Neighborhood Petition Patterson Park

2901 E. Baltimore Street Bus Stop Removal

To: The Maryland Transit Administration,

The residents and business owners in the vicinity of the 2900 block of East Baltimore Street in the Patterson Park neighborhood request that the Maryland Transit Administration review bus stop #14194, recently established in February, 2019, located on the corner of S. Linwood avenue and E. Baltimore street for removal. This bus stop is for route #21.

The residents and business owners, signed below, feel that the bus stop is ineffective, installed improperly, and not utilized and therefore is causing more inconvenience than service to the community. The bus stop was recently established in spite of a 30+ year history of there being no bus stop at this location.The stop should be removed from its current location for the following reasons,

1. The plan to locate bus stop #14194 was made before Baltimore City widend the crosswalks and installed traffic calming bump-outs on the same corner. The bus has to make a sharp left turn then try to squeeze into the bus stop. This means that the bus must wait for passengers in the street, bringing all traffic to a stop.

1. Loss of customers for restaurant and offices. The establishment, Patterson Public House, employs a significant amount of local residents, and is one of the last restaurants to remain in business in the area. This restaurant has been there for decades. The cost of operating a restaurant in Baltimore City is extremely high. Customers of the restaurant lost 8 parking spaces after Baltimore City expanded crosswalks on the corners of E. Baltimore Street and S. Linwood Avenue. After bus stop #14194 was installed, another 5 more premium spaces directly in front of the establishment on Baltimore Street were lost. Because the spaces are cycled by returning customers, this translates into as many as a hundred customers unable to park near the restaurant in a day. The loss of this space is affecting sales for the restaurant.

The building above the restaurant also contains offices who used the spaces for customers and visitors.

1. There is already a bus stop directly across from stop #14194. When buses stop at each stop simultaneously, all traffic on Baltimore street, a major artery, comes to a halt.

1. This bus stop has no riders. MTA's objective is to have less bus stops, not more. Stop #14194 is redundant. There's a stop at Linwood and Fayette and the next stop, after this, on that same line is E. Baltimore Street and Ellwood Ave., just two blocks away. That stop has served the community for many decades and there has never been any noticeable demand for additional pick up only a very short walk away. We repeat, there has never been a request to add another bus stop between the two bus stops mentioned above.

1. Residents on the block have lost over a 100 feet of parking space, causing them to, in some cases, park several blocks away causing an issue with safety. It is also an issue on street cleaning days, when residents have to clear the opposite side of the block, leaving only 1 parking space available for an entire block.

1. Because of its proximity to the restaurant, offices, and the park, it is increasingly being used as a drop off point, especially for Uber and Lyft making the location inoperable as a bus stop.

1. This location has not been a bus stop for 30+ years. Homeowners who purchased their homes and business owners who established their businesses over the past 30+ years did so on the presumption that the status quo would be maintained unless there was a compelling reason for a change. No compelling reason has been observed and no compelling reason for the establishment of this bus stop has been provided to the Residents and Business Owners in its vicinity.

1. Residents and Business Owners were not provided with a meaningful opportunity to provide input to MTA regarding the establishment of Bus Stop #14194; had they been provided with notice of MTA’s intent to establish a bus stop at this location, they would have strenuously objected for all the reasons stated in this Petition. MTA failed to:
   1. Put up notice at the location that their plan was to add a bus stop.
   2. Inform any neighbors nor the neighborhood association, PPNA, of their plans to add stop #14194.
   3. Post their plans on the Patterson Park community facebook group; a group consisting of more than 15,000 users.

1. The Patterson Park neighborhood is committed to improving our streets and the livability of our neighborhood. It is very, very important to have access to parking near our homes. The high crime in Baltimore requires we speak up when we see something that puts our neighbors at risk. We are speaking up. We are a highly organized neighborhood. The new bus stop is just 2 blocks from another one located at E. Baltimore Street and Ellwood Ave. The new bus stop does not make sense, is rarely used, takes away 5 key parking spaces, compounding the problems caused by the recent loss of a significant number of parking spaces due to the City’s installation of traffic calming bump-outs, and affects the safety of our neighbors. We are requesting action from the MTA immediately.

Thank you, Maryland Transit Administration for helping us come to a conclusion with the bus stop that serves everyone in the community.

Signed,

Residents on and near 2900 E. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21224