New survey: Most in Baltimore area support efforts to revitalize Harborplace

An large majority of people support plans to revitalize Baltimore’s Harborplace and rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge, according to the results of a survey published Tuesday by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council polling respondents in Baltimore City and six surrounding counties.

Seventy-five percent of respondents in Baltimore City and Baltimore County said the embattled plan to revamp the city’s waterfront and replace the Inner Harbor’s aging pavilions with housing, retail stores and a park was “somewhat” or “very important” to the region’s future economic vitality. Another 80% of overall respondents said they thought the rebuilding of the Key Bridge, which collapsed this spring, was critical to the regional economy, and 73% thought rebuilding would significantly reduce area traffic.

GQR, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., polling firm, surveyed 1,200 respondents who live in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, Howard County, Carroll County, Harford County, and Queen Anne’s County. Of those surveyed, 612 people in Baltimore City and Baltimore County responded to the Harborplace question. Six-hundred people responded each to two questions about whether they thought rebuilding the Key Bridge was vital to the regional economy or to reducing traffic in the area.

GQR conducted the survey from Sept. 3 to Sept. 9 using phone and online interviews and text-to-web. The margin of error was within 2.83 percentage points. The Baltimore Metropolitan Council is a nonprofit composed of local elected politicians — including Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., and others — designed to “create initiatives to improve (the Baltimore region’s) quality of life and economic vitality,” according to their website.

Scott supports developer P. David Bramble’s plan to remake Harborplace by tearing down the existing pavilions and building four mixed-use buildings, which would add 900 apartments with office space along with a park and two-tier promenades and realigned roads.

City voters must approve a related ballot measure, Question F, to allow the public land to be privately redeveloped. Question F has come under fire since an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge sided earlier this month with critics, led by former mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah, who said its wording was too confusing. Attorneys for the city and MCB Real Estate, Bramble’s company, filed briefs Monday detailing their opposition to the ruling. The Supreme Court of Maryland is expected to hold a hearing Oct. 7, less than a month before it appears on the Nov. 5 ballot.

A smaller majority of survey respondents, 54%, said they thought constructing the Red Line transit project would significantly improve traffic in the region by allowing riders to take a light-rail between East Baltimore and Western Baltimore County.

The future of that transit project has also become less rosy in the year since Gov. Wes Moore first said he would revitalize it after his predecessor, Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan, canceled it in 2015.

State officials have not said how they plan to fund the light-rail line, which is estimated to cost up to $7.2 billion and would require federal funding. Hogan, now running for U.S. Senate, reaffirmed his decision to cancel the project in an interview last week.

Hogan, who previously called the potential Red Line a “wasteful boondoggle,” said he still “didn’t think it was going to happen” and said he would not prioritize it if he triumphed in November over Angela Alsobrooks, his Democratic opponent in the Senate race.

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