Maryland Business

First thing: after yesterday’s Art Donovan post, my “crack research team” finally found the glorious moment in which Mr. Donovan can be found in that Pete and Pete episode. About 1:30 in of part 3 of the episode. Also, a young Steve Buscemi! Who knew? Thanks, crack research team.

So, if you’re not jetting off to Scotland and some exotic island for your honeymoon like these folks are, then you might be in need of some weekend plans. Festivals are kicking off this weekend, meaning plenty of food and music for all.

There’s the always interesting Towsontown spring festival on Saturday and Sunday. Entering the festival is free, but there’s plenty to do and see between the live music, food, pony rides, magic shows, NASCAR displays and other carnival-type stuff.

And while we’re on festivals, the Sweetlife Festival will be at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia on Sunday. The annual celebration brings music and food from local farmers. Some of the festival’s musical acts are pretty big names too: The Strokes, Girl Talk, Ra Ra Riot and Lupe Fiasco, among a bunch more. Tickets are $55 for general admission, a bit high, but goers will see a neat littany of artists and get some local and organic food.

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The truncated work week didn’t keep The Daily Record’s business reporters from breaking some news in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.

Also cracking the weekly top five for the first time is a recent installment in our new series, the Photo of the Day. The picture relates to air travel, hence the business peg, but mostly it’s just a very cool picture. Do check it out.

1. On the Move, 11/26: Northrop Grumman’s Edwards Veihoffer wins women engineers award

Debbie Edwards Veihdeffer, director of work-life integration at Northrop Grumman’s electronic systems sector in Linthicum, recently received the Work-Life Balance Award from the Society of Women Engineers.

She serves as the human resources focal point for three sector-level employee resource groups and is the project leader for two science, technology, engineering and mathematics educational outreach programs for teachers.

2. State suspends debt collection firm’s license

A collection company hired by payday loan firms was suspended by state regulators Monday because the loans were given by unlicensed companies who violated state usury laws.

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Frustrated with your Internet service provider? Towson University has an app for that.

The school announced on Friday the creation of the Maryland Broadband Map, which allows users to see what kind of Internet access is available at different locations around the state. Input an address, or click on a spot on the map, and it will spit out the types of access there and the providers that you can pay to get it.

Users can also find out how fast their internet connections actually are with the speed test.

“By engaging the greater community in achieving Maryland’s goal for statewide broadband service availability, the interactive map will help more of the state’s citizens enjoy the enormous advantages of access to information, services, and opportunities for economic growth,” said Dyan Brasington, Towson’s vice president for economic and community outreach.

For instance, dropping The Daily Record’s digits (11 E. Saratoga) into the tool shows five types of connections — DSL, fiber optic, mobile wireless, satellite and “other copper wireline,” which just doesn’t sound as cool as satellite or fiber. There are 16 ISP’s available to serve up web access to that address, from At&T to XO Communications.

Much of downtown has similar options, and many areas around the state have at least a half dozen ISP’s beyond the big guys like Comcast and Verizon. But the farther from I-95 you travel, the slimmer the pickings get. Residents of the town of Accident, Garrett County, for example, have to choose between cable and satellite hook-ups offered by four providers.

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An update on the Reisterstown water main break arrived yesterday from Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin, D-Baltimore, that said officials now believe the break will be repaired by noon today.

“Once the main is repaired it will take several hours for the Pleasant Hill reservoir to fill to the proper capacity and begin the regular flow of water throughout the area,” the news release says. “The City hopes full service will be restored by midnight on Wednesday.”

That means businesses that have been forced to close could possibly reopen Thursday. Those that have remained open but with limited services could be at full service too.

Zirkin also says some people have contacted his office with complaints about car washes operating in the area at a time when water conservation is critical. He says the Department of Public Works has dispatched officials from the Bureau of Utilities to ensure that the car washes use recycled water only.

Not bad compared with the bleak, two-week picture officials were painting yesterday. But it still means businesses like restaurants, hair salons and coffee shops were forced to close for at least five days this week, losing thousands of dollars in potential revenue.

The county has assisted residents with water rations but is it fair to let businesses fend for themselves when many are struggling to stay afloat?

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Owings Mills developer Alan Klatsky wants you to buy one of his $1.2 million custom-built houses in Baltimore County so badly that he’ll throw in a fully-loaded 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo if you commit before June 1.

His Phoenix development, called Brighton Hills, consists of 10 lots, only one of which has a completed house on it. According to Klatsky’s website, the $1.7 million, 5-bedroom, 5-bath house with 10-foot ceilings and nice dark wood floors commands “one of the most unspoiled, breathtaking views of countryside.”

So why throw in the Cherokee?

“These are extraordinary economic times,” Klatsky, who is president of Prestige Development, said in a statement. Yeah, tell us about it. But vague statements like these offer no clues as to whether he means extraordinarily bad (like the reality of the housing market) or extraordinarily good housing market opportunities. So we called up a spokeswoman for the Strata Group, a brokerage partnership representing Brighton Hills, to ask what the deal was.

“He knows what’s happening, and they’re doing it in California, and having a lot of success,” she said. “The main thing is to generate interest.”

The Jeep, she added, is good for rough winter-weather roads and squeamish commuters.

“He wanted an American-made car,” the spokeswoman said. “The thought process was, because of the location of the house. It’s Baltimore County. It’s not downtown.”

Indeed. But this is 2009 — has Klatsky been living someplace where the news of the unpopularity of gas-guzzling Chrysler cars and the market for overpriced, exurban McMansions has failed to penetrate? Not to get all preachy or anything, but maybe he’d’ve sold a few more lots if he was peddling waterfront condos near a grocery store with a free Toyota Prius.

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If you like converted shipping containers as a housing option for Mexican border towns (see today’s Uncover Story), how about putting them in Monkton?

A nursery owner famous for his irises had a double-container house built for one of his workers after the state said the man could no longer live in an RV on the property, according to this story from the North County News.

L. Bruce Hornstein and partner Lee Dorman were so taken with the result — painted to match their own house, and built to Harford County code — that they formed a production company, Steel’s the Answer. They envision not just houses but “villages for migrant workers or for the homeless.”

The director of Harford County’s Office of Economic Development offered another intriguing possibility: using the houses to accommodate the influx of federal workers brought to Maryland under BRAC. (No, he didn’t specify Aberdeen Proving Ground; I’m just guessing that’s what the director of Harford County’s Office of Economic Development means when he says “BRAC.”)

Call me skeptical, but I don’t see this as a big draw for all those folks who’d rather stay in New Jersey.

BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor/Law

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The parking lots of most of the stores at Towson Marketplace are pretty empty at 7 a.m. on a Friday morning. But as I circled around the back of the complex toward Filene’s Basement for the annual “Running of the Brides”, it was mayhem.

With more than 200 cars and several television trucks, I knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary morning in Towson.

Over one hundred brides-to-be and their entourages lined up outside of the store as early as 4 p.m. Thursday from all over the country. Over 1,600 designer gowns were available for sale, discounted in price to between $249 – $699.

When the doors finally opened at 8 a.m., it was pandemonium.

The floor shook and many employees closed their eyes as they tried to keep the racks stable and avoid getting trampled.

Within two minutes, the racks were bare as some brides-to-be and their friends took 20 gowns to try on.

As of 3:30 p.m., store manager Bill Randall said that 200 dresses had been sold, already beating last year’s mark of 175.

The most compelling story of the day was the first person in line, Stephanie Miller of Baltimore County, who arrived at Filene’s with her mother at 4 p.m. Thursday. After she found her dress at 8:50 a.m., she left for the University of Maryland-College Park to make a 12:30 p.m. speech to undergraduates considering graduate school.

Talk about stamina.

Check out the full video from the event below.

RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter

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Wednesday marked my first time aboard a helicopter. That’s right, I’ve never been airlifted from a war zone, seen the rocks of the Grand Canyon up close, or gone down with a Black Hawk in the wilds of Somalia. And this occasion wasn’t incredibly glamorous either. We rose up, twice circled the proposed site of an office park redevelopment in Halethorpe, saw it from both sides, then touched down. It was a surprisingly smooth ride.

The occasion for my helicopter debut was some reporting I did on Hollins End Corporate Park, a warehouse redevelopment project in Baltimore County being carried out by Lutherville’s Preston Partners. Showing a development site to Realtors, businesspeople and members of media is an uncommon treat at ground-breaking ceremonies, but in the case of Hollins End, it was especially interesting because it put the project in the context of its location.

The developers are building their 1.3 million square feet of office flex and warehouse space on 51 acres between a number of major roadways — I-95, I-695, I-895 — that connect the Baltimore and Washington metro areas. It really took a trip up high to illustrate this context. We saw cars running along I-895, up to the Baltimore beltway, and beyond, in the distance, the skyline of Baltimore rose from the haze.

A media spokesperson for Baltimore County, who was sitting near me in the cramped, four-person cabin of the Bell 407, said, “Google Earth just doesn’t capture this!” I couldn’t agree more. It’s easy to see why so many action film directors choose to shoot from the open doors of a chopper. The sweeping, expansive view you get is just amazing.

Plus you get to wear some totally cool-looking headgear.

ROBBIE WHELAN, Business Writer

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For parents of disabled children in Maryland, it has to seem like there’s no good choice for their children’s education.

After reading this afternoon that more than 30 Baltimore city school bus drivers are refusing to work because their paychecks bounced, I happened upon an AP story that, for a moment, had me thinking privatization may be the answer.

Former social worker Mark Claypool entered the world of private, for-profit special education schools in 1999. Now his company, Educational Services of America, operates more than 120 schools in 16 states (none in Maryland). The company generated $75 million in revenue this year.

ESA, based in Nashville, Tenn., partnered with a private equity firm in 2004. It also receives funding from vouchers, state contracts and, of course, tuition, which ranges from $8K to $49K per year, depending upon the student’s needs.

One of ESA’s competitors is Baltimore-based Alternatives Unlimited, founded by Dr. Stuart Berger, who served as superintendent of both Baltimore County’s and Frederick County’s school systems. Berger also received a law degree from the University of Maryland.

But Berger’s company doesn’t operate any schools in Maryland. Although the company Web site says Berger “conceived Alternatives Unlimited because of his deep concern about the number of students who ‘fall through the cracks’ in public education, especially in urban school districts,” the nearest A.U. schools are in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

Maybe that’s because of the controversy surrounding his tenure in Baltimore Co., including his “inclusion” program that reassigned many disabled students to mainstream schools.

How about it? Who should (and can) serve Maryland special education students best: private companies (any takers?) or the public system?

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Baltimore County is trying to make things easier for those requesting changes to their zoning as part of the Comprehensive Zoning Map Process. They’re doing this by putting it all online.

The every-four-year event usually meant mountains of paperwork for the planning office and several treks down to Towson for those who forgot something like their tax number.

The new system will let you apply and track progress online.

If it’s as easy as going online, will that encourage you to make much-desired or needed zoning changes to your commercial property or home? Let us know.

We’d also like to hear from those of you who’ve been through a CZMP before. Tell us your horror stories or let us know if it was painless.

-LOUIS LLOVIO, Daily Record Business Writer

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