Light Rail

Responding to growing concerns about crime at light rail stops in northern Anne Arundel, County Executive John R. Leopold has called on the state's transit administrator to permanently place patrols at three stations and bolster other security measures. In a letter sent last week to Maryland Transit Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld, Leopold said his administration has received several complaints from residents and riders of the light rail system in Anne Arundel. Leopold's comments come a month after a twice-convicted rapist was charged with raping a 22-year-old woman at the Nursery Road stop in Linthicum, and less than two weeks after a taxi driver was robbed at gunpoint by a passenger she dropped off at the same station.

A light rail train driver and five passengers were taken to hospitals with minor injuries after the train and a tractor-trailer truck collided yesterday in Hunt Valley, authorities said. The train was derailed by the collision, leading to an interruption of service in the area. The truck driver was traveling south on Gilroy Road near Schilling Circle about 10:45 a.m. when he made a left turn to cross the tracks, according to Maj. Stanford Franklin, a Maryland Transit Administration police spokesman.

LAST WEEK' S ISSUE: -- Responding to growing concerns about crime at light rail stops in northern Anne Arundel, County Executive John R. Leopold called on the state's transit administrator to place permanent patrols at three stations and bolster other security measures. In a letter sent to Maryland Transit Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld, Leopold said his administration has received several complaints from residents and riders of the light rail in Anne Arundel. A month ago, a twice-convicted rapist was charged with raping a 22-year-old woman at the Nursery Road stop in Linthicum.

ISSUE: Responding to growing concerns about crime at light rail stops in northern Anne Arundel, County Executive John R. Leopold has called on the state's transit administrator to place permanent patrols at three stations and bolster other security measures. In a letter sent last week to Maryland Transit Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld, Leopold said his administration has received several complaints from residents and riders of the light rail system in Anne Arundel. One month ago, a twice-convicted rapist was charged with raping a 22-year-old woman at the Nursery Road stop in Linthicum.

THE DRIVE around Baltimore's Beltway and along Interstate 95 is a daily headache for many commuters who have no choice.Christy Griffith, 27, treasurer at Adams Express Co. in Baltimore, spends about 40 minutes driving her Mazda Miata to work each morning -- a reasonable travel time compared with many in the region.But as she navigates the congestion for the 24 miles between her Columbia home and downtown Baltimore office, she finds herself wishing there were another way. "If light rail would come through Columbia, I would take it."

For fans who want to attend today's Baltimore Ravens "draft" party at PSINet Stadium, the Hamburg Street light rail stop will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.Light rail operates from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays and offers 3,000 free parking spaces.A second mass transit route to the stadium is the Metro subway, which stops at Lexington Market where the light rail can be picked up on Howard Street. Metro operates between Owings Mills and Johns Hopkins Hospital with Saturday hours from 6 a.m. to midnight.

GOV. Parris N. Glendening shows leadership when it comes to helping the Washington area complete one subway extension and plan another. And that's fine.Mr. Glendening pays attention when Washington-area officials seek a "subway-beltway" that would encircle Maryland's Washington suburbs. And that's dandy for Silver Spring, College Park and New Carrollton.But what about Woodlawn, White Marsh, Columbia, Towson and Essex?Mr. Glendening is neglectfully indifferent toward this area's long-term transit needs.

The Baltimore area's bottlenecked light rail system, hampered by long stretches of single track, is due to be unclogged under Gov. Parris N. Glendening's proposed capital budget for next year.The capital budget, submitted to the General Assembly yesterday, includes $30 million to help pay for building dual tracks along 9.4 miles of the 29-mile Central Light Rail system that runs from Hunt Valley to Glen Burnie.The state funding is needed to match $120 million approved last year by Congress for double-tracking the light rail system.

Suspicious-looking package prompts 15 people to evacuate in Glen BurnieFifteen people were evacuated from their homes, a street closed and the light rail stalled for an hour early yesterday in Glen Burnie after a convenience store employee found a buzzing electronic package atop a car at 106 N. Broadview Blvd.Bomb technicians from the state fire marshal's office successfully opened and examined the package, a home security alarm attached to a battery.About 2 a.m., Anne Arundel County police officers closed North Broadview and blocked off the light rail from Ferndale Road to Ferndale Avenue.

Morning rush hour brings the troublemaker and the sweetheart, the flirtatious and the shy to the Mount Washington light rail station. Mentally disabled all, they move among the Civics and Jeeps and Camrys that fill the parking lot, cleaning up after a world that has gone to work.For the first time in their lives, this group of mentally retarded people has joined that world -- taking on jobs that even some of their parents and advocates never thought they could handle.Traditionally, retarded workers did their jobs out of sight, in large warehouses designed for easy containment and monotonous tasks.

The next time you're in a really nasty Baltimore traffic jam, glance at the driver in the car next to you. Note the grimace, the furrowed brow, the resigned stare. With its start-stop traffic and stomach-churning delays, rush-hour driving in and around Charm City has become a daily test of endurance that tries even the hardiest souls. According to a recent study from the Texas Transportation Institute, Baltimore drivers spent an average of 44 hours in traffic each year - time that could be better spent with family and friends, relaxing, even working.

While the state moves forward with plans for the Red Line, considered the most important transportation project in the metro region, Baltimore County is reviewing its land use policies for the area around the four stations in Woodlawn, which will anchor the western end of the 14.6-mile light rail line through the city to Bayview. The county Planning Board endorsed Thursday a study that outlines transit-oriented residential and commercial development at the stations near Interstate 70, the Social Security complex, Security Square and the Center for Medicaid Services.

Light rail the future of transit It is time for the next generation of transit in Baltimore. The Baltimore Metropolitan area is growing and the demand for a reliable transit option is only increasing. How we address this challenge will shape our communities for decades to come -- it will help determine how we connect with each other, to our neighbors and neighborhoods, to our places of work, and play, and worship, and help us continue building a growing and vibrant economy in the region.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to announce today his support for an east-west Red Line plan that has won the support of the Baltimore city and county governments: light rail with some tunneling, but not enough to satisfy critics. The governor will make his announcement of the state's choice for the Woodlawn-to-Bayview transit line during a morning event at the West Baltimore MARC station. That plan will be sent to the federal government to compete for funding. Several rapid bus options are officially still in the running but have won little local support.

Disappearing cans, and a flawed trash policy When I first moved to my neighborhood in West Baltimore 22 years ago, I diligently put out my trash in metal cans with tight-fitting lids. After having four or five cans so badly dented by the trash men tossing them around that they were unusable, or having them stolen by who-knows-who in the first year, I reluctantly switched to setting my trash out in plastic bags. With the public information campaign by the city telling me that putting out trash in trash cans has always been the law and is now going to be strictly enforced, I purchased a sturdy, plastic wheeled and lidded container for $14.87 plus tax. Put my trash out in the new can the evening before trash day the first week of the new trash schedule.

If there is a phrase that strikes fear into the hearts of Maryland light rail commuters, it's "single track." Baltimore's Central Light Rail Line was originally built with so many single track sections that once a train started running late, the rest of the system was doomed to follow. Blame the intricate and often maddening choreography of stops and starts when trains running in opposite directions are forced to share one track at multiple locations. The system's shortcoming was eventually fixed - at a cost of more than $150 million - but only after many years of commuter suffering.

The Maryland Transit Administration is considering changing the front-running proposal for the Red Line to require east- and westbound light rail trains to share one track through a mile-long tunnel - a plan that might save $60 million or more but could pose operating difficulties and raise safety concerns. Building a single-track tunnel under Cooks Lane - a narrow street at the city-county line that connects Edmondson Avenue with Security Boulevard - is intended to reduce the Red Line's cost and bring it within federal funding guidelines.

The deaths of Connor Peterson and Kyle Patrick Wankmiller, whose bodies were found on the light rail tracks in Lutherville last Sunday afternoon, have proved to be something of a mystery that is only now coming into focus. This much is now known: It was the result of an accidental collision with a northbound train. The 17-year-olds were walking north on the southbound tracks when they were struck from behind by a train they likely assumed was traveling on the other set of rails. At least that's what the evidence collected so far by the Maryland Transit Administration would seem to indicate - but it also raises some disturbing questions for which the MTA does not yet have adequate answers.

Shortly after the mother of one of the boys killed in Sunday's light rail accident questioned the objectivity of Maryland Transit Administration police, the agency's top official moved Wednesday to have Baltimore County police take the lead in the investigation. MTA Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld said he has full confidence in his agency's police department but was taking the step "out of respect for the family." Amy Wankmiller, mother of Kyle Wankmiller, 17, had expressed concern that the MTA Police would protect agency employees involved in the accident near the Lutherville station.

A second teenager died Monday after being found injured on light rail tracks near the Lutherville station the previous afternoon, and Maryland Transit Administration police are still trying to determine what happened to the teens. MTA spokeswoman Cheron Wicker identified the boy who died Monday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center as Connor Peterson, 17, of the 8600 block Tower Bridge Way in Lutherville. She said Kyle Patrick Wankmiller, 17, of the same address, died Sunday. The incident occurred about 3:15 p.m. Sunday, but Wicker said it was "much too early to tell" why the two teens were lying on the southbound light rail tracks just south of the Lutherville station when they were spotted by a fare inspector on a northbound train.