Proposed stormwater fees being considered by Baltimore City would result in the city having the highest so-called “rain tax” on businesses in the state, according to experts who are following efforts in ten Maryland jurisdictions to implement the fees required by state legislation. But even outside of Baltimore City, potentially substantial new stormwater fees facing many businesses in the Baltimore region and Maryland’s D.C. suburbs offer a compelling lesson in how not to make public policy.
Abba Poliakoff, chairman of Gordon Feinblatt’s securities practice group and Israel practice group, details Maryland’s recent trade mission to Israel and Jordan, which was headed up by Governor O’Malley. As chairman of the Maryland/Israel Development Center, Poliakoff describes the different partnerships and successes from the mission. Center Maryland: Inside Out is a video politicast featuring Lisa Harris Jones and Damian O’Doherty.
An eerie fog hung over Montgomery County for most of the day Sunday, the kind that makes you think of ghosts and spirits and raising the dead. A too-simple metaphor, perhaps, but an unavoidable one, for Doug Duncan’s comeback attempt, on the day he happened to hold the first big public event of his 2014 campaign for county executive.
Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger gives Center Maryland his take on Maryland’s upcoming race for governor, including speculation that he might run. Other subjects include Ruppersberger’s reaction to recent news about the IRS. Center Maryland: Inside Out is a video politicast featuring Lisa Harris Jones and Damian O’Doherty.
Frustration on the part of well-intentioned Baltimore City Council members seeking to promote local hiring by businesses performing city contracts boiled over recently when Council President Jack Young reportedly chastised the city’s Law Department for not cooperating with council efforts. Young and other council members want to pass a bill mandating that 51 percent of new hires working for private-sector contractors on city projects be city residents. In fact, the bill is poised for final consideration as soon as June 3 at the next council meeting.
After six years as the Superintendent of the Baltimore City Schools—a title that is still more descriptive than CEO—Andres Alonso has announced his resignation. The early reviews—please don’t call them a Report Card—are almost universally positive even as the many challenges ahead are also noted. It’s clear that Alonso has made a real difference. The quality, real and perceived, of the school system is one of the key indicators of the health of Baltimore City and, although it gets less attention, of the economic competitiveness of the entire region.
Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger talks with Center Maryland about the importance of passing the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act to help protect against the significant amount of cyber attacks our nation faces on a daily basis. Center Maryland: Inside Out is a video politicast featured on Center Maryland.
Admirers of Anthony Brown are frequently pointing out what an asset his wife, Karmen Walker Brown, is going to be in his campaign for governor. Warm, vivacious, beautiful and poised, great at a podium and in one-on-one situations, she’s someone who humanizes this rigid lieutenant governor with the military background, the theory goes. They had a sweet mid-life courtship that they enjoy talking about, and they look GQ-perfect together. But based on Brown’s announcement event in Largo Friday night and his swing through Silver Spring Saturday morning, there’s another woman poised to play just as big a role in Brown’s campaign. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone else making his case as forcefully and effectively. We’re talking about Congresswoman Donna Edwards, who was the warm-up act to Brown in both Largo and Silver Spring.
On Wednesday, Greater Baltimore Committee Chairman Brian C. Rogers put his finger on the nature of the disconnect between state lawmakers and business advocates on the issue of Maryland’s competitiveness for business location and growth.
A major power in Montgomery County politics is stepping aside this campaign season. Jon Gerson, the longtime – and controversial – political director of the county teachers’ union is no longer serving in that capacity. While he remains employed by the union, serving on its School Assistance Team, focusing on new teachers, he will no longer be part of the political operation.
Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz returns to Center Maryland to outline his tax neutral $2.8 billion operating budget for 2014. He discusses his proposed investments in Baltimore County’s growing school population, cost-saving public safety technology, county park improvements, and social services.
If nothing else, Anthony Brown will learn just how many truly committed supporters he has when he announces his candidacy for governor late this Friday afternoon at Prince George’s Community College. After all, it’s asking a lot of people to navigate D.C.’s rush hour on the Friday before Mother‘s Day, when there will be the usual pre-weekend traffic along with motorists heading out of town to visit Mom. So it’ll be instructive to see who turns up in Largo (Brown will also have events Saturday in Silver Spring, Frederick and Baltimore). The timing of Brown’s announcement is just one of the puzzling things his campaign has done recently. All that said, Brown enters the campaign as the frontrunner to succeed Martin O’Malley. Polls say it’s so, and so do many of the fundamentals of the Democratic race.
An axiom about life is: in order to know how to get somewhere, you need to know where you are in the first place. The Baltimore Development Corporation, Baltimore City’s economic development agency, is seeking a consultant to help it do just that in order to craft a much-needed strategic plan for strengthening the city’s business climate and economic development.
This past General Assembly session was by almost any measure a monumental one. Maryland underscored its standing as one of the most progressive states in the nation by passing a strong gun regulation law, abolishing the death penalty, and deciding to stop kicking the can down the road on transportation infrastructure funding. Following the previous year’s enactment of Marriage Equality and the Dream Act, there’s no doubt that you’re not in Kansas.
President and CEO of the Howard County Economic Development Authority Larry Twele announces 100 businesses will be visited during the week of May 6 as part of Howard County’s Business Appreciation Week. Twele also discusses the arrival of new business and the different ways Howard County is working to attract and help companies expand.
WINNERS: Annapolis stalwart Devon Dodson details the significance of the recent win for wind energy. Abby Hopper, Acting Director of the Maryland Energy Administration; Governor O’Malley; Mike Tidwell, Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network; and Jim Lanard of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition are just a few of the big winners that put Maryland on the map for renewable energy.
Now that state lawmakers have passed legislation to raise an estimated $3.4 billion in new revenue during the next five years to address the state’s crisis in funding transportation infrastructure, the next transportation funding challenge looms not in Annapolis, but in Washington, D.C.
Saul Ewing LLP Partner Joseph “Max” Curran, III explains how Maryland is making progress encouraging renewable energy. Some of the specific subjects discussed in the interview are solar power, STRIDE legislation, offshore wind and smart meters. J. Joseph “Max” Curran III is vice chair of the firm’s Project and Resource Development Practice and a member of the Energy and Utilities Practice.
Jimmy Malone and Steven DeBoy are just the tip of the iceberg. When the House of Delegates convenes in 2015, there could be as many as 50 new members. That’s right, more than a third of the chamber could — could — turn over. Malone and DeBoy, conservative Baltimore County Democrats, were part of the first wave of retirements, signaling their intentions just after Sine Die. Del. Liz Bobo (D), a Howard County liberal, announced her retirement plans months earlier. Others are planning to seek higher office.
The second half of Towson President Maravene Loeschke’s interview focuses on Towson University’s commitment to Innovation to Teacher Preparation, STEM Education, a new Leadership Program and the important role the University has in the Towson community.
Towson President Maravene Loeschke comments on Towson University’s ability to work with the Governor to allot $300,000 out of the state budget to allow time for the university’s baseball program to become self sufficient by 2015. Part of the initiative was tackling Title IX requirements head on by assigning an additional $2 million for a new women’s softball field. Inside the Headlines is a video politicast featured on Center Maryland. Damian O’Doherty brings guests on the show to have in-depth conversations on major news happening in Maryland.
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