Walkable Communities

Necessary for the success of Smart Growth policies and the health and safety of our children is greater awareness of the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists.

Walkable communities mean

• Safe streets for our children to walk to school or to the park
• Decreased traffic congestion
• Decreased emissions
• Increased demand for local businesses
• Improved public health

Tom chose to locate his office on Frederick Road just a mile from his home because he believes in walkable communities and vibrant local business corridors.

Representative Elijah Cummings, from Maryland’s 7th District, gave the keynote speech. He explained that growing up in a poor neighborhood of Baltimore, his whole family relied on public transportation to get to school, jobs, or anywhere else they needed to go:

When I think about a Chris Cager and Elijah Cummings traveling from one side of Baltimore to the other, somebody had to construct a line so we could get to school. And now Chris is very successful, I’m doing ok, but the fact is that somebody had to plan for that. Somebody who did not even know our name, didn’t know who we were. All they knew is that there were some people who had to move from one point to another. They did not know Ruth Cummings’ name. They didn’t know that she could not afford a car, but had to put twenty-five cents in a container on a bus so she could go and make seven dollars a day and car fare. That’s what this is all about. This is bigger than us.

Rep. Cummings spoke at length about the benefits of making public transportation more affordable, noting that it’s not just about improving the lives of individuals, but of whole families and communities:

I have people in my district – they would get a job, but they couldn’t get to the job. They were reaching, trying to get to the job, and maybe the first two or three days they could get a hack – oh, I’m sorry – ‘hack’ means like a car service. I thought maybe that was just a Baltimore term. One young man he told me he said, “Congressman, I got this job, I had the job for like three days, man. And the hack was costing me ten dollars a day, and I was only making seven dollars an hour.” So he could not get to his job. That’s why I say this is bigger than you. And if that young man could have been able to get to his job he would have been able to do for his family. It’s bigger than you.

Improving access to transportation is a big part of improving job opportunities for working families, which is in turn a crucial part of improving local economies. Thank you to Representative Cummings for his personal, poignant address, and to all the organizations who were able to attend last night. Particular thanks to our coalition partner PolicyLink, for doing such a great job putting together the event.

Want to see equitable transit systems a priority in federal transportation policy? Endorse the Equity Caucus’s principles for reform.

A 30-year-old Maryland Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate was critically injured early Sunday morning after she was hit by an SUV while riding her bike on Route 202 in the Largo area, authorities said.

Natasha Pettigrew was training to compete in a triathlon about 5:30 a.m. Sunday when she was struck by a Cadillac Escalade headed south on Route 202 near the intersection with Campus Way, said Cpl. Darryl Clark, the duty officer at the Maryland State Police’s Forestville barrack.

Pettigrew’s bike was trapped underneath the SUV, and the driver traveled all the way home to an address in Cheverly apparently thinking “they ran over a deer,” Clark said.

Pettigrew was not dragged by the SUV, Clark said, though she was critically injured. He said she remained hospitalized and alive Monday morning.

Greg Shipley, a spokesman for the Maryland State Police, said in an e-mail that the driver reported the crash to Prince George's County police sometime before 6:30 a.m., and officers there reported it to state troopers. He said "while the investigation is continuing, there is no indication at this time alcohol or drug use was involved in this incident."

No one has been charged or cited, Clark said.

This post has been updated since it was first published.

-- Matt Zapotosky