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When I launched my Leveraging Investments in Neighborhood Corridors (LINCS) strategy
last summer, my goal was to create an environment where collaboration between
public and private stakeholders was not only possible, but less complicated.
Escalating development in our key disinvested commercial corridors remains a
priority. These districts play a significant role in shaping perceptions of surrounding
neighborhoods. Reinvigorating them is a critical factor in building
stronger communities for our families, businesses, and everyone dedicated to growing
our city.
While the LINCS initiative remains in
its early stages, this past Monday, I was thrilled to update a standing room only
crowd of community partners and neighborhood residents about the progress we
are making in the Greenmount Corridor during a meeting at Mother Seton Academy.
Under the guidance of Leon F. Pinkett, my Assistant Deputy Mayor of Economic
& Neighborhood Development, the group learned how we are working to reengage
underutilized neighborhood assets and coordinating an interagency response to
support community-centered economic development.
LINCS is
designed to streamline the way city agencies engage citizen participation by
assessing and maximizing resource coordination among local partners and
resident leaders. Coordinated through the Baltimore City Planning
Department, LINCS will identify a team for each corridor, consisting of a
design planner, transportation planner, commercial market analyst and Baltimore
Housing representative to
maximize each corridor’s unique strengths. The program also leverages local
development priorities with key mayoral initiatives focusing on five implementation
strategy areas, including:
- Economic
Development
- Land
Use and Zoning
- Transportation
- Public
Safety and Health
-
Sanitation
In the
case of Greenmount Avenue, since the launch of LINCS, we have witnessed
significant progress over these few months. With the help of community partners
like Strong City Baltimore and the Urban Land Institute, neighborhood
leaders have worked collaboratively with various city agencies to develop a
report and implementation strategy that addresses short- and long- term
development concerns which range from diversifying retail to meet needs of
residents, population growth, public safety, pedestrian accessibility and speed
abatement.
For now,
LINCS is targeting five heavily traveled corridors including:
- Greenmount Avenue ( Between Eager Street and
29th Street);
- Liberty Heights Boulevard (Between Druid Park
Drive and Northern Parkway);
- Central Avenue (Between Fayette Street and
Fleet Street);
- East North Avenue (Between Greenmount Avenue
and Belair Road); and
- Penn-North (Between North Fulton Avenue and
Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard)
The Penn-North
LINCS launched in October 2015, and the Liberty Heights and East North Avenue
LINCS are in the preliminary stages of development.
It was evident
that many of these corridors also needed immediate façade and streetscape
improvements, which are being focused on by the Department of Transportation
and other agencies. We have, and will continue to plant seeds of possibility
that promote vitality and new opportunities for residents.
By
coordinating the ways in which public and private stakeholders communicate and
collaborate, we are enhancing the impact and efficiency of our outcomes. I am excited about the
spirit of collaboration that has fueled this effort and look forward to seeing
key commercial corridors that are as inviting and vital as the neighborhoods
that surround them.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
Mayor
City of Baltimore
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