Baltimore has plenty of fire. Fire for crime, for housing, for jobs. This past weekend the fire focused on transit, as creatives, hackers, and the tech-savvy were fueled by passion, food, and the desire to fix what was ultimately broken. Capitalizing on Betamore’s open space, comfortable seating, and chalkboard walls, roughly fifty attendees gathered on Friday night to kick-off the ReinventTransit Hackathon. For the next 48 hours, teams would take a thorough approach to solving transit problems – beginning, logically, with problem identification. This is how the weekend began. Knowledge would spark inspiration, and inspiration would craft solutions.
We all have a story about Baltimore transit. Maybe yours include memories of taking the Light Rail down to the Yard, the one time you tried to take the bus, the Saturday nights you spent looking for a parking spot in Fells Point. It’s undeniable that transit is hot right now. Increased press and the formation of multiple transit action groups has been sparked by new Citywide initiatives including increased development along Boston Street, rehabilitated homes accommodating multiple car owners, downtown restaurants and retailers hoping to expedite travel from the suburbs to the city, the Red Line, the new back-in parking in Canton – the list goes on, and interest groups are raising their voices.
On Friday night, Betamore’s co-Creator Mike Brenner welcomed everyone, and introduced Mayor Rawlings Blake who greeted the group with enthusiasm stating, “I’m glad there are people who are willing to drink Red Bull and think about stuff for the weekend. And I hope the weather is really bad tomorrow so you don’t feel bad staying inside.” Michele Whelley, President and CEO of the Transportation Alliance, remarked, “people are coming [to Baltimore] for the quality of life, but it needs to be easy for them to get around. You cannot say you have access to transit if it takes you 90 minutes to get across town.” And it was true. Going from Canton to Federal Hill, a 3.2 mile driving distance, can easily take 30 minutes by car if I go through the Central Business District. For a simple cost of $3, I’ll use my EZPass. Truth be told though, I’d rather cab. Parking is a nightmare.
Common struggles were verbalized as a line formed for 60-second pitches. One by one, attendees expressed what they wanted to see happen over the course of the weekend:
“We need to make Hacking safer,” said one – referring to informal ride sharing.
“We need to unify the University transit lines,” said another.
“I want to figure out who is happy when they’re taking transit. I don’t know how to do it, but someone here probably does.”
“Transit sucks. Fix it guys. Just – fix it.”
And then? They went to work. I left the tech savvy and weekend-dedicated to do what they could. I had no idea what pitches would attract the most votes, nor did I know what to expect when I would return on Sunday for presentations to see how much had been done. I must admit I have no basis for comparison when it comes to building a website or coding. Everyone kept saying their work was available on Github. I have no idea what that is either. I do know that teams of strangers proposed solutions for perceptible problems. More than that, the solutions were presented in a way that I could understand and the City could adopt as a foundation for greater development. The tech-savvy had created a series of final projects that were digestible for the masses – and this in itself, was a substantial achievement.
While the projects were impressive, I was most encouraged by the people present at the Hackathon. As a relative constant at local innovation events, I’ve come to recognize many faces. In the past month, however, this has changed. Not all attendees of the ReinventTransit Hackathon were present with the intent to create solutions, some were simply there out of curiosity. “I’m a nerd,” shrugged a friend of mine, who had never attended this type of event before. “It just sounded interesting. I wanted to see what it was all about.” In addition to new faces, city employees were in attendance. This is a big deal, and this is why: the presence of city employees is a hopeful indication that the gap between innovator and local government is starting to narrow. Billy Hwang, Travis Tazelaar, Nate Evans, Chris Tonjes, Michelle Whelley, Mayor Rawlings Blake, and others, may not realize the magnitude of their presence, but government participation speaks to how far the creative community has come. The young energy initiating these events should also realize the presence of city officials is a major indication of success –their ideas have become too loud to ignore. The presence of coats and ties among flip flops and jeans is the next step in what I hope will become an integration of creativity into general procedure. The government is starting to listen, the starting solutions are good ones, and as those of us with jobs outside City Hall seek to solve the same problems as those within, both sides are presented with an opportunity to allow collaboration and creativity to permeate the traditional government divide.
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