Baltimore, like a lot of older American cities, once hosted a thriving street car business several decades back. Common lore up and down the coast in American cities is that the oil companies bought up the tracks in most places, only to intentionally eliminate the service and remove the tracks.

Down along the old portion of Falls Road, near where the city keeps the sand and salt for winter roads, there lives an old museum, the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. On their property lies a short stretch of track upon which visitors can ride restored trolley cars one afternoon a week for part of the year in exchange for a small fare which helps with the upkeep of the museum and restoration of cars.

Riding by this museum on my two and from work each day has got me noticing just how extensive the tracking used to have been in this city at one point. It seems like each time I end up in an interesting part of the city I wish I came to more often, I look down and notice an exposed stretch of track which is mostly paved over.

People talk about things like Global Waming and climate change as though it were the fault of the consumer: like we were the ones who were so greedy in the first place that we bought more than we needed and used up more than we had to. But few people are talking yet about how it was the Great American Corporation which drove us down so many blind alleys, covering up viable alternatives along to way to stifle competition.

I say if we’re in an economic crisis today, combined with facing environmental challenges, let’s turn back the clock and revive some of the infrastructure which once upon a time certainly helped to give this city the shape and vibrancy which it still echoes down through the present day. Bring back the Baltimore Street Car. Let’s start a campaign!