job cops do is tough, they need to be monitored. Internal investigations are mere eyewashes and since it is built into our system that any violation of a cop is a major offense, citizens need proof in order not to find themselves in hot waters, that a cop actually lied, assaulted, robbed or raped them–all these things have happened and the video is a permanent record to protect the weak and hold the strong accountable.”
– Unellu

“What I saw here was the BPD doing their jobs well – no physical abuse, talking (not screaming) to the person detained,etc. on a cold and rainy night where no one wanted to be out. Moral of the story – don’t go after the cameraman and the only story will be how well the BPD does their job.”
– westside resident

“I will being leaving soon moving to FL where I can carry and live in peace where the taxes are low Know what I mean no state income tax Baltimore can kiss my ass.”
– Jan White, via Facebook
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State of City address offers glimpse into mayor’s state of mind

“Seems to me that Mayor O’Malley had a modest property tax decrease ‘over time’. I do seem to remember a one year, $40.00 (?) ‘break’ and then it disappeared. Anybody know what happened to it?”
– Mair

“That was the rapidly disappearing O’Malley two-cent property-tax reduction. It lasted between 2006 and 2008 – until Mayor Sheila Dixon and then City Council President Rawlings-Blake halted the reduction as unaffordable.”
– baltimorebrew

“The renewed focus on schools is heartening. However, half steps and half measures will never make a city whole. Baltimore needs bottom up growth using innovative methods that will work in our communities not top down dictates from those that control the city’s purse.”
– westside resident
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New surveillance cameras coming, slowly, to Northeast Baltimore

“The criminal won’t think,
‘I have a camera above me–
watching 24-7–
announcing Baltimore Police–Believe.’
He’ll be thinking, ‘I’ve got nothing in my pocket–
That guy probably has plenty in his.”
– Usha Nellore
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Q&A: City cyclist, Rev. Andrew Foster Connors

“I take the lane whenever I need to, because I’d rather annoy ignorant motorists than be killed by them. It’s a matter of survival, not aggression.”
– Ian Brett Cooper

“Lay off already. Not everyone has to ride the way you think they should, and practically speaking, it really doesn’t make sense a lot of times. This guy sounds pretty comfortable on his bike – let him do his thing.”
– Liam
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City’s promise to put a roof on Read’s not quick enough for protesters

“The idea that the planned Superblock project is planned for the benefit of the people who are there now is questionable. It appears to instead be Brodie’s gentrification plan for the area, cooked up by the old white people who are really running the city behind the scenes. As a side note, the very term “Superblock” came from the urban renewal projects of the 1960s. Whole swaths of low income urban areas were torn down in that era to build dismal “Superblock” projects.”
-Heronwhite

“Yes, and interesting that the former housing commissioner who signed off on a botched urban renewal project in the late 60s now sits on the CHAP board.”
– JS

“The building as it was in 1955 is long gone. I don’t agree that a facadism treatment should be done, but it would be necessary to rebuild the entirety of the interior to even have a Read-like feel to it. The current plans by Lexington Square does just this and preserves most of what is left of the building.”
– cb

“These people have been getting in their own way for 50 years. Fine, let it sit there and rot like the rest of the city, that’s really smart.”
– Bwfryguy