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Neighborhoodsby Mark Reutter4:37 pmJun 9, 20140

Little Italy opposes relocation of Red Line station to Exeter Street

Community group objects to the new station, citing its size and ventilation stacks. Proposes a combined Harbor East/Fells Point station on Eden Street.

Above: Controversial corner: site of the proposed Harbor East/Little Italy Red Line station at Exeter and Fleet streets.

Little Italy’s community and business organizations have come out swinging against a plan to move the Harbor East station of the Red Line into their neighborhood to accommodate the wishes of developer John Paterakis.

“We vehemently oppose the proposed four-story building to be erected on that site,” the Little Italy Community Association (LICO) said in a letter sent late last week to the Mass Transit Administration.

The Brew broke the story that planners of the light-rail line had decided to move a station at Central Avenue and Fleet Street a block west to Exeter and Fleet. The new location is on the southern boundary of Little Italy.

The move – which comes a year after the MTA won federal approval of its Final Environmental Impact Statement – was made because the Central Avenue location would interfere with Paterakis’ plans to turn a bakery warehouse he owns into prime retail and commercial property.

The Rawlings-Blake administration is helping to underwrite Paterakis’ ambitions by paying utility infrastructure costs for his relocated warehouse.

On the heels of the MTA’s decision to move the station, the agency seeks to buy  a parking lot and related land along the 900 block of Fleet Street – as well as reroute the rail line tunnel under Pier 5 and the Candler Building at the Inner Harbor.

Currently owned by Verizon, the Fleet Street property would be used as a station entrance and to house ventilation stacks for the tunnel.

Disturbed by Vent Stacks

To accommodate the vents, the station would be 30-40 feet tall, Henry M. Kay, the Red Line’s chief designer, told The Brew. “The stacks will be used only in an emergency, so they emit no pollution,” he said.

The LICO letter seized upon the vents, saying the oversized structure would serve as “an exhaust point” for the Red Line’s 70-foot-deep tunnel. “We are the immediate resident community and do not want to be negatively impacted,” the letter said. The letter also said residents are anxious about a station expected to be open until 1 a.m.

“This is about the sixth time we’ve gotten a new plan for the Red Line,” LICO president Giovanna “Gia” Blattermann said in an interview, “but this latest is a neighborhood killer. We’re facing a huge hole in Fleet Street for three or four years. And for what – so we get fumigated every time the air is bad down in the train tunnel?”

Gia Giovanna (center) and Lou Mazzulli (right) stand beside the Eden/Fleet parking garage that they said could serve as a combined station for Little Italy/Harbor East and Fells Point. With them is Victor Corbin, president of the Fells Prospect Community Association. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

Gia Blattermann (center) and Lou Mazzulli (right) stand beside the Eden/Fleet parking garage that they said could serve as a combined Harbor East/Fells Point station. With them is Victor Corbin, president of the Fells Prospect Community Association. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

Blattermann said LICO represents more than 500 residents and property owners.

Her position was seconded by Lou Mazzulli Jr., president of the Little Italy Business Association. “They’re in a cave,” he said, referring to the Red Line planners. “They are not thinking about the human element. I’m for better mass transit in Baltimore, but we don’t need something that’s so expensive and disruptive.”

Blattermann and Mazzulli said the best solution would be for Red Line trains to use the existing Metro subway under East Baltimore Street rather than build a separate tunnel along Fleet Street. “Or just give us a good Circulator bus, from Little Italy to Canton, and call it a day,” Blattermann added.

Barring that solution, LICO has called on the MTA to combine the proposed Harbor East and Fells Point stations into a single station.

The group cited the city-owned parking garage at Eden and Fleet streets as a good location because the city could donate the property to the MTA.

Contributing land for the station would help the city pay its contribution to the Red Line, Blattermann said. (Under current plans, Baltimore must contribute $200 million toward construction of the $2.64 billion Red Line. The MTA says it would accept city-owned land as an in-kind contribution to meet the $200 million threshold.)

According to LICO’s proposal, the MTA could provide entrances on each end of the platform to accommodate passengers heading west to Harbor East/Little Italy and east to Broadway/Fells Point.

Line-up of proposed stations along Fleet Street: the Exeter Street station (blue box), the original Harbor East station parly on Pasterakis property (yellow) and the city-owned parking garage at Eden and Fleet (gray open lot). (Courtesy of MTA)

Line-up of proposed stations along Fleet Street: the Exeter Street station (blue box), the original Harbor East station partly on Paterakis property (yellow), and the city-owned parking garage at Eden and Fleet (gray open lot).

MTA: Two Stations Worth the Cost

Red Line planners had previously considered combining the two station stops, Kay said, “but concluded that both communities have existing and growing ridership opportunities that make the investment in two stations worth the cost.”

Even though the two stations are just five blocks apart – not enough for a Red Line train to reach cruising speed – “a combined station would serve neither community well,” Kay said.

And while eliminating a $120 million underground station would certainly save money, Kay said that designing such a station would take additional time and expense and would require the demolition of Fleet/Eden parking garage.

He said the Red Line cannot use the existing Metro subway tunnel under East Baltimore Street because the physical dimension of the trains are not compatible.

A Battle-Tested Community

While lacking the political clout of the old days (two Baltimore mayors named D’Alesandro hailed from the neighborhood), Little Italy remains a potent force in the city.

Its cluster of Italian and other ethnic restaurants are a major tourist attraction, and its fierce “small town” cohesion helped it survive years of turmoil, including the 1968 racial riots and plans to cut a swath through the community for the I-83/Jones Falls expressway.

Red Line opposition in Little Italy comes at a time of rising criticism of the project in Canton and other southeast communities.

A grassroots group, known as the Right Rail Coalition, has called on the MTA to consider a network of surface streetcars in place of the Red Line along Boston Street. The plan is detailed on its website, along with a critique of the costs and benefits of the Red Line.

State Sen. William C. Ferguson IV (46th) has championed the “streetcar solution” and publicly called for a reevaluation of the eastern portion of the 14-mile rail line.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley continue to support the project, saying it will create jobs and improve mass transportation.

Originally, the Harbor East station was located on the site of the H&S Bakery warehouse at Fleet Street and Central Avenue (brown building above). But the MTA decided to relocate the station because the station entrance would require the frontage of Paterakis' property, which he wants to convert to high-end commercial property. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

Originally, the Harbor East station was to be located on the site of the H&S Bakery warehouse (brown building) at Fleet Street and Central Avenue. But the MTA decided to relocate the station because it would interfere with John Paterakis’ plans to convert the site into a high-end commercial property. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

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