Reflections on the "Baltimore Green Network"

Easterwood-Sandtown Park - where a full block of abandoned row houses once stood

by Steering Committee member Dick Williams

Did you know the “Baltimore Green Network,” subtitled “A Plan for a Green and Connected City,” is embraced by the BBGJ Vision? (The Plan was enacted in September 2018.)

The plan’s vision is for “a holistic, city-wide system of nodes and corridors [that] will connect our schools, our streams and forests, our parks, our university campuses, and our centers of commerce and employment…. This new circulatory system will encourage a greener, healthier, and more equitable city.”

The building blocks of this plan are open, green spaces for people to interact with nature. So, playgrounds, urban farms, woodlands, restored natural shorelines and parks, universities and historic sites throughout the city will be connected together by corridors for people and wildlife to travel and move around. Converting the many thousands of vacant lots throughout the city into green spaces will be a major element of such a network.

There are four identified pilot projects throughout the city aimed at realizing the plan’s vision for a network of interconnected benefits:
• Safer and Healthier Communities, by eliminating blight, repurposing vacant lots, and connecting more people to green assets, which can improve resident health and mental well-being.
• Enhanced Community Economic Development, through stabilized land and property values, proposed mechanisms to help maintain neighborhood affordability, as well as the potential to spur job creation.
• Cleaner and Greener Environment, including better stormwater management and improved air quality, as well as increased ecosystem resilience and biodiversity (such as support for pollinators like bees and butterflies).

The BBGJ Coalition is calling on city leaders to enact the pilot projects. Could be the beginning of a new reputation for Baltimore—bluer, greener and more just?!

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The Pigtown Horseshoe Pit - protected since 2010

Bike lane - shaded