How Business Got an Outsize Influence on the Red Line
A politics post in the Baltimore Examiner looks at why Business has such a large say in the route of the Red Line, and sheds a bit of light on why regular citizen’s concerns are being dismissed. According to the Examiner, a lot of it seems a lot of the reason comes down to the Greater Baltimore Committee’s Donald Fry.
Donald C. Fry is the President of the Greater Baltimore Committee. He is a resident of Harford County and he holds no elected political office in the region. When a controversial Baltimore City issue like the Red Line is brought up his opinion is always mentioned prominently by the media. Mr. Fry has not been elected by the citizens of Baltimore to represent them though. He is in charge of the GBC:
It goes onto point out that what is best for the fat cats of the GBC isn’t always in the best interest of the citizens.
The Red Line is a prime example of this. The Baltimore Sun blindly listed the people who support the Red Line Alternative 4C that the governor supports:
“But the governor’s choice is the clear favorite of Baltimore business and political heavyweights. Among those joining O’Malley at the Red Line announcement were U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Greater Baltimore Committee President Donald C. Fry and representatives of Mayor Sheila Dixon and Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith.”Why is Donald Fry even mentioned i the same paragraph as our elected officials? Is he king of Baltimore?
The story also details Mr. Fry’s more than $8,000 in donations to key politicians and summarirzes:
Do not be fooled by the so-called big names and big organizations who say that light rail is the best solution to the Red Line dilemma and that people who are against this plan are only NIMBY’s. TRAC [Transit Riders Action Committee] has proven on numerous occasions through well thought out logic that Heavy Rail is the only logical solution. All the plans presented by all the so-called big names and groups are nothing more than development schemes designed to enrich a few.
Read the complete story here.