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throws_rocks_at_cars t1_ix05erk wrote

Reply to comment by A_Damn_Millenial in First time seeing the 2002 Baltimore Region Rail Map. Moore, make it happen! by A_Damn_Millenial

Baltimore doesn’t have the institutional knowledge nor the resources to build “GOOD transit”, let alone transit at all.

The only way they’re going to get a metro line out to HoCo and other nimby enclaves is if they build out significant metro connections within the city and a decade of growth leaves HoCo behind (the same way DC left Baltimore behind), then they’ll be clamoring for it.

As it stands now, from the perspective of a HoCo NIMBY, a metro line has zero positive impact on them because very VERY few of them need to commute into Baltimore for any reason, especially now, and have a severe negative potential impact of introducing crime into their cute little towns. This is a stupid concern, IMO, but it will be almost insurmountable. No one in HoCo wants a metro connection to Baltimore. That’s it. Also, anyone from HoCo that does commute from Baltimore is happy to drive and would not consider an alternative (and it’s hard to blame them for this ignorance as no alternative currently exists to compare it to).

Again, the solution is to build within Baltimore and within communities that want it, employ TOD and other yimby/StrongTowns style development to build wealth (which reduces crime and creates jobs/opportunities), and in a decade they will be begging for a metro line to get to where all the jobs are.

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A_Damn_Millenial OP t1_ix08jck wrote

Outside of sporting events, there’s probably few HoCo residents who would ride a yellow line all the way into Baltimore City.

However, I believe there is tremendous opportunity in the stops west of Linthicum. Getting residents rail access to BWI and MARC seem like no brainers, especially if the stops can become TOD zones with increased density.

Having a connection to Baltimore shouldn’t be a deal breaker, but if residents make it a problem, a compromise could be that the HoCo to BWI connection will be its own line that requires a train change to get to Baltimore.

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DfcukinLite t1_ix07an0 wrote

Can’t speak for the totality of Howard county, but, Edward Norton’s grandfather developed Columbia, and then Reston, to be the first mixed income planned community centered around a town center in the US. That’s where the “EQUALITY” stickers come from.

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