Department of Transportation s10

1 STATE OF MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 2 MARYLAND TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION

4 BaltimoreLink Public Hearing

8 8133 Sandpiper Circle Nottingham, Maryland 21236 9 January 9, 2017 10

16 KEVIN QUINN, Hearing Officer

17 ELENI FLANNERY, Hearing Secretary

24 Proceedings recorded by electronic sound recording; 25 transcript produced by Free State Reporting, Inc.

FREE STATE REPORTING, INC. Court Reporting Transcription D.C. Area 301-261-1902

1 I N D E X

2 Page

3 Opening by Mr. Quinn 3

4 Rules and Procedures by Ms. Flannery 4

5 Statement by:

6 Ms. Olszewski 7

7 Ms. Bull 10

8 Ms. Dickens 11

FREE STATE REPORTING, INC. Court Reporting Transcription D.C. Area 301-261-1902 Balt. & Annap. 410-974-0947 3

1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 MR. QUINN: Okay. All right. We'll go ahead

3 and get started. Let the record show it is now 5 p.m. on

4 the 9th of January 2017. I call to order this public

5 hearing conducted by the Maryland Transit Administration,

6 as required by Title 7 of the Maryland Transportation

7 Article.

8 The Maryland Transit Administration, also known

9 as MTA, is a transportation business unit of the Maryland

10 Department of Transportation.

11 Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Kevin

12 Quinn, the MTA's director of Planning and Programming,

13 serving as the Hearing Officer this evening. The Hearing

14 Secretary today is Eleni Flannery.

15 I welcome you to this public hearing and I

16 thank you for taking the time to attend. If you have not

17 already done so, please silence your cell phones now.

18 The purpose of this hearing is to accept

19 testimony pertaining to the Maryland Department of

20 Transportation's Maryland Transit Administration's

21 proposed service changes for the next phase of

1 implementation of the BaltimoreLink transit network

2 design. The proposed changes would become effective on

3 or about Sunday, June 18, 2017. Full details of the

4 proposed changes are presented in a two-volume document

5 available at the registration table.

6 The role of the Hearing Officer and the

7 Secretary is strictly to take testimony. We are unable

8 to answer questions while this hearing is in progress.

9 Please address any questions you may have to the MTA

10 representatives just outside of this room.

11 The Maryland Transit Administration is

12 committed to ensuring no individual is excluded from

13 participation in or denied the benefits of its transit

14 services and programs on the basis of race, color, or

15 national origin, as protected by Title 6 of the Civil

16 Rights Act of 1964.

17 Ms. Eleni Flannery will now state the rules and

18 procedures for this hearing.

19 MS. FLANNERY: Good evening. The procedures

20 for this hearing are as follows. Individuals desiring to

21 testify should register in the lobby area. Speakers are

1 required to provide their name and address. If

2 representing a group, its name and address should also be

3 provided. For this hearing, all statements should be

4 directed to the Hearing Officer, and must be related to

5 the subject matter of the hearing as outlined in the

6 proposal.

7 Questions should be addressed to the MTA

8 representatives outside of this room. The Hearing

9 Officer cannot responds to questions while the hearing is

10 in progress. Speakers are required to limit their

11 statements to three minutes. These proceedings are

12 recorded by a court stenographer.

13 Prepared statements or literature pertaining to

14 the subject of the proposal may be submitted to the

15 Hearing Officer or to the MTA Office of Customer and

16 Community Relations.

17 For those who prefer to submit comments in

18 writing, rather than verbally, comment forms are

19 available at the registration table. MTA staff is

20 available to offer assistance. Comment forms can also be

21 downloaded by visiting www.BaltimoreLink.com.

1 Written statements may be submitted -- excuse

2 me -- for the hearing record by submitting to MTA staff

3 at the registration table, mailing to the address listed

4 on the comment form, or emailing comments to

5 [email protected] with written testimony

6 as the subject heading.

7 All testimony received by the February 21st

8 2017 deadline will be considered before the proposals are

9 finalized.

10 MR. QUINN: Notices regarding this hearing were

11 published in 2016 as follows: on December and December

12 12th in the Baltimore Sun. On December 27th in the

13 Jeffersonian. On December 28th in the Towson Times. On

14 December 29th in the Dundalk Eagle and the East County

15 Times. On December 30th in the Sun's Weekend and El

16 Tiempo Latino.

17 Notices published in 2017 include, on January

18 4th, in the City Paper. On January 6th in the AFRO

19 American, the Sun's Weekend, the Baltimore Times, and the

20 Jewish Times. On January 9th in the Baltimore Sun, and

21 on January 11th, in the Catonsville Times, and the

1 Arbutus Times.

2 At this time, I would like to invite elected

3 officials to comment. Are there any elected officials

4 here at this time? Okay.

5 We will now move to those who have registered

6 to provide testimony. When I call your name, please step

7 up to the microphone, state and spell your name, and

8 provide your address for the record. And you have three

9 minutes to provide you testimony.

10 The first name that we have is Renee -- hi,

11 Renee. Would you like to come up, Renee? How do I say

12 your last name?

13 MS. OLSZEWSKI: Just say Renee.

14 MR. QUINN: Okay. Make -- we invite you to

15 come up to the microphone and provide your name, and your

16 address to provide testimony so it's on the record.

17 Thank you.

18 MS. OLSZEWSKI: Okay. My name is Renee

19 Olszewski. I live at 48 -- Court. I'm a resident of the

20 Nottingham Avenue. I live on Dunfield Road.

21 Not quite sure what my testimony should be. I

1 came here because, once again, coincidentally, I happen

2 to find out about this meeting. I contacted the

3 senator's office. She knew nothing about it. I

4 contacted Christian Neal's (ph.) office. He knew nothing

5 about it.

6 So again, I'm disappointed in that with the

7 MTA. And that I happen to have to find out about these

8 meetings by coincidence. So I am here because I am

9 representing by neighborhood. I want to see what's going

10 on with the MTA situation.

11 From my understanding, nothing is going to

12 change regarding the 102; however, what has changed is

13 the name, from what I understand, is the name that's on

14 the front of the bus; that it no longer says express, but

15 it is now using the word Towson. I don't know if that's

16 correct or not, but from what I understand, it is. So

17 again, I am here to just let the MTA know that the

18 community does have our eyes and ears on you.

19 MR. QUINN: Thank you. I think we have some

20 representatives who can speak to our communication with

21 elected officials, and folks outside with the proposal

1 that can answer any questions you have about proposed bus

2 service. Okay. And that was on the --

3 (Asides.)

4 MR. QUINN: Would anyone else like to provide

5 testimony at this time? Okay. For now, this concludes

6 the list of individuals who have registered to speak.

7 Let the record show that it is now 5:08 p.m., and I

8 hereby recess this hearing until someone wishes to

9 testify, or until 5:20 p.m. -- oh, or until 8 p.m. Sure.

10 I'll recess -- how about this -- so I will recess until

11 5:20, or until someone wishes to testify. Thank you.

12 (Off the record.)

13 (On the record.)

14 MR. QUINN: Okay. Let the record show it is

15 now 5:22 p.m. I hereby recommence this hearing and will

16 now call for statements from those who have registered.

17 As your name is called, please step up to the

18 microphone and begin by stating your name and address for

19 the record. I'd like to call Amanda Bell -- Bull. Yeah.

20 Amanda Bull up to provide testimony at this time.

21 MS. BULL: Good evening.

1 MR. QUINN: Good evening.

2 MS. BULL: My name is Amanda Bull, B-u-l-l.

3 And I live at 1 Duncroft Place which is in the Alta

4 Apartments on Walther Boulevard.

5 And so I am really benefitting from the service

6 from the new 102 line. And that's one of the things I

7 wanted to say because some of my neighbors in some of the

8 housing areas are opposed to having the couple of bus

9 stops that there are to serve that area. And it's

10 critical. It gets people to Towson. It gets me to work

11 in half the time that it took when I was taking the 58

12 and transferring to the 55.

13 I don't have a car. I'm trying to get by

14 without a car. And between the 58 and the 102, that's

15 how I take care of all my doctor appointments. That's

16 how I take care of all my personal business. So it has

17 been a real boom. I couldn't say enough nice things

18 about your drivers. And it is a real convenient route.

19 It takes me to a lot of different places.

20 MR. QUINN: That's great.

21 MS. BULL: Okay, thank you.

1 MR. QUINN: Thank you very much. Let the

2 record show I'm happy to hear that. Okay. Would anyone

3 else like to provide any comments? Okay.

4 This concludes the list of individuals who have

5 registered to speak. Let the record show it is now 5:24

6 p.m., and I hereby recess this hearing until 5:40 or

7 until someone wishes to testify. Thank you.

8 (Off the record.)

9 (On the record.)

10 MR. QUINN: Okay. Let the record show it is

11 now 7:37 p.m., and I hereby recommence this hearing and

12 will now call for statements from those who have

13 registered.

14 As your name is called, please step up to the

15 microphone and begin by stating your name and address for

16 the record.

17 I have down here, I'd like to Josephine Dickens

18 to provide testimony.

19 MS. DICKENS: Yeah, I had concerns. This has

20 been going on for a while, because I work for the Health

21 Department. And I had a lot of concerns about the MTA,

1 their hygiene. I see a lot of people wiping their nose,

2 sneezing and so forth, touching the poles, handicap

3 people. I've actually seen some blood and stuff.

4 I was suggesting that they should have hand

5 sanitizers. The hospitals have it. And people think

6 that the hospitals are very clean, but they're really

7 not. You're picking up what people are going in. So I

8 just wanted to just suggest hand sanitizer.

9 MR. QUINN: Okay.

10 MS. DICKENS: Okay.

11 MR. QUINN: All right.

12 MS. DICKENS: Thank you.

13 MR. QUINN: Thank you very much. All right.

14 This concludes the list of individuals who have

15 registered to speak. Let the record show it is now 7:38.

16 (Off the record.)

17 (On the record.)

18 MR. QUINN: Let the record show it is now

19 8 p.m. and this concludes this public hearing. Thank

20 you, ladies and gentlemen for participating. The

21 comments you provide are valuable and will be considered

1 before the proposed changes are finalized. Good night.

2 (Whereupon, the Public Hearing concluded at

3 8:00 p.m. on January 9, 2017.)

1 C E R T I F I C A T E

2 This is to certify that the attached

3 proceedings before the Maryland Transit Administration in

4 the matter of:

5 BaltimoreLink Public Hearing

6 PLACE: Baltimore, Maryland

7 DATE: January 9, 2017

8 were held as herein appears, and that this is the

9 original transcript thereof for the file of the

10 Agency.

12 ______Tim Atkinson, Reporter 13 FREE STATE REPORTING, INC.

FREE STATE REPORTING, INC. Court Reporting Transcription D.C. Area 301-261-1902 Balt. & Annap. 410-974-0947