Critics question conduct of Baltimore Regional Transportation Board

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A train arrives at the Light Rail station at the Baltimore Convention Center. Critics said Wednesday that the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board, responsible for transit planning, needs to improve its public input process. – Chris Ammann/Examiner File

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Too much money for highways, and not enough public access to meetings?

That’s what critics of the region’s transportation planning board say needs to be fixed.

A coalition of several organizations and individuals on Wednesday called for federal officials to provide a to-do list to the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board, claiming the group’s practices do not meet federal requirements.

The board is a division of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, an organization of elected executives from Baltimore City and its five surrounding counties.

The board is charged with carrying out the urban transportation planning process in the region.

But some say the board has failed to appropriately carry out that duty.

“The short- and long-range transportation planning undertaken by the board effectively amounts to the stapling together of pared-down, financially constrained local transportation expansion plans,” a statement released by the board’s critics reads. “This does not fulfill the intent of the federal legislation establishing metropolitan planning organizations.”

The board is currently undergoing a recertification process, conducted every four years by the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The federal agencies can opt to recertify the board as a metropolitan planning organization, recertify it with certain conditions, or not recertify it.

Failure to be recertified — an unlikely prospect — would cost the region 20 percent of its federal transportation funding until certification is achieved, said Saul Wilson, spokesman for the board’s critics.

The board came under fire in November when it passed the Transportation Outlook 2035 long-range plan. At the time, citizens said the plan favored highways over mass transit, and was created in violation of state open meetings law.

The board said the plan represented a good-faith effort to include their concerns.

During the recent recertification meetings, federal officials praised the board’s public input model, said Harvey Bloom, director of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s transportation division.

“The public isn’t always satisfied with the amount of input they feel like they’re getting, but we take great pains to lay out a public process,” said Carl Balser, who represents board chairman and Howard County Executive Ken Ulman at board meetings.

Wilson said the 10 organizations and 12 individuals that signed the statement seek a conditional recertification of the board. Their conditions include greater public input into planning, more open meetings, and revised long-range plans favoring mass transit.

acahall@baltimoreexaminer.com

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» 95 days ago: Critics question conduct of Baltimore Regional Transportation Board «

320 days ago: Transportation board passes long-range plan amid concerns

321 days ago: Group alleges violation of open meeting law in drafting transportation plan

452 days ago: Need for roads given priority over transit in outlook report