Annapolis, MD—Larry Hogan is engaging in another election year sleight-of-hand with his State Center announcement. After standing in the way of efforts to move the project forward, then voting to cancel the project, Hogan is now giving Baltimore another empty photo op.
“In less than 4 years, Larry Hogan blocked both State Center and the Red Line, and he’s hoping that today’s announcement will make Baltimoreans forget. It won’t,” said Maryland Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Matthews. “What Baltimore needs is a governor who will invest in the city, not another photo op. In November, Baltimore voters will remember that Governor Hogan has shortchanged the city and will happily move Hogan out.”
In his time in office, Governor Hogan has repeatedly stood in the way of efforts to give Baltimore families opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty.
After entering office, Governor Hogan blocked efforts to move the $1.5 billion State Center project forward, then voted to cancel the project in December 2016, despite promising voters than the project was a “high priority.” Prior governors, including Democrat Martin O’Malley and Republican Bob Ehrlich championed the project to redevelop State Center, putting Hogan’s efforts to undermine the project out of step with his own party.
Less than six months into his term as governor, Hogan jetisoned nearly a decade of effort and threw nearly $1 billion federal dollars down the drain by cancelling the Red Line project, which would have connected the east and west sides of Baltimore, providing much-needed access to public transportation to areas of Baltimore where the median income is just over $31,000 and where 39 percent of households lack access to an automobile. According to the Jacob France Institute, the project would have spurred nearly $2 billion in economic activity in Baltimore during construction and create and support more than 9,000 jobs.