Maryland Business

The city of Annapolis found its way onto a Top 10 list recently, and it wasn’t for anything dealing with history or sailing.

Instead, as home to the U.S. Naval Academy, the city was deemed the tenth-most expensive college town in the United States. The designation came via Coldwell Banker’s 2011 College Home Listing Report.

“Annapolis (United States Naval Academy) ranks as the #10 most expensive college town in the nation, where an average three-bedroom, two-bathroom home costs $522,420,” the report states. “Comparably, the same size home in College Park (#26 most expensive, University of Maryland) averages at $257,107.”

Pricier abodes can be found in the hometowns of Boston College, University of Washington (Seattle) and the University of Hawaii (Honolulu). The most expensive college town in the U.S.? Westwood/Los Angeles, where the average three-bedroom home runs $1.27 million.

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Baltimore’s annual free art festival, Artscape, always has the arts community buzzing. This year is likely to be no disappointment for anyone in search of art, entertainment, food and music.

Just avoid taking the Mount Royal Ave. exit off I-83 if you can.

Music performances will include Fantasia, G Love and Matisyahu, with several other performances throughout the weekend. Catch the festival Friday, Saturday and Sunday, starting at noon.

If you’re down at Ocean City instead this weekend, make sure you catch (sorry!) the 24th annual Tuna Tournament. From Friday through Sunday at 4 p.m., spectators can watch contest participants reel in the biggest tuna around. The event, which is free for visitors, features live music and food.

For a little more risque and saucy entertainment, the Gilded Lily Burlesque troupe will be at Rams Head on Stage in Annapolis. Two performances will be held Saturday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets cost $20.

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This may be one of my favorite posts so far to write. Mostly because I still get giddy over fireworks. The cacophony of fireworks and constant Sousa, popcorn and fried food smells… It’s the best.

We won’t provide an entirely comprehensive list of where you can find fireworks around the state, but here are a few spots to cover the Greater Baltimore area in case you’re in need of a fireworks fix:

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor will make the entire afternoon and evening a big Fourth of July party, starting at noon Monday. Children’s entertainment will start the fun events, including the ever-popular Milkshake Duo (hear your kids screaming yet?) The Pennsylvania Air National Guard Band plays at 4 p.m., followed by the Electric Brigade at 7:30 p.m. Fireworks start at 9:30 p.m.

Annapolis will start its Fourth of July with a parade at 6:30 p.m. on Amos Garrett Blvd. The parade ends in front of the Market House. Get your seats early.

Columbia will fire up the weekend with fireworks at Columbia Lakefront. Entertainment includes live bands on two stages and children’s entertainment.

Baker Park in Frederick is the place to be if you’re around there for the weekend. The 44-acre park is a natural locale for a day that lends itself for family fun. Holiday activities in Frederick include live music, a volleyball tournament, chili cook-off and a “most-patriotic” pageant.

And for you fellow Baltimore County residents, Oregon Ridge Park will have its usual Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Star Spangled Spectacular on Saturday and Sunday this year, starting at 8 p.m. I already hear Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture playing.

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Last week’s list of the five most-read business stories by Daily Record staffers was topped by the latest twist in the Cafe Hon contretemps. Also cracking the list was a local reverberation of the auto industry’s troubles in Detroit, and the latest push to get Maryland’s horse racing industry on the right track.

1. Cafe Hon’s Whiting apologizes for ‘hon’ trademark controversy
Denise Whiting did not apologize for getting a trademark on the word “hon,” and did not say she planned to drop the legal protection she has on the well-known Baltimore term of endearment, Ben Mook reported. Instead, she said she was sorry for comments she made to the media that led to confusion that the trademark would limit people’s right to use the term in conversation.

2. Baltimore Travel Plaza bus terminal could become conference center
After years of declining business despite its proximity to Interstate 95, the multi-bay bus terminal at the Baltimore Travel Plaza will close for good, according to the story by Melody Simmons.

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The most-read stories of 2010 by The Daily Record’s business reporting team mirror many of the big ongoing stories that have dominated the news since the economy cratered two years ago — failed banks, slot machine gambling, struggling commercial real estate developments, and City Hall politics.

1. Two Maryland banks closed by regulators – Ben Mook

Federal regulators closed two troubled Maryland banks, including one that was believed to have been the oldest black-owned financial institution in the state. Bay National Bank and Baltimore-based Ideal Federal Savings Bank Friday became the fourth and fifth Maryland banks to be closed over the last two years.

2. Baltimore’s FiOS chances getting slimmer – Staff and Wire reports

Verizon is nearing the end of its program to replace copper phone lines with optical fibers that provide much higher Internet speeds and TV service. Its focus is now on completing the network in the communities where it has already secured “franchises” — and that means major cities such as Baltimore and downtown Boston will be left without FiOS.

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There’s a long way to go before the November election, and even longer before returning lawmakers and their newly elected colleagues head back to Annapolis to get down to business.

There are, however, some certainties that came out of Tuesday night’s primary election. And, of course, there are plenty of questions left unanswered.

Tuesday night’s results set up the expected matchup of old rivals — Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., with both men seeking four more years in the governor’s mansion. And much of the attention in Baltimore will be on the state’s attorney race, where Gregg Bernstein holds a 1,400-vote lead over longtime incumbent Patricia Bessamy with 3,000 absentee ballots still to be counted.

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Let the mud (or oil?) slinging begin. If you haven’t heard it by now, click here to listen to a Gov. Martin O’Malley campaign ad bashing his Republican competitor, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, for being pro oil.

Seizing upon the emotion surrounding the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the ad repeatedly uses clips of Ehrlich saying “drill baby, drill” and intersperses those with factoids about the spill.

The commercial also asks why Ehrlich, an attorney with firm Womble Carlyle, supports oil companies. The quote inserted is Ehrlich’s voice saying, “Life’s good. We made money — a lot of money.”

According to WBAL, the quote in the ad is taken from an interview Ehrlich did earlier this year in which he talks only about his work since leaving office in January 2007. To see Ehrlich’s video response to the ad, in which he calls the commercial irresponsible and ludicrous, click here.

It would seem that O’Malley might be nervous about keeping his job this fall. He’s striking out with a negative campaign ad — and not just any ad. A pretty out-there one (when I first heard it on the radio, I started laughing).

What do you think?

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Environmentalists are livid over some remarks by state Sen. Richard Colburn, a Cambridge Republican. Now they’re calling for a formal and public apology.

It happened during a meeting on Feb. 15 between the Eastern Shore delegation and the secretaries of the departments of Agriculture and Environment, in which lawmakers complained that agency rules are slowing down or halting projects in their counties.

Sen. Colburn, one of those at the meeting, said he believes “river keepers,” environmentalists who watch over particular waterways, are dictating business on the Eastern Shore. He compared them to watermelons: “green on the outside and red or socialist on the inside.”

Members of the Waterkeeper Alliance are red-faced with anger.

“Characterizing any and every opposing group or elected official as unpatriotic or un-American is a political tactic and has no place in any form of reasonable discourse,” said Kathy Phillips of Assateague Coastkeeper, a Waterkeeper Alliance member. “We are hard-working Maryland residents, devoting our lives in many cases, to the protection of Maryland waterways from illegal and often toxic pollution. Our groups are comprised of concerned Americans who care very deeply about their country. Waterkeepers has more than a number of veterans working to restore clean waterways in our country. Senator Colburn is engaging here in a McCarthy-like slur and he owes us an apology.”

U.S. Marine Corps Colonel (Ret.) Richard Dove, registered Republican, and Neuse Riverkeeper Emeritus (April 1, 1993 through July 4, 2000) said: “This man [State Sen. Colburn] doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He doesn’t know me or any of my colleagues, that’s for sure. Having served two tours of duty in Vietnam, I take it personally when someone calls me a Red, a socialist. I understand that Sen. Colburn aligns himself with big agriculture and the commercial farms that keep him in office, but the fact that our goals are not aligned doesn’t give him the right to blindly tag our members as socialists, implying somehow that we are un-American.”

Jeff Kelble of Shenandoah Riverkeeper said his family has been in America since the 1600s, homesteaded the Shenandoah Valley in the 1700s, and fought in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. “If anything, Riverkeepers are red-blooded Americans, not Red, socialists,” he said.

One wonders whether or not Sen. Colburn has a case of the “blues” over his remark.

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The age-old Annapolis debate on stem cell funding is back.

Gov. Martin O’Malley has proposed funding research with $12.4 million in fiscal 2011 — the same amount it ended up getting last year — but with a major budget issue on the state’s hands, legislators are starting to argue over just how much money should be ponied up by the state.

Knowing that stem cell research is always a target that can easily get slashed during the session and in mid-year budget cuts, the Maryland Technology Development Corp., the quasi-public organization in charge of doling out the research grants, hired Baltimore’s Sage Policy Group to determine the impact of the grants on Maryland.

The study found that based on data from 2008, Maryland is already feeling an economic impact from the program, which was launched in 2006.

Up through 2008, $38 million in funding for the research translated into business sales of $71.3 million, 514 direct and indirect jobs and more than $34 million in income at about $64,000 per job. Maryland also benefited from $2.7 million in state and local taxes.

And a larger economic impact could be on the way as the research moves from the lab to the market and becomes more commercialized.

Of course President Obama’s announcement last year that the National Institutes of Health would lift some Bush-era restrictions on funding embryonic stem cell research has raised questions in Annapolis about whether Maryland needs to pump money into funding the research at all.

But the report cautions that a lack of state-level support could mean a shortage of local knowledge, federal dollars and economic impact.

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Sometimes ignorance can be bliss … but depending on your health needs, ignorance can also be deadly. That’s part of the reason I’m torn on a bill that’s being heard today before the House Health and Government Operations Committee.

The legislation proposes posting calorie and other basic nutritional information next to each food item in a menu. Essentially, that means the next time you’re standing in line at Starbucks and eying that rainbow cookie, you’ll also see a lovely 420-calorie label posted below the price.

The bill was first introduced last year and died in committee. Health advocates say it would help people at risk for diabetes and obesity make more informed choices about their food when they eat out. Restaurants (especially fast food joints) say they already post the health information inside the restaurant. (I just have to point out that usually means, however, it’s usually near the bathrooms or somewhere you don’t notice until after you already eaten.)

I understand both sides’ point of view, but the reason I’m torn is because it’s just one more step toward people not having to think for themselves anymore. If you have health problems and should be watching your diet, why are you eating at a fast food restaurant? And if that’s what you have to do for a lot of your meals for whatever reason, I don’t get why folks can’t just grab one of the nutritional information pamphlets that are usually by the register. That’s what I do when I’m on the road and eating fast food restaurant, and it really does require minimal effort.

If it’s OK to legislate how people take responsibility for what they eat, what’s next? Enforcing a two-drink maximum per customer at bars and pubs? (And don’t tell me that’ll cut down on drunk driving because people will just bar-hop.)

Call me crazy but for better or worse, I’d rather go down the road of people screwing up but at least being responsible for their own decisions rather than being able to claim ignorance.

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