Next: The Under Armour Water Taxi

Right in the middle of all the Council deliberations of the unprecedented sagamore TIF request for Port Covington comes another piece of news from Under Armour: They plan to buy out the current water taxi operator, Michael McDaniel of Harbor Boating ("Current operator will continue as partner") and have submitted a bid to the City for a renewal of the water taxi license. which was due April 1 of this year and is on the agenda of the Board of Estimates today. There is one other bid for the City to review submitted by Ferries Inc. of Washington State where a number of ferries are operated on Puget Sound. The RFP included a five year license duration, Sagamore is now talking about a 20 or 30 year term they are seeking.

This image has been circulated showing a photo-montage
 of the anticipated new taxi boat

Some Baltimoreans and maybe even some share-holders may freak out about the prospect of Under Armour taking on another piece of Baltimore into their already pretty broad portfolio after they took on the Recreation Pier in Fells Point, Walmart at Port Covington and put company operations into the remodeled building, build a whiskey distillery near the Baltimore SUN printing facility, bought City Garage, bought into the maker company Foundery and have their own production experiment going on in there (the Lighthouse) and brother Scott Plank and his Wahorse Development LLC have also their hands in College Park near Kevin Plan's alma mater.

A Baltimore SUN map showing the old and new landing points (blue is new)

One should take a closer look at the water taxi deal and what is known about it to date. It looks  as if with UA's help a few long-term objectives transit advocates promoted for the water taxi could come quickly into reach, namely to make it a much more robust, year round viable transit option.

Earlier this year I criticized City DOT for writing an RFP that aimed for nothing more than the status quo for the water taxi service and which separated and differentiated artificially and uneconomically between the free commuter service (Harbor Connector) and the water taxi for tourists and bemoaned that both use those flimsy boats that are not very seaworthy and impractical in winter.

Instead of starting a new age in Baltimore's water transit that could really be calledpassenger ferry service, the RFP was simply dealing with the fact that the license for the water taxi services needs to be renewed from time to time. The RFP asks to provide the exact service we see today. Same vessels, same landings, same routes, same frequency and the same confusing distinction between Harbor Connector and Water Taxi. (Blog)

If everything goes the way it was announced in a Plank Industries press release today, the most exciting news is maybe that the UA boats (the water taxi would be an operation of Sagamore Development which is part of Plank Industries, which in turn are an arm of Under Armour) will be built in Baltimore, and apparently really fast. The press release says this:

custom-built in Baltimore by MAPC, a maritime design and manufacturing company located near the South Baltimore neighborhood of Brooklyn the company will hire 30 new welders and craftsmen thanks to this deal. The 55-foot ADA-compliant, bike-friendly vessel is modeled on the classic Chesapeake Bay deadrise boat, featuring an electric/hybrid diesel engine with 1/20^th of the carbon footprint of the current fleet.

A photo of a study model for a ferry that is taken from the MAPC website

Getting rid of the canvas clad ponton boats that look like a mix of a backyard patio enclosure and a tent and which are susceptible to tipping over in strong winds, would be a great step towards real water transportation. MAPC is probably a new entity for most in Baltimore, but that just shows that we should pay more attention to what happens under our nose.

The employee owned company says about itself on its own website:

Since Mark Rice founded the company in 1986, MAPC has worked at-sea, in desert environments, in mountainous environments, in the air, on live-fire ranges, in foreign facilities, and in simulated warfare environments...[..our partners are] the US Navy, US Air Force, US Coast Guard, DARPA, Bath Iron Works, Northrup Grumman, Thales, Booz Allen Hamilton, AAI Textron, Alion Science and Technology, Oceaneering,

The DOT RFP also didn't include a network overhaul. With Sagamore at the wheel, one can be sure that the network will be expanded to included the Middle Branch and probably also Canton Crossing and Harbor Point, two large developments the City didn't bother to include in their RFP as must serve docking places. Sagamore says that the final line maps are still in development but stated that the number of stops will increase from 12 to 21.

Another item I had suggested on this blog, is better integration of the water taxi with land side transit, especially the Circulator and that the stops would become actual intermodal stations with some amenities and in the case of Canton Crossing also substantial park and ride parking. Those details are not available at this time except that the Water Taxi will be integrated with the Uber app so that the boats and their location/arrival times can be seen in real time. Not bad!

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

related Water Taxi articles on this blog:

How to achieve real passenger ferry services (5/2/16)
Can Baltimore's Water Taxi System Become Viable Transit? 9/9/15
Water Taxi - Transportation Between Uber and Bus 7/25/14

News on the Plank Taxi:
Baltimore SUN
BBJ


From my 5/2/16 blog a few of the suggestions I made then about a better Water Taxi:

• The City should express an aspiration to provide robust rear-round water transit service with expanded hours, expanded service points and routes and better vessels like those being used in New York or Chicago

• A scope should only be defined as a minimum baseline service for price comparison but bidders should be allowed flexibility to provide alternative service scenarios and business plans to expand the operation

• The three large developments at HarborPoint, Canton Crossing and Port Covington need to be included as mandatory service points. 

  

  Partial Port Covington plan showing water taxi piers. (Graphic: Sagamore)
  The current water taxi does not serve the Middle Branch and is too slow
  to do it effectively

• The City should analyze to which extent water transit can pick up some of the transit deficits in the eastern portion of the city where roads are routinely clogged and the cancellation of the Red Line further exacerbated the problem. 

• The construction of the Red Line Park and Ride facility at Canton Crossing should move forward as a ferry terminal parking lot with frequent service from Canton Crossing

• The RFP assumption that the commuter and the visitor services should be delineated and separate should be questioned as likely inefficient and costly. (The City currently pays the provider twice as much for the sparse free Connector service than it takes in from all Water Taxi license fees combined). 

• Instead all water transit should be one system with a electronic fare card based on the Charm Card system that allows commuters to use the system for free as the City committed to do in return for certain federal grants. 

• All other fares should be also Charm Card based and include demand based pricing, likely resulting in better fleet utilization and higher passenger volumes during inclement weather than the currently fixed high price tourist fares. (applying a demand based fare structure is common for airlines, but also for Amtrak and transit such as WMATA in DC)

• The city shouldn't be in the business of owning vessels, even if they are new technology like an electric boat that the City apparently will get through federal dollars. If City owned vessels can't be sold due to federal obilagtions, they should be leased to the provider with all responsibilities handled by the provider)

• Requirements for intermodal coordination with the Circulator, MTA, bike share and tour buses should be included as mandatory

• Land-side facilities should be drastically improved until they deserve the term "terminals".

Would $15 minimum wage be good for Baltimore?

The question is pesky, economic in nature and not easy to answer for laypeople absent more data. Both sides have good arguments. It seems plausible to say that Baltimore of all places shouldn't be a leader in high wages, lacking jobs in the first place. It also sounds plausible that minimum wage issues should be resolved on a broader base to avoid an easy escape across the border where the wage applies. Certainly Baltimore isn't Seattle or San Francisco and also not DC or Montgomery County, all places that have enacted very similar bills to the one that was before the City Council.

Movements to increase the minimum wage to $15 over the next six years
are afoot  in many States and jurisdictions

Councilman Stokes' additional argument that the exemption of small businesses under 25 employees would eliminate the benefit for most city workers is also convincing. If it is supposed to help local employees the majority of them shouldn't be excluded.

City Council President “Jack” Young is a strong opponent of a $15 minimum wage. He has argued that Baltimore cannot afford it and that the city acting alone in this measure would hurt local workers and businesses more than it would help them. He has proposed $11.50 instead. The bill was introduced and is strongly supported by Councilwoman Pat Clarke. Both will remain on the council after the November election.

Calculations what the bill would cost employers are easy to make. How employers could absorb the cost is harder to determine, since they could respond in a number of ways from raising prices, working with fewer employees, increased efficiencies or by moving away. As the GBC pointed out, none of these options seem to be good for the local economy. However, effects such as better worker morale, less absenteeism and better health would be positive all around and are harder to calculate.

It is also relatively easy to see how more income helps the employees that are able to get it. Findings in the Economic Policy Report done for Baltimore show this:

• Raising the Baltimore minimum wage to $15 per hour by mid-2020 would directly or indirectly lift wages for 98,000 workers—about 27 percent of the city’s workforce.

• Over the course of the minimum-wage increase, affected workers would gain over $430 million in additional wages. The average affected worker would earn roughly $4,400 more in annual pay than she does today (assuming no change in the number of work hours).

• Raising Baltimore’s minimum wage to $15 by 2020 would increase pay for a wide range of workers.

  

  The living wage is higher than the minimum wage

• Just 4.3 percent of affected workers would be teenagers, while 95.7 percent would be age 20 or older. Almost four-fifths of affected workers would be age 25 or older.

• Women would comprise 55.3 percent of affected workers. The higher minimum wage would particularly benefit working mothers—almost a quarter of working mothers and more than a third of single working mothers would receive a pay increase.

• People of color comprise the majority of workers who would get a raise: 54.2 percent of affected workers are black or African American, 8.3 percent are Hispanic, and 5.1 percent are Asian.

• On average, affected workers earn 54.6 percent of their family’s income. Among affected workers with families, just under one-fifth are their family’s sole provider.

• Workers in lower-income households would disproportionately benefit from the minimum-wage increase. Nearly half of affected workers come from households making less than $50,000 a year, and an additional 17.4 percent come from households making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year. Similarly, nearly two-thirds of Baltimore workers in poverty or near poverty would get a raise under a minimum-wage increase to $15.

• Over half (52.7 percent) of affected workers have at least some college experience, and 23.6 percent have at least a bachelor’s degree.

• The industries with the largest shares of affected workers are hospitality and retail. Over 60 percent of Baltimore workers in these industries would benefit from the increase. 

Harder to calculate are the effects that more income would have on the self image of Baltimore or on the economy at large. The lack of spending power of a broad segment of the population is holding the economy back and has slowed recovery and growth. A large part of the high local poverty rates comes not only from having no work at all but from working for wages that cannot sustain an individual, let alone a family. Poverty holds all of Baltimore back.

from the EPI Report about Baltimore

The arguments against higher wages have been the same ever since there has been collective bargaining or any type of wage agreement. However, the experience has been that the sky rarely fell when workers achieved higher wages and had enough power to keep them up. Countries with strong unions and higher wages such as Germany are leaders in most economic indicators such as productivity, innovation and GDP. That was true in times when labor was still a significant factor in the overall cost calculation of an enterprise and should be even more true when the relative cost of labor becomes smaller due to automation and robots.

Contrary to popular lure, what killed the American auto or steel industries wasn't high labor cost as such but high legacy cost ( i.e. contributions to health care and pensions for their former workers) concurrent with a lack of productivity and innovation. The US is an attractive location for car manufacturers as the strong presence of Toyota, Mercedes, Volkswagen and BMW has shown, each with highly efficient and productive US production. GM and Ford, copying the innovation and productivity measures of their foreign competitors, are now profitable as well and not because they pay substandard wages.

On a macro economic level one could argue that the US economy is not benefiting from low wages. US wages are not only depressed by comparably weak unions but by a steady flow of unlicensed and undocumented labor that many industries depend on to maintain low wages, unhealthy work conditions and low productivity.

But can a city overcome those problems all by itself? Not likely. Even though, one has to try to actually see. Or better, conduct a comprehensive local analysis on the matter so that the council members would get a more complete picture and more data. A study about the New York State increase suggests that the negative outcomes opponents of the measure predict would not occur. 75 economists across the State agreed. One of the arguments:

“Costco has raised its starting pay to $13 nationwide,” said David Howell of the New School. “This puts in perspective the proposal to raise the New York State minimum wage to $15 by mid-2021. Working backward from consensus inflation forecasts put the value of $15 in 2021 at about $13.25 in today’s dollars, which is very close to Costco’s starting wage that applies in many low-income states. The case against the $15 minimum wage concerns employment effects, but economic research has produced no evidence that a five-year phased-in $15 wage will cause discernible job loss. (Fiscal Policy Institute article)

But then, local conditions may not be comparable.

It would certainly be better if the issue of low wages would be attacked on a larger scale. Since the State of Maryland isn't like to act beyond what is already the law, it could be the feds who step up, depending on the outcome of the federal election. Meanwhile the Baltimore bill hibernates in Committee and will likely come back once the new Council convenes after the November election.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Baltimore City Council votes to send $15 minimum wage bill back to committee (BBJ)
Report of the Economic Policy Institute on the Effects of Baltimore's Wage Increase. (The Institute is aligned with the labor movement).

How to avoid flash floods?

Another flash flood warning this Sunday night over Baltimore and Ellicott City did not materialize. But one can pretty much assure, another 500 or 1000 year rain burst will take much less time to arrive than its name suggests. What then?

A German State that experienced several unusual floods from atypical tropical rain bursts in recent years even prepared an all new type of flood maps that deal not with ponding water but with streams that form in usually dry areas.

Stormwater pond blowout at Burgess Station
(Photo ArchPlan Inc.)

While those maps may become useful for planners and insurances in areas that are new to such floods those maps can't protect assets that are already on the ground and new maps aren't of much help in places that are aware of the risk already, such as Ellicott City.

While the type of flooding changed even in a flood-experienced place like Ellicott City (water coming into buildings from down the hill and not backing up from below), what is needed is a consensus on how the existing assets can be protected or how the to be expected torrential downpours of the future can be tamed.

The SUN's expose on the flood in yesterday's paper shows through the various statements an astounding level of misconceptions, misinformation and a profound lack of a consensus on how to move forward.

Several statements in the article stand out:

• Even if everything were still wooded, 6" of rain in two hours would have caused flooding
• Howard County officials insist that development by itself cannot be blamed for a dramatic act of nature
• County officials say older developments built decades ago have more significant problems with runoff. In fact, some newer redevelopments improve antiquated stormwater management systems because any project built after 1985 is subject to runoff restrictions.

  

  Kids playing in the drained pond at Burgess Station
  The figures provide a sense of the depth and size of the
  retention pond that cascaded downhill
  (Photo ArchPlan Inc.)

• Limiting development in Ellicott City isn't necessary. Redeveloping older properties is one of the solutions to the runoff problem. (Building industry lobbyist Maloney)
• 28%of the Hudson and Tiber tributary watersheds were impervious in 2006 and are estimated to be 32% now
• Before 2011, it had been nearly 60 years since runoff from the Tiber stream produced a flash flood. But in the past five years, destructive flash floods have hit twice: Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 and last month's sudden thunderstorm.
• There is nothing we can do to stop 6" of rain but we can have impacts on other storms (Kittelman)
• County officials considered expensive remedies, such as multimillion-dollar stormwater storage drains at the top of the watershed, but determined that the cost wasn't worth the benefit "It was a lot of money, and it was only going to improve things by something like 5 percent," (Ulman)
• We ought to rebuild historic Ellicott City, The question is: How do we rebuild in a smarter and more effective way? (Ulman)

From MD stormwater regulations 

Before going through these various facts and arguments, it may be useful to recap some basic physics:

Stormwater run-off follows gravity, the bigger the mass (quantity of water), the bigger the force

• Relations between quantity, velocity and destructive force are not always linear, i.e. small incremental change near the heads of flow-lines can have compounding effects further down.
• Of approximately 526 acres of neighborhoods that were assessed by field crews of the watershed study of the Patapsco Heritage Greenway group in 2013, sixty percent (310 acres) of area had no apparent stormwater treatment. Twenty percent (~100 acres) of that  had an impervious cover, letting stormwater run off in full and uncontrolled. 

- As for the argument that the extreme rain is something one cannot prepare for:

True, even a natural wooded area would eventually become saturated and produce runoff in a 5" per hour rain, (convective rain events). But in a wooded or vegetated natural area the entire area will absorb some of the precipitation (depending on soils and saturation) and would not discharge the excess water as a point source like a stomwater pond overflow or many paved areas do. Therefore keeping as manu vegetated natural areas is helpful and the statement that one can't do anything about those events is wrong.

Potential flooding areas in MD risk assessment map for Ellicott City

- Regarding the argument that new development is good because it improves stormwater management over old development that may not have any management:

That argument works only if new development replaces old one and only for storms that fall into the category of 100 year storms. New development is supposed to retain runoff for storms that are in the 100 year category or less. However, the Maryland stormwater regulations do not pertain to anything bigger than a hundred year rain/flood and allow discharge of the water in excess of those storms even in designated flood areas. Thus in that 6" in two hours rain all new developments would have filled their ponds and then let all additional water run off. So they certainly contributed to the floods recently experienced, especially in the case of Burgess Station where the entire pond failed and released about 6' feet of water down into the Hudson tributary.

- About the apparent increased frequency of convection rain events: 

This isn't just anecdotal but matches the forecast from climate researchers and is explained by higher temperatures allowing higher moisture content and more frequent convective rain. Moderate weather areas such as regions in Germany noted before also report those weather events with increased frequency.

- Retreat, upstream intervention or fortification?

Doing nothing upstream could be justified by abandoning historic Ellicott City downstream, a drastic action that some letter writers, indeed, promoted in the Baltimore SUN. 

Certainly, retreat is one of three options in building resiliency. The traditionally preferred option, fortification, doesn't appear to be very practical in the case of the historic town. Whatever dams, floodgates and elevated structures fortification would require, those measures would almost all run headlong into the core of what makes the town valuable in the first place, historic preservation. 

When the street becomes a fast moving river

The other remaining option is more subtle and requires intelligently working with nature rather than against it. Doable things downstream could include improvements on the flow capacity of Tiger and Hudson and a managed way of how they would overflow that would be less destructive. However, to take the destructive top off  "the once in a millenium flood" like the one from two weeks ago, requires to reduce the volume and velocity of the water converging on the town through many and varied measures.

There are several ways how volumes can be reduced: Less new development, retrofitting old development and increasing the holding capacity of stormwater facilities designed for just 100 year events. 

The incremental differences  may be in the 5% range for each measure individually. Cumulatively, those improvements may take the wrath out of a 5" per hour rain. Yes, there would still be flooding but incremental differences could be the all deciding differentiator between a catastrophic flood or just a flood.

destruction of historic buildings after the recent flood

While old Ellicott City rebuilds, preparation for the next mega rain has to occur now. Various action plans identify already where to start.

Klaus Philipsen,  FAIA

Related articles on this blog:

What nearly wiped out Ellicott City and what should be done about it

Kittelman finds the right balance

Patapsco Heritage Greenway: Hudson-Tiber watershed restoration plan

Maryland's Flood Vulnerability Report

TOD in Woodbery - is BDC still needed?

Sometimes deals come so late that they lose importance. This may be the case with a land swap with BGE along West Cold Spring Lane announced by BDC this week.

Back in 2000 hundreds of participants came together to think about how the Jones Falls Valley could be jump-started. (Article). One of the obvious ideas: Transit oriented development at the Cold Spring station of the Baltimore Light Rail Line. A large coalition of stakeholders from BDC to the Jones falls Watershed Association and from Greater Homewood to MTA agreed back then on planning principles that stressed connectivity, access, the environment and preservation. There was more talk about stewardship, conservation and scenic corridors than new development, even though attracting new business was mentioned. A final version of a masterplan was never formally adopted, though, because the Planning Department and the Planning Commission at the time did not take external plans and officially adopted them.

Aerial of the Cold Spring West area at the JFX and Cold Spring
LRT station

There were some commercial properties along Cold Spring Lane, there was an abandoned BGE gas tank and there was a Light Rail station in the middle of nowhere with a tortuously long ramp as the sole access. People drew more or less elaborate concepts how a small mixed use node could bring eyes to the station and make this highway style section of Cold Spring Lane more urban. (The same roadway is very attractive a mile to the east).

Even then in 2000 the area had been a hot potato for some years with active members of the Woodberry community trying to protect the forests and natural areas along the Jones Falls against incursions from Loyala College and from MTA. The transit agency considered in 1999 to build a 5 acre commuter park and ride lot where BGE had its gas tank.

The Jones Falls as a recreational amenity

Some of the nature loving Woodberry residents who collected wild mushrooms in the area were concerned about development then. Jumpstart to 2015 and the SUN carried an article with the headline: Hampden area flooded by development. That is an interesting choice of words, considering that one of the big worries in the valley is the reoccurring flooding of the Jones Falls. (The last big flood event there happened two weeks ago).

Proposed development at 2001 Cold Spring Lane (UDARP presentation 2016)

Projects in the pipeline include a mixed use project once proposed by architect-turn-developer Donald Kann, who had proposed a 180 unit project with 100,000 sf of offices and retail mixed in that ran into various hurdles at the UDARP design review. ("I don't know what this project feels like, it's not urban. It's not suburban.", Richard Burns). The project sits in direct vicinity to the land included in the BDC land swap.

In its latest incarnation the project is headed by Klein/Manekin and includes 280 apartments. It had been back at UDARP early this year.

Other projects listed in the SUN article about the Jones Falls valley:

• The Pepsi site at 1650 Union Ave., owned by a Himmelrich Associates affiliate. Proposed is 75,000-square-foot grocer, about 300 apartments and four 3-4 story buildings with retail and offices. Himmelrich, developed Meadow Mill and the Mount Washington Mill, 
• 1600 Roland Heights Ave., part of the Hedwin complex,  proposed for 250 apartments or 140 townhouses. The Sparks developer also builds 29 new townhouses on Cairnes Lane in Hampden.

  

  The trail, long in the making now complete

• 3100-3200 Falls Cliff Road, which manufacturer Simpson Strong-Tie plans to vacate next year. Edye Fox Abrams hopes to convert the roughly 100,000-square-foot building into 80 apartments and keep some light-industrial tenants.
• Four industrial properties, including the Schenuit factory in Clipper Mill Industrial Park, across the Jones Falls from the Pepsi plant, went under contract with Remington Properties LLC. expecting a non-industrial use, starting with the convesrion of the vacant, 150,000-square-foot former rubber plant.
• In Hampden, Medfield and Hoes Heights, at least three developers have approached neighborhood groups about smaller residential projects on Buena Vista, Redfern and Hickory avenues, which would add about 75 new rowhouses to the area.

Recent flooding pushed cars around at Meadow Mills parking lot

It looks like some of the focus has to shift back to the original goal of letting the Jones Falls Valley shine for its natural assets that have so greatly suffered from the JFX atop Baltimore's premier river. To that end the road diet for West Cold Spring Lane is as urgent as ever so pedestrian safety there would be enhanced, the greenway could cross easier and the future developments would not sit along a high speed suburban roadway.

As for the old gas tank site: Sitting near the bottom of the valley, on a steep drop adjacent to the river, it should probably remain a green space with the emphasis less on development but on additional access to the train stop, creation of a trailhead with transit access for the adjacent now completed greenway and maybe something "outlandish" such as an attractive beer-garden.

Finally, Baltimore needs to study air flow as a matter of air quality in a non-attainment area under the Clean Air Act. The Jones Falls Valley should already be an important "green lung" for the heat islands of the inner city. It should be enhanced and not built shut. But that has never been studied. Once we would know how cooler and heavier air flows (at night) from the large green areas along the valley into the hot and polluted city center, it would provide information how and where development can occur without jeopardizing that likely asset.

No need anymore for BDC to jump-start the Jones Falls valley. It is happening on its own now.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA
updated

BBJ article
SUN article about Flood of Development

Institutional racism

There isn't much that one can add to the report of the Justice Department regarding Baltimore police, nor is it my field of expertise. I am wondering though, to what extent this kind of institutionalized completely uneven handling of different communities is not ingrained in many other city departments,  even into areas normally associated with planning and urban design or indeed, in everyday life itself.

We know that the Housing Department has been the subject to consent decrees because of past discriminatory practices.

What about transportation, education, health, planning, preservation and many other fields that make up the tapestry of our daily existence? They all look innocent to many of us and so rigged to others who are less privileged. Once it is proven that overt and institutionalized discrimination is in effect in one place, who can believe that that place is just an egregious exception? 

In fact, that whole narrative that the vast majority of police officers are wonderful and the problem resides only with a few "bad apples" looks increasing implausible. However, the conclusion is not that all or even most police (planners, politicians, teachers, whatever) are bad but that very many well meaning people are organized in systems that are not set up to benefit all equally. To most, this isn't news, of course, just as it isn't news that it isn't  enough to change a few people out and do re-training. What has to be relearned over and over again is, how deep the roots of discrimination go and how tainted many systems are by systemic unequal approaches.

So when the NAACP alleges that the cancellation of the Red Line is a civil rights violation, this isn't as far fetched as it may sound to many that see transit mostly as a cool thing that cities ought to have to be competitive. 

When the ACLU alleges that certain new developments would increase the divide in our city, it needs to be taken seriously as well, even though I have myself argued against that notion.

At this moment in time, when Baltimore has been held a mirror in front of its face and what was to be seen was not pretty, everybody needs to ask some real tough questions about almost anything we have been doing and considered normal and innocent. The police is in many ways reflective of the society in which it operates. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Here some links to relevant materials and reporting:

DOJ website with links to report and report elements

Link to the Report
Washington Post Opinion
NPR
The Atlantic
The Guardian and here

New hope for Amtrak TOD at Penn Station

Maybe this time is the charm: Another request for development of the Amtrak sites around Baltimore's Penn Station, an area that has had its share of starts and stops with little to show for in the last fifteen or so years. What was done is cleaned station facade, new train announcement panels, the plaza with the much hated he/she sculpture, an emergency generator, new lighting and improved bathrooms which received the seal of approval from Congressman Cummings at today's press conference held by Amtrak. But the upstairs rooms still stand empty, and the large parking lot along Lanvale is still just that, a surface parking lot.

Congressman Cummings in Penn Station today
(photo Philipsen)

In a press conference in the station hall today Amtrak's Senior Director of Major Stations and Development, Rina Cutler, said that the purpose of a new Request for Qualifications to come out this month  is to transform existing assets into revenue producing assets, to produce stronger communities and is part of a nationwide initiative across Amtrak's entire portfolio. "Design matters, community matters, money matters", she said, "to bring the city to the station and the station to the city". 

"Today we announce the official solicitation for a master developer.  This will be a game changer", Cutler explained.  The Request for Qualifications follows (RFQ) a Request For Information which had been published in January of this year to solicit interest in the project. Finally, in late fall there will be a Request For Proposals (RFP) among those shortlisted later in the fall of 2016. 

Cutler described Baltimore's  station as one with challenges. Infrastructure matters, she said and praised the ongoing work of valued partners in community and state, UB is one of them. "The object of planning is action, not plans. Let's get on with it."  

One can hope Rina Cutler, previously known for her innovative transportation work in Philadelphia, really means it. Baltimore can't wait. 

That was also underscored by Ellen Janes of the Central Baltimore Partnership and by District 7 Congressman Elijah Cummings. 

Baltimore's Penn Station, an yet to be tapped asset (photo Philipsen)

Janes sees three exceptional possibilities, a center with vitality that is a destination, a proud gateway to Baltimore and an opportunity for entrepreneurs and young workers. 

Elijah Cummings, Congressman of the 7th district and senior member on the house committee on transportation and infrastructure told reporters that "I make it my business once or twice a week just to check the bathrooms". They are doing a good job there, he determined. He said that "enormous potential was untapped for too long....For years I have worked with stakeholders to jumpstart this area." Basic improvements on bathrooms, facade, signage and facade have been made but they were modest. Amtrak doesn't have the resources to do it all. "It needs a partner". He then pivoted to a recurring theme he strikes when speaking about development: "Baltimore is going to be fine. We attract Millennials and we attract corporations. The question is will all of Baltimore rise together?" 

He then thanked various parties for their collaboration and noted especially the Central Baltimore Partnership and the Greater Baltimore Committee's Don Fry.

Upon being asked specifically about previous planning efforts, Rina Cutler stated "There never has been a Masterplan, there have been pieces. This is a very different process than before, we never had a formal design or financial commitments."

Development parcels and ownerships at Penn Station
(Photo: Philipsen)

The last team to work on a planning concept for the lots around the station included Beatty Development and architects Ayers Saint Gross. That team had exclusive negotiation rights and identified several additional development parcels initially not in Amtrak's focus as potential development sites. Beatty's 2013 proposal included 1.5 million square feet of new residential and commercial space, a $500 million TOD. Then suggested new construction included apartments on the Lanvale Street parking lot and office buildings to be constructed over Amtrak’s air rights between St Paul and Calvert Streets and between Charles Street and Maryland Avenue. Beatty back then said about designing a gateway: "You never get a second chance to make a first impression". Adam Gross also included suggestions for linear parks along the Amtrak line as they traverse Baltimore's dis-invested communities.

When I asked Rina Cutler about those previous plans, she said that Amtrak remains on good terms with Beatty and that likely the developer would submit in this round as well. However, she confirmed that none of the findings of the previous planning round will become the base for the coming round. The RFQ will be released shortly and be due six weeks after being issued. There will be a pre-proposal conference and a site tour as well as opportunities for Q&A. A shortlist of developers that made the cut and the RFP will be issued late this year if all goes by plan. 

The hope for transit oriented development (TOD) on Amtrak owned sites near stations is part of a nationwide "asset monetization" effort by Amtrak which includes similar initiatives in Chicago, DC, New York and Philadelphia, all going through the same three part proposal stages. Clearly, Amtrak doesn't have the money to keep its own facilities in good repair and is looking to leverage what real estate it owns towards a private public partnership (P3) that self funds facility improvements and the creation of attractive multi modal transportation hubs. One of the nation's larger P3 efforts involving a historic Amtrak station is in Denver where TOD around Denver's Union Station has created a flourishing new development area.

Except for Chicago, the station projects are part of  modernization of the Northeast Corridor, America's only viable high speed passenger rail corridor. As part of gradual improvements in rail service, Amtrak plans to double Acela premium service in the corridor by 2020. For that platforms in Baltimore's station will be reconfigured, upgraded and another track and platform added. There was talk about "bypass" facilities raising the prospect that not all future Acelas may stop in Baltimore. About 1 million passengers pass through Baltimore's station per year. This makes it one of the top performing stations in the Amtrak system. However, this is nothing by European rail station standards. In Stuttgart, Germany, same size as Baltimore, 1,280 trains and about a quarter million travelers use their main train station per day. 3.7 million rode the Baltimore Circulator last year. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

RFI announcement in January 2016

Amtrak Procurement Portal

2014 Amtrak Fact Sheet

Megalomania brought steel down and wants to bring it back

A Trump Administration will also ensure that we start using American steel for American infrastructure. Just like the American steel from Pennsylvania that built the Empire State building.It will be American steel that will fortify American's crumbling bridges.It will be American steel that sends our skyscrapers soaring into the sky.It will be American steel that rebuilds our inner cities. 

The American steel worker in 1956 (SUN photo)

It will be American hands that remake this country, and it will be American energy - mined from American resources - that powers this country. It will be American workers who are hired to do the job. We are going to put American-produced steel back into the backbone of our country. This alone will create massive numbers of jobs. (Donald Trump)

Sparrows Point Steel Mill 1956: Back to the future? (SUN photo)

When I heard this yesterday, I wondered if Baltimore's former steelworkers who labored in Sparrows Point would believe this. There were 30,000 of them in 1959 and 1,970 of them in 2012.

Or if Arcelor Mittal would believe this, the world's largest steel producer, headquartered in Luxembourg with steel production in 60 countries (including at one point Sparrows Point before it was ordered to sell the plant to comply with anti-trust laws). Now the company has no steel production in the US (its North American operations are located in Canada).

There are plenty of reasons why American Steel isn't strong anymore and some of them you can hear Mark Reuter tell on the RealNews. Fact is, in 2012 Sparrows Point was done with a glorious history of steel making that had lasted 120 years, and the reason that it was over wasn't NAFTA and it won't be TPP. American Steel went down for many of the same attitudes exhibited by the American auto industry and later the financial industry and by Donald Trump himself: Megalomania, arrogance, too impressed by its own size, its own might and ultimately unable to adjust nimbly to changing conditions and the future. Bosses in management and bosses in labor had a quaint deal and both profited for too long from the status quo. Until that wasn't good enough anymore. At Sparrows Point then came the liquidators, folks who sucked out the last few dollars that were to be made from auctioning off the outdated stuff . Out for the quick buck, not the long-term perspective. Workers shed aside like used Kleenexes.

The blast furnace is being blasted to pieces in 2015. (SUN photo)

Today Sparrows Point is called TradePoint Atlantic and its managers are putting in anybody who wants to be there. 

The newcomers may soon employ more workers than RG steel did before it went bust. But those are not high paying jobs performed by highly qualified workers. A FedEx warehouse, a Harley Davidson training center, Pasha Automotive, they all employ entry level workers, many of them with minimum pay. The nearby Amazon fulfillment center is a harbinger of that new world. It employs 3,000 employees. The plan for TradePoint Atlantic is for 10,000 employees in the next ten years. However, many of these jobs could be threatened by robots who could easily wipe out a large part of the current workforce. Robots are already slowly phased in Amazon.

10,000 wouldn't be bad for a labor market flooded with low skill workers, but it is not what Trump is dreaming about or, in fact, promising. Back to the future, a red hot steel mill giving work to 30,000 Americans won't happen. Not here and not anywhere else. Trust me!

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Related articles on the Community Architect blogs:

Buying Sparrow Point's Future in Las Vegas?
The Post-Steel Future of Sparrows Point
Steel and the Decline of Manufacturing

Ellicott City Flood: Kittleman finds the balance between safety, preservation and property rights

The unfortunate rain event and flood in Ellicott City raises questions of development patterns, resilience, insurance and what can be done to avoid such floods in the future.

Two buildings thought to date back to the early 1800's that lost support
under their demising wall (Photo: Preservation Maryland)

The state of emergency that continues raises another set of questions: What is the right balance between risk management, preservation of cultural assets and individual freedom?

Kittleman, the County Exec told the media: I won't compromise safety. Period. And with that it was decided that the two historic buildings had to be demolished unfortunately. Their fate seemed sealed.

It wouldn't be unheard of, if they were to be demolished with all the belongings inside.  When Baltimore's historic Gypsi's Cafe building partially collapsed through unauthorized construction inside, the building was entirely leveled by City owned bulldozers within 24 hours with everything inside including the entire commercial kitchen, all dishes, all glasses, and all silverware of the restaurant. The beer tanks in the basement were buried in the rubble.

Emergency stabilization instead of demolition
(Photo: Preservation Maryland)

But that is not what happened in Ellicott City. Demolition would be complicated and required careful planning because the building spans the Tiber creek and could have fallen into it clogging it and causing additional flooding.

Additionally, Preservation Maryland, a non-profit devoted to historic buildings and cultural assets, reached out to the County Executive and accomplished that engineers they hired got a chance to assess the situation. They were allowed to take stabilization efforts that were put in place yesterday. Preservation Maryland supported the structural engineering services from emergency donations for which they that had put out a call within 12 hours after the flood hit. For the moment those two historic structures are saved from the wrecking ball and the folks who live upstairs and had been on vacation during the event could get a chance to collect their belongings.

The morning after the night of catastrophic flooding politicians of all stripes assembled in front of flood ravages stores and buildings to announce their resolve to rebuild. Since then the street has been closed to anybody except first responders. A few times residents and shop owners got "permission" to hop on to those little Kabota and John Deere carts that roam any type of event otherwise closed to vehicles and visit their property.

Paintings rescued (Photo ECStrong)

The County Executive or his chief Fire Marshall (or who knows who) decide what exactly was permitted: A ten minute visit and and one large Tupper Ware type plastic box with lid that could be filled with the most precious belongings. The media interviewed folks about what they picked in a scenario, which matches everybody's absolute nightmare. The exercise was at least once cut short because emergency workers noticed movement in the two attached buildings just east of Caplans that were now shored up thanks to Preservation Maryland.

The determination of structural stability and the ten minute/one box visits beg the question, if property rights and public safety can be balanced even if safety, naturally, must have the highest priority. As the Preservation Maryland example shows, things are rarely fully yes or no, or simply black or white. Often there is a "it depends".

Still, in emergencies one can often observe that those who never stop deploring the so-called nanny state react the same way as their counterparts who always emphasize the common interest over the individual one. In an emergency all power is bestowed on a single authority, final and without recourse, other communal interests such as preservation or the individual's property rights area seemingly wiped out.

additional engineering resources brought in: Preservation MD
(Photo: Preservation Maryland)

Now, before anybody gets all bent out of shape, clearly a State of Emergency must mean that individual rights are curtailed for safety and welfare of the community at large. Clearly, in Ellicott City one couldn't and shouldn't have permitted every dick Tom and Harry to roam the disaster scene for selfies or self appointed disaster aid nor could one have let just any property owner climb up to the upper floors on buildings in danger of imminent collapse.

Disaster response the morning after seemed well coordinated and efficient. Fixing disrupted utilities, emergency shoring of foundations that were hanging in the air, removal of debris blocking access on the road. Abandoned and washed away cars were towed by the hundreds. A resource center was first established in the County's Carter rec center and then moved to the library and senior center.

Emergency shoring done by County response teams (Sun photo)

I have no reason to believe that this methodical response didn't continue day after day. A week after the flood work had progressed to the point that Main Street could be power-washed by a special truck. But shop keepers and property owners were still generally held off, even though damage on buildings varies widely. (Clearly some had finagled their way in anyway, with public works, inspectors, contractors, police, Red Cross, firemen and others moving in and out, there were opportunities to slip in for those who knew how to get into one of the permitted vehicles before they passed the checkpoints).

The question here is one of degree. Shouldn't tenants, property and business owners and others with their belongings inside the sealed off area be allowed to make informed decisions how much risk they want to take in order to get their stuff? People can sign indemnification clauses to jump of cliffs and bridges, but they couldn't sign a paper to enter their own house? How far do people have to be protected from themselves?

County Executive Kittleman addressing residents and emergency workers

Preservation Maryland's initiative and the Executive's response give hope that executive power has been used wisely.

Collapse is a complicated affair and is the result of a tenuous balance getting tipped in one direction. Just as in the hundreds of dilapidated row houses my architecture firm entered to take measurements for rehabilitation and which had survived years of instability. A great many of them were structurally highly unstable and some had lost more structural members than many of the structures in Ellicott City appear to have lost in the flood. Contractor's entered these buildings and stabilized them strategically until they were refurbished to become state of the art for sale or rent homes fully compliant with all codes.

A quick determination that a historic building must come down and that there is no other way, often rises doubts among engineers. With some resources and a second opinion, there usually are ways to stabilize the shaky equilibrium of those buildings without endangering emergency workers, sometimes with low key shoring, sometimes through the temporary use of heavy equipment to secure a place without having to step into it so that new supports can safely be put into place.

Sidewalks backfilled by County Departments (photo ECStrong)

Emergency declarations serve a good purpose. But even in matters of public health and safety there must be a reasonable balance and consideration of what really is the best approach, especially a few days after the immediate dust has settled. It looks like in Ellicott City that balance has been found.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Donations to Preservation Maryland fund can be made here

Related article on this blog:
What nearly wiped out Ellicott City and what should be done about it