Penn Station: Finally development?

Amtrak doesn't have the world's fastest trains and its development decision making isn't super fast either. Requests for  proposals to bring Baltimore's Penn Station up to modern times were issued several times, presumably for various levels of pre-development planning. In August of last year Amtrak announced that this time it would really mean it and solicit a master developer in a two step procurement process. It require a record fast six week turn-around for the initial submittal. The proposer had to provide comprehensive design-build and operate services:

Penn Station seen across the track area where a
new concourse is suggested (Amtrak)

Amtrak is seeking interested parties capable of all aspects of project delivery including an implementable Master Plan, design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of non-rail assets at Baltimore Penn Station, as well as expansion opportunities and commercial development of the surrounding Amtrak owned properties. (Amtrak)

In November 2016 Amtrak shortlisted three teams and in December 2017 the winner was named. The three contenders were:

• Penn Station Partners, led by Baltimore's Beatty Development Group, the developer of Harbor Point. The team also includes Armada Hoffler Properties, a frequent Beatty partner, and Bill Struever's Cross Street Partners.

• Peebles-AZ Baltimore Penn, led by the Peebles Corp., a private company based in Florida that is one of the nation's largest minority owned development, with projects that include a major transit-oriented project in Boston and a Washington office building that includes Amtrak offices. It is working with Baltimore's AZ Group, New York investment management firm MacFarlane Partners and Baltimore's Williams Jackson Ewing and Marks, Thomas Architects.

• Brandywine Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust headquartered in Pennsylvania, which has been working on the station master plan in Philadelphia. The team led by the firm includes Baltimore architecture firm Ayers Saint Gross, Baltimore's Pinkard Properties, Bethesda's Clark Construction and Madison Marquette, a Washington firm with projects that include 1 Light Street in Baltimore.

In 2013 Amtrak had already worked with Beatty Development on a master plan for the station and surrounding areas. At the time Beatty's architect was the local firm of Ayer Saint Gross. In the new configuration Beatty's chief architects are Gensler architects, the world's largest architecture firm which also has a Baltimore office. Gensler has extensive transportation and TOD experience. ASG changed to Branddywine Realty Trust. Whatever the reasons for the switch, it did work out for Beatty whose team was now selected as Penn Station Partners.

Concourse rendering with above view of Penn Station in background
(Amtrak/Gensler)

The press release distributed by Amtrak includes a rendering showing some modern train hall some new construction with the historic station visible thorough the windows, possibly located somewhere above the tracks. Nothing is disclosed regarding the scope of development beyond the station itself. One has to assume the project includes the development site to the north but it is not clear whether any of the additional sites identified by ASG in the original masterplan are included as well.

Penn Station in Baltimore, Union Station in DC, 30th Street Station in Philly and Penn Station in New York are all considered for major overhauls including transit oriented development.  Penn Station in NYC is the most advanced with construction of the $1.6 billion project now officially in progress.

Amtrak also issued a request for a master-developer  for the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia last year. It appears that the station work with its private public partnership and design-build-operate approach is further along than the upgrade of the Northeast corridor overall. In order to truly achieve the speeds and service which European,  Chinese and Japanese passengers have been using for years various tunnels (such as the Baltimore B&P tunnel) and bridges need major upgrades. Those improvements still go through environmental impact statements (EIS) and are not funded.  Fueled by steadily increasing Amtrak ridership between NYC and DC, Washington DC and Philadelphia have seen massive redevelopment efforts near their stations for years. In Baltimore the pace is decidedly slower with the 103 apartment Nelson Kohl on Lanvale Street across from the Amtrak site nearing completion. The 32 unit Station North townhomes developed by Somerset Development designed by ArchPlan Inc. in 2007 and the 1209 condominiums at Charles and Preston originally developed by Struever Brothers were early harbingers of transit orient development and the notion that Baltimore could be a market for people who live here and work in DC. Those project pale in scale compared to the possibly 1.6 million square feet that the Amtrak TOD could bring.

Rendering of the new Moynahan Station in NYC (SOM)

The selected Penn Station Partners development team under Beatty Development includes a host of  firms, many Baltimore-based, including the property management company Armada Hoffler Properties, William Struever's development consultant Cross Street Partners, engineering giant WSP USA (formerly Parsons Brinkerhoff), specialty rail engineers Network Rail Consulting, the construction company Mace Group, the real estate service firm JLL, economic development consultants HR&A Advisors, architectural historian Charles Belfoure, architects Cho Benn Holback (now Quinn Evans), the investment bankers of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, the engineering firm RK&K and the design studio of Younts Design.

Much of the design and precise team responsibilities is still a matter of negotiation. WSP's website provides a few anchor points of what the development entails:

The proposed mixed-use development that could bring as many as 1.6 million square feet of development to the area. Preliminary concepts include a hotel in the historic station head house, as well as office and residential space to the north along Lanvale Street connected by an expanded concourse with new retail opportunities. Specific details regarding the development’s scope, design and phasing will be the focus of future engagement between Amtrak, the selected developer, stakeholders and the public.

Amtrak advised that a more detailed briefing on the specifics of the project would be made available "in the first quarter of 2018". One of the questions on the mind of Baltimore could be how investment around Penn Station would work in the context of two competing high speed rail connections that the Hogan Administration supports: A Maglec connection to DC with a station at the southern end of the city near Port Covington or Westport and a Hyperloop proposed by electric car wunderkind and futurist Elon Musk. Both technology projects would not serve Penn Station.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

related story on this blog:
New Hope for Amtrak TOD at Penn Station? (Aug. 2016)

Breaking News regarding Amtrak service in Washington State:
A new higher speed Amtrak train called the Amtrak Cascades using the $800 million Point Defiance bypass route near Seattle derailed this morning during its inaugural journey and fell from an overpass onto Interstate I-5. Injuries and casualties have been reported. Trains on the refurbished Sounder commuter route can reach 79mph.

How is MTA's Link system doing?

While it is pretty obvious that not all promises of the former MTA Administrator Paul Comfort became reality, anybody looking for actual performance metrics will have a hard time finding them,  in part because surveys and analysis are still ongoing.

How is the new system performing?

That is why the transit group Transit Choices eagerly awaited the latest updates from MTA at their recent bus workgroup meeting. MTA's new Administrator Kevin Quinn was upbeat when he and his team offered an overview of all ongoing initiatives. The biggest take away: The team that designed LINK isn't sitting on their hands but is actively tweaking the system on many fronts to respond to customer complaints, improve service or deploy existing resources more effectively. All of those adjustments make a before-after-comparison of performance metrics difficult. Currently the MTA is busy receiving input on a package of proposed service changes for February 2018 for which the comment period is still open. This means that the suggested changes are not final and that some may not happen at all. For some route changes, such as the alignment of a new route 63 to Sparrows Point (Tradepoint Atlantic) alternatives are on the table. A final decision will consider public response to the proposed routes suggested to run on either Eastern Avenue or on Fleet and Boston Streets. There are also a number of suggested service changes that would increase headways outside peak hours or eliminate routes because of poor ridership.

The biggest service change deals with modifications to the Green line and
Local Link 78 which work in tandem 

The proposed elimination of some of the Express bus lines such as 102, 106  and 107 has met little opposition since the lines are so underused that they are already on the chopping block. Having circumferential express connections between Owings Mills and White Marsh seemed like an innovative new way of adding choice riders which have not been on the system in the past, however those riders never materialized since the lines were introduced as the first set of changes ahead of the main Link launch in June 2016. The service adjustments proposed for February are supposed to redistribute the existing buses and operators to address rider complaints and experiences since the initial launch six months ago.

Other changes occur "under the hood", for example the installation of satellite in lieu of the radio based vehicle locators on the CityLink buses. The retrofit of all buses with a full complement of "Bus USA" technology will still take another 18-24 months. All the color coded CityLink bus lines can already be found on the Transit app as little bus symbols on the map with their exact real time location on the route, a very cool feature that isn't widely known yet. MTA is also exploring design options for 200 additional bus shelters as well as enhancements to downtown bus stops which would include electronic maps and next bus information.

Bunching and gapping observations on a CityLink Green on 9/26/17 (MTA)

 A big headache for riders, operators and the MTA is "headway adherence"  or the lack thereof which is popularly known as "bus bunching", i.e. when the buses show up in double or triplicate, a condition that can easily double or triple the scheduled wait-times between buses. Schedule adherence is depicted on time/space diagrams and the graphs of a partial analysis on the Green Line don't look good yet.

Bunching can have a whole host of causes beginning with buses not even getting "out of the gate" on time,  i.e. commencing their route early, late, or sometimes not at all. For a bus to commnece its route on time, there needs to be a bus and an operator who either begin service for that shift right there or return from a previous route on time.

BL buses arriving in twos at Saratoga and Eutaw Streets (Philipsen)

Closer analysis by MTA revealed that, surprisingly, problems begin frequently right at the original dispatch point at the bus depot. An analysis revealed that more than half the buses left the depot ahead of time or late, a perry startling finding, especially for the contingent that is late. (Since the depot is not the same as the begin of the route, getting out of the depot early doesn't mean the bus geins its route also early). Untimely depot departure has been brought down to more acceptable levels by stricter supervision. Headway adjustments on the route are more difficult to achieve. That can be done by controllers who see the buses on their monitors at the central operations center on Eutaw Street, by field supervisors who monitor buses in the street, or by dispatching "spare" buses held ready at strategic points to fill especially egregious service gaps.

Example of "out of the gate" timeliness. A surprisingly poor
performance. Improvements have been made since
 (MTA). 

Even buses that start their routes exactly within the set intervals, there are plenty of obstacles en route that can ruin the set headway, chiefly too many people fumbling for cash, being stuck in congested traffic or too many signals on red. All of those delay factors are being addressed in their own way: There are now 5.5 miles of designated bus lanes (4.6 miles or 83% of those are 24 hour lanes), which make it easier for  the bus to bypass congestion. Then there are signals which are influenced by buses (on two routes to date) and reduce wait times at red lights. Finally MTA has embarked on encouraging cash-free payments to accelerate boarding. They are distributing free Charm Cards that are pre-loaded with a day-pass and can be re-charged on ticket vending machines to last for as long as the preloaded money will last. A innovation including an app on a smart phone that will be visually checked by the bus operators is planned to launch next year. A fully cash free system is not yet considered. "We have to be able to crawl before we walk", Quinn observed.
To combat bunching there is much intensified supervision on the street and from the control center with additional personnel assigned to those tasks. Though some of the measures have already brought relief, the agency is still studying how other agencies are managing the persistent bunching problem.
The MTA expects to release next week a report that details how well the signal priority has worked.

A rendering of the  new Hitachi train car (MTA)

Quinn also reminded his audience that the MTA is not just a bus company but runs  rail service as well. MARC, the commuter train service,  has already received 8 new Siemens diesel electric "charger" locomotives which are currently completing their required testing period on local tracks. where those engines can already be spotted. Light Rail trains are undertaking a mid-life overhaul in which each of the over 50 train cars will be entirely dismantled and rebuilt. Three trains are done so far. Metro, MTA's stealth subway, meanwhile, will receive a fleet of completely new subway cars. The contract for the new subway cars has been approved in July of this year. They are the same model made by Hitachi and partners which runs in Miami. The cars are expected to go into service in 2021.

While MTA's Link initiative will strike only a few as the service revolution as which it was billed initially, it has laid the groundwork for a more robust operation that is easier to tweak. The administrator promises more performance data to be available soon.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA
updated for graphics 12/19/17

ArchPlan has been a consultant on Link and currently plays a small advisory role on the North Avenue Rising project.

Disparities in capital funding

It would hardly come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with Baltimore neighborhoods in disinvested areas that capital expenses for public spaces and facilities have not been distributed equally across the city. It is kind of discovering that winters is colder than summer. However, the fact that uneven distribution seems to be like a natural law one can take for granted is precisely part of the problem.

Capital expenditures in the FY 2017 budget

What is surprising, however, is that even two years after the uprising, which has widely been diagnosed as a result and indicator of disparities, the unequal investment of public dollars in public spaces is still so lopsided. Apparently 2:1 in favor of more affluent areas looking at a five year period.

What is also surprising is that the Baltimore Department of Planning even conducted an analysis of those spending patterns. Details of the study are not available, unfortunately, except for what is included in a SUN article published in Wednesday's edition. Equitable spending is not tracked in Baltimore's budget reports.

Over the past five years, the budget allocated an average of $15 million for projects in Baltimore neighborhoods where more than 75 percent of residents are white. In areas where more than 75 percent of people are minorities, the figure was $8 million. (Baltimore SUN)

Many don't know that per Baltimore's charter the Department of Planning develops with City agencies the annual Capital Improvement Program (CIP). The discrepancy findings amount to a mea culpa confession, a productive step if change is truly desired.

The average neighborhood with more than 40 percent of residents below the poverty line was allocated $3.5 million in funding, while areas where fewer than 20 percent of residents lived in poverty received $14 million. (Baltimore SUN)

Sources of the Capital Budget 2017

It is easy to point the finger trying to assign fault with prominent individuals (the Mayor etc). Personalized blame is also largely unproductive and fails to see the nature of the problem. The uneven distribution of capital dollars rarely stems from individuals malignantly trying to keep the poor poor, but instead, is the result of a system of exclusion that has been carefully developed over decades and typically comes in the guise of fiscal deliberation and economic laws. No doubt the profit maxim directs private capital which goes where the risk is low and a return on investment. But shouldn't it be different for public dollars?

Many don’t want to see the elegant design of the policy of exclusion. Where we are is exactly where we are supposed to be” [by that design]. If race based policies got us here how can we do now  race free policy?”  (Michael McAfee, Policy Link last week at the Hopkins 21st Century Cities Symposium)

It is astonishing to see how much public money tracks the pattern of private investment, even though public expenditures are expected to counteract some of the injustices the private economic system inflicts. But most public money comes from private sources, chiefly property taxes, and it looks as if that money typically doesn't make it far from where it originates. The city study indicates that it tends to be spent exactly where the property tax income is the highest even though that certainly isn't  where it is needed the most.

The presence of such a City discrepancy study comes on the heels of  a series in the Boston Globe about racial disparities there (A brandnew Boston, even whiter than the old). Public spending inequalities have long been studied, especially for schools, (The dramatic inequality of public-school spending in America, Washington Post, May 2014), but also for public parks. (Inequality in American Public Parks, CityLab, October 2016).

The inequities continue down to much more mundane levels such as the quality of sidewalks, or the number of non functioning streetlights. This remains true, even though Baltimore has recently made specific efforts to counter-steer that pattern with a few high profile projects such as the North Avenue streetscape project between Washington and Asquith Streets which was completed earlier this week or a few years back the median landscaping of Fulton Avenue or a new community school in East Baltimore. McCulloh Street in Druid Heights traverses the area with the highest poorest health outcomes in Baltimore. It got recently repaved and is nice and smooth now which is nice as a gesture, even when overhead one can still find Baltimore's oldest traffic signals in their original 1950s condition, but repaving is only a gesture and a beginning for all the other investments still needed.

The disparity study doesn't even include most of the dollar expenses of the department of Public Works which has the biggest budget of all city departments.

To reach their conclusions, the planners analyzed five years’ worth of capital budgets, mapping city building projects and looking at demographic data. They cautioned that there are gaps in their analysis. They could not get geographic information on projects like road paving, and some school construction programs also were excluded.
The team did not consider spending by the Department of Public Works, which accounts for three-quarters of the spending this year, in part because much of the department’s spending is court-ordered under a long-running environmental case. (SUN)

Baltimore City's budgeting isn't done without a sophisticated framework of tools aiming to deal with all the problems a shrinking city would encounter in an effective manner. Anybody who wants to discuss how the city's money is spent should take a look at the 322 page 2017 budget plan which includes outcome based budgeting, closely monitoring a large number of metrics and trends based on desirable outcomes. This type of budgeting had been an innovation of the previous mayor.

Outcome Budgeting is a budget process that aligns resources with results. The budget is organized at the service level around the City’s seven Priority Outcomes. Instead of starting from last year’s spending and adjusting allocations up or down, in Outcome Budgeting we start with what results matter most to citizens. Outcome Budgeting:

 Addresses fiscal constraints

 Rewards innovation

 Measures performance

 Makes the budget process more transparent  (2017 Budget)

Planning Director Stosur is heavily engaged in the Baltimore Green Plan. I recall him a few month ago holding up a tree canopy plan which clearly showed that Baltimore's poor neighborhoods also had the fewest trees. He seemed genuinely concerned with the fact that one after the other GIS map showed inequities that patterned very close to the infamous red-lining maps in which HUD outlined areas they considered high risk for loans based on poverty and race. Then and now, identifying poor areas as too risky for investment perpetuates a spiral of decline which has gone on for a century or longer. Jules Howie of the Upton Development Council recently explained this vividly when she talked about the same type house fetching $390,000 in Bolton Hill on one side of Eutaw Place and only $90,000 in her community on the other side. Eutaw Street follows the old HUD red-line and for decades deprived residents on the "wrong" side of asset development and wealth creation. This made them unable to obtain home equity loans or do substantial repairs or upkeep on their stately homes, perpetuating the cycle long after redlining was banned and a Reinvestment Act mandates compensatory investment.

How would the city go about adjusting capital spending so it becomes more equitable? When Councilman Ryan Dorsey speaks about his Complete Streets bill he maintains that his bill would look not only at desirable outcomes but also at needs and would allocate resources where the needs are highest. A needs-based allocation of funds would, indeed, address inequality and equity. However, it wouldn't always be fiscally prudent. While cities don't need to make a profit, they still need to see a "return on the investment", in terms of budget policy that means that expenditures should leverage income that keep a budget stable and ideally pay for themselves, most notably, by increasing the tax base. In spite of a shrinking or stagnant population, Baltimore has managed to increase proceeds from property taxes, the largest source of city income. Proponents of a equity based correction of expenditures argue that the city cannot afford not to make investments in disinvested areas since without improvements there public safety and decent education cannot be achieved. Both are a key condition for growing population, home values, wealth and tax base.

Baltimore City Property Tax Revenues over the years

Much has been written about how unequal schools are across the nation, within states, and even within one school district like Baltimore City. The City's school system is in constant money trouble because large vulnerable populations require additional resources. In light of looking where the system can cut cost, school closures are proposed based on lower student numbers. A strictly outcome-based budget would probably allow cutting schools with low student numbers. However, if equity is put into the equation, the school system would not propose to close a community school in Sandtown, such as Pinderhughes, because it provides exactly the type compensatory services to the entire community where the need for those services is the highest.

The consideration of equity must be included into everything the city does. Planning's new data analysis, imperfect as it may, be is the right step in that direction. City budgeting, though, is complicated and doesn't lend itself well to simplistic slogans and solutions.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

The future of Baltimore's oldest market

In October of this year the Baltimore Markets Corporation came to its senses and decided that the Fells Point Broadway Markets, in existence since 1786, should remain in the possession of the City of Baltimore. Now in December there is finally movement with a new team and a set of ideas presented to the community on Tuesday.

Broadway Market in 1953 with second floor and cupola (SUN)

The story of these two market sheds sitting empty (north market) or marginally active (south market) in the median of Broadway amidst a bustling Fells Point is so long and protracted that many may have forgotten its beginning.

The north shed was for a while envisioned as a Belvedere style market with seven vendors by Richard Manekin's WorkShop Development Group together with Dolben in 2012.  The plan was put on hold when the Red Line was still active and an underground station envisioned right in front of the structure. There was discussion of making the shed a construction field office for the Red Line. By the time the Red Line was shelved by the Governor in 2015, WorkShop promised renewed activity but their plans did not come to pass when the development agreement was not extended  because Mannekin did not file an extension. Baltimore Markets decided to rebid the markets and later awarded the negotiation rights to Dolben and Klein who had developed Marketplace at Fells Point on both sides of the markets.

WorkShop design 2015

Dolben and Klein then had the sheds designed by BCT architects as a restaurant, seafood market and amphitheater. But in October Baltimore Markets rejected the proposal in face of community opposition and the insight that it would be better for the City to not sell the properties. Robert Thomas, Executive Director of the Baltimore Markets Inc commented at the time:

"We are taking on the project ourselves. The city and the Markets Corp. is working to do the redevelopment and focus on figuring out what goes where and how the markets are populated. And we want to take care of the existing tenants. "Our prerequisite is to find out what it takes to get the north shed up to snuff. We may call in a consultant. I don't know for sure what if any private money would be interested. The public part of it we know is there." (Robert Thomas, Executive Director of the Baltimore Markets Inc.)

Existing tenants in the 2011 renovated structure include Vicki's Deli, a still popular old time breakfast and lunch counter, Sal's Seafood and The Pretzel Twist.

BCT Design 2016-17

As it turns out Baltimore Markets did actually bring on two private consultants, both have recent "market" experience by realizing two trendy food halls in Baltimore: Development Solutions, whose principal Dominic Wiker developed the Time Group's Mount Vernon Marketplace, and PI.KL, the architecture firm with Pavlina Ilieva and Kuo Lian as a principals who recently designed Seawall's R. House in Remington, and won this year's good design is good business award of Baltimore AIA.

North Market after the top was taken off

At the public meeting, held in the Bond Street Wharf  with four projection screens and a view of the dark water beyond, Colin Tarbert from the Mayor's Office, Robert Thomas from the Market Inc and the architects laid out their initial thoughts and objectives. When asked how a market project would be funded, Robert Thomas responded "we will accept donations". There is pre-development money but no money for construction. While Tabert elaborated that the market would remain in the cities hands, and remain to be leased to Market Inc for operations, the  path towards funding remained unclear and so did the schedule.

Robert Thomas explaining the latest approach
(Photo: Philipsen)

After the meeting Colin Tarbert indicated that a design concept and first budget could be developed in 2018.

The residents began a lively discussion about design, programming, traffic and the economics. They made it clear that they were tired of staring at the boarded North Market which someone called "a dump". "The vacant north market had an amazingly depressing effect" is how one participant put it and several others emphasized the urgency of getting something done. "If you are waiting for perfect it’s not helping the small businesses" was someone else's opinion. A resident suggested "why don't you consider pop-up spaces within 3-6 months" as a method to expedite change. A longtime resident reminded his neighbors that the North Market was successful until a developer subjected it to a planned unit development and shuttered it. Another pointed out that most of the retail spaces on both sides of the market which were built with the Marketplace development remain vacant. There was disagreement whether this was a sign of "too much retail" or a sign how much the vacant market hall drags everything down.

But there were also concerns, especially about additional restaurants, about "too much retail already" and about a lack of parking. Since the consultants had been responsible for food halls, attending restaurant owners and residents made it very clear that they don't need anything like R House in Fells Point.

A posh meeting place in the Bond Street Wharf building
screens and waterview (photo: Philipsen)

Generally, the market concept with places to get food "from a real person", as someone put it, was seen as a good addition to what is already happening in Fells Point. Pavlina Illieva reminded folks that Fells Point needs people to come back and see the area again as the vibrant spot as once was before Harbor East and other areas stealing some of the thunder. The architects only showed objectives and some precedents from other cities and countries such as foodhallen in Amsterdam, no suggested design yet. Illieva promised that the new market wouldn't be "a one trick pony", suggested that opening the arches on the side for light and the ability to move in and out, maybe removing the faux north wall, and connecting the north and south structures would be key elements of success.

Pavlina Illieva presenting design goals
and case studies (photo: Philipsen)

Reviving the markets soon will be key. Although a resident stated that the concept of "market stalls is now obsolete" the direct, personal, small retail of farmers markets and public markets has a renaissance all across America. It appears to be exactly what people yearn for in a time of online food orders and 100,000 sf Wegmans somewhere in the burbs. Butchers, bakers are springing up again in trendy cities just like coffee-shops did in the last two decades. Findley's Market in Cinncinatti shows that a vibrant public market also gives a boost to private retail on both sides of it, even in a previously disinvested area. The concept should certainly work in bustling Fells Point that is far from depressed, even if some residents are depressed about the markets stalling for so long.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Related articles on this blog: 
Broadway Markets - an unfulfilled promise (Oct 2017)

The future of public markets (2014)

From Quantity to quality: Is retail coming full circle (2012)

Chaos around Baltimore's Public Markets (4/17)

What Baltimore and Cincinnati have in common (4/17)

Links
BBJ: Klein proposal rejected

Market in a similar position: Centre Market, Wheeling, WV

Fund affordable housing through the transfer tax?

For years Baltimore city mayors have promised relief from the high tax and fee levels under which city residents suffer as a result that fewer and fewer residents have to support essentially the same set of services. A proposal from Councilman Henry to increase the real estate transfer tax to bring money into an affordable housing fund has stirred a lot of consternation among those who still wait for the promised tax relief to become more noticeable than the tine reductions to date.

Bill Henry during TIF hearing (Daily Record)

Leveling the playing field has been the elusive goal when it comes to buying, developing or owning real estate in the city more similar to the surrounding counties where property taxes are about half, permits easier to get and insurances much cheaper.

But there is also this:

• There is an affordable housing crisis in this city and all across America
• A Baltimore inclusionary zoning code that was supposed to force developers of larger residential developments to set aside of affordable units has been undercut for a variety of reasons (initially because it just got into effect when the financial crisis hit) and has not yielded a measurable relief to the affordable housing shortage
• A ballot measure to amend the city charter and allow an Affordable Hosuing Trust Fund passed last November. But such a fund remains ineffective if there is no money in it
• Surrounding counties have done little to build affordable housing in opportunity areas or anywhere else, leaving the city to deal with disproportional demand for affordable housing and long wait lists for units and vouchers
• Real estate in the city is generally cheaper than in the counties offsetting in part the higher taxes and fees

Baltimore housing activists

Ballot question J in the last election was pushed by housing advocate Odette Ramos. The provision is in keeping with a growing trend to set aside dedicated funds for specific purposes. Mayor Pugh and others have supported an affordable housing trust fund during her campaign. The Mayor's transition report does not include a section on housing.

Question J: Affordable Housing Trust FundThe petition is for the purpose of amending the Baltimore City Charter to establish a continuing, non-lapsing Affordable Housing Trust Fund to be used exclusively to provide broadly defined projects and programs related to establishing and preserving affordable housing in Baltimore City. Revenue for the Fund is as provided in the Ordinance of Estimates, grants and donations, mandatory and voluntary payments made pursuant to ordinances establishing development policy, a portion of tax increment financing revenue and any other source established by ordinance. These allocation methods are not subject to discretion in the budget process, other fiscal priorities or constraints imposed by revenue limitations. The Petition authorizes oversight, governance, and administration of the Fund by the Department of Housing and Community Development and a 12 member commission. 

Last year, at a mayoral campaign event with all candidates, long-term housing activist Jeff Singer described Baltimore's housing conditions in bleak terms and called affordable housing one of the city's most pressing problems. He cited statistics that almost 40 percent of households in the city cannot afford their housing based on the proportion of monthly cost, contributing to 150,000 eviction notices filed each year. Around 2,800 people are estimated to sleep on the street on a given night, according to Singer. In the national context, Glassdoor rated Baltimore as one of the top 25 US cities when it comes to jobs and housing costs.(Baltimore was #19 in that survey, Pittsburgh #1).

Recently Pugh supported the call from the Baltimore Housing Roundtable demanding $20 million towards affordable housing and $20 million towards deconstructing vacant houses. “Mayor Pugh shares the vision of the 20/20 plan,” Anthony W. McCarthy said in November. From previous statements one has to assume that the Mayor expects donations and funds from the private sector.
Councilman Cohen made the connection between affordable housing and crime:

“If we are going to get serious about public safety, if we’re going to get serious about educating our kids,” he said. “Then we have to get serious about stable, affordable, safe housing in Baltimore. The city is looking down the barrel of a housing affordability crisis,” Councilman Zeke Cohen.

Since to date no sustainable funding source had been proposed the idea of the fund had no legs until last week when Councilman Henry  submitted legislation to raise the recording fee by 20 percent and transfer taxes by 17 percent as a “sustainable revenue source” for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The raise would increase the recording fee charged on every $500 worth of property sold from $5 to $6; amounting to about $200 on a $100,000 house sale The transfer tax charged on property transfers would rise from 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent or an additional $250 on that $100,000 house. It is estimated that these taxes would generate about $10 million per year. Council President Young and Councilman Bullock want to create a task force to study funding for affordable housing. The task force would look at Henry's bill and other ways of directing money into the trust fund.

DC Housing Fund achievements

The proposal received swift condemnation by some and support by others. On David Troy's Baltimore City Voters Facebook page opinions bounced back and forth.

Wendy W, an "underwater" homeowner posted: "This is straight BS... homeowners continue to pay for the poor in this City! Yet, businesses and developers get the biggest brakes! Why aren’t they paying for the poor and distressed!"

Richard C. was also opposed: "Completely against this. I'll support something like this when our friends in the suburbs do the same. Why make this struggling city less attractive to newcomers?".

To which Bill Henry responded: "yeah, the competitive disadvantage argument is always a handicap to trying to be more progressive than the jurisdictions that surround us. Honestly though, I doubt that less than half-a-percent of the sales price - split between the buyer and seller - is going to send a buyer out to the suburbs who was otherwise going to buy here...not trying because they aren't trying seems counter-intuitive, when the goal is to get something done..."

Phyllis F was for the bill:  "For the record, I’m a liberal and I have no problem with this because it’s a way for the city to fulfill a legislated commitment to affordable housing it hasn’t been able to because of funding." 

DC housing fund, how funds were assigned

Lynda B is also sanguine about it: "This actually doesn’t sound too bad. The headline of the article makes it sound like it will affect taxes in general, but it’s only during the sale of a property - the recording fee and transfer tax will go up. If it could also include a minute amount on second homes and rentals (not during a sale, but a general fee for providing rental property in Baltimore, like $5 per year per unit you have available - this would not be such a burden on an owner who has a few properties, while the larger companies would shoulder more of the burden (and should be providing more of the lower income housing anyway) you’d have this thing funded in a heartbeat."

Affordable housing trust funds are commonly used across the country and also elsewhere in Maryland. Nearby, Howard County, Montgomery County and the District of Columbia use the tool.

DC's Trust Fund has been in effect for over a decade and is also mostly fueled by transfer taxes. Like in Baltimore, affordable housing fees to be paid by developers in lieu of constructing such units under zoning were never enforced. In its 2014 report the DC trust claims to have provided $320 million for financing and to have leveraged an additional $794 million. Of course, DC has seen an extraordinary housing boom. Just like similar "trust" funds for other purposes such as the Maryland Transportation Trust fund or Maryland's Program Open Space, the DC housing fund had been raided to prop up the general fund.

The Philadelphia Housing Trust fund was created in 2005 and is funded by mortgage fees. Its achievements are more modest than those of the District. The 10 year report lists that the HTF has raised nearly $109 million and assisted more than 27,000 households. It has done this through the production of 1,482 new or rehabilitated homes, major repairs to 2,281 homes, improved accessibility for 1,381 households, repair of 12,986 heaters, homelessness prevention for 2,713 households, and utility assistance for 6,399 Philadelphia families.

Since nationally the most important funding source for affordable housing has been the affordable housing tax credit, which is in jeopardy because of the federal tax bill currently being in reconciliation in Washington, local funding sources will likely become an even more important lifeline for affordable housing and the many households who depend on it.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Baltimore SUN story
Ten Year Report of the Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund

Life with a plug-in hybrid

Just when I thought I wouldn't have to or want to care about cars anymore and would consider my vehicle simply a convenience and utility, not a status symbol or toy, I was forced to focus on the vehicle once again and had to realize how much a car still intertwines with modern daily life.

The car I had driven for seven years had over 110,000 miles with the first set of brakes, was manually shifted and the radio turned on and off with a button one could find without looking. Because it was a diesel, it didn't need spark plugs, a distributor or a timing belt and got up to 54mpg on the interstate, allowing trips of up to 700 mile without refueling. All the while the thing was peppy and allowed quick merges or rapid acceleration from 50mph to 70mph as one needs it sometimes in tricky freeway situations. The trunk was cavernous and held my bike without dismantling any more than the seat. It also held a full size spare to replace a flat in a pinch and continue travel at regular speeds. I could change a wheel in 15 minutes flat.

Simple, reliable and frugal but deceptive: The VW Diesel

In short, all seemed just fine until it turned out that this very vehicle that I had bought for its combination of utility and frugal environmental qualities was a fraud. Not that it didn't have all of the above advantages, but it did it by lying about its noxious NOX emissions. It really didn't comply with the California emission standards or, for that matter, with any standards for Nitrate Oxide and obtained its US licenses by cheating. Which, exactly, was the matter of the VW Diesel scandal which forced the world's largest automaker to buy my car back in the world's most expensive comsumer compensation case which includes penalties to the US government and the pain and suffering payouts to owners who are aggrieved by the deceit.

But what to buy next? What vehicle sold in the US was simple, spacious and had great gas mileage (45mpg or better but while adhering to the law) and would get you at least 600 miles without seeing a gas station? The answer: No such vehicle exists here. Only two vehicles comes close.

Nursing an electric car in a parking garage

What I finally bought is EPA rated at 54mpg and goes 600 miles between gas stops, but it isn't simple. In fact, it is one of the most complicated cars on the market: It has an electric motor and a battery pack that lets the car go around 27 miles in full electric mode (enough for an average daily commute) and it also has a gas motor for any trips that are longer. The arrangement has the advantage to completely take away the "range anxiety" that invariably befalls the full electric driver when the estimated amount of miles left falls precipitously because of a steep mountain, high speed or cold temps while the next charging station is still far away.

The radios today have no buttons, the trunk is mostly taken up by batteries (no bike will fit), the back seat is only for two and there is no spare tire at all. The car starts without any noise through a push button that illuminates a vertical screen as big as a laptop and displays a little musical animation as a signal that it is ready to drive. A dizzying array of options is on display. Some information pops up on a display above the dashboard. When everything is on, one gets the feeling to sit in the cockpit of a passenger plane. The car has radar and cameras and keeps the speed, the distance to the car in front and the lane all by itself, and it also gives grades to the driver after the off button gets pushed. ("Excellent acceleration, good climate control setting" etc.). It also turns lights on and off, dims high beams and detects pedestrians. All this babying the operator takes a lot of getting used to, especially for a guy who doesn't like to ask for directions.

But the car also needs constant nursing. Take a few short trips and it needs a couple of hours charging time on a regular 110V household receptacle to be electrically "topped off" again. Deplete the charge entirely and the charging takes a full six hours. I was afraid I would forget about the umbilical cord and just drive off, but the car wouldn't allow that. "Charge lid open" it explains helpfully on the dashboard and refuses to budge. It doesn't budge either if one of doors isn't properly closed.

or via extension cord in the woods

The car made me look up what electricity really costs. I remembered the 9 cents or so per kilowatt hour which the various electric companies advertise, but that is before all the taxes and fees. Everything included, the rate is more like 14 cents. Still, with about 6-8 kwh per full charge, one gets at least 25 miles for about  a buck, not possible with gas, not even when the gas is cheap and the car gets 50mpg. Besides, driving in all electric mode is truly addictive. Instead of the vroom-vroom of the combustion engine which gives the standard male an extra push of testosterone, the electric motor responds quick and direct but with hardly a whizzing noise it exudes all the excitement of a sewing machine. So guys, no testosterone. Instead stress free gliding through rush hour traffic nourished by the ambition for a good better eco score at the end. Gentle is the maxime, not brawn, and I tell you, it does change a man. In short, the result is just what one wants to see more often in a city in which pedestrians, bus riders and bicyclists desperately need better air to breathe, a bit more space and more respect.

To make up for emasculating the driver, the car looks aggressive from the front (think sting ray). From  the side and back one would describe it more aptly as goofy.   But after a week or so even a utility oriented owner begins to like the goofy thing for all its thoughtfulness. I drove it twice a 300 miles to Virginia and back and for several weeks on my daily commutes and errands and must say, the overall experience is really nice. I felt less tired after the 5 hrs trips and the combined gas mileage including the electric bits at the beginning and end was 57mpg on the long  freeway journey, better than my diesel and without cheating. Of course, the price is that the car is somewhat sluggish uphill and the engine sometimes sounds as it is complaining, but only if one tries ambitious things. On the 2000 miles to date I drove about 44% of the time in electric mode and achieved an overall (gas) fuel consumption rate of 78.6 mpg. For one thing, I would never have thought that the ratio of short trips under 25 miles which I could do electric would amount to almost half of all the miles. The readout taken from the car display also proves that I drove too much and spent way too much time in the car in spite of my efforts to use the bus at times, walk a lot and do all errands around my workplace by bike.

Aggressive look for a softy car

There is an app to find (ChargePoint) charging stations that deliver 240V and charge the car in 2 hrs. Many of those do the first 6kwh for free. The car also comes with a $100 credit for use at Chargepoint stations. I used one in a public garage in College Park which made me park about half a mile from where I wanted to go but alloed a nice stroll along Baltimore Avenue where I could admire all the new stuff going on there. There is also one charging station in Baltimore's Lexington Market garage and several other City garages. (Good for Baltimore's Parking Authority!). One station is easily taken up by an all day parker, though, so time limits need to be established. There is no charging at Morgan University, which is a shame for a school that teaches urban planning and lots of engineering.

I bought a Christmas tree which I strapped on the roof and did some shopping on a snowy Saturday without having to worry about those short trips that normally spew pollutants and wreck an engine because it never properly warms up before it is shut off again, all things that don't apply to an electric motor. A heat pump churns out some some warmth and can be started while the car still sits on the charger, warming it up without depleting the battery. Neat.

Lots of data stored and on display: Fuel consumption

The car is a Prius Prime (Premium). Hyundai will soon offer a very similar model called Ionic. GM also has a plug in vehicle with gas engine called Volt but it costs more, has a much lower mpg when running on gas and only half the range.

Still, I really didn't want to give my car all that attention. Hopefully charging, thinking about when and where to use the battery and remember to switch propulsion methods at the correct places will become one day second nature. I know, though, I will hate it when I get my first flat and will have to try a fix with the glue that gets inserted with a toy like electric pump.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Street overhaul: Des Moines beats Baltimore

As a keynote speaker at Transit Choices  meeting this Friday Baltimore's new  transportation Director Michelle Pourciau who comes from private consulting after 22 years with DOT in the District of Columbia including a brief stint as acting director stressed the need for a comprehensive transportation plan and a systematic asset inventory. She characterized herself as impatient, a planner who can think beyond the pavement, on the job 24/7 and described "her house" as including the largest piece of real estate in the city: the streets.

Baltimore bike lane challenges (Bikemore)

After Pourciau, Bikemore's Executive Director Liz Cornish took the stage. Her topic was much more mundane: An update on bicycling in Baltimore. With Porciau and her key staff (Frank Murphy, Valorie Lacour) still in attendance, Cornish started with a quiz: Which US city has recently announced the most aggressive street overhaul? The guesses included all the usual suspects, Portland, Seattle, New York and Washington, all cities which made big strides in redistributing their streets. The answer which Cornish revealed surprised everybody: Des Moines Iowa. What moved this town in Iowa to the top of the heap was a decision of its city council on Monday of this week to adopt a new mobility plan for downtown Des Moines which calls for eliminating nearly every one-way street, reducing the number of vehicle lanes and growing the city's network of bike lanes. The plan had been conceived with the help of  the Urban Land Institute, ULI and the Des Moines business community.

Pourciau speaks at Transit Choices
(photo: Edelson)

"This isn't just an exercise to add bike lines. "The purpose of the project is to really focus on safety of all users, including drivers, by slowing traffic to the speed limit, and to encourage economic development." Larry James, chairman of the Urban Land Institute of Iowa.

The plan has “Short term” components for 2018 and 2019; “medium term” for 2020 and 2021; “long term” for 2022 and 2023 and is supposed to cost around $33 million. This is pretty fast. The secret: Des Moines isn’t proposing to rebuild any of its streets and, instead, is just reallocating existing road space. The bulk of the overall modest cost isn’t even for paint, signs, curbs or posts  but for adjusting traffic signals when one way streets turn into two-way streets.

Des Moines pilot project for street overhaul (People for Bikes)

Maybe Des Moines' plans wont happen as fast as they plan to implement them. But they won't have any difficulty beating Baltimore as Cornish proceeded to show next. Baltimore's progress in realizing its own bike masterplan, not to mention conversion of one-way streets, is so sluggish, one could call it a standstill. The once projected rate of 7.5 miles of bike facilities per year has been missed by a wide margin and one-way street studies and other risky proposals such as closing roadspace next to McKeldin Plaza sit on the director's desk on the pile of undecided matters. As Pourciau wistfully noted, many things had been put off because the Department was "waiting for her", leaving her with a big backlog of matters ranging from the Circulator that continues to cost more than its funding sources provide (we won't cut any service next year, Pourciau promised) to postponed decisions about eliminating certain rush hour parking restrictions. That unprocessed load is large even before the transportation plan and the inventory will take up additional resources. The plan is supposed to be started early next year with the help of one of the on-call consultants and be completed within six months, a record time for these types of plans.

Bikemore proposal for North Avenue

A good starting point for demonstrating how an aggressive overhaul of Baltimore's streets could look is North Avenue Rising, a project based on a federal TIGER grant that is supposed to increase transportation equity, enhance economic development and make the 5 mile corridor a friendlier street. The project recently made its official debut at a series of community meetings which didn't satisfy Liz Cornish who tweeted:

"We can afford a project that gets North Avenue right the first time. We can't afford to spend $27,330,000 on the existing project. North Ave + the people deserve better" (Liz Cornish on Twitter)

Cornish points to a  Bikemore survey about the North Avenue project where she suggests separated bike-lanes and dedicated transit lanes in the center. At Friday's Transit Choices meeting founder and chair Jimmy Rouse topped Cornish's assessment with his own vision: A streetcar running from Hilton to Milton. " What better way to tell the communities in east and west Baltimore that somebody cares" he asked.

It looks like Pourciau will have her hands full.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

People for Bikes about the Des Moines plan

What makes citizens suspicious about government and developers (with current updates)

The bad reputation that government and developers currently have in many quarters is a drag on the well being of cities, towns and villages because they cant exist without either. The more disparities in communities and neighborhoods increase, the more the popular assumption flourishes that corruption and sleazy backroom deals are the cause. Since national trends such as income disparity are mostly not driven by local decisions, the temptation to identify a tangible culprit is understandable but leads most often to inaccurate accusations. Even the infamous redlining maps were not local but issued by the federal Housing and Urban development offices of HUD. Still, local government should set a standard of openness and fairness to expunge the corruption narrative through transparency and predictability, two characteristics favored by citizens and businesses alike.

Economic segregation in the Baltimore Towson Metro area between 1970
and 2010 on the household and the neighborhood level

But there are cases where the procedures and deals are so obtuse and hidden, that they tend to taint the entire picture. Two recent cases are located in Towson, both involve Planned Unit Developments, (PUD) County Government and (initially) the same developer, even though the two situations are otherwise unrelated and have each their very own trajectory.

The one is the saga of Towson's Gateway development which involves a firehouse, open space, trees, a gas station, a convenience store and what seemed to be a great way to have a cake and eat it, too. It started in 2013.
The other is Towson Row, a huge project that was supposed to put Towson on the map as an urban destination on par with Bethesda or Silver Spring, places that turned from sleepy suburban outposts to vibrant urban places with busy streets all day and evening. While opinions about Bethesda as a precedent differ among businesses and residents, there was consensus to give Towson a more walkable and active downtown with vitality as a key ingredient to make streets safer and more enjoyable.

Both projects are currently most notable for what is not happening and for what they are not addressing.

Towson Gateway: Originally proposed development

In the case of the Gateway, what's not happening now is a large Royal farm gas station on which community and developer never saw eye to eye. The developer points out that the the lot in question is surrounded by car oriented facilities such as another gas station and a diner with parking in front and that their proposed development was entirely compatible. The community sees the property entirely differently, namely as a symbol and doormat for what the future Towson should stand for.  They point to the downtown zoning district which ends precisely with this lot and which doesn't allow gas stations. The community was so upset with the PUD introduced by local Councilman David Marks as a tool to wiggle out from the gas station restriction, that the local councilman eventually filed a motion to withdraw support for the PUD, a pretty unusual move for somebody who himself has introduced the PUD.  The council responded in an unusual manner as well by breaking with the tradition of councilmanic courtesy in which the council usually follows the lead of the member in  whose district a project is located. The council rejected Mark's motion and submitted itself to a compromise crafted by Councilman Tom Quirk from Catonsville whom Executive Kamenetz had asked to act as arbiter.

In the compromise the developer agreed to eliminate the gas station but also asked for more time to put a new deal together and suggested that the purchase prize should be lowered to account for the loss coming from the delay and having to undo whatever they had prepared to date. This, in turn threatens to undo how the Executive had envisioned the deal from the onset, namely that the sale of the lot would pay for the new firehouse and would even have a bit of money left. Of course, the deal had one huge inherent conflict right in its DNA: The ability to realize the purchase price of $8.3 million was contingent on the county approving the construction of a gas station not permitted by the property’s zoning.
Since the new firehouse is long complete and active, the County is now on the hook. The initial Gateway deal expires in 2018. Late in November the SUN reported that  the County Executive had extended the deadline by five years already in July and without asking the council. Promptly the harmony after the compromise ended and new accusations began to fly. Suspicions are heightened by a whole series of unfortunate missteps:

Towson Gateway protest about tree removal

• The administration's initial intent to build the new fire-station on a green space that the community wanted to see protected (another site was found).
• The County's acceptance of a proposal that included gas pumps even though they don't comply with the zoning for the site. 
• The County's cutting 30 trees  and doing partial demolition on the site in April of this year even though  the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations assures that the sales document stipulated the transaction "as is" and the PUD stipulated that the trees should be maintained. Caves Valley Partners had indicated during the development review process that the trees were not compatible with its proposed development plan

The other Towson project roiling Towson, Towson Row, announced in 2013 as well,  is much bigger (1 million square foot) and is precisely the type of project for which PUDs are envisioned: Stretching over many parcels and requiring a set of mixed use urban buildings which the County zoning code never envisioned. Although the density and scale of the proposed project shocked some anti development community members who  tend to wave the density and traffic flag across the nation whenever development is proposed, the project was seen by many others as bringing the needed critical mass to Towson allowing attractive retail and vital streets. In spite of intense interest during public meetings and some critical questions about how much public open space the project would provide, either on-site or off-site (or via payments), the project moved  through the approval process pretty smoothly. (The developer says community appeals delayed the project by a year).

Initial Towson Row rendering (Caves Valley Partners)

When in 2015 two entire large city blocks were flattened, to make space for the new development, 5 acres in all, everybody thought now the project was real. Except, after the demolition not much else happened and eventually rumors began to fly. The developer explained that unexpected large rock formations made an underground garage impossible and sought to amend the PUD to re-arrange things without underground parking. During the re-design there no work on the site, except some utility relocation. Then, in May of this year Greenberg Gibbons joined the development team as the new lead fueling the general assumption that now, with the additional horsepower under hood, construction would commence in earnest. That didn't happen. Anybody willing to travel a few miles south into the city could see how Caves Valley was pulling off a mixed use development of similar size without a hitch. Stadium Square has completed three large buildings to date.

With the year nearly coming to an end and no visible activity on the Towson Row site, news broke that Baltimore County will aid the developer with a complicated $43 million tax deal which, in a large part, trades tax breaks the developer would be entitled to after completion for cash up front spread over the next 5 years. It is estimated that  the County would break even on $26.5 million forgone tax credits 12-14 years after completion. The $16.4 million portion tied to hotel room occupancy taxes are a straight up subsidy described as a "hotel tax grant" since this tax would normally be due in full even in Towson. The grant is being repaid by the room occupancy tax over 30 years as estimated by the private consultant firm Sage Policy Group (Anirban Basu). The matter will be before the County Council under fiscal matters as a "development agreement between Towson Row Statutory Trust and Baltimore County" for a vote on December 18. A fiscal analysis is available as a "Fiscal Note" on the auditor's webpage (links see below). The Council webpage does not provide any information at this time. The meeting will be open to the public.

Towson Row celebration after demolition (Baltimore Fishbowl)

The new development partner Brian Gibbons told the SUN that Towson Row was "not economically feasible as designed" and that the $43 million up front assist from the County represents "the minimum threshold we needed with our partners".

The BBJ reported this week that developer Gibbons announced the begin of construction for mid 2018 with the Whole Foods store planned for the development all along, followed by 300 units for student housing. The article makes no mention of the tax deal.

That large scale developments are proposed and then don't happen for long time or not at all is not unique. The City of Baltimore has several sites that have been either vacant lots for decades (such as the prominent  McCormick site at the Inner Harbor which sat empty for 25 years until the current development finally came though) or as an assortment of vacant buildings (the Superblock) or as a prominent space in ruins (the site of the former Morris Mechanic Theater). In many of these cases there were big public announcements and then only silence and rumors until attention faded altogether. Even that subsurface conditions upend cost estimates and geotechnical borings done prior to design is not unheard of. But that a developer joins a project 4 years after its inception and then declares it "economically not feasible" six months later is unusual, especially if external circumstances didn't change and the economy is humming. It certainly furthers the notion that the public didn't get the full picture in the beginning. 

5 vacant acres in the heart of Towson 

While in the case of the Towson Gateway it was the the County who set up a scenario in which the imagined win-win was almost impossible, in the case of Towson Row it looks like the County is on the short end of the stick. Not wanting to look at 5 acres of emptiness, what are the  administration and the council members supposed to do? 

Maybe the debate of this public aid can include the discussion of the startling economic segregation this metro area experiences not only in the City, but also in the County.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA
updated for information on the County "Fiscal Note" and link (below) to Development Agreement under consideration

County information release of 11/24/17
Development Agreement for consideration by County Council
Fiscal Note (addendum issued 12/11/17)