Newsroom

The Traffic Incident Management for the Baltimore Region (TIMBR) Committee of the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board sponsored the Baltimore Regional Virtual Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Conference on Tuesday, November 10. Baltimore Metropolitan Council staff worked closely with TIMBR Committee co-chairs and conference speakers to develop the program.

BMC staff members Zach Kaufman and Shawn Kimberly spoke at the virtual Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) 2020 Annual Conference on Thursday, October 29th.

On Wednesday, October 28, 2020, The Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s (BMC) Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Committee (BRCPC) co-hosted the 12th Annual Meet the Primes event. This virtual procurement outreach event connects small and minority owned businesses (MBE/SBE) to prime contract bidders.

BMC is honored to have provided technical support to this important work. We thank GBC for their leadership and look forward to continuing our collaboration to enhance our region’s workforce system. The Greater Baltimore Committee has released a comprehensive report which identifies the top 20 occupations likely to produce the most family-supporting jobs in the Baltimore region over the next decade, while also outlining recommendations to enhance education and training systems and address structural racism, gender inequities and systemic barriers to workforce participation and advancement.

Registration is now open for Bike to Work Week in central Maryland at BiketoWorkMD.com. To ensure the safety of riders, BMC is gearing up for a COVID-safe virtual Bike to Work 2020 celebration from September 21 to 27. The rallies and pit stop gatherings that participants have come to expect from this annual event will be substituted for online networking and encouragement for all riders, and even more prizes!

Look Alive Campaign Has Braking News for Area Residents. Unconventional Approach Grabs Attention for Pedestrian Safety Messages

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep us apart. Many are staying at home, socially distancing and using personal protection equipment (PPE) when venturing out. PPE has played a huge role in the response to the health crisis. Procuring this equipment during a time when supply was very low and demand was exponential has been a challenge that many experienced worldwide. BMC's Director of Cooperative Purchasing, Debbie Groat, takes a deeper look at the supply chain for PPE, underscoring how it has changed throughout the pandemic. She also calls for the stabilization of a pricing structure for such material in an article she wrote for the MPAA Newsletter.

Registration is now open for Bike to Work Week in central Maryland at BiketoWorkMD.com. To ensure the safety of riders, BMC is gearing up for a COVID-safe virtual Bike to Work 2020 celebration from September 21 to 27. The rallies and pit stop gatherings that participants have come to expect from this annual event will be substituted for online networking and encouragement for all riders, and even more prizes!

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded $843,988 to the Baltimore region to conduct emergency housing and shelter planning through the FY 2020 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) on August 19, 2020.  Through a partnership between the City of Baltimore and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC), the grant will fund regional housing and shelter planning at BMC in collaboration with a committee of local emergency management agencies in the Baltimore region known as the Baltimore Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). The project will produce individually tailored plans for each jurisdiction as well as one regional plan; and will support training and exercises for emergency management personnel.

In the midst of a national reckoning over racial injustice, BMC member jurisdictions have finalized a new analysis and plan to address housing-related disparities by race and other characteristics protected under the federal Fair Housing Act. The study documents significant disparities in homeownership, housing cost burden, and access to affordable rental housing and high-performing public schools, while detailing specific actions local jurisdictions and the region can take to address those disparities. The new regional fair housing plan is being released despite the federal administration’s recent announcement that it is removing the requirement that local jurisdictions receiving federal housing funding develop plans to address and ameliorate policies that lead to disparate housing impacts for protected classes.