It's not just because yesterday was my birthday - thank you, yes, being another year older does beat the alternative - that I've been imagining my future self lately.
It's more because on Friday I picked up a map of the future Baltimore Regional Rail System, a dazzling if at this point mostly fictional depiction of a multi-colored, many-tentacled thing that would ferry passengers to all manner of hither and yon in the greater metro area. I envisioned myself hopping onto a train to check out the new Isaac Mizrahis at the Mondawmin Target (Green Line) or heading to a concert at the Merriwether Post (Yellow Line) or dinner at Ikaros in Greektown (Red Line).
I just hope by the time that's possible, I'm not too old to shop, rock out or gnaw on some lamb chops.
But with age comes patience - and you need a lot of that when it comes to public transit in Baltimore. To ride is to wait, and not just for a bus that's running late or for a MARC train that hasn't been canceled without explanation. No, the longest wait is for a truly connected system, one that links the fragmented bits of one that we currently have.
One piece of a larger system got a smallish boost on Friday, when officials and community groups gathered to ceremonially sign the so-called "community compact" to guide the planning and construction of the Red Line, the proposed crosstown route. The document pledges all sorts of niceties, from hiring local contractors and workers for the construction to taking advantage of clean and green opportunities to giving communities on the line input in design and planning.
Signing off were Mayor Sheila Dixon and state Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, as well as representatives from 19 community groups. And therein lies one cause for concern that the Red Line still has a long way to go before it's actually carrying passengers from Woodlawn to Hopkins Bayview: Most of the community groups that gave it their John Hancocks were from the west side, like Sandtown-Winchester and Harlem Park, while the east side was more lightly represented. The proposed line still hasn't been fully embraced, particularly by those who fear it will damage the historic character or rattle the old buildings in a neighborhood like Fells Point (which, actually, is where the signing ceremony took place).
