Transportation  |  Regional Rail Plan  |  Housing

REGIONAL SOLUTIONS

For over 65 years, CPHA has believed that the united action of informed citizens is essential to improving the quality of life for the people of the Baltimore region. In the past several years, more and more informed citizens have made it clear that quality of life issues must be addressed on both a neighborhood and a regional scale.

Our daily quality of life and our economic competitiveness as a region depend fundamentally on systems that no neighborhood or jurisdiction can tackle alone --from the transportation system that we rely on to get around, to how well we educate our children, to the quality of the air that comes in our windows and the water that comes out of our taps each morning. Our quality of life and our competitiveness as a region also rely on having stable, diverse, and thriving neighborhoods where people want to live, work, and raise a family.

As CPHA outlined in a series of reports over the past five years, the post-World War II period witnessed regional patterns of development, generally known as sprawl, that make it harder and harder for neighborhoods to thrive. New developments in outlying areas consume immense resources, put more and more cars on the road, and use up open space that is desperately needed to protect the Chesapeake Bay and our environment. Sprawl has demanded investments in new roads, schools, and infrastructure, making fewer resources available to existing communities. As a result, many older communities, both in the city and, increasingly, in older suburbs, have been devastated by disinvestment and the stresses of concentrated poverty.

Amidst these challenges are many hopeful signs. The Baltimore region continues to have a rich cadre of dedicated and smart neighborhood leaders, who insist that things can and must get better in their neighborhood now and who understand that conditions in their neighborhood are inextricably tied to broader regional issues. They want open air drug markets shut down, and they know a fully-funded drug treatment system will make it much easier to do that. They want a healthy housing market in their community, and they want housing policies that allow a broad range of people to live near where they work. They want more transportation choices and a world-class transit system that can take them where they need to go.

CPHA is building on its rich legacy of supporting neighborhood leaders to address the most pressing issues in our communities. CPHA is also building on its long tradition of advocacy for policies that will improve the quality of life. Our programs in transportation, drug treatment, housing, and neighborhoods are addressing issues that affect the whole region and every community within it.

Strong neighborhoods, strong region, CPHA.