* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Clarke
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
The Baltimore City Traffic Calming and Pedestrian-Friendly Task Force
FOR the purpose of establishing a Citywide neighborhood and school-based task force to cooperate with the Baltimore City Departments of Transportation and Planning to design and adopt Baltimore City traffic calming and pedestrian-friendly goals, policies, procedures and timelines that ensure safer traffic and pedestrian conditions for Baltimore's residential and school communities.
Body
WHEREAS, The City of Baltimore is engaged in a $23 million signalization project to reduce congestion and expedite traffic flow in the downtown area and along major "gateway" roads leading in and out of the City; and
WHEREAS, This signalization project is predicted to save 20 % of travel time and to decrease congestion downtown and on major arteries; and
WHEREAS, Baltimore City's residential and school communities deserve a comparable balance of focus, planning, and funding to protect our neighborhoods and children from unsafe vehicular short-cutting, speeding, and excessive noise from unsafe pedestrian crossings; and
WHEREAS, Securing speed humps, for example, is currently an uncertain process whereby neighborhoods are left to petition and hope for success in response to undefined criteria and timelines; and
WHEREAS, Requests for traffic enforcement, for example on Cold Spring Lane, go generally unmet as traffic officers are otherwise deployed to district patrol and special project functions; and
WHEREAS, Our neighborhoods and schools require a toolbox of reliable traffic calming strategies that they help to design, including vertical deflections (such as speed humps and raised intersections), horizontal shifts (such as neighborhood traffic circles), roadway narrowings, traffic pattern redesigns and pedestrian signalization phases; and
WHEREAS, In balancing the effects of the City's major signalization project, an equally focused project is required to design, adopt, and codify traffic calming and pedestrian-friendly goals, policies, procedures and timelines; and
WHEREAS, Sufficient Transportation staff and capital funding will also be required to implement the recommendations of the Traffic Calming and Pedestrian-Friendly Task Force and to acknowledge the legitimacy of this Transportation function.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body establishes a Citywide neighborhood and school-based task force to cooperate with the Baltimore City Departments of Transportation and Planning to design and adopt Baltimore City traffic calming and pedestrian-friendly Goals, Policies, Procedures and Timelines which ensure safer traffic and pedestrian conditions for Baltimore's residential and school communities.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall be comprised of 19 neighborhood and school representatives, 1 appointed from each City Council District by City Council representatives, 2 appointed by the President of the City Council, and 3 appointed by the Mayor, who will name the chair from among those 19 appointed members.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Task Force will be appointed and convened within 2 months of the adoption of this resolution.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Task Force is authorized to appoint committees comprised of additional neighborhood and school representatives to carry out specific tasks, such as research on international models and best practices of traffic calming policies; outreach in organizing public hearings throughout the City to solicit traffic calming ideas and report on draft recommendations; and, budget development in estimating the operational and staffing costs of establishing the traffic calming and pedestrian-friendly function of the Department of Transportation.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Task Force will conduct at least 4 public hearings throughout the City before finalizing its final recommendations to the Mayor and City Council.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Task Force will issue its final report to the Mayor and City Council within one year of the adoption of this resolution.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Directors of Transportation, Planning, and Finance, CEO Bonnie Copeland and COO Eric Letsinger, the Baltimore City Public School System, and to all neighborhood leaders listed with the Department of Planning.
dlr05-0631~intro/06Dec05
ccres/TrafficTask
dlr05-0631~intro/06Dec05
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ccres/TrafficTask