Opposed to plan for safety reasons

[Don Mathis]

I would like to respectfully but frankly voice my opposition to the
Jones falls trail plan, and my reason is this:

Building a pedestrian bridge over Northern Parkway will make it easier
for sex offenders and other criminals to enter Mount Washington from
the South. Isolation can be a good thing

According to the national sex offender registry there are just a
handful of sex offenders currently in Mt. Washington but scores in the
neighborhoods just on the other side of Northern Parkway. To see the
map, go to http://www.familywatchdog.us/ and enter ZIP code 21209.

There were 274 murders in Baltimore in 2006 and 269 in 2005. There is
no downward trend. These take place mostly to the South of Mt.
Washington, and building the bridge will make it easier for gang
members and the like to venture to the North. Why would they do it?
I don't know, but do you know that they would not? I don't consider 5
murders a week acceptable and I think increasing pedestrian traffic
between neighborhoods is a good way to spread the sickness to the
whole city. No one can argue that there is not a huge violent crime
problem in Baltimore, so the argument that "no harm will be done" is
simply wishful thinking.

Thank you,

Don Mathis

[Jim Carroll]

Although you are correct in noting that the pedestrian bridge will
make it safer and easier for pedestrians and bicyclists to cross
Northern Parkway, Mount Washington is currently accessible from the
rest of Baltimore by sidewalks, roads, the Jones Falls Expressway, MTA
busses and the Light Rail. You do not indicate why sex offenders or
murderers would be more likely to bike or walk to Mount Washington via
the pedestrian bridge than by using these other more rapid and
convenient forms of transportation.

Jim Carroll

On May 11, 10:07 am, Don Mathis <mat...@jhu.edu> wrote:
> I would like to respectfully but frankly voice my opposition to the
> Jones falls trail plan, and my reason is this:
>
> Building a pedestrian bridge over Northern Parkway will make it easier
> for sex offenders and other criminals to enter Mount Washington from
> the South. Isolation can be a good thing
>
> According to the national sex offender registry there are just a
> handful of sex offenders currently in Mt. Washington but scores in the
> neighborhoods just on the other side of Northern Parkway. To see the

> map, go tohttp://www.familywatchdog.us/and enter ZIP code 21209.

[Don Mathis]

I can think of a few reasons why some of the dozens of sex offenders
in the neighborhoods just across Northern Parkway might prefer the JF
trail to a car/bus/light rail:

(1) It will provide an alibi for why they are walking in MW. If
you're a block off the trail, you can say that you were just walking
by on the trail and noticed some flowers, etc, down the street.

(2) Faster getaways in the case of using a bicycle.

(3) No license plates to be identified by.

(4) In general, if it makes MW residents more likely to walk/bike out
of MW, by the same token it makes others more likely to walk/bike in.

Don Mathis

[Don Mathis]

My point is simply that the trail extension and bridge will increase
the probability that a sex offender will come into MW, due to the high
concentration of sex offender just across Northern Parkway. Perhaps
it will be a small increase in probability. Even so, to me, it's not
worth it. I'm not saying that there's going to be a flood of them,
just an increase in probability. Perhaps most people think a small
increase is acceptable, and I respect that. I just wanted to point
this out.