This is the first in a series of posts highlighting present—and flawed—planning priorities in Baltimore City.

According to the Harvard-based Equality of Opportunity Project, every year a child spends growing up in Baltimore City lowers their household income by .86%. This means that by adulthood, a child who grows up in Baltimore City faces a likely earnings deficit of 17% compared to the national average.

We know from the same study that access to transportation—specifically commute times—are the #1 factor in upward mobility.

Armed with this information, cities across the country have been investing in bicycling, walking, and public transportation options that provide safe, reliable, and efficient access to jobs and opportunity for city residents.

Despite incremental improvements like launching bike share and the construction of the Downtown Bike Network, Baltimore has yet to make the level of investment necessary that could truly transform how people travel inside the city. 33% of Baltimore City residents lack access to a car. That number climbs to almost 80% in East, West, and North Central Baltimore. Despite these figures, Baltimore has historically invested in promoting automobile throughput for county commuters at the expense of city residents, disproportionately, and at times deliberately, damaging communities of color.

As a result, it's often easier for a resident of Baltimore County to drive to work in Baltimore City than it is for a city resident to get to that same job by walking, biking, or taking public transit. This reinforces Baltimore's segregationist, racist history.

Unlike many other seemingly intractable problems Baltimore faces, this one has an easy fix: it simply requires the political will to stop spending money on wasteful road projects that benefit county commuters over city residents.

Let's take the Southeast Strategic Transportation Vision as an example. This study began in coordination with the Red Line to address transportation challenges in Southeast Baltimore. When Governor Hogan canceled the Red Line, Baltimore City Department of Transportation was tasked with updating the study to offset the loss of a rail transit line.