For over 40 years we have been discussing the east/west rail line in this city. The highway to nowhere median is a reminder of a previous try.
The current planned Red Line is by no means perfect. I went to many of the public input sessions, and very few of my comments were included, but the planners did include many of the comments from many of the people over the years. No project will satisfy all of the critics, and the Red Line is like the horse designed by committee — it is a valuable and important part of the future of the metro region. Now is not the time to try and stop a project that has taken this long to get this far, but rather to spend the time and energy on future projects such as a true streetcar "system" to supplement and add to the light rail and subways we will have.
All that will be accomplished by stopping the red line as it is now planned and approved by all responsible parties is that the cost will go up for every day work is delayed. We could have built the entire 77-mile subway system in the 1970s for what this will now cost, but back then it was "too expensive."
It's time to stop talking and start building!
Bob Reuter, Baltimore