Pedestrian event makes its way from Bogota to Roland Park
[I was on on of the Baltimore Bicycling Clubs rides through Roland Park and had a great time! It was wonderful to see a bunch of kids out and about. But seriously $4,500 for a mile of half a road closure for basically half a day, that is totally outrageous! Maybe a police officer at a major intersection, but all the minor ones as well??? I have an idea, lets charge shooters for police time and let events that promote Baltimore get police time for free.]By Michael Dresser
For five hours of a perfect autumn morning, half of Roland Avenue went to the dogs. To the bikes. To the runners and the walkers and the stand-around-and-schmoozers. And the skateboards, baby carriages, wagons, skates, at least one unicycle and a three-wheeled, scooter-like contraption called a Trikke.
Anything but motor vehicles.
From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, the city closed the southbound lanes of Roland Park's main drag to motor vehicles – turning the busy traffic artery into a mile-long, paved park. The event was a test of a concept called "Sunday Streets" that has been imported to from Colombia and transplanted to a growing number of American cities. Organizers said that if it were successful, such street-closing events could become more frequent and larger in scale.
And judging by the smiles on the faces of the hundreds of Baltimoreans – many of them children -- who turned out for the highly mobile festival, a success it was.
For Erica McCullough of Charles Village, Sunday Streets was an opportunity to let 4-year-old son Carter get used to his bicycle with training wheels without having to dodge cars or travel to a more distant bike trail.
"It's a perfect event for him to bring it out and get going – a nice straightaway," she said. "I would love it if they could do it more often because kids need to get out more," she said.
Jonny Pike, a 16-year-old sophomore at Gilman School, was delighted that the city had allowed an event where his skateboard was welcomed rather than prohibited.
"I've gotten yelled at for trespassing in a lot of places for skateboarding," he said. Both he and his sister Lauren, 12, said they'd like to see the city do it more often.
Kim Forsyth, one of the many humans who were parading their dogs down the middle of the street, said she and her pit bull Daisy were enjoying a break from the sidewalk. .
"Trying to walk your dog and make room for bikes on that little teeny space is absurd," she said.
Some were taken by surprise at the sight of bicyclists and walkers brazenly occupying the middle of the avenue. Marathon racer Ann Diegelman of Hampden was running on the sidewalk. Because that is what she's used to. But when told the road was open to her, she said she might take it on the way back.
"It's a great idea. Being a runner, there have been many instances when I've almost been hit by cars," she said.
Not everybody was pleased by the rerouting of traffic. One police officer said she had heard from several "irate" motorists who wanted to vent about the detour.
Certainly organizers couldn't have chosen a better day to showcase the concept. Skies were blue and temperatures mild. The tree-lined avenue was a riot of fall colors – red, yellow and shameless orange – all the way from Cold Spring Lane to Northern Parkway.
Frank Pratka, who traveled from the Mayfield neighborhood to check out the proceedings with an eye to bringing a similar event to his area, stood in the avenue and admired the scene.
"You don't get a view like this from a car," he said. "It's just incredible the things you can see when you're walking or on a bike. Any excuse to close off a street is a good excuse."
Pratka said he's hoping to replicate Sunday Streets next spring with an event that would extend from Lake Montebello to Roland Park. City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, standing nearby, said she'd like to go even farther – with street-closings extending from Lake Montebello to Druid Hill Park.
Clarke, who worked with Councilwoman Sharon Middleton to secure city permits for the event, said there was a social benefit to opening up the road to more leisurely traffic.
"It becomes a place where people can congregate and enjoy each others' company," she said.
For Greg Cantori, president of the pro-bicycling group One Less Car, the event was the culmination of years of advocacy.
Cantori said his efforts were inspired by the example of Bogota, Colombia, where Sunday morning street closings are a weekly event that extends for miles in a kind of citywide fiesta. There the event is known as "ciclovia" – Spanish for bike path – but Cantori said organizers had decided to market it in Baltimore as Sunday Streets.
Cities around the United States have been adopting the concept, said Cantori – naming New York, San Francisco, Miami, El Paso, Texas, and Portland, Ore.
One obstacle to the prospects of regular city street-closings is cost.
Phil Spevak, president of the Roland Park Civic League, said the total cost to his organization to sponsor the event was $4,500. Of that, $4,200 went to pay overtime for the police officers who turned out to direct traffic. He said that for future street-closings, the city should train volunteers to handle the bulk of the traffic control.
Clarke said she hopes future events cab be mounted with less expense.
"We'll have to train volunteers so cross-street security can be done by volunteers," she said.
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